Earlier this week, Google staff took to Twitter in response to chatter about the top three ranking factors for content in search results. In response to a query from a follower asking which top-ranking factors Google uses for all results. Through the conversation, Google’s Gary Illyes and John Mueller provided the following points of clarification:
- The top three results are never the same.
- Altogether, the top-ranking factors change depending on the query coming from the user.
- Optimizing for ranking factors is a short-term approach to getting search traffic.
- Links are not always a ranking factor, and in fact, many long-tail keyword queries have no links whatsoever.
- The biggest goal is for Google to deliver relevant and awesome results.
This conversation started due to a misunderstanding of a presentation Gary Illyes gave recently at SMX (Search Marketing Expo) in Brighton. To learn more about SMX events, visit MarketingLand’s events website.
