Website Popularity vs Authority

It is always interesting to read articles on ‘SEO Basics’ and how to get a higher placement in Google to only read in the detail misconceptions about the really simple core elements that make a page ‘rank’.

Although search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc use hundreds of indicators to sort search results, there are two factors that are key to the formula, and they BOTH have importance to your website appearing higher in search engines like Google.

Popularity

A misconception some people may make is that popularity means how many people visit your site – this is not the case.

Popularity in terms of websites, is directly related to links (also referred to as backlinks). This equates to how many sites have a link to your website – it is no more complicated than that.

Authority

If we consider Popularity as a hand, Authority is the glove. The two of them together allows a search engine to rank sites.

Authority is more than just ONE factor.
It relates to the website that is linking to your website, and controls how much influence the link has.

The Authority of a link is measured by a number of things – primarily two:
– the content of the page with the link
– the text contained in the link

Link Relevancy

Link Quality

Links from similar sites

More Information

Check out the following Google Webmaster video on this same topic:

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