Of all of the resources online that discuss optimizing your website for the Search Engines (to get those coveted top 10 rankings, and an increase in profits with little to no cost), I trust very few of them due to the fact that it’s rare that the theories being tossed about are more than just that…theories. Most self-acclaimed SEO experts have not even tested their theories, or the ones they spread on forums, and it’s been the reason for a great number of failed websites!

That said, there are a group of 72 true SEO experts, widely known in the space for years now, that all come together once every two years to discuss (and update) the most vital “Search Engine Ranking Factors“. This year’s list was just updated, and the top 5 ranking factors are as follows:

1. “Keyword Focused Anchor Text from External Links”
2. “External Link Popularity (quantity/quality of external links)”
3. “Diversity of Link Sources (links from many unique root domains)”
4. “Keyword Use Anywhere in the Title Tag”
5. “Trustworthiness of the Domain Based on Link Distance from Trusted Domains”

These ranking factors are, according to the aforementioned 72 SEO experts (courtesy of SEOmoz.org), the most widely-accepted specific aspects of achieving high rankings.

Let’s break each factor down…

1) The most important element to great rankings for a particular term is the anchor text used in backlinks. What does this mean? It’s simply this: What text is used in the hyperlink on pages that link to your page?

e.g. Say you have a landscaping website, based in the Miami area, and you want one page to get ranked for “best landscaping company in miami”. If there are 500 other websites that are linking to that page of yours, but the text they use to link to you is “click here”, you will not receive nearly the boost in rankings for “best landscaping company in miami” as you would if some of them used the anchor text “best landscaping company in miami”, or even something similar such as “miami landscaping company”.

2) The 2nd crucial ranking factor is link popularity, which boils down to two simple things: how many links are pointing to the page, and how powerful are those links?

This gets a bit more complicated than it sounds, because the quality of a link is more subjective than sheer quantity overall. For instance, if the page linking to you has the same theme (i.e. a page about landscaping), the link is worth more than if it came from an unrelated page. Another example: if there are 100 links to all different pages from that URL, and yours is one of them, should that “vote” for your page be weighed as heavily as if the link to your page was the only outbound link coming from that page?

There are many factors that contribute to the quality of a link, but overall link popularity is crucial, so it’s imperative to understand that getting themed, relevant links from naturally-occurring pages with as few links as possible, is a sound strategy for getting better rankings. Combine this with many more links and relevant anchor text, and your page is almost unstoppable.

3) Next up we have link diversity. There was a time that people could create a single 100,000 page website in 5 minutes using spam software, and put links on each page pointing to pages they want to improve rankings for, and all those backlinks would boost rankings at lightning speed. Thankfully, Google stepped in and introduced link diversity to combat this.

In the end, getting a lot of links is great, but it’s vital that the links come from as many different websites as possible.

4) This is an easy fix: put the keyword in the Title of your page! The title (what you see at the top of your browser when you’re on a webpage) is a key element to the Search Engines, as it tells them directly what your page is about. An added benefit to writing a great title is that it’s typically what searchers see when they land on the Search Engines’ results pages. If the phrase they searched for is in your Title, it will show up bold in the results.

Word of warning: Do NOT stuff keywords in your Title. While it’s useful for the Search Engines (and potential visitors) to know about the content on your page, it’s better to say something natural, with one instance of your keyword phrase included.

5) The 5th ranking factor is about Authority: if the links coming in to your page are from websites (or specific pages) that are seen as important, their “vote” is liable to influence your rankings more heavily.

In summary, more links are better, but getting them from many different websites, preferably with authority and trust in the eyes of the Search Engines is best. Including the keyword phrase you’re targeting in the Title of your page and in the anchor text of some of the links pointing to your page is essential, and with these aspects combined, ranking in the top 10 is easy for the vast majority of profitable keyword phrases out there!