Every two years, Moz surveys some of the top SEO services experts to find out more information about the current SEO trends. This year, Moz hand-picked 128 SEO experts and asked them to weigh various factors according to how important they are in Google’s algorithm. The survey results are based on the experts’ opinions only, not statistical facts or studies, but they are still very telling.
Of all of the categories that the experts were asked to assign weight to, “domain level link authority” received the highest weight at 20.94 percent. “Page level link features” came in second place at 19.15 percent, and “page level keyword and content features” came in third place at 14.94 percent. The rest of the factors all received weight rankings of between five and ten percent.
Based on these responses, Moz offers five useful takeaways that anyone interested in the field of SEO services can benefit from. They are as following:
1. Google’s Algorithm is Increasing in Complexity
In the past, SEO experts would have placed the vast majority of their emphasis on building links to their sites from other pages. Now, experts are focusing on a number of different factors, knowing that excelling in only one area is no longer enough to rank well.
2. Links Still Matter
While link building may not be as important as it once used to be, the strategy is still incredibly important. In fact, the two link building categories, “domain level link authority” and “page level link features” came in at first and second place, with a combined weight of around 40 percent. Link building is still the most important SEO strategy. Internet Marketing Team uses safe linking from pre-approved High PR Domains for our Phoenix SEO Services.
3. Brand-related Metrics are Increasing in Importance
One category that is quickly increasing in importance is brand-related metrics. Brand-related metrics, which includes categories such as “domain level brand features” and “user usage and traffic and query data,” now makes up a bigger percentage than ever at over 16 percent. In fact, for some experts, this category outweighs the “page level keyword and content features” category. While building a brand may not be quite as important as getting links, this strategy simply cannot be ignored.
4. Social Metrics are Still Perceived to Have a Minor Impact
At only 7.24 percent, social metrics aren’t seen as terribly important by the SEO experts. This percentage is quite interesting, since other studies Moz has done have shown a much higher correlation between social metrics and a brand’s ability to rank with Google.
5. Keyword Based Domain Names are Continuing to Shrink in Importance
In the past, it was essential for companies to include their keywords in their domain names if at all possible. This is likely no longer the case. While including keywords doesn’t hurt a business, it likely doesn’t have the positive effect it once did.
While Moz’s study is limited based on the fact that it is opinion driven, not data driven, these insights still have a great deal to offer anyone interesting in improving their SEO services.