In a forum thread on the website, WebmasterWorld.com, Roger Montti (aka martinibuster), posted a thread about two revised lists for 2015 of search engine optimization (SEO) factors he believes are more important, and less important, to ranking high on Google.
He is focusing specifically on insight into “on-page” factors—factors relating to those things a designer and editor have control over—not those factors that take place “off the page” (like incoming links).
His list of the most important “on-page” factors for Google:
- User experience metrics (all of them)
- Shorter title tags
- Original content
- Engaging content that provides an answer, teaches, informs, is useful, delights
- Original images
- Quality site design
- Descriptive meta description
He believes the following factors are so unimportant, he calls them deprecated, as in, no longer used by Google are:
- Keywords
- Focus on longtail phrases
- Focus on ranking for specific keyword phrases
- Lean code
According to Barry Swartz of Search Engine Roundtable, an obvious “missing factor” on the list of important list is responsive design. However, he encourages folks to skim the thread for a lively discussion among SEO wonks and wonks-to-be.
(via: Search Engine Roundtable)
(Photo: Rex Hammock via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)