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In a recent study and report on how Google's Panda and Penguin algorithm updates are affecting website search engine ranking, some surprising information was uncovered. Based on compiled data from as recently as February and March, social networks - specifically Facebook - have the most effect on page rank; very surprisingly many of the other SEO techniques customarily used have much less effect. Even more startling was the indication that keywords in general, even in the meta tags and headers, worked negatively for a high-rated website based on Google's new algorithms.

Re-Look at SEO

In other words, based on statistical results from very current data, much of what is being done with SEO is wrong, or at the very least, not helping. The only ones who are winning the search engine ranking games today, other than major ranking brand names who were affected in a different way by any SEO techniques, are using Facebook pages as far and wide as can be done. Twitter showed up as a plus as well, though it did not rate as highly as Facebook.

Use Facebook

What this means is that it is the best time to go back to the drawing board, take a look at a recent website analysis, and decide how to make better use of Facebook pages - and if a business does not have a such a page, the time is now to create one.

Sharing posts and content on or to Facebook rated highest of all actions that affected positive ranking in this eye-opening study. Backlinks from Facebook pages, which occurs when someone posts a link from one web page to a similar one, was second highest to affect rank, followed by Facebook comments and 'likes' and then Twitter 'likes'. All of these actions rated a website almost twice as high as having a domain name with a keyword in it, which has always been an important SEO factor that affected search results. Keywords in the url and description were half as effective as that. Further on down the list, images help with higher page ranking about as much as having a keyword in the url and just slightly more than having a keyword in the page description.

Negative Factors

As for the negatives according to this study, all of the following caused a negative effect for higher-listed websites which means that these practices actually lessened page rank instead of increased it: keywords in a Title and/or in a H1; AdSense blocks - interesting since Google owns AdSense yet supports the theory that spam sites are being eliminated; Adlinks; AdSense; and keyword position in a title. The biggest negative for high-ranking websites is word content, presumably to mean that content with too few words is interpreted now as being spam.

A few thoughts about these results to use. As the collected data was taken from a selection of highest ranking sites in Google's internet searches, it appears many of these points change over the lifetime of a website. What are negatives seem to become stronger negatives as ratings increases, which can mean two things: Google's algorithms get tougher the higher a website ranks which helps reduce spam; and lower rated ones are not being affected by these negatives... yet. The better rating a page has, the more it will be that these things matter. This is a good thought to keep in mind for future planning once a website starts to rank.

The big picture in all of this is that social networking is apparently more of a key factor than was ever assumed, and quality back links are vital. A good domain name still holds a lot of weight and keywords do not necessarily have as much importance as so many people are led to believe. It is a real eye opener for sure, yet something to remember as search engine algorithms continue to change. In the end, SEO may come down to one thing: a website that provides value to readers is going to do well and may even take care of much of the ranking process on its own, simply because of the value it has attained!

Chris Hunter is an expert in Web Design and Search Engine Marketing. To find out more about SEO in Houston, go to the main website at: http://www.webunlimited.com/.