How does your site measure up against important SEO ranking factors?

Search Engine Land recently introduced a useful Periodic Table of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Ranking Factors.  You can download the PDF of this table for free.

As covered in the chart, site owners should pay attention to these 4 major groups of ranking factors:

  • On-Page Ranking Factors
  • Off-Page Ranking Factors
  • Violations
  • Blocking


Why should you care about these factors?

Because search engines like Google and Bing use these criteria (in their complex "search algorithms") to determine the quality of your site and where the site should appear within the search results.

The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors will help you understand what areas of your site are doing well, and more importantly, what areas need improvement.  For example, maybe your site is missing good descriptive HTML titles or it lacks quality content.  Identifying your site's weak spots and putting your focus on improving these areas will help boost your visibility in the search engines, and this will also drive more visitors to your site.

Be sure to read the accompanying guide which explains all the factors in the table and more.

Got a question or comment about these ranking factors or SEO in general?  Please post them here!