Top SEO Ranking Factors for 2013

After various different updates from Google, SEO has become even more confusing and it can be difficult to know what will actually work, and what you’re wasting your time with. Searchmetrics has published their report for 2013, outlining the aspects of SEO which are having the most effect upon websites and what doesn’t have any. Here’s our overview of the 6 key findings and the top points which you should bear in mind when thinking about your SEO. Click here to read the full report Keyword domains are no longer relevant – For a long time, having a keyword in your URL was seen as a key part to getting your site ranked highly, however, the report found that it adds little value to your site’s overall ranking, following the ‘exact match domain’ update from Google. The rules don’t apply to Brands – The research found that brands automatically ranked higher, regardless of what they were doing. For example pages from big brands that have little text and no keywords in the title, were still being found at the top of the search engines. Social signals are influencing rankings – Over recent years, the relevance of social media has been growing and it is now more important than ever in the eye’s of Google. Web pages with high ranking show significantly more social signals, this includes Facebook likes and shares, Google+ ones, Twitter posts and pins on Pinterest. The most influential social platform was unsurprisingly, Google+. So if you’re not already setup on Twitter/ Facebook/ Google+, it’s time to go setup your accounts and start sharing. Good content is, and always will be King – No matter what updates Google makes to its algorithm in the future, content will always be the most important part of any SEO strategy. This doesn’t include pages and pages of rubbish, useless content that won’t mean anything to users, it’s all about relevant, up-to date and useful content. Number of backlinks remains immensely important – It’s not all about getting as many links as possible, but getting quality links from high-quality, high ranking websites is critical and will have the most difference as to where your site is ranked. Google is looking for sites with a ‘natural link profile’, that means links coming from a wide variety of sources. On-page technology remains one of the basics – The traditional on-page methods may not necessarily help your website to rank higher, but it will ensure they don’t drop down. These on-page elements include; keywords, H1/ H2 tags and meta description. If you’re trying to improve your site’s rankings or if you just launched a new site, then these are the best starting points If you’d like any help or advice with your SEO and website management, contact us today