Barry Schwartz says, “A new Google search rankings factors study released by Searchmetrics today shares that while content relevance is gaining in importance with Google, backlinks are a declining ranking signal. The full study can be downloaded over here, but here are the key takeaways from the study:

  • The URLs with the highest content relevance are those on positions 3 to 6.
  • Desktop content is around a third longer than mobile content.
  • In 2016, just 53 percent of the top 20 URLs included the keyword in their title.
  • The Time on Site for the top 10 URLs is 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
  • The average Bounce Rate for URLs on the first page of search results is 46 percent.
  • The pages occupying positions 1 through 3 have an average Click-Through Rate of 36 percent.
  • Almost half of webpages in the top 10 now use of HTTPS encryption.
  • Eighty-six percent of the top 10 domains now use the .com TLD.
  • Pages ranking for mobile are around a third smaller in terms of file size than their desktop equivalents”.

Searchmetrics Google ranking factors study says content gaining while links losing in importance

Search Engine Land

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