We have all known for some time now that links, the anchor text of those links and the number of links always played a key part in determining ranking on Google. These are part of a 200 signal ranking recipe that places varying levels of importance on each signal. We have never known how important one signal is over the other, let alone what the most important one is, until now.
When a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google (Andrey Lipattsev) was asked what the top two ranking factors were, he answered: “I can tell you what they are. It is content. And it’s links pointing to your site.”. We now know that the content on your site is the most important factor followed by the links to you site.
In addition to the above we also got more information on whether click through rates affect ranking:
Google engineer Paul Haahr revealed some of these new signals. Specifically, Paul revealed that:
1. Google runs A/B tests with the SERPs. So if you drop or go up 1-2 spots, it may have nothing to do with links, on-page SEO, etc. It could be a test.
2. Google definitely uses click-through-rate (CTR) data as a ranking signal.
This lays to rest a long held belief that Google does consider end user behavior when ranking. With this news, there will be even more focus on bounce rate, as any visitor that clicks through to your page and then clicks back could be detrimental to your ranking.
It is quite possible that with these ranking signal confirmations, Google is clearly telling webmasters that better content will result in better rankings.