Ranking Factors: The Future of SEO

Uncategorised • 17th Aug, 15

 
 

With Google throwing out algorithms, it’s necessary for SEOs to always keep updates on what and doesn’t work in the ranking algorithm today.  Because of this, we’ve taken a look at some features which are expected to change in the next year.  Most factors which relate to and revolve around user experience should be increasing such as mobile-friendliness, readability, and perceived value.  It’s been predicted that the more traditional ranking signals, like those around URL structures and links, will be remaining the same.  When it comes to the more manipulative aspects of SEO, such as anchor text and paid links, this should be decreasing in influence.  After having a look at his you will be able to identify the important areas in which you should be investing your time and energy in order to better the search presence of your website. 

On-page keyword features

This describes the keyword phrase/term in specific parts of the HTML code on the page, such as title element, H1S, and alt attributes.  Titles are, and will remain to be, very powerful.  Your title should include keywords of what the copy will be offering you and the information which it will be providing.  If this is not seen to, it’s going to be quite a challenge to rank.  By having the presence of a keyword as well as in your content, you’ll be speeding up your visibility. 

Page-level link-based features

Describing link metric for the individual ranking page, such as PageRank and the number of links, it’s evident that high quality links still rule when it comes to rankings.  Avoid link schemes at all times, which will hurt your site more than ever before.  With anchor text remaining to be a powerful ranking factor, the use of targeted anchor text brings along a high risk and could have your previous success wiped out completely.   

Domain-level keyword features

This determines who keywords are used in the subdomain or root domain, as well as the impact which this will have on ranking in search engines.  There may be no direct influence here, but with an exact root match it will lead to a higher CTR in the SERPs.  In the long term, this will lead to a higher ranking.  Other signals which align with domain name should also be kept in mind, including mentions, inbound links, and local citations.   

 

Domain-level brand features

This describes elements which indicate qualities of branding as well as brand metrics.  With the reintegration of Twitter into Google’s real-time results, this is bound to change very soon.  This means that aspects such as quality and quantity of followers, favourites, RTs, and hashtags will all be important once again.  It’s expected that Google will be paying more attention to brand-related metrics, with brands being more prominently displayed on SERPs for both commercial as well as informational queries.    

Page-level social features

 Relating to third-party metrics from social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for the ranking page, it’s the content which is shared and liked the most that will be ranking high.  There are various factors which should be considered when it comes to social popularity, such as the authority of the social profile.  When it comes to fresh-type content, social links and shares have more power.  The more social shares for an article on a site which has a constant flow of content coming out, the better.

Page-level keyword-agnostic features

This involves non-link-metrics and non-keyword-usage of individual pages, like load speed and the length of the page.  There is an increasing percentage of organic search traffic constantly coming from mobile devise.  With CTR from the SERPs continuing to be an important ranking signal, it flags any poor-quality or irrelevant links.    

Domain-level link authority features

In order to determine if a site will be successful relative to any other competitor site which have similar content and selling points, quality and quantity of unique linking domains at the domain level is one of the most important factors when it comes to determining how a certain domain will perform when looking at organic search results. 

Search: What’s in store?

As mobile continues to increase, so too will structured data.  With this comes more data partners as well as user segmentation and personalization of SERPS which will match query intent, device-specific states, and localization.  It seems as though in the next 12 months we will be seeing a larger impact of this structured data in the SERPs, as we’ve noticed already. 

 

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