WebProNews recently posted this super interesting article about an experiment done by SEOMoz that looked at different Google ranking factors, and how many Search Engine Optimization experts view their importance.
http://www.webpronews.com/google-ranking-factors-2-2011-06
A few things that stuck out for me:
- Page-level backlink metrics are the top algorithmic factor (compared to domain-level, link authority, social metrics, etc.)
- Diversity of backlinks is greater than raw quantity
- Nofollow backlinks do indeed help with rankings (further evidence to support this post)
- Pages with more content rank better
- Long titles and URLs are bad for SEO
- Using keywords earlier in tags and content seems “wise”
- Facebook may be more influential than Twitter for ranking, but Matt Cutts says Google can’t see Facebook shares so this doesn’t make sense to me
- Google Buzz may be used for indexing (more info here)
- Matt Cutts says in general the more content on the home page, the better, but you can also have too much
If you’re a nerd like me, hopefully you find this data useful too!