Preface to this blog: a seemingly simple question like this has lots of aspects to it, and we can't cover all of them in this space, so this blog isn't a complete assessment of this topic.

Porn sites are popular, government sites are authoritative. How Google separates the two.

This is an example of how sophisticated Google is, and the types of issues they have to deal with every day. We find this stuff fascinating.

The SEO world believes Google includes social signals (ie: social media, shares, blogs and group discussions) to determine how well a site should rank. However, Google doesn't readily admit to this, because they always keep their algorithms under wraps. So because of this, no one truly knows for sure whether social signals are a key indicator to Google or not.

You can hear Matt Cutts, head of Google's Search Spam, talk about popularity versus authority here.

Porn site are popular, but people and companies generally don't link to them... that we know of... but maybe we're just traveling in the wrong circles! But real estate sites, government sites, or doctor's site that are authoritative, might not have thousands of people going to them every month, but do have lots of people linking to them because of their quality, authoritative content.

Reputation: an easy term for humans to understand. A tough concept for algorithms to interpret.

Popularity is where people go. Authoritative sites are where people link to because they have a good reputation.

If Google results were based on popularity, there would be a lot of porn (granted, or People Magazine) showing up on page one.

So, how DO they separate popularity (ie: Upworthy, Buzzfeed, porn sites) from authority (ie: government, medical, or trade sites)? To do that, they have to figure out how good a match your site is to a certain search query. And it is based on "page authority" and "reputation."

What Google says their algorithms search for, are how many of your on-page SEO talks about what you do, compared to what a search query is looking for.

What is on-page SEO? Some of the indicators are:

• the different keywords relating to a search on your website
• the number of keywords (note: you shouldn't overuse keywords since that is a red flag to Google. Just 5% of your on-page text should be keywords)
• links your site goes to that are authoritative
• how long someone stays on your website (the more time they spend, the more authoritative Google might believe it is)
• the number of pages people go to on your site (more pages = more good information)
• how often repeat visitors comes back to your site (meaning you constantly offer good information)

For an infographic on what good search engine optimization is, click here.

To be seen as an authority by Google and your audience, you have to create content.

So if you're an authority in your industry, and have lots of good content on your site, you can be way ahead of your competition. By looking at the indicators your site compiles by having Google Analytics on it, Google tries to figure out what your page is about and how much of an authority you are on a topic (or topics).

It's a complex, ever-changing environment, so it is important for you, or the web design firm you hire, to keep up on it. Be sure to ask them how well they know about Google's algorithms. If they're not keeping up on it, it will hurt your website, and subsequently, your business.

We're a Columbus Ohio website design firm keeping up on all the SEO and SEM info we can. And there's a ton of it! So we try to read a blog a day and distill what we read into our blogs here. So if you're looking for a Columbus web design firm that knows their SEO and SEM, maybe we should chat. Contact us here so we can start that conversation.