SEO ranking factors 2016: the Searchmetrics study at a glance

Good SEO content is characterized by how much it corresponds to what the user is looking for. However, this differs from search query to search query. The challenge that content marketers face is that they have to answer as many questions as possible with just one text. To achieve this, content is created based on holistic texts that take into account different aspects of a topic and are optimized for different keywords on a semantically related topic. Holistic content therefore aims to achieve good search results for several relevant keywords. The individual keyword, however, fades into the background.

The search metrics study analyzed the content relevance of texts in relation to the search term used. This was carried out on the basis of linguistic corpora and on the concept of semantic relationships. The result isn’t surprising:

                'The URLs with the highest content relevance are those in position 3 to 6'

The relevance score decreases constantly for subsequent search results. Positions 1 and 2 need to be considered separately in this study. According to Searchmetrics, there are generally websites of well-known brands, which benefit from factors such as recognizability, user trust, and brand image when it comes to the Google ranking, so their position isn’t necessarily due to the content being relevant.

The average word count of well-ranking landing pages has been steadily increasing for years. According to Searchmetrics, this reflects a more intensive analysis of the respective topic areas in terms of holistic content creation.

                'The average number of words increased by 50 percent in 2016'

Significant differences in the word count are shown here with the comparison of desktop content and mobile landing pages: according to the analysis, desktop versions of a website are on average 30 percent longer than their mobile counterparts.

This motto is still valid in the world of SEO: the keyword needs to be in the title - and placed as far forward as possible. Whether the search engine agrees with this assumption is shown by the findings of one of the Searchmetrics studies:

                'In 2016 only 45 percent of the top 20 URLs had the keyword in the title'

This development can also be explained by the holistic approach of content creation, in which texts are optimized on topics rather than keywords. Google’s AI system is now capable of analyzing semantic relationships without the need for keywords.

Users put a lot of trust into the search engine’s relevance analysis. This was already indicated in the 2014 Searchmetrics study when the average click-through rate (CTR) of the analyzed top URLs was determined.

Consequently, websites on position 1 receive the most clicks. For pole position, the Searchmetrics team calculated an average CTR of 44%. The percentage decreases the further down the page the website is. At position 3 the CTR is already down to 29%.

                'The average click-through rate of position 1 to 3 is 36 percent.'

In addition to the CTR, the so-called bounce rate is also taken into account when conducting a website relevance assessment. This shows how many users return to Google.com after clicking on a search result without looking at other URLs on the domain they’re visiting.

For the investigated URLs, the Searchmetrics team found an average of 40% increase in the bounce rate for the top 10 positions compared to 2014. There’s a clear deviation between the top two positions.

What’s especially important for a relevant assessment of a website is mainly the time between clicking and leaving the site. Webanalytics can accurately measure the time a user spends on the website (time on site). Here, Searchmetrics provides us with an average value for which there could be different reasons.

                'The time on site for the top 10 URLs is 3 minutes and 43 seconds.'

Comparing the value of the current study with that of 2014, a significant increase in the retention time can be seen for the top 10 URLs. This development can be attributed to the fact that website operators have started providing visitors with better quality content since they want to rank well with Google.

Webmasters planning to forego HTTPS transport encryption in 2017 will find it hard to improve their position in the search results. Even in September 2016, Google announced that it planned to classify HTTP sites as 'unsafe' from 2017 if sensitive data is processed on them. You don’t have to be an SEO expert to figure out how much this will affect a user’s willingness to click on a website.

Not least for this reason, the number of HTTPS-encrypted websites is growing steadily. While the number of top 10 websites based on HTTPS was still 14% the previous year, Searchmetrics was able to record a significant increase to 33% in its current study.

                'One third of websites in the top 10 are now based on HTTPS encryption.'

The number of backlinks on a website still correlates somewhat with its placement in the search results. However, link building is fading into the background as a result of new developments in search engine optimization. According to Searchmetrics, a website’sbacklink profile is no longer the decisive factor for impressing Google, but rather one of many.

Today, Google is able to analyze a website’s value through semantic context and direct user signals. The backlink profile as a quality feature has been replaced by content relevance. If there are numerous inbound links from representative websites, webmasters need to ask themselves whether the users’ expectations are met by the content these websites offer.

You shouldn’t fear backlinks completely disappearing from the Google algorithm in the future. This was also confirmed by the Searchmetrics study. However, backlink-oriented search engine optimization is now outdated.

  'The correlations for backlinks are still high, but their importance for the ranking will continue to decrease.'               

The following graphic shows the ranking correlation of general ranking factors for the top 20 URLs analyzed by Searchmetrics as well as any other developments compared to the previous year. Ranking factors, which were collected for the first time in 2016 as well as recalculated factors, have been marked with an asterisk.