Search Engine Optimization Indicators
by Heather Steele, Member
Are you looking to boost your visibility in search results but don’t have the time to commit to a full-blown search engine marketing (SEM) campaign? Prioritize your efforts and achieve better results with less time committed to your project.
The January 21st, 2008 meeting of the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM) featured a presentation of search engine optimization (SEO) indicators and how effective they are. The DFWSEM board members voted for each indicator on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the most effective and 1 being the least.
The following table shows the averaged results in order of most effective to least.
SEO Indicator |
Score |
Inbound site links |
5 |
Information architecture |
5 |
Media links |
5 |
On-topic off-site linking |
5 |
SEO friendly design |
5 |
Title element keywords |
5 |
Depth of a site |
4.6 |
Internal site linkage |
4.6 |
html site map page |
4.4 |
Age of domain |
4.4 |
Keyword in first paragraph |
4.4 |
Uniqueness/originality/authority of document |
4.4 |
URL/redirection hygiene |
4.4 |
Anchor text |
4.2 |
Documents located close to the domain root |
4.2 |
Length of domain registration |
4.2 |
Quantity and quality .edu and .gov links |
4.2 |
Steadiness of link growth |
4.2 |
Deep link ratio |
4 |
XML site map |
4 |
Use of blog/RSS feeds/ Fresh content |
4 |
Yahoo directory listing |
4 |
Age of links |
3.8 |
Mention of addresses and phone numbers |
3.8 |
Text weight of entire site |
3.8 |
Uptime of site |
3.8 |
Text weight of page |
3.4 |
Geography of hosting |
3.2 |
Keywords in on page descriptors around a link (cluster text) |
3.2 |
DMOZ directory listing |
3 |
Freshness of links |
3 |
Ranking history for a particular term or phrase |
3 |
Social media bookmarks |
3 |
Business.com listing |
2.8 |
Age of document |
2.6 |
Cleanliness of URL naming structure |
2.6 |
Dedicated or shared hosting |
2.6 |
Limited on-topic reciprocal linking |
2.6 |
Number of domains registered |
2.6 |
Time on page |
2.6 |
Bounce rate |
2.4 |
Clickthrough rate |
2.2 |
Paid search |
2 |