Just what are the factors Google uses in their algorithms to rank sites in the search engines?
No one knows exactly of course – search engine optimization professionals have been trying to do this even before Google was born.
At the recent PubCon conference, Google software engineer Matt Cutts commented that there are over 200 ranking factors in Google’s algorithm. So, SEOs on WebMasterWorld are starting to write down what these factors may be. There are only a few on there now so they have a long way to go.
Of course, determining the significance placed on each of these is a whole other kettle of beans. Search engine optimization pros have been trying to do this for years now. But as time drags on and more websites come online, this has only gotten more difficult.
Some of the major ranking factor categories include: domain, architecture, content, linking, penalties and more.
A list like this can be useful on some level…but knowing which elements carry more weight is what’s more important and where you need to focus your effort.