2015 SEO Periodic Table Ranking Factors

SearchEngineLand.com released its 2015 SEO Periodic Table Ranking Factors. Like SEL.com’s post states, this table is not a complete list of all Google’s, or another search engine’s, algorithm ranking factors.

The table’s goal isn’t to list those 200 factors and be precise about how each and every one works. No one actually knows the exact answers to do that. Even if they did, the “recipe” or “algorithm” used to mix all these factors together and decide what pages to rank best changes all the time.

However, the Periodic Table is a highly useful guide to quickly, and easily, audit any piece of SEO work. I kept the 2011 table above my desk until the release of the 2015 SEO Periodic Table.

Below is the embedded table from SEL.com and for the full image visit their webpage.

Some great take-a-ways from the 2015 SEO Periodic Table:

On Site SEO

• Cq: Quality
  • Content should not be thin. Every webpage, whether being a blog post or a page, should create value for the users. Is the informative? Does it teach? Does it have a goal?
• Ce: Engage
  • Does the content engage the user, are users spending time reading, or do they leave quickly, bounce? Content that keeps people on the site will further helps the content’s SEO. To know if a user bounces, look at your Google Analytics.
• HTML
  • Ht: Titles
    • Does the page, or post, have an title that describes the subsequent content? The title should directly related to the content that can be found, not trick the user into clicking on the title.
  • Hd: Description
    • In the html, most CRM’s have a box to fill in these days, it is important to include a description of the content. This way a search engine can easily understand the bulk of the content with fewer words.
  • Hh: Headers
    • Within the page or post itself, use < h1 >, < h2 >, and < h3 > header tags to separate ideas and organize the content. It clearly defines sections for both readers and search engines, the latter is less important.

Off Site SEO

• Lq: Links
  • Are other website’s linking to your content? As an example, in this post we’re linking to SearchEngineLand.com and where the original content can be found.
• Ss: Shares
  • Is the content being shared through social networks? Facebook, Twitter, Reddit … etc. Is the content worth sharing in the first place or is the content to thin to start with?
• Pl: Locality
  • Is the content geographically focused? As an example, a local real estate agent who publishes local content will have a great impact if posts and pages are focused on their local versus the national.

The 2015 SEO Periodic Table can help any SEO, beginner or advanced, stay focused on the long term ranking factors instead of getting caught up in fads that only temporarily increase click-through-rate (ctr) – Emojis didn’t last long in Google SERPs.

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