How do we approach SEO?
We want you to know exactly how we view the Search Engine Optimization of your website. The very best way to present this information to you is to publish a more or less complete list of ranking factors, and present our position on each. In the table below, a poll was taken of 37 top SEO organic specialists, and the average “voted ranking” is presented in the orange column. Our own importance ranking is given in the green column.
The contributors rated each factor on a scale of 1 – 5:
1.0 to 1.9 Does Not Influence Ranking
2.0 to 2.9 Slight Importance
3.0 to 3.9 High Importance
4.0 to 4.9 Exceptional Importance
5.0 to 5.0 Maximum Importance
| CATEGORY |
RANKING FACTOR DESCRIPTION |
VOTED RANK |
OURRANK |
OUR NOTES |
| Keyword Use
|
Keyword Use in Title Tag (Rated #1) | 4.9 | 4.9 | Most important tag on page |
| Keyword Use in Body Text (Rated #8) | 3.7 | 3.7 | Absolutely | |
| Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords | 3.4 | 3.4 | Agree | |
| Keyword Use in H1 Tag | 3.3 | 4.0 | Necessary | |
| Keyword Use in Domain Name | 3.0 | 3.0 | OK, but not required | |
| Keyword Use in Page URL | 2.8 | 2.8 | Ditto | |
| Keyword Use in H2, H3, H4 Tags | 2.8 | 3.5 | Necessary | |
| Keyword Use in Alt Tags and Image Titles | 2.6 | 3.5 | Necessary and easy | |
| Keyword Use in Bold/Strong Tags | 2.3 | 3.0 | Necessary and easy | |
| Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag | 2.0 | 3.0 | Necessary and easy | |
| Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag | 1.2 | 2.0 | Somewhat needed | |
| Linking | Internal links pointing to the target page (Rated #9) | 4.0 | 4.0 | Very Important, Major factor |
| Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community | 3.5 | 3.5 | High Importance | |
| Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages | 3.5 | 2.5 | Keep outgoing links to a min. | |
| Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site (Rated #6) | 3.9 | 3.9 | Major factor | |
| Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community #7 | 3.9 | 3.9 | Similar to Relevance | |
| Rate of New Inbound Links to Site (Rated #10) | 3.5 | 3.5 | Should be growing | |
| Relevance of Site’s Primary Subject Matter to Search | 3.1 | 4.0 | Relevance of topic/search | |
| Anchor Text of Inbound Link (Rated #2) | 4.4 | 4.6 | Exceptional Importance | |
| Global Link Popularity of Linking Site | 3.6 | 3.6 | High Importance | |
| Topical Relationship of Linking Page | 3.5 | 3.5 | High Importance | |
| Age of Link | 3.2 | 3.2 | High Importance | |
| Topical Relationship of Linking Site | 3.1 | 3.1 | High Importance | |
| Text Surrounding the Link | 3.1 | 3.1 | High Importance | |
| Domain Extension of Linking Site | 2.5 | 2.5 | Moderate Importance | |
| Global Link Popularity of Site (Rated #3) | 4.4 | 4.6 | Exceptional Importance | |
| PageRank of Linking Page | 2.4 | 2.4 | Moderate Importance | |
| Misc. Factors | Historical Performance of Site | 2.8 | 2.8 | Moderate Importance |
| Manual Authority/Weight Given to Site by Google | 2.6 | 2.6 | Moderate Importance | |
| Rate of New Pages Added to Site | 2.5 | 2.5 | Moderate Importance | |
| The amount & frequency of new, spiderable documents | 2.5 | 2.5 | Moderate Importance | |
| The frequency of searches for the domain name or the co. | 2.0 | 2.0 | Moderate Importance | |
| Age of Site (Rated #4) | 4.1 | 4.3 | High Importance | |
| Amount of Indexable Text Content | 3.2 | 4.0 | High Importance | |
| Quality of the Document Content | 3.0 | 3.0 | High Importance | |
| Frequency of Updates to Page | 2.4 | 2.4 | Moderate Importance | |
| Number of Trailing Slashes | 1.9 | 1.9 | Slight Importance | |
| Accuracy of Spelling & Grammar | 1.8 | 1.8 | Slight Importance | |
| HTML Validation of Document | 1.4 | 1.4 | Slight Importance | |
| Negative Factors |
Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots | 3.8 | 3.8 | High Importance |
| Content Very Similar or Duplicate Content | 3.6 | 3.6 | High Importance | |
| Outbound Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites | 3.6 | 4.0 | High Importance | |
| Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages | 3.3 | 3.5 | High Importance | |
| Overuse of Targeted Keywords | 3.3 | 3.3 | ||
| Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links | 3.3 | 4.0 | High Importance | |
| Very Slow Server Response Times | 2.8 | 2.8 | Moderate Importance | |
| Inbound Links from Spam Sites | 2.1 | 2.1 | Moderate Importance | |
| Low Levels of Visitors to the Site | 2.1 | 2.1 | Moderate Importance |
Top 10 Positive Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Regular, broad-spectrum of Social Media Activity
3. Global Link Popularity of Site
4. Age of Site
5. Relevance of Site’s Primary Subject Matter to Search
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topic
8. Keyword Use in Body Text
9. Internal links pointing to the target page
10. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site