Jill Whalen on Google Ranking Factors

Mon, Sep 26, 2005

I usually refer to Vaughn’s Google Ranking Factors page when going over the why’s of a SERP listing. It gives a pretty thorough overview of the website factors (or myths, depends on who’s reading) that affect ranking in Google. Having this handly list allows me check or cross out potential ranking factors in my SEO strategy mix when going against entrenched competitive websites.

A recent thread in the High Rankings forum by world33 puts this list to the test. The items in bold are items that I need to run more tests on. I’m shocked that some items I considered as SEO fact are actually myths based on Jill’s experience.

Alleged Positive ON-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (with Jill Whalen’s comments)

Website Age -Can be a factor definitely
Website Size - not a factor in and of itself, but has indirect consequences
Age of Webpage versus Age of site - not a factor as far as I know
PageRank - not a big factor although does provide weight (not toolbar PR, but real PR)
Number and Relevance of Incoming links - is a big factor
Keywords included in URL(s) - not really a factor (other than indirectly)
Keywords included in Domain Name - not really a factor (other than indirectly)
Keywords included in Title Tag - a big factor
Keyword included in Body Text - a big factor
Keyword Density in Body Text - not a factor (in that there is no magic number)
Keywords included in Description Meta Tag - doesn’t appear to be a ranking factor
Keywords included in Keyword Metatag - not at all a factor for important phrases
Keywords included in H1, H2 and H3 Headlines - not an SEO factor, imo.
Keyword Font Size - not a factor
Keyword proximity - not a factor
Keyword synonymous presence in the body text - not a factor at this time (perhaps will come to that)
Keyword prominence to the top of the webpage - not a factor
Keyword included in alt tag of linking images - a factor in helping the page it points to
Keyword included in anchor text - a huge factor
Valid (non-broken) links to internal webpages - a big factor is your site architecture
Valid (non-broken) links to external webpages - I’ve never considered this a factor, but it could be.
Textual navigation/link structure and menu - Same as #20. (Links don’t need to be text though, that’s a myth)
Links to external leading reference pages for targeted keywords - same as #21
Less than 100 links per webpage - important if you want the page completely indexed.
Link stability over time - a common sense factor
Domain Name type (eg .com versus .org) - not at all a factor
Webpage Size - not a factor unless it’s over 100k file size
Hyphens versus Underscore in URLs - hyphens are parsed, but since URLs aren’t a direct factor it doesn’t matter.
Content Freshness - not a factor other than more frequent spidering and perhaps a spike in rankings for a short period of time.
Links Freshness - no idea - don’t know what this means.
Website Update Frequency and Rate - not a factor for most sites
Webpages Update Frequency and Rate - how is this different thatn 31?
Non automatic generated webpages - not a factor
Static versus Dynamic webpages - not a factor
Webpage Theming - not a factor
Keyword stemming - not a factor
URL length - not a factor unless you have one so long that it can’t be indexed or appears to be spammy

Perhaps the best reply in the thread so far belonged to Scottie:

Sites built for rankings simply consume bandwitdh as people find them and leave. I’ve seen so many people who were so proud of their rankings and traffic figures that they were terrified to actually improve their site.

The fact that their site rarely every made a sale didn’t seem to figure into the equation! It’s completely backwards, unless you are building a site for bragging rights and like having a hobby site that ranks #1.

When you focus on the wrong metrics, it’s impossible to be profitable.

A PR number will not buy your groceries

A high ranking for a keyword phrase no one searches for is about as useful as swim goggles and a snorkel in the middle of the desert

A high ranking for a keyword phrase that really isn’t what you do is worse because it leaves people feeling decieved and eats up your bandwidth

You can’t cash in high ranking keywords or PR numbers and take a vacation to the beach.

Website traffic is nice for making charts to show to your friends, but if the people who visit your site don’t give you a credit card number, they are just using up your bandwidth.

If you don’t have a clear business plan and a site that offers something people want to purchase (or learn or communicate, etc) you can have #1 rankings for every term you choose and you still won’t make enough money to cover your hosting fees.

It really isn’t about the traffic. It’s about conversions, conversions, conversions. But for AdSense publishers, I think it’s a different story :)

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