Google Ranking Factors – SEO Checklist

Google Ranking Factors – SEO ChecklistThere are “over 200 SEO factors” that Google uses to rank pages in the Google search results (SERPs). What are the search engine optimization rules?
Here is the speculation – educated guesses by SEO webmasters on top webmaster forums. Should you wish to achieve a high ranking, the various confirmed and suspected Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Rules are listed below.

Google Ranking Factor Checklist   1. Positive ON-Page SEO Factors. 2. Negative ON-Page SEO Factors. 3. Positive OFF-Page SEO Factors. 4. Negative OFF-Page SEO Factors. Brief Google Update List The Sand Box

The SEO Rules listed below are NOT listed by weight, and not by any presumed relevance – THAT exercise is left up to the reader!

1. Alleged POSITIVE ON-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (38) (Keeping in mind the converse, of course, that when violated, some of these factors immediately jump into the NEGATIVE On-Page Ranking Factors domain.) The term “Keyword” below refers to the “Keyword Phrase”, which can be one word or more. Green rows confirmed by Google patent - updated 08-10-06

Note - Patent Claim #	Factor #	POSITIVE ON-Page SEO Factors	Brief Note
		Keywords – Header
		Keywords – Body
		Keywords – Other
		NAVIGATION – INTERNAL LINKS
54		NAVIGATION – OUTGOING LINKS
		OTHER ON-Page Factors
		OTHER ON-SITE Factors

2. Alleged Negative ON-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (24)

Note

Factor #

NEGATIVE ON-Page SEO Factors

Brief Note

3. Alleged POSITIVE OFF-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (43)

Note	Factor #	POSITIVE OFF-Page SEO Factors	Brief Note
		INCOMING LINKS :
		FOR EACH INCOMING LINK :
		DIRECTORIES :
		PAGE METRICS – USER BEHAVIOR:	Currently implemented through the Google tool bar?
		SITE METRICS – USER BEHAVIOR :	Currently implemented through the Google tool bar?
38		DOMAIN OWNER BEHAVIOR :

4. Alleged NEGATIVE OFF-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors (13)

Note

Factor #

NEGATIVE OFF-Page SEO Factors

Brief Note

Recent Updates - 2007 Daily ranking. -30 penalty noticed, -350 penalty noticed, -950 penalty noticed 2006 Nov. Unnatural links are anathema to Google SEO – minus 30 SERP positions penalty Aug. Everflux is the rule of the day – many small updates. Sandbox (aging delay) alive and well July 27th update Big Daddy 2005 - Novem. 5 – Jagger 3 Update Nov.10 all done – settling out. October 26 – Jagger 2 Update More SERPs churning – OLD is highly valued. October 17 – Jagger 1 Update Recent Links, Recent Sites = SERP Turmoil Google has declared war on phony (low-grade) links Devaluation of reciprocal from unrelated-subject pages Devaluation of links from “link houses” Devaluation of purchased links Big allinanchor changes Large companies thrust to the top of the SERPs Sandbox update Lowering of sandbox threshold – re-sandboxing Too fast link accumulation – links acquired too quickly Deeper sandbox (longer – over 6 months) Some suggest that one’s site really had to be online before January 2004, in order to avoid all ramifications of the sandbox. Brief Google Algorithm Update List - 2006 – July – July 27 update, plus quality landing page update 2006 – Feb. – Big Daddy update 2005 – Sept. – the “False” Update (Sep.22 – Big update, many changes) 2005 – May – Bourbon Update 2005 – Febr.- Allegra Update – Feb.17, 2005, Some sites released from the sandbox, but many remain. 2004 – Feb.- Brandy Update 2004 – Jan.- Austin Update 2003 – Nov.- Florida Update 2003 – June – Esmeralda Update 2003 – May – Dominic Update 2003 – Apr. – Cassandra Update 2003 – Mar. – Boston Update Top of page

The Google Sandbox – The Single-Biggest SEO Ranking Factor for New Sites Google is clearly fighting spam by sacrificing SERP newness for higher SERP quality.
March 2004 Edited August 2006 THE GOOGLE SANDBOX The sandbox is alive and well. In March 2004, Google implemented a new filter, now referred to as “The Sandbox”. This new “effect” took months to notice and quantify. The sandbox is also referred to as an “aging delay”. Two aging delays have been suggested – one for link weight, and one for competitive term ranking. The sand box only applies to highly COMPETITIVE terms, revolving around money, such as the words attorney, loans, viagra, real estate, etc. The more lucrative the keyword, the longer the wait. Yahoo has a sandbox, as well. Opinion seems to indicate that the Yahoo aging delay is not quite as long as the Google Aging Delay. Yahoo does seem to provide an initial boost, that will disappear after about 4 weeks. MSN appears to have no sandbox. New sites with new pages, targeting competitive terms, can rank well very quickly (weeks) for those terms.	HOW IT WORKS If you subscribe to the spam reduction theory, Google’s thinking was, NO NEW SITES get good ranking, until they prove themselves. Spammers generate thousands of new pages daily, along with millions of new links to go with them. This penalty is new-site based. Long-standing sites have no trouble ranking new pages. Link Weight Aging Delay Google WITHHOLDS “link juice” on new sites, by deprecating the new links, for 2-8 months. If the domain and backlinks have existed for a certain length of time (6 months?), then maybe you are OK, and escape from the sandbox. Over time, the newly generated links are given weight, and eventually the sandbox effect is lifted. Competitive Term Aging Delay Google WITHHOLDS high ranking ability on new sites, for highly commercial keywords, such as loans, real estate, viagra, etc. Eventually, the new site will rank well for the competitive keywords, and the sandbox effect is lifted. Six months is mentioned most frequently.	SOLUTIONS Two methods are currently being used to get around the Sandbox penalty for new sites. One method is to join the Google Ad Words or Adsense program, in which case your pages get spidered in MINUTES. Your site will be checked initially with an algo or human “smell test”. If you smell good, you’re in. Good rankings will follow (provided of course, that you have good on-page SEO, and a few good backlinks). I speculate that if you are a Google partner (“approved”), then you are not going to be penalized, unless you subsequently “go bad”. The second method is to buy an old domain, just for it’s longevity, and old backlinks. Many have bought up old domain names for this purpose. This may work right now, but the rules will soon change again. They always do. Good luck!

Notes to the Above 120 Google Ranking Factors :

Sources “These optimization opinions are too strong - Too much speculation – I wanna see your SEO data! “. . . OK. Here it is - Google Search Engine Optimization Forums

Disclaimer
1.	NOT A Google, Inc. Site
2.	In no way, did this data come directly from Google, Inc.
3.	This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the internet, at multiple sites, as well as public webmaster forums, and simple manual tests.
4.	The opinions stated above are merely the often misguided personal opinions of the author.
5.	I am not privy to any inside information.
7.	Although the author makes every effort to verify the information on this page, no information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained herein may be erroneous.

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Keyword Checker	Google Keyword AND Backlinks Checker Tool - digitalpoint Track daily for FREE (Google approved – get your own Google API key)
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Search Engine Land	Search Engine Land – Danny Sullivan – Complete SE Info - SEL
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top of page Vaughn’s Summaries (One-Pagers) ©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 – Vaughns-1-Pagers.com Google search engine optimization (SEO) information This is Vaughns Google search engine SERP Ranking Factors SEO Checklist. Portions of this page were last updated on 2007-12-28. _uacct = “UA-286297-1″; urchinTracker();