Netmark Unveils Top 10 Google Ranking Factors

How, exactly, does Google decide the search results rank of a given web page? The simple answer is that nobody knows with 100% certainty except for people like Matt Cutts and other members of Google’s Search Quality Team, but their lips are sealed.

Fortunately, there are companies out there like Netmark that spend copious hours researching exactly how Google’s search algorithms work based on real-world data. This being said, Netmark has put together a list of the top 10 Google ranking factors that influence the rank of a given page on Google.

Here they are, with the first three ranking factors being considerably more important than the last seven:

1. Exact Match Domain
2. Keyword Anchor Text Links from Domains to Page
3. Keyword Anchor Text Links to Page
4. Page Authority
5. Page Google +1s
6. Linking Domains to Page
7. Linking Subdomains to Page
8. “No Text” Anchor Text Links from Domains to Page
9. External Links to Page
10. “No Text” Anchor Text Links to Page

As you can see, having an domain name that matches the exact search query is most beneficial. Overall, however, the ranking of your page is determined largely by factors that are off the page – who’s linking to you, and with what types of links, for example.

As you can also see, social media is important to ranking as well, with the number of Google +1s being fifth on the list of heaviest ranking factors. Netmark ranked the top 10 social media factors for ranking as well, and it’s certainly not exclusive to Google’s own social network:

1. Number of Page Google +1s
2. Number of Page Delicious Bookmarks
3. Number of Page Facebook Shares
4. Number of Page Facebook Comments
5. Number of Page Facebook Likes
6. Number of Page Tweets
7. Number of Domain Google +1s
8. Number of Domain Facebook Shares
9. Number of Domain Facebook Comments
10. Number of Domain Facebook Likes

Will these lists affect your SEO campaigns for the rest of 2013? Let us know in the comments below.