What We Learned About SEO When We Analyzed a Million Sites in Google Search Results
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:51 am
Below is a translation of a large article by Brian Dean, one of the leading Western experts in the field of SEO. Brian and his team conducted a study: they analyzed a million Google search results. Why? To understand which factors are actually important for ranking, and which can be neglected.
Analyzed content. Studied backlinks. Researched website loading speed.
And here's what we found out.
11 Major Discoveries
Let's start with a summary, and below are the details:
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors. The more domains link to a page, the higher the site ranks. And this factor is more important than others.
The overall authority of a site (measured using Ahrefs ) has a strong japan mobile phone numbers database influence on ranking;
Solid content that covers a topic broadly and deeply (measured using MarketMuse ) ranks higher than superficial and incomplete content.
Longreads are better than short forms: they rank higher . On average, sites on the first page of Google search results have about 1,890 words. This is supported by SERP data from SEMRush .
HTTPS affects search rankings: Most sites on the first page are secure. But HTTPS is less important for ranking than you might think.
Page markup does not affect ranking. Not at all.
Content with at least one illustration ranks higher than pages without illustrations. But there is no reverse rule: a page with a hundred images will not rank higher than a page with five.
Do keywords in the title tag affect rankings? Just a little bit . And much less than expected. Perhaps this is because Google now uses semantic search.
Website loading speed is important. The faster the page loads, the higher the ranking.
Despite numerous updates to the Google Penguin algorithm, exact match anchor text still has a significant impact on rankings.
The lower the bounce rate, the higher the site ranks in search results.
All details are below.
The more domains link to your site, the higher the ranking
It is better to have ten links from ten different sites than ten links from one domain. And our analysis confirms this. Links from different domains significantly affect ranking.
Why is that? Google wants to see that your page is approved by several sites at once. And the more domains that link to you, the more confirmation this is for Google.
And our research has shown that this is the most important ranking factor. All others are far behind.
Tip : Get links from different domains. 10 links from 10 sites will raise your page in search results more than 10 links from one site.
The higher the domain authority, the higher the ranking
This is not news anymore, but overall domain authority is directly related to ranking. And overall site authority affects ranking more than the authority of an individual page. Simply put: the domain your page is hosted on is more important than the page itself.
Advice: increase the number of links to your site - the higher its authority, the higher it will rank. Not only it: all pages on the site.
The deeper and more serious the content, the higher the ranking
In the early days of SEO, Google looked at the content of a page by analyzing keywords. If a keyword appeared on a page several times, the search robot concluded that the page was about that word. This gave rise to thousands of sites filled with junk text with keywords.
Today, things are different. Thanks to the Hummingbird algorithm, Google understands what each specific page is about. Google understands your query.
For example, if you search for who directed Back to the Future, Google won't search for sites with the keywords "director", "Back to the Future". It will simply understand what you want. And give you the answer.
1
Great. How to optimize content for SEO? In theory, prepare more serious materials that cover one topic in depth. But in practice?
To find out, we analyzed 10,000 addresses from a prepared list using MartetMuse . And we found out that the more thorough the material, the better it ranks.
Analyzed content. Studied backlinks. Researched website loading speed.
And here's what we found out.
11 Major Discoveries
Let's start with a summary, and below are the details:
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors. The more domains link to a page, the higher the site ranks. And this factor is more important than others.
The overall authority of a site (measured using Ahrefs ) has a strong japan mobile phone numbers database influence on ranking;
Solid content that covers a topic broadly and deeply (measured using MarketMuse ) ranks higher than superficial and incomplete content.
Longreads are better than short forms: they rank higher . On average, sites on the first page of Google search results have about 1,890 words. This is supported by SERP data from SEMRush .
HTTPS affects search rankings: Most sites on the first page are secure. But HTTPS is less important for ranking than you might think.
Page markup does not affect ranking. Not at all.
Content with at least one illustration ranks higher than pages without illustrations. But there is no reverse rule: a page with a hundred images will not rank higher than a page with five.
Do keywords in the title tag affect rankings? Just a little bit . And much less than expected. Perhaps this is because Google now uses semantic search.
Website loading speed is important. The faster the page loads, the higher the ranking.
Despite numerous updates to the Google Penguin algorithm, exact match anchor text still has a significant impact on rankings.
The lower the bounce rate, the higher the site ranks in search results.
All details are below.
The more domains link to your site, the higher the ranking
It is better to have ten links from ten different sites than ten links from one domain. And our analysis confirms this. Links from different domains significantly affect ranking.
Why is that? Google wants to see that your page is approved by several sites at once. And the more domains that link to you, the more confirmation this is for Google.
And our research has shown that this is the most important ranking factor. All others are far behind.
Tip : Get links from different domains. 10 links from 10 sites will raise your page in search results more than 10 links from one site.
The higher the domain authority, the higher the ranking
This is not news anymore, but overall domain authority is directly related to ranking. And overall site authority affects ranking more than the authority of an individual page. Simply put: the domain your page is hosted on is more important than the page itself.
Advice: increase the number of links to your site - the higher its authority, the higher it will rank. Not only it: all pages on the site.
The deeper and more serious the content, the higher the ranking
In the early days of SEO, Google looked at the content of a page by analyzing keywords. If a keyword appeared on a page several times, the search robot concluded that the page was about that word. This gave rise to thousands of sites filled with junk text with keywords.
Today, things are different. Thanks to the Hummingbird algorithm, Google understands what each specific page is about. Google understands your query.
For example, if you search for who directed Back to the Future, Google won't search for sites with the keywords "director", "Back to the Future". It will simply understand what you want. And give you the answer.
1
Great. How to optimize content for SEO? In theory, prepare more serious materials that cover one topic in depth. But in practice?
To find out, we analyzed 10,000 addresses from a prepared list using MartetMuse . And we found out that the more thorough the material, the better it ranks.