One of the most important things you need to do before you start the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website is to understand and implement the domain factors that are associated with your website ranking in search engines. Without understanding them the search engine optimization process may not give the desired results and will become more of an attempt to shoot in the dark. Of course, the algorithm of Google used for ranking the websites is kept in secret, and yet the experience and opinion of many SEO specialists lead to discovering some relations between what your website is and what its ranking is taking into account certain keywords.
The factors that determine your website ranking in search engines can be divided in two categories – the ones related to the domain of your website and the ones related to the pages of your website.
Domain factors that determine your website ranking in search engines:
1) Using keywords in the domain name:
This factor is associated with the influence that keywords used in your domain name have in order to get a better ranking. There are different options:
the keyword is used in the domain name (it is also important if the keyword is in the beginning, in the middle or in the end of your domain name);
the keyword equals to the domain name;
the keyword is used in the subdomain name;
the keyword is used as an expansion of the domain;
the keyword is used as a mixture of a domain name and domain expansion.
2) Using some hyperlinks and their authority (influence) over the ranking of your website in search engines:
The evaluation of this criteria includes the number of hyperlinks and their quality that point to your website domain. It is important for you to know that all links associated with your domain are taken into account. This factor includes several points:
the amount of unique domains containing hyperlinks to your website (with an exact or partial anchor text);
the authority (importance) of the domain (i.e. pagerank, mozrank, etc.);
the amount of unique URLs to your website (dofollow and nofollow);
if the theme of your website coincides with the themes of the websites you are creating links to;
the amount of unique c-blocks of IP addresses, which link to your website;
the variety of link types that point to your domain (for example forums, blogs, news websites);
are there any links from reputable websites.
Some recent studies about the amount of dofollow links have proved that if a website has only a few nofollow link compared to the number of dofollow links it will probably achieve the exact opposite of a good ranking. Some SEO specialists say that Google actually finds it unnatural if a certain website has more dofollow than nofollow links.
3) Onpage domain factors that are not associated with your keyword:
There are also some other factors apart from keyword density and links that are important for the ranking of your website in search engines. Some of them are:
domain name properties (the number of the letters, hyphens, etc);
uniqueness of the website content;
website updates;
bounce rate of the website;
summarized CTR evaluation from search engine results page (SERP);
domain registration date;
response speed of the domain;
the number of found 404 pages;
the quality of the other webstites located on the same C-block (this is the IP address of the host server);
time remaining until domain expire date.
The conclusion of most SEO specialists is that the length of your domain name is one of the key factors of your website ranking in search engines. In addition, it is better if you don't use any hyphens or digits in your domain name. Moreover, you must have in mind that the domains expiring in less than a year, get reduced scanning by Google and the indexing speed decreases significantly. The speed and the unique content of your website is also not to be underestimated.
4) Brand domain level:
This factor includes the elements of the domain that show its brand qualities. Some of them are:
searches of the brand/domain;
presence of the domain in news websites and social networks;
presence of the domain in Wikipedia;
presence of the website in Google places;
official Facebook page of the website;
official Twitter page of the website;
official LinkedIn page of the website.
It is considered that the amount of shares and references of the domain in news websites and social media websites has a positive influence on its ranking in search engines. In addition, these shares and references lead to increasing of the website's traffic, which is also taken into account when it comes to website ranking.
The factors that determine your website ranking in search engines can be divided in two categories – the ones related to the domain of your website and the ones related to the pages of your website.
Domain factors that determine your website ranking in search engines:
1) Using keywords in the domain name:
This factor is associated with the influence that keywords used in your domain name have in order to get a better ranking. There are different options:
the keyword is used in the domain name (it is also important if the keyword is in the beginning, in the middle or in the end of your domain name);
the keyword equals to the domain name;
the keyword is used in the subdomain name;
the keyword is used as an expansion of the domain;
the keyword is used as a mixture of a domain name and domain expansion.
2) Using some hyperlinks and their authority (influence) over the ranking of your website in search engines:
The evaluation of this criteria includes the number of hyperlinks and their quality that point to your website domain. It is important for you to know that all links associated with your domain are taken into account. This factor includes several points:
the amount of unique domains containing hyperlinks to your website (with an exact or partial anchor text);
the authority (importance) of the domain (i.e. pagerank, mozrank, etc.);
the amount of unique URLs to your website (dofollow and nofollow);
if the theme of your website coincides with the themes of the websites you are creating links to;
the amount of unique c-blocks of IP addresses, which link to your website;
the variety of link types that point to your domain (for example forums, blogs, news websites);
are there any links from reputable websites.
Some recent studies about the amount of dofollow links have proved that if a website has only a few nofollow link compared to the number of dofollow links it will probably achieve the exact opposite of a good ranking. Some SEO specialists say that Google actually finds it unnatural if a certain website has more dofollow than nofollow links.
3) Onpage domain factors that are not associated with your keyword:
There are also some other factors apart from keyword density and links that are important for the ranking of your website in search engines. Some of them are:
domain name properties (the number of the letters, hyphens, etc);
uniqueness of the website content;
website updates;
bounce rate of the website;
summarized CTR evaluation from search engine results page (SERP);
domain registration date;
response speed of the domain;
the number of found 404 pages;
the quality of the other webstites located on the same C-block (this is the IP address of the host server);
time remaining until domain expire date.
The conclusion of most SEO specialists is that the length of your domain name is one of the key factors of your website ranking in search engines. In addition, it is better if you don't use any hyphens or digits in your domain name. Moreover, you must have in mind that the domains expiring in less than a year, get reduced scanning by Google and the indexing speed decreases significantly. The speed and the unique content of your website is also not to be underestimated.
4) Brand domain level:
This factor includes the elements of the domain that show its brand qualities. Some of them are:
searches of the brand/domain;
presence of the domain in news websites and social networks;
presence of the domain in Wikipedia;
presence of the website in Google places;
official Facebook page of the website;
official Twitter page of the website;
official LinkedIn page of the website.
It is considered that the amount of shares and references of the domain in news websites and social media websites has a positive influence on its ranking in search engines. In addition, these shares and references lead to increasing of the website's traffic, which is also taken into account when it comes to website ranking.
