SEO

SEO Ranking Factors for 2014 for Germany and the U.S.

Two months ago we reported on the shortened study on SEO Ranking Factors for 2014 by Searchmetrics. Searchmetrics has released the final study on the Ranking Factors for Germany and the U.S. a couple of days ago.

The Ranking Factors for Google Germany:

SEO Ranking Faktoren 2014 Deutschland

Ranking Factors for Google U.S.:

SEO Ranking Faktoren 2014 USA

Comparison of the Ranking Factors for Germany and the U.S.

By comparing the ranking factors these things attract attention:

  • The most important factor is the Click-Through Rate, that is new this year. This factor is even more important in the U.S.
  • Google +1s are more important in the U.S. than in Germany.
  • Proof Terms are less important in Germany than in the U.S.
  • The Word Count in Anchor Texts has more significance in Germany.
  • The Share of Backlinks from the same country has more weight in Germany.
  • The Bounce Rate has more influence on the ranking in Germany.
  • Pinterest is more important for the ranking in the U.S.
  • Sitespeed has a greater impact in the U.S.
  • While Keywords in H1 are beneficial in Germany, they are penalized in the U.S.

Ranking Factors 2014 vs. 2013

For the comparison to the previous year, these findings can be stated:

  • Factors concerning social media are currently less important.
  • The Keywords in the Backlinks have a greater impact in 2014.
  • The Length of the Texts in characters and words have more weight now.
  • Keywords in the Body are more important now.
  • Google values the existence of H2s more.
  • Sitespeed now has an influence, whereas in 2013 there was no impact.
  • Too long Titles are now penalized harder than in the previous year.

The final study is very detailed and contains invaluable information on the implementation of SEO. Have a good time reading this study.