{"id":141595,"date":"2020-07-22T15:36:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T15:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=141595"},"modified":"2020-07-22T15:36:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T15:36:15","slug":"1000-ranking-factors-how-google-finds-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/22\/1000-ranking-factors-how-google-finds-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"1000 Ranking factors: How Google finds signals through the noise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google has the ability to measure content quality signals like never before, and with each new Core Update, they understand content quality more as humans do.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google uses different search models depending on the search query, meaning ranking signals can vary depending on search intent.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a recent correlation analysis we did in the sports ticketing industry, the top factors that correlated with good rankings were long-form landing page content and high domain authority.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given Google\u2019s guidance about their forthcoming 2021 web vitals update, page experience and performance are likely going to become more essential for ranking on page one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>LinkGraph&#8217;s CTO explains how machine learning is helping us better understand how Google finds and evaluates content quality signals when ranking web pages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes a web page rank on the first page of Google? Historically, the best correlation studies regressed thousands of search factors against page one rankings in an attempt to understand the primary drivers of SERP performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these ranking factors are weighted differently depending on the type of search. Google uses varying search models depending on the search intent behind the question. Local searches with the map pack, higher economic value searches with high CPC, informational queries with high search volume, searches where the most relevant results may be rich media like videos\/images, and even search within highly regulated industries like health and money, can all weight ranking factors differently<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make correlation studies even more challenging, Google updates its core algorithm <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/google-confirms-may-2020-core-algorithm-update-rolling-out-today\/365974\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">several times a year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, meaning those signals continue to evolve. As Google continues to refine its ability to measure and analyze those signals, their bots are getting better at understanding website quality the way that humans do.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Opening Google\u2019s black box and the North star<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last decade, the academic fields of machine learning and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1810.04805\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">natural language processing have made great strides<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Starting around 2012, Google\u2019s search algorithms evolved beyond regression-based models towards deep learning. Google\u2019s ranking algorithm has now become a black box, and even their engineers find it challenging at times to understand why their models produce the results they do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, we know their goal has always been to bring the highest quality search results to users, and they\u2019ve always done the best they could with the technologies and datasets available to them at the time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every core update is consistent with what they have been telling us for years: they reward high-quality pages and penalize low-quality sites and spam. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linkgraph.io\/google-algorithm-update-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google\u2019s updates have always been marching in the same direction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and it\u2019s well understood among SEOs that there is a North Star towards:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Higher-quality content<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fast, snappy user experiences<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increasing site authority and reputation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What can be frustrating for webmasters is Google\u2019s lack of specific guidance about which specific ranking factors matter the most in their specific industries? When studying how certain properties like page speed, text content, and backlinks relate to rankings, advanced SEOs are turning to correlation analysis and machine learning tools to better understand how Google finds these signals through the noise.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What we learned about the primary drivers of SERP rankings<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>We look into an industry-specific correlation analysis, and what we learned about the primary drivers of SERP rankings.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To better understand these signals, we studied the correlation of 18 important ranking factors across 200 searches in the sports ticketing vertical. Each keyword had a CPC of over $8.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-141596\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals-1024x794.png\" alt=\"Google finds ranking factor signals content quality signals\" width=\"640\" height=\"496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals-1024x794.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals-768x595.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals-1536x1190.png 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-finds-signals-content-quality-signals.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What we discovered was that the most important factors that were correlated with top rankings were high Domain Authority and long-form landing page content. Domain <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/07\/06\/how-to-increase-organic-traffic-14-practical-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">organic traffic<\/a> value, URL organic traffic, and page load speed were among the weaker correlations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfiltered backlink count and Referring Domain counts themselves were not as strongly correlated as metrics like Moz\u2019s Domain Authority, which differentiates between low-quality links and high-value links. Additionally, Majestic\u2019s Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics proved less correlated to ranking on the first page then Moz\u2019s Domain Authority. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the startup client, we were working with, this analysis taught us that maximizing the amount of page rank on their most competitive landing pages was critical in order to contend with the heavyweights in their space, more than anything else they could do for their SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From a content perspective, we found the web pages that rank on the first SERP align with what <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2011\/05\/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google claims to reward<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Long-form, topically-rich pages with interactive elements that provide a great page experience, like jump links, expandable content modules, and interactive javascript or videos.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our analysis, we were surprised to see that <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/04\/03\/faster-pages-stronger-sales-optimizing-ecommerce-site-speeds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">page load speeds<\/a> weren\u2019t as strong of a factor as we might have expected. Nevertheless, given Google\u2019s guidance about their forthcoming 2021 web vitals update, performance signals are likely to become more important. Even though these signals may not be as important as site authority in the algorithm today, I would strongly advise brands to begin preparing for the update and begin making <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linkgraph.io\/complete-guide-to-seo-on-page-content-optimization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on-page content improvements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linkgraph.io\/how-to-make-your-website-faster-for-better-google-rankings\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">page speed improvements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> right now and understand how your site stacks up in the &#8216;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/tools\/chrome-user-experience-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chrome User Experience&#8217; report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What this means for ranking on page one in your industry<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re an upstart and looking to break into page one of Google, most of these Google algorithm updates should come as very good news because they create a more democratic SEO landscape. In every correlation analysis, we\u2019ve performed, site authority has always been the most influential factor. It\u2019s also the hardest ranking factor to improve because link building takes such a concerted amount of effort and can take years in big industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seeing other ranking factors demonstrating strong influence over rankings &#8211; such as content length and quality, page speed, and web vitals, and high-quality UX. It means that new entrants gain more opportunities to succeed in SEO on the merits of their web pages, not just because they are incumbents with massive backlink profiles. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if you don\u2019t have the tools to do your own comprehensive correlation analysis, you can manually reverse engineer the SERPs in your industry. Studying how your competitors to benchmark on these important search factors can reveal valuable tactical insights that help you direct your team\u2019s SEO efforts towards the most impactful work possible and deliver faster-ranking improvements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manick Bhan is the founder and CTO of <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkGraph<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an award-winning digital marketing and SEO agency that provides SEO, paid media, and content marketing services. He is also the founder and CEO of <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SearchAtlas<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a software suite of free SEO tools. He is the former CEO of the ticket reselling app Rukkus.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LinkGraph&#8217;s CTO, Manick Bhan, explains how machine learning is helping us better understand how Google finds and evaluates content quality signals when ranking web pages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":141597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[75,27895,27460,37,658,27882,22,32],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-141595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","tag-content-2","tag-content-quality","tag-domain-authority-da","tag-google","tag-google-ranking-factors","tag-machine-learning-ml","tag-seo","tag-serps"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/1000-ranking-factors-how-google-finds-signal-through-the-noise.png","category":"SEO","timeago":"6y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141595"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=141595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}