Positive Off-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors

Green rows are confirmed by Google patent. Rows maked with are hot factors.

	Positive Off-Page Factor	Brief Description
	Incoming Links
	Page Rank	Based on the Number and Quality of links to your site Google link reporting continues to display just a SMALL fraction of your actual backlinks, and they are NOT just greater than PR4 - they are mixed.
	Total incoming links ("backlinks")	Use this tool to check your total incoming links from Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others.
	Incoming links from PR4+ pages	What Google used to count (report). Now, what Google reports seems almost random, frequently changing.
	Acceleration of link popularity	Google patent Link acquisition speed boost - speculative Too fast = artificial? Sandbox penalty imposed if new site?
	For Each Incoming Link:
	Page rank of the referring page	Based on the quality of links to you
	Anchor text of inbound link to you	Contains keyword, key phrase? #1 result in SERP does NOT EVEN need to have the keyword(s) on the page, ANYWHERE!!! What does that tell you? (Enables Google-bombing - search for "miserable failure")
	Age of link	Google patent - Old = Good.
	Frequency of change of anchor text	Google patent - Not good. Why would you do that?
	Popularity of referring page	Popularity = desirability, respect
	# of outgoing links on referrer page	Fewer is better - makes yours more important
	Position of link on referrer page	Early in HTML is best
	Keyword density on referring page	For search keyword(s)
	HTML title of referrer page	Same subject/ theme?
	Link from "Expert" site?	Google patent - Recently reported to give a big boost !
	Referrer page - Same theme	From the same or related theme? BETTER
	Referrer page - Different theme	From different or unrelated theme? WORSE
	Image map link?	Problematic?
	Javascript link?	Problematic- attempt to hide link?
	Directory Submission:
	Site listed in DMOZ Directory?	HUGE boost - it is said that Google's directory comes STRAIGHT from the DMOZ directory. You MUST get into dmoz. Be careful who you approach with the old spondulix. Don't over repeat the subission in DMOZ. It is quite difficult to get into DMOZ.
	DMOZ category?	Theme fit category? General or geographic category? Both are possible, and acceptable.
	Site listed in Yahoo Directory?	Big boost - You can get in by paid inclusion.
	Site listed in LookSmart Directory?	Boost? Another great vote for your site.
	Site listed in inktomi?	Use Pure Search to check your inktomi position.
	Site listed in other directories (About, etc.)	Directory listing boost (If other RESPECTED directories link to you, this must be positive.)
	Expert site? (Hilltop or Condensed Hilltop)	Large-sized site, quality incoming links
	Page Metrics - Visitor Behavior (Implemented through the Google tool bar?)
	Page traffic	Google patent - Number of visitors and variation trend.
	Page Selection Rate - CTR	Google patent - How often is a page clicked on?
	Time spent on page	Google patent - Relatively long time = indicates relevance hit
	Did user Bookmark page?	Google patent - Bookmark = Good
	Bookmark add/ removal frequency	Google patent - Recent = Good?
	How they left, where they went	Back button, link clicked, etc.
	Site Metrics - Visitor Behavior (Implemented through the Google tool bar?)
	Site Traffic	Google patent - Number of visitors, increasing trend is good.
	Referrer	Authoritative referrer?
	Keyword	Keyword searches used to find you.
	Time spent on domain	Relatively long time = indicates relevance hit. Add brownie points.
	Domain Owner Behavior:
	Domain Registration Time	Google patent - Domain Expiration Date Register for 5 years, Google knows you are serious. Register for 1 year, is it a throw-away domain?
	Are associated sites legitimate?	Google patent - No spam, ownership, etc.
??	Domain Ownership over time	Long time = same owner. Avoid frequent and substantial changes of your whois record. Or did you buy an old domain to avoid the sandbox and benefit from it's previous ranking? You might not go away with it.