What Are Google’s Most Important Search Ranking Factors?

When marketers think of SEO, they’re usually thinking of search terms, keyword density, and on-page best practices for optimizing their content.

While these certainly matter, these aren’t even the most important factors in determining where your website ranks. The chart below, compiled by Moz, is the result of a survey of 120 search experts on the most important search ranking factors.

Let's explore these a bit futher. 

Select one of the 10 categories at the top of the chart to focus on those characteristics.

What this means for you.

As you can see, it’s not just about keyword placement and density.

Inbound links from authoritative domains and social shares carry far more weight in determining your website’s search ranking. What does this mean? Focus more on creating great content that others can’t help but share and reference on their own websites.

You’ve heard it before, but quality content is the most effective optimization tool, as people don’t share content because of keyword density. They share because it’s great.

Obviously there's a lot more that goes into your search rankings than just great content. To check out our full 40-page SEO report, fill out the form below.