Search Engine Ranking Factors SEO data
Broad algorithmic elements to Google’s rankings
24%
Trust/Authority of the Host Domain
22%
Link Popularity of the Specific Page
20%
Anchor Text of External Links to the Page
15%
On-Page Keyword Usage
7%
Visitor/Traffic & Click-Through Data
6%
Social Graph Metrics
5%
Registration & Hosting Data
Which of the following statements best describes your opinion/experience with Google’s “Brand/Vince” update from February of 2009?
51%
The algorithmic changes/update affected algorithmic factors that unintentionally (and non-universally) appeared to preference some SERPs towards well-known, public brands.
36%
Google is now showing a slightly stronger preference towards websites associated with well-known, public brands.
9%
Google is now showing a much stronger preference towards websites associated with well-known, public brands.
4%
No major shift occurred that preferences Google’s results towards well-known, public brands.
Which of the following best represents your opinion of how Google handles algorithmic evaluation of content on subdomains (excluding potential special cases such as Blogspot, Wordpress, etc.)?
83%
Content on Subdomains inherits some, but not all, of the query-independent ranking metrics of the root domain (or other subdomains) and is judged partially as a separate entity.
10%
Content on Subdomains never inherits all of the query-independent ranking metrics of the root domain (or other subdomains) and is judged largely as a separate entity.
7%
Content on subdomains inherits all or nearly all of the query-independent ranking metrics of the root domain (or other subdomains) and is judged much the same as other content on the shared root domain.
Note: Subdomains in this context refer to the 3rd-level domain name only, e.g. “sub.domain.com” while root domains refer to the 2nd-level domain name,
e.g. “*.domain.com” including all subdomains.
To what extent do you believe Google Web Search employs data gathered from Google Analytics to influence their search rankings?
74%
Google Analytics data is used only in aggregate form to help with pattern identification and broad user behavior analysis.
16%
Google Analytics data is not used in any way.
6%
Google Analytics data is employed on a website by website basis and can positively or negatively affect a site's rankings.
4%
Google Analytics data is employed on a website by website basis, but can only impact search rankings consideration positively (no web spam or penalty analysis is conducted).
Which of the following statements most accurately represents your belief/experience about how 301 redirects are handled by Google?
70%
301’s pass a high percentage (but not 100%) of query dependent and independent ranking factors from one URL to another only when certain content & spam analysis algorithms are satisfactorily met.
23%
301’s universally pass a high percentage (but not 100%) of the query dependent and independent ranking factors from one URL to another.
7%
301’s universally pass 100% of the query dependent and independent ranking factors from one URL to another.
In your opinion/experience, do links from Wikipedia directly contribute positively to Google’s search engine rankings, despite the use of nofollow?
68%
Yes, but these citations are not treated directly as links, merely as indications of potential quality/authority/trustworthiness.
26%
No. Wikipedia links only appear to pass value because many other sites/pages scrape and re-publish the links without nofollows.
6%
Yes, the links are treated as though the nofollow didn’t exist
Which of the following statements best represents your opinion of how Google will treat links as part of their ranking algorithm over the next 5 years?
48%
Links will decline in importance, but remain powerful, as newer signals rise from usage data, social graph data & other sources to replace them.
37%
Links will continue to be a major part of Google’s ranking algorithm, but dramatic fluctuations will occur in how links are counted and which links matter.
15%
Links will continue to be a major part of Google’s ranking algorithm, much as they have been over the past 5 years.
0%
Links will become largely obsolete, much the way keyword stuffing fell by the wayside in the late 1990’s.
