First off, there’s no way to know for certain which of these onsite variables Google actually considers ranking factors. There’s also no way to know how to prioritize these (potential) ranking factors.
What I do know is that you can measure these variables in the SERPs to see which ones have strong correlations for positive and negative rankings in Google—and the results vary wildly from keyword to keyword.
That said, here are the current 549 onsite ranking factors that I measure to produce my Customized Onsite SEO Checklists. I’ll add more details on each variable as time permits. If you have any questions post them in the comments and I’ll answer them as soon as instantly as I can!
H Tag Ranking Factors
- Keywords in H1 and H2 Tags
- Keywords in H1 Tags
- Keywords in H1, H2, and H3 Tags
- Keywords in H1-H6 Tags
- Keywords in H2 Tags
- Keywords in H3 Tags
- Keywords in H4 Tags
- Keywords in H4-H6 Tags
- Keywords in H5 Tags
- Keywords in H6 Tags
- Keywords making whole H1 Tags
- Keywords making whole H1, H2, and H3 Tags
- Keywords making whole H1-H6 Tags
- Keywords making whole H2 Tags
- Keywords making whole H3 Tags
- Keywords making whole H4 Tags
- Keywords making whole H4-H6 Tags
- Keywords making whole H5 Tags
- Keywords making whole H6 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H1 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H1, H2, and H3 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H1-H6 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H2 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H3 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H4 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H4-H6 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H5 Tags
- Leading Keywords in H6 Tags
- Search Terms in H1 Tags
- Search Terms in H1-H6 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H1 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H1, H2, and H3 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H1-H6 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H2 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H3 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H4 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H4-H6 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H5 Tags
- Search Terms making whole H6 Tags
Ahrefs Ranking Factors (Yeah, yeah… Lots of these are Offsite)
- Ahrefs Alternate Backlinks
- Ahrefs Backlinks
- Ahrefs Canonical Backlinks
- Ahrefs Dofollow Backlinks
- Ahrefs Domain Rating
- Ahrefs Edu Backlinks
- Ahrefs External Links
- Ahrefs Facebook Clicks
- Ahrefs Facebook Comments Box
- Ahrefs Facebook Comments
- Ahrefs Facebook Interactions
- Ahrefs Facebook Likes
- Ahrefs Facebook Shares
- Ahrefs Gov Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Alternate Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Canonical Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has DoFollow Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Domain Rating
- Ahrefs Has EDU Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has External Links
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Clicks
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Comments Box
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Comments
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Interactions
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Likes
- Ahrefs Has Facebook Shares
- Ahrefs Has Google Plus Ones
- Ahrefs Has Gov Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Html Pages
- Ahrefs Has Image Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Images
- Ahrefs Has Internal Links
- Ahrefs Has Linked Root Domains
- Ahrefs Has LinkedIn Shares
- Ahrefs Has Median Shares
- Ahrefs Has NoFollow Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Not Sitewide Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Pinterest Shares
- Ahrefs Has Redirects
- Ahrefs Has RSS Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Shares
- Ahrefs Has Sitewide Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Text Backlinks
- Ahrefs Has Twitter Shares
- Ahrefs HTML pages
- Ahrefs Image Backlinks
- Ahrefs Images
- Ahrefs Internal Links
- Ahrefs Linked Root Domains
- Ahrefs LinkedIn Shares
- Ahrefs Median Shares
- Ahrefs NoFollow Backlinks
- Ahrefs Not Sitewide Backlinks
- Ahrefs Page Size
- Ahrefs Pages
- Ahrefs Pinterest Shares
- Ahrefs Plus Ones
- Ahrefs Rank
- Ahrefs Redirects
- Ahrefs Referring Class C Addresses
- Ahrefs Referring Domains
- Ahrefs Referring IP Addresses
- Ahrefs Referring Pages
- Ahrefs RSS Backlinks
- Ahrefs Sitewide Backlinks
- Ahrefs Text Backlinks
- Ahrefs Total Shares
- Ahrefs Twitter Shares
- Ahrefs Word Count
Meta Tag Ranking Factors
- Has Meta Author
- Has Meta Charset
- Has Meta Description
- Has Meta Keywords
- Has Meta Robots
- Has Meta Twitter Account ID
- Has Meta Twitter Cards
- Has Meta Twitter Description
- Has Meta Twitter Domain
- Has Meta Twitter Site
- Has Meta Twitter Title
- Has Meta Viewport
- Keywords in Meta Descriptions
- Keywords in Meta Keywords
- Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Description
- Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Site Name
- Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Title
- Keywords in Meta Twitter Description
- Keywords in Meta Twitter Domain
- Keywords in Meta Twitter Title
- Meta Description Length
- Number of Meta Generator Tags
- Number of Meta Keywords
- Search Terms in Meta Descriptions
MicroData Ranking Factors
- Has MicroData Address Locality
- Has MicroData Address Region
- Has MicroData Address
- Has MicroData Aggregate Rating
- Has MicroData Answer Count
- Has MicroData Article Body
- Has MicroData Author
- Has MicroData Availability
- Has MicroData Content URL
- Has MicroData Date Published
- Has MicroData Description
- Has MicroData Email
- Has MicroData Encoding Format
- Has MicroData Exif Data
- Has MicroData Headline
- Has MicroData Image
- Has MicroData Interaction Count
- Has MicroData Interaction Service
- Has MicroData Interaction Statistic
- Has MicroData Interaction Type
- Has MicroData ISBN
- Has MicroData Item List Element
- Has MicroData Location
- Has MicroData name
- Has MicroData Number of Pages
- Has MicroData Offer Count
- Has MicroData Offers
- Has MicroData Opening Hours
- Has MicroData Postal Code
- Has MicroData Potential Action
- Has MicroData Price Range
- Has MicroData Price
- Has MicroData Product ID
- Has MicroData Publisher
- Has MicroData Query Input
- Has MicroData Rating Value
- Has MicroData Review Count
- Has MicroData Review Rating
- Has MicroData Review
- Has MicroData Street Address
- Has MicroData Suggested Answer
- Has MicroData Target
- Has MicroData Telephone
- Has MicroData Text
- Has MicroData Thumbnail
- Has MicroData Up Vote Count
- Has MicroData URL
- Has MicroData Video
- Has MicroData
SEMRush Ranking Factors
- SEMRush Advertiser Ad Places
- SEMRush Advertiser Ads
- SEMRush Advertiser First Seen
- SEMRush Advertiser Last Seen
- SEMRush Advertiser Media Ads
- SEMRush Advertiser Text Ads
- SEMRush Advertiser Times Seen
- SEMRush Adwords Cost
- SEMRush Adwords Keywords
- SEMRush Adwords Traffic
- SEMRush Backlinks Score
- SEMRush Backlinks
- SEMRush DoFollow Backlinks
- SEMRush International Backlinks
- SEMRush International Domains
- SEMRush Media Ads
- SEMRush NoFollow Backlinks
- SEMRush Organic Cost
- SEMRush Organic Keywords
- SEMRush Organic Traffic
- SEMRush Product Listing Ad Keywords
- SEMRush Product Listing Ad Uniques
- SEMRush Publisher Ad Places
- SEMRush Publisher Ads
- SEMRush Publisher First Seen
- SEMRush Publisher Last Seen
- SEMRush Publisher Text Ads
- SEMRush Publisher Times Seen
- SEMRush Rank
- SEMRush Referring Domains
- SEMRush Referring IP Addresses
- SEMRush Trust Score
- SEMRush US Backlinks
- SEMRush US Domains
Title Ranking Factors
- Google Result Has Rewritten Page Title
- Google Result Has Unmodified Page Title
- Has Domain In Title
- Has Domain Phrase In Title
- Has MicroFormat Entry Title
- Keywords in Title Attributes
- Keywords in Title Tag
- Keywords making whole Title Tag
- Leading Keywords in Title Tag
- Search Terms in the Title Tag
- Search Terms making whole Title Tag
- Title Has Question Words
- Title Has Sales Words
- Title Length
- Word Count in Title Tag
Search Term Ranking Factors
- Search Terms in Body Tag
- Google Result URL Exact Search Term Matches
- Search Terms in A Tags
- Google Result Link Text Exact Search Term Matches
- Search Terms in the HTML Tag
- Search Terms in Sentences
- Search Terms making whole A Tags
- Exact Search Term Keyword Density
- Google Result Summary Exact Search Term Matches
Google Result Ranking Factors
- Google Result Display URL Matches
- Google Result Document Matches
- Google Result Domain Has Hyphen
- Google Result Domain Has Leading Matches
- Google Result Domain Has Numbers
- Google Result Domain Length
- Google Result Domain Matches
- Google Result Has Domain In Link Text
- Google Result Has Domain Phrase In Link Text
- Google Result Has Dot Com Net Org
- Google Result Has Dot Com
- Google Result Has Exact Match Domain
- Google Result Has File Extension
- Google Result Has Params
- Google Result Has Price
- Google Result Has Rating
- Google Result Has Schema
- Google Result Has Subdomain
- Google Result Host Has Numbers
- Google Result Host Leading Matches
- Google Result Host Length
- Google Result Host Matches
- Google Result Link Text Has Ellipsis
- Google Result Link Text Has Year
- Google Result Link Text Length
- Google Result Link Text Matches
- Google Result Not Dot Com Net Org
- Google Result Number of Dirs in Path
- Google Result Number of Site Links
- Google Result Param Matches
- Google Result Path Matches
- Google Result Publish Date
- Google Result Subdomain Matches
- Google Result Summary Has Ellipsis
- Google Result Summary Has Year
- Google Result Summary Length
- Google Result Summary Text Matches
- Google Result URL has Year
- Google Result URL Length
- Google Result URL Matches
- Google Result Uses HTTPS
DomDetailer Ranking Factors
- DomDetailer Facebook Comments
- DomDetailer Facebook Shares
- DomDetailer Google Plus Ones
- DomDetailer Linkedin
- DomDetailer Majestic CF
- DomDetailer Majestic IPs
- DomDetailer Majestic Links
- DomDetailer Majestic Referring .edu Links
- DomDetailer Majestic Referring .gov Links
- DomDetailer Majestic Referring Domains
- DomDetailer Majestic Referring Subnets
- DomDetailer Majestic TF
- DomDetailer Moz DA
- DomDetailer Moz Links
- DomDetailer Moz PA
- DomDetailer Moz Rank
- DomDetailer Moz Spam
- DomDetailer Moz Trust
- DomDetailer Pinterest Pins
Affiliate Ranking Factors
- Has Affiliate Links – AdCell
- Has Affiliate Links – Affilinet
- Has Affiliate Links – Amazon
- Has Affiliate Links – Belboon
- Has Affiliate Links – ClickBank
- Has Affiliate Links – Commission Junction
- Has Affiliate Links – Digistore24
- Has Affiliate Links – Ebay
- Has Affiliate Links – QuinStreet
- Has Affiliate Links – Rakuten
- Has Affiliate Links – Walmart
- Has Affiliate Links – Zanox
- Has Affiliate Links
- Number of Affiliate Links – AdCell
- Number of Affiliate Links – Affilinet
- Number of Affiliate Links – Amazon
- Number of Affiliate Links – Belboon
- Number of Affiliate Links – ClickBank
- Number of Affiliate Links – Commission Junction
- Number of Affiliate Links – Digistore24
- Number of Affiliate Links – Ebay
- Number of Affiliate Links – QuinStreet
- Number of Affiliate Links – Rakuten
- Number of Affiliate Links – Walmart
- Number of Affiliate Links – Zanox
MicroFormat Ranking Factors
- Has MicroFormat Author
- Has MicroFormat DT-Published
- Has MicroFormat E-Content
- Has MicroFormat E-Description
- Has MicroFormat Entry Content
- Has MicroFormat H-Card
- Has MicroFormat HEntry
- Has MicroFormat H-Product
- Has MicroFormat H-Review
- Has MicroFormat P-Author
- Has MicroFormat P-Brand
- Has MicroFormat P-Category
- Has MicroFormat P-Name
- Has MicroFormat P-Price
- Has MicroFormat P-Rating
- Has MicroFormat P-Review
- Has MicroFormat P-Summary
- Has MicroFormat Published
- Has MicroFormat U-Email
- Has MicroFormat U-Identifier
- Has MicroFormat U-Photo
- Has MicroFormat U-URL
- Has MicroFormats
Link-Related Ranking Variables
- Has Amp Link Tag
- Has Rel Next Link
- Has Rel Prev Link
- Has RSS Link
- Number of DoFollow External Links
- Number of DoFollow Links
- Number of External Links
- Number of Facebook Share Links
- Number of Google Plus Share Links
- Number of HTTPS Links
- Number of Internal Links
- Number of Linked In Accounts
- Number of LinkedIn Pages
- Number of Links
- Number of MailTo Links
- Number of NoFollow Externa Links
- Number of NoFollow Links
- Number of Rel Author Links
- Number of Social Share Links
- Number of Twitter Share Links
- Percentage of DoFollow External Links
- Percentage of DoFollow Internal Links
- Percentage of DoFollow Links
- Percentage of NoFollow External Links
- Percentage of NoFollow Internal Links
- Percentage of NoFollow Links
Schema Ranking Factors
- Has Schema Aggregate Rating
- Has Schema Answer
- Has Schema Article
- Has Schema Audio Object
- Has Schema Blog Posting
- Has Schema Corporation
- Has Schema Event
- Has Schema Image Object
- Has Schema Interaction Counter
- Has Schema Item List
- Has Schema Local Business
- Has Schema Markup
- Has Schema Offer
- Has Schema Organization
- Has Schema Person
- Has Schema Place
- Has Schema Product
- Has Schema Question
- Has Schema Rating
- Has Schema Review
- Has Schema Search Action
- Has Schema Service
- Has Schema Store
- Has Schema Video Object
- Has Schema Web Page
- Has Schema Website
Keyword Ranking Factors
- Keywords in A Tag HREFs
- Keywords in A Tags
- Keywords in Absolute URLs
- Keywords in Alt Attributes
- Keywords in Article Tags
- Keywords in B Tags
- Keywords in Blockquote Tags
- Keywords in Body Tag
- Keywords in Cite Tags
- Keywords in Class Attributes
- Keywords in Em Tags
- Keywords in Host Citations
- Keywords in HTML Comments
- Keywords in I Tags
- Keywords in ID Attributes
- Keywords in Label Tags
- Keywords in LI Tags
- Keywords in Name Attributes
- Keywords in NoScript Tags
- Keywords in Option Tags
- Keywords in P Tags
- Keywords in page’s most used phrase
- Keywords in page’s top 10 most used phrases
- Keywords in page’s top 3 most used phrases
- Keywords in page’s top 5 most used phrases
- Keywords in Pre Tags
- Keywords in Section Tags
- Keywords in Sentences
- Keywords in Span Tags
- Keywords in Strong Tags
- Keywords in the Canonical URL
- Keywords in the First 100 Words
- Keywords in the HTML Tag
- Keywords in the last 100 words
- Keywords in U Tags
- Keywords in Value Attributes
- Keywords making whole A Tags
- Keywords making whole B Tags
- Keywords making whole LI Tags
- Keywords making whole Option Tags
- Keywords making whole Span Tags
- Keywords making whole Strong Tags
- Keywords making whole U Tags
Number of X Ranking Factors
- Number of Absolute URLs
- Number of AdRoll Ads
- Number of Ads
- Number of Amazon Ads
- Number of Bytes to First Match
- Number of CSS Includes
- Number of Email Addresses
- Number of Facebook Accounts
- Number of FaceBook Pages
- Number of Flickr Images
- Number of Forms
- Number of Google Ads
- Number of Google Maps
- Number of Google Plus Accounts
- Number of Google Plus Pages
- Number of HREF Lang Tags
- Number of Images with Alt Text
- Number of Images without Alt Text
- Number of Images
- Number of Includes
- Number of Instagram Pages
- Number of JavaScript Includes
- Number of PingBacks
- Number of Redirects
- Number of Sentences
- Number of Social Accounts
- Number of Social Pages
- Number of Trademarks
- Number of Tumblr Pages
- Number of Twitter Accounts
- Number of US Phone Numbers
- Number of Videos
- Number of Vimeo Embeds
- Number of YouTube Accounts
- Number of YouTube Embeds
38 “Has X” Ranking Factors
- Has AdRoll Ads
- Has Ads
- Has Amazon Ads
- Has Apple Touch Icon
- Has Canonical URL
- Has Comment CTA
- Has Comments
- Has Contact Page
- Has Copyright
- Has Disqus
- Has Facebook Comments
- Has Facebook Page ID
- Has FavIcon
- Has Flickr
- Has Google Ads
- Has Google Analytics
- Has Google Maps
- Has Google Trusted Store
- Has Google Verify
- Has HREF Lang
- Has Intense Debate Comments
- Has LiveFyre Comments
- Has OpenGraph Image
- Has OpenGraph Type
- Has OpenGraph Video
- Has Pingbacks
- Has Privacy Policy
- Has RDFa
- Has Rel Pagination
- Has Terms of Service
- Has Trademarks
- Has US Phone Number
- Has Video
- Has Vimeo Embed
- Has WordPress Generator Tag
- Has XMLRPC
- Has YouTube Embed
- Is or Has AMP
13 “Is X” Ranking Factors
- Is AMP page
- Is Blogger Website
- Is Drupal Website
- Is Google Site
- Is Joomla Website
- Is OpenGraph Type Article
- Is Shopify Website
- Is SquareSpace Website
- Is Tumbler Website
- Is Weebly Website
- Is Wix Website
- Is WordPress Website
- Load Time Milliseconds
19 Miscellaneous Ranking Factors
- Average Words Per Sentence
- Bing Page Count
- Body Tag Size Kilobytes
- Clean Text Kilobytes
- Exact Match Term Frequency
- Exact Match TF/IDF
- Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease
- Flesch Kincaid Reading Grade
- Google Plus Ones
- Head Size Kilobytes
- I Tag Exact Matches
- Inline CSS Kilobytes
- Inline Javascript Kilobytes
- Match Density in Words
- Match Density
- Page Size Kilobytes
- Term Frequency
- TF/IDF
- Word Count
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