It’s that time of year again!
Today, the search engine gurus over at Moz released their results for this year’s comprehensive study into the main ranking factors for SEO.
What is the Search Engine Ranking Study?
The large-scale Study of Search Engine Ranking Factors gives SEOs (such as me!) a really simplistic breakdown of which areas of search engine optimisation currently have the most weight in producing long-term, organic results.
Why is the Study useful?
The world of search is huge, and seems to get bigger and bigger and more and more complicated year on year. Despite great efforts, it can therefore be difficult to keep up-to-date on everything in the industry as and when it happens – especially when everyone seems to have such diverse opinions!
This is why I love Moz’s annual Search Engine Ranking Study. It gives search engine marketers like me a really digestible way to see exactly what industry heavyweights believe Google prioritises in their complex search algorithm.
That’s all great! But what even is Moz?
Moz – formally known as SEO Moz – is the go-to resource for all of the latest and most insightful studies, findings, and predictions in the online marketing world.
The company provides a wide range of both free and paid-for tools, helping to equip online marketers with everything they need to find out what their next move should be.
Recognised SEO and content marketing experts the world over contribute their thoughts, advice, and experiences to Moz on a daily basis, and have shaped the website into the SEO knowledge hub it is known as today.
This year’s results
From reading the Study, it seems that the 5 most influential ranking factors for 2015 are:
- Domain-Level Link Features
Rankings are based on link and citation metrics, such as the quantity and quality of links directing to a website; contributing to its authority.
- Page-Level Link Features
Anchor text distribution, quality of link-rooting domains, and the perceived ‘spaminess’ of linking sources all contribute to rankings.
- Page-Level Keyword and Content-Based Features
On-page keyword optimisation in content and copy, and the relevance and quality of copy.
- Engagement and Traffic/Query Data
Rankings are impacted by the readability and uniqueness of of content, as well as the load speed of the website.
- Domain-Level Brand Metrics
Click-through rates from search engine results pages and visitor traffic at both domain and page-level will influence how a specific page or website ranks.
Find out more!
You can read more about the findings of the Study and what it means for SEO by visiting the Search Ranking Factors page on Moz’s website. You can also get the names of the key-players in the SEO world whose knowledge shaped the study’s findings.
Got any questions about what all of this means for your online marketing strategy? Drop us a line, or get in touch on social media for a chat!