http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm
1. Alleged POSITIVE ON-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (38)
(Keeping in mind the converse, of course, that when violated, some of these factors
immediately jump into the NEGATIVE On-Page Ranking Factors domain.)
The term "Keyword" below refers to the "Keyword Phrase", which can be one word or more.
Green rows confirmed by Google patent of Aug. 10, 2006
Note -
Patent
Claim
# Factor
# POSITIVE
ON-Page SEO Factors Brief Note
50 - KEYWORDS Google patent - Topic extraction
For keyword selection,
try Google Ad Words - Google Trends
HOT
1 Keyword in URL
First word is best, second is second best, etc.
HOT
2 Keyword in Domain name
Same as in page-name-with-hyphens
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Keywords - Header
HOT
3 Keyword in Title tag
Keyword in Title tag - close to beginning
Title tag 10 - 60 characters, no special characters.
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4 Keyword in Description meta tag
Shows theme - less than 200 chars.
Google no longer "relies" upon this tag, but will often use it.
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5 Keyword in Keyword metatag
Shows theme - less than 10 words.
Every word in this tag MUST appear somewhere in the body text. If not, it can be penalized for irrelevance.
No single word should appear more than twice.
If not, it may be considered spam. Google purportedly no longer uses this tag, but others do.
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Keywords - Body
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6 Keyword density in body text
5 - 20% - (all keywords/ total words)
Some report topic sensitivity - the keyword spamming threshold % varies with the topic.
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7 Individual keyword density
1 - 6% - (each keyword/ total words)
HOT
8 Keyword in H1, H2 and H3
Use Hx font style tags appropriately
-
9 Keyword font size
"Strong is treated the same as bold, italic is treated the same as emphasis" . . . Matt Cutts July 2006
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10 Keyword proximity (for 2+ keywords)
Directly adjacent is best
-
11 Keyword phrase order
Does word order in the page match word order in the query?
Try to anticipate query, and match word order.
-
12 Keyword prominence (how early in page/tag)
Can be important at top of page, in bold, in large font
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Keywords - Other
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13 Keyword in alt text
Should describe graphic - Do NOT fill with spam
(Was part of Google Florida OOP - tripped a threshold - may still be in effect to some degree as a red flag, when summed with all other on-page optimization - total page optimization score - TPOS).
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14 Keyword in links to site pages (anchor text)
Links out anchor text use keyword?
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NAVIGATION - INTERNAL LINKS
SITE
15 To internal pages- keywords?
Link should contain keywords.
The filename "linked to" should contain the keywords.
Use hyphenated filenames, but not long ones - two or three hyphens only.
SITE
16 All Internal links valid?
Validate all links to all pages on site.
Use a free link checker. I like this one.
SITE
17 Efficient - tree-like structure
TRY FOR two clicks to any page - no page deeper than 4 clicks
SITE
18 Intra-site linking
Appropriate links between lower-level pages
54 - NAVIGATION - OUTGOING LINKS
55 19
To external pages- keywords?
Google patent - Link only to good sites. Do not link to link farms. CAREFUL - Links can and do go bad, resulting in site demotion. Unfortunately, you must devote the time necessary to police your outgoing links - they are your responsibility.
56 20
Outgoing link Anchor Text
Google patent - Should be on topic, descriptive
61, 62 21
Link stability over time
Google patent - Avoid "Link Churn"
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22 All External links valid?
Validate all links periodically.
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23 Less than 100 links out total
Google says limit to 100,
but readily accepts 2-3 times that number. ref 2k
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121
(added)
Linking to Authority
Some say this gives a boost -
Others say that is absurd. However, it certainly is the opposite of linking to trash, which WILL hurt you.
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OTHER ON-Page Factors
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24 Domain Name Extension
Top Level Domain - TLD
.gov sites seem to be the highest status
.edu sites seem to be given a high status
.org sites seem to be given a high status
.com sites excel in encompassing all the spam/ crud sites, resulting in the need for the highest scrutiny/ action by Google.
Perhaps one would do well with the new .info domain class.
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25 File Size
Try not to exceed 100K page size (however, some subject matter, such as this page, requires larger file sizes).
Smaller files are preferred <40K (lots of them).
-
26 Hyphens in URL
Preferred method for indicating a space, where there can be no actual space
One or two= excellent for separating keywords (i.e., pet-smart, pets-mart)
Four or more= BAD, starts to look spammy
Ten = Spammer for sure, demotion probable?
6, 7
12, 13 27
Freshness of Pages
Google patent - Changes over time
Newer the better - if news, retail or auction!
Google likes fresh pages. So do I.
8, 9 28
Freshness - Amount of Content Change
New pages - Ratio of old pages to new pages
27 29
Freshness of Links
Google patent - May be good or bad
Excellent for high-trust sites
May not be so good for newer, low-trust sites
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30 Frequency of Updates
Frequent updates = frequent spidering = newer cache
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31 Page Theming
Page exhibit theme? General consistency?
-
32 Keyword stemming
Stem, stems, stemmed, stemmer,
stemming, stemmist, stemification
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33 Applied Semantics
Synonyms, CIRCA white paper
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34 LSI
Latent Semantic Indexing - Speculation, no proof
-
35 URL length
Keep it minimized - use somewhat less than the 2,000 characters allowed by IE - less than 100 is good, less is even better
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OTHER ON-SITE Factors
5 36
Site Size - Google likes big sites
Larger sites are presumed to be better funded, better organized, better constructed, and therefore better sites. Google likes LARGE sites, for various reasons, not all positive. This has resulted in the advent of machine-generated 10,000-page spam sites - size for the sake of size. Google has caught on and dumped millions of pages, or made them supplemental.
4 37
Site Age
Google patent - Old is best. Old is Golden.
3 38
Age of page vs. age of site
Age of page vs. age of other pages on site
Newer pages on an older site will get faster recognition.
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Note: For ALL the POSITIVE On-Page factors listed above,
PAGE RANK can OVERRIDE them all. So can Google-Bombing.
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2. Alleged Negative ON-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (24)
Note Factor
# NEGATIVE
ON-Page SEO Factors Brief Note
BAD 39 Text presented in graphics form only
No ACTUAL body text on the page
Text represented graphically is invisible to search engines.
BAD 40 Affiliate site?
The Florida update went after affiliates with a vengeance - flower and travel affiliates were hit hard - cookie-cutter sites with massive inter-linking, but little unique content. Subsequent updates have also targeted affiliates.
BAD 41 Over optimization penalty (OOP)
Penalty for over-compliance with well-established, accepted web optimization practices. Too high keyword repetition (keyword stuffing) may get you the OOP. Overuse of H1 tags has been mentioned. Meta-tag stuffing.
BAD 42 Link to a bad neighborhood
Don't link to link farms, FFAs (Free For All's)
Also, don't forget to check the Google status of EVERYONE you link to periodically. A site may go "bad", and you can end up being penalized, even though you did nothing. For instance, some failed real estate sites have been switched to p0rn by unscrupulous webmasters, for the traffic. This is not good for you, if you are linking to the originally legitimate URL.
BAD 43 Redirect thru refresh metatags
Don't immediately send your visitor to another page other than the one he/ she clicked on, using meta refresh.
BAD 44 Vile language - ethnic slur
Including the George Carlin 7 bad words you can't say on TV, plus the 150 or so that followed. Don't shoot yourself right straight in the foot. Also, avoid combinations of normal words, which when used together, become something else entirely - such as the word juice, and the word l0ve. See why I wrote that zero? I don't even want to get a proximity penalty, either. Paranoia, or caution? You decide. I always want to try to put my "best foot forward".
BAD 45 Poison words
The word "Links" in a title tag has been suggested to be a bad idea. Here is my list of Poison Words for Adsense. This penalty has been loosened - many of these words now appear in normal context, with no problems. But watch your step.
BAD 46 Excessive cross-linking
- within the same C block (IP=xxx.xxx.CCC.xxx)
If you have many sites (>10, author's guess) with the same web host, prolific cross-linking can indicate more of a single entity, and less of democratic web voting. Easy to spot, easy to penalize.
"This does not apply to a small number of sites" .. (this author guesses the number 10, JAWG) . . . "hosted on a local server". . Matt Cutts July 2006
BAD 47 Stealing images/ text blocks from another domain
Copyright violation - Google responds strongly
if you are reported. ref egol
File Google DMCA
BAD 48 Keyword stuffing threshold
In body, meta tags, alt text, etc. = demotion
?? 49 Keyword dilution
Targeting too many unrelated keywords on a page, which would detract from theming, and reduce the importance of your REALLY important keywords.
?? 50
Page edit - can reduce consistency
Google patent -
Google is now switching between a "newer" cache, and several "older" caches, frequently drawing from BOTH at the same time.
This was possibly implemented to frustrate SERP manipulators. Did your last edit substantially alter your keywords, or theme? Expect noticeable SERP bouncing.
6 - 7 51
Frequency of Content Change
Google patent - Too frequent = bad
32, 33 52
Freshness of Anchor Text
Google patent - Too frequent = bad
?? 53 Dynamic Pages
Problematic - know pitfalls - shorten URLs, reduce variables (". . no more than 2 or 3", M.Cutts July 2006), lose the session IDs
?? 54 Excessive Javascript
Don't use for redirects, or hiding links
?? 55 Flash page - NOT
Most (all-?) SE spiders can't read Flash content
Provide an HTML alternative, or experience lower SERP positioning.
?? 56 Use of Frames
Spidering Problems with Frames - STILL
-
57 Robot exclusion "no index" tag
Intentional self-exclusion
-
58 Single pixel links
A red flag - one reason only - a sneaky link.
-
59 Invisible text
OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
All over the place - but nothing is ever done. (The text is the same color as the background, and hence cannot be seen by the viewer, but can be visible to the search engine spiders.) I believe Google does penalize for hidden text, since it is an attempt to manipulate rank. Although they don't catch everyone.
-
60 Gateway, doorway page
(I see changes here - not only does the doorway page disappear, but the main page gets pushed down, as well - this is a welcome fix.)
OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google used to reward these pages.
Multiple entrance pages in the top ten SERPs - I see it daily. There they are at #2, with their twin at #5 - 6 months now. Reported numerous times.
-
61 Duplicate content (YOUR'S)
Duplicate content (THEIR'S) below (Highjack)
OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google picks one (usually the oldest), and shoves it to the top, and pushes the second choice down. This has been a big issue with stolen content - the thief usurps your former position with YOUR OWN content.
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62 HTML code violations
(The big G does not even use DOCTYPE declarations, required for W3C validation.)
Doesn't matter - Google advises against this.
Unless of course, the page is totally FUBAR.
Simple HTML verification is NOT required (but advised, since it could contribute to your page quality factor - PQF).
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-
Since the above 4 items are so controversial, I would like to add this comment:
There are many things that Google would LIKE to have webmasters do, but that they simply cannot control, due to logistical considerations. Their only alternative is to foment fear and doubt by implying that any violation of their "suggestions" will result in swift and fierce demotion.
(This is somewhat dated - G is fixing these things.)
IN GENERAL, this works pretty well to keep webmasters in line. The fallacy of this is that attentive webmasters can readily observe continuing, blatant exceptions to these official pronouncements.
There are many anecdotes about Goggle "taking care" of a problem. Google states that they do not provide hand-tweaked "boosts", but are silent about hand-tweaked demotions. They occur, for sure. To believe otherwise is naive. Wouldn't YOU swat the most obnoxious flies? I would.
It is becoming easier to determine the best thing to do. Try to avoid any Google penalties or demotions.
-
119
Phrase-based ranking, filters, penalties
Feb. 2007 - Google patent granted. Do not use phrases that have been associated and correlated with known spamming techniques, or you will be penalized. What phrases? Ahh, you tell me.
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3. Alleged POSITIVE OFF-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (43)
Note Factor
# POSITIVE
OFF-Page SEO Factors Brief Note
-
INCOMING LINKS :
HOT
63 Page Rank
Based on the Number and Quality of links to you
Google link reporting continues to display just a SMALL fraction of your actual backlinks, and they are NOT just greater than PR4 - they are mixed.
-
64 Total incoming links ("backlinks")
Historically, FAST counted best (www.alltheweb.com).
No more - Yahoo (parent) broke it.
In Yahoo search, type in:
linksite:www.domain-name.com
linkdomain:www.domainname.com
Try MSN -
http://beta.search.msn.com
Use link:www.domainname.com
Current TYPICAL Backlink Reporting Ratios -
Google - 30 links
MSN - 1,000 links
Yahoo - 3,000 links
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65 Incoming links from high-ranking pages
In 2004, Google used to count (report) the links from all PR4+ pages that linked to you. In 2005-2006, Google reported only a small fraction of the links, in what seemed like an almost random manner. In Feb. 2007, Google markedly upgraded (increased) the number of links that they report.
-
66
Acceleration of link popularity
(". . . used to be a good thing" ... Martha)
Google patent
Link acquisition speed boost - speculative
Too fast = artificial? Cause of -30 penalty?
Sandbox penalty imposed if new site?
-
FOR EACH INCOMING LINK :
-
67 Page rank of the referring page
Based on the quality of links to you
HOT
68 Anchor text of
inbound link to you
Contains keyword, key phrase?
#1 result in SERP does NOT EVEN need to have the keyword(s) on the page, ANYWHERE!!! What does that tell you? (Enables Google-bombing - search for "miserable failure")
-
69
Age of link
Google patent - Old = Good.
-
70
Frequency of change of anchor text
Google patent - Not good. Why would you do that?
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71 Popularity of referring page
Popularity = desirability, respect
-
72 # of outgoing links on referrer page
Fewer is better - makes yours more important
-
73 Position of link on referrer page
Early in HTML is best
-
74 Keyword density on referring page
For search keyword(s)
-
75 HTML title of referrer page
Same subject/ theme?
28 76
Link from "Expert" site?
Google patent - Big time boost (Hilltop Algorithm)
Recently reported to give a big boost !
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77 Referrer page - Same theme
From the same or related theme? BETTER
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78 Referrer page - Different theme
From different or unrelated theme? WORSE
-
79 Image map link?
Problematic?
-
80 Javascript link?
Problematic- attempt to hide link?
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DIRECTORIES :
-
81 Site listed in DMOZ Directory?
The "Secret Hand" DMOZ Issues
1. Legitimate sites CAN'T GET IN
2. No Accountability
3. Corrupt Editors
4. Competitive Sites Barred
5. Dirty Tricks Employed
6. Rude dmoz editors
Flawed concept - communism doesn't work
Free editing? Nothing is free.
DMOZ Sucks Discussions
DMOZ Problems Discussions
The Google Directory is produced by an unknown, ungoverned, unpoliced, ill-intentioned, retaliatory, monopoly enterprise, consisting of profiteering power-ego editors feathering their own nests - the ODP. AOL is making millions, and needs to police it's run-amok entity. Enough already!
This is a tough one.
Google's directory comes STRAIGHT from the DMOZ directory. You should try to get into dmoz.
But you can't.
Be careful whom you approach with the old spondulix -
Formal DMOZ Bribe Instructions.
It is almost impossible to get into DMOZ. This site cannot get in, after waiting over 2 YEARS (33 months). Not even in the lowest, most insignificant category, "Personal Pages". I guess I just don't "measure up" to the other 20,000+ sites in the personal category.
I'm not the suck-up type - I kissed them off long ago. What a waste of time!
UPDATE: This page (not site) finally got indexed in June 2007, thanks to a legitimate editor. No money was paid.
Google needs to DO SOMETHING about populating its own directory with the skewed, incomplete, poorly determined results from the dysfunctional Open Directory Project - the ODP!
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
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82 DMOZ category?
Theme fit category?
General or geographic category? Both are possible, and acceptable.
HOT 83 Site listed in Yahoo Directory?
Big boost - You can get in by paying $299 each year.
Many swear it is worth it - many swear it isn't.
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84 Site listed in LookSmart Directory?
Boost? Another great vote for your site.
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85 Site listed in inktomi?
Inktomi has been absorbed internally by Yahoo.
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86 Site listed in other directories (About, BOTW, etc.)
Directory listing boost (If other RESPECTED directories link to you, this must be positive.)
-
87 Expert site? (Hilltop or Condensed Hilltop)
Large-sized site, quality incoming links
HOT
88
Site Age - Old shows stability
Google patent
Boost for long-established sites, new pages indexed easily
The opposite of the sand box.
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89 Site Age - Very New Boost
Temporary boost for very new sites - I estimate that this boost lasts from 1 week to 3 weeks - Yahoo does it too.
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90 Site Directory - Tree Structure
Influences SERPs - logical, consistent, conventional
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91 Site Map and more site map
Complete - keywords in anchor text
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92 Site Size
Previously, many pages preferred - conferred authority upon site, thus page. Bigger sites = better SERPs
Now, fewer pages preferred, due to proliferation of computer-generated pages. Google has been dropping pages like crazy.
-
93 Site Theming
Site exhibit theme? Use many related terms?
Have you used a keyword suggestion tool?
A thesaurus?
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PAGE METRICS - USER BEHAVIOR:
Currently implemented through the Google tool bar?
34, 35 94
Page traffic
Google patent - # of visitors, trend
15,16,21 95
Page Selection Rate - CTR
Google patent - How often is a page clicked on?
36, 37 96
Time spent on page
Google patent - Relatively long time = indicates relevance hit
45, 46 97
Did user Bookmark page?
Google patent - Bookmark = Good
47 98
Bookmark add/ removal frequency
Google patent - Recent = Good?
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99 How they left, where they went
Back button, link clicked, etc.
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SITE METRICS - USER BEHAVIOR :
Currently implemented through the Google tool bar?
34, 35 100
Site Traffic
Google patent - # of visitors, increasing trend = good
-
101 Referrer
Authoritative referrer?
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102 Keyword
Keyword searches used to find you
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103 Time spent on domain
Relatively long time = indicates relevance hit
Add brownie points.
38 - DOMAIN OWNER BEHAVIOR :
40 104
Domain Registration Time
Google patent - Domain Expiration Date
Register for 5 years, Google knows you are serious.
Register for 1 year, is it a throw-away domain?
39 105
Are associated sites legitimate?
Google patent - No spam, ownership, etc.
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