For the past couple of years, Searchmetrics has been putting together reports for the ranking factors that Google is looking for.  Knowing the ranking factors can help SEO guys and digital marketing crews get their clients first page rankings.  The latest report looks at content, user experience, social signals, on-page SEO and backlinks.

Here is a breakdown of what the report means for Calgary Digital Marketing

Content

“Content is King” still holds true and relevant content is even more important that keywords as the most important factor in rankings.  The sites at the top of the SERPs  all have more content but… don’t just add filler content for the sake of word content it needs to be relevant.  Not only is there more content it needs to be easy to read, so break it up with images, lists, and heading.  It should noted that the most relevant content ranked the highest.

User Experience

User experience is all about good design and usability.  More images are being used on websites, no more hard to read endless wall of text.  There is also fewer sites using AdSense ads, the point being don’t distract visitors with ads that aren’t going to make the experience better.  Content is broken down into manageable chunks that can easily be skimmed over.  User signals are now playing a bigger role, what people are clicking on when they search, Analytics data and browsing data.  Flash is dead.  If you’re wondering what you can do to improve user experience here is a video explaining that.

Social Signals

There is a debate among  calgary SEOs as to how important social signals are to rankings.  The results at the top of Search engine optimization companies had a significantly higher number of social signals and social signals increase brand awareness, traffic and performance.  The question is did social signals affect the results or are there more social signals because of the higher rankings?

Backlinks

For years backlinks were the number one ranking factor, the more you had the better you ranked.  Many believe that that is changing and their influence isn’t as important anymore.  They are still important but things have changed, the domain is being used as the anchor text instead of keywords.  Backlinks are linking to internal pages instead of the home page.  There are more no-follow links than do-follow links, most of this is in response to Google endless war on spam.

The report is filled with useful advice on how to make your search engine optimization site work better and rank better.  It helps make sure that the SERPs are filled with high quality sites instead of keyword stuffed sites with bad design.

Are you in Need of SEO Or Digital Marketing? Try these guys:
MRC SEO Consulting
4911 30 Avenue Southwest Calgary, Alberta T3E0V4
Phone: +1 403-386-7427