Finally it's here: our Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation 2013 Study!
Like last year, the Ranking Factor – Rank
Correlation study deals with the definition and evaluation of factors that
differentiate better-positioned websites from pages placed further back in the
organic search results – i.e.: pages that have a positive rank correlation.
Compared to 2012, we have taken significantly more
ranking factors into account in our analysis to finally answer the question:What
do web pages that are well-positioned by Google have in common and what
distinguishes them from lower ranking pages?
What factors are playing a role?
You can find the most important factors in our overview of
all rank correlation coefficients. These are all the factors we have analyzed
and consider relevant. We have presented the relationship between Google
search results and the various factors influencing it using the Spearman correlation
- a high positive correlation coefficient occurs for a factor if higher
ranking pages have that feature / or more of that feature, while lower ranking
pages do not / or have less of that feature. In addition to providing an
overview of the changes in correlation since last year, we have extended our
analysis in 2013 to include many relevant new factors.
Top highlights of 2013:
Deeper Insights into the study:
1. Keyword links and domains have lost relevance
The importance of keywords in the URL / domain has
significantly decreased as a ranking factor compared to 2012:
In our study, these two factors are considered the losers
when compared with last year, because the existence of keywords in the
URL and/or the domain have lost their relevance. This also affects backlinks
when it comes to plain text keyword links. So it looks as if the days of
"hard keyword optimization" are over. Google now puts much more
emphasis on natural link profiles. Hard keyword links have lost significant
influence and can probably – when used excessively – even have a negative
effect; for example, when Google updates its algorithm with features devaluing
bad links. Wondering what else has been happening in the field of keywords?
Check out the complete version of the Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation
study.
2. Brands are the exception to many rules
Last year, brands held a privileged position. This has also been
confirmed in this year's study: for brands – and their websites –
search engines do not seem to apply the same criteria as for other domains. For
example, it seems as though Google considers it natural for brands to have
comparatively more backlinks with the name of the brand in the link text
alone – what we refer to as "brand links" – and still not
be rated negatively.
3. Social signals continue to correlate very well with better rankings
The tendency over the years has been very positive –
and this year’s study confirms the trend that became evident as early as 2012:
well positioned URLs have a high number of likes, shares, tweets and plus ones
and specific URLs stand out in the top search results with a very high mass of
social signals. On one hand this means that the activity on social networks
continues to increase, on the other hand it means that frequently shared
content increasingly correlates with good rankings.
4. Good content is always important: it comes to quality!
For our analysis of content features, we have increased
the number of factors significantly over the previous year:
Content factors correlate almost entirely positively with
good rankings and were apparently – when compared with the previous
year – partially upgraded. Good ranking URLs, to a certain extent have
more text and a higher number of additional media integrations compared with
2012. A good internal link structure also appears to be an important quality
attribute.
5. The number of backlinks remains immensely important
Backlinks continue to be one of the most important SEO
metrics. In this regard, little has changed over the years: sites with more
backlinks simply rank better. And this is also the result of our ranking factor
study in 2013. However, factors around this metric are subject to evolution:
not only are the quantity of backlinks important, but increasingly so is their
quality! The backlink profile is nowadays regarded as a kind of conglomerate of
very diverse quality factors that we discuss in detail in the study.
6. On-page technology remains one of the basics
The on-page factors surrounding the technical side of building web sites have long been one of the basics of a good search engine ranking – and this will continue. Even more, it seems to be fulfilling certain on-page criteria is not about achieving a favorable ranking, rather, it is the opposite: it is simply negative for the rankings when web pages do not meet criteria. On-page factors are therefore considered more of a prerequisite for ranking higher in search results pages.
The context of the Ranking Factors - Rank Correlation Study:
Search engines work with algorithms to evaluate
websites by topic and relevance.
On this basis the search engines create a structure for the
total of all pages in the search engine index, which finally results in a best
possible ranking for users’ search queries. The criteria for the evaluation of
websites and the production of this ranking are generally referred to as
ranking factors. Please note the difference between correlation and causation
in this case. We do not make any statements about causal effects between factors
and rankings, but we analyze correlations: and the coexistence of a factor and
rankings indicates some kind of relationship. For our study, we have undertaken
a comprehensive data collection which enables the analysis of the Ranking
Factors for Google USA in 2013 and also allows us to draw
comparisons to our analysis of the Ranking Factors in 2012.
This content is an overview of our detailed Ranking
Factors – Rank Correlation 2013 study. The results are based on
correlation and are not proof of any causal effects. To learn more:
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