A new study reveals the important elements of ranking websites.
The Netmark Study focused on the key metrics which made some websites more successfull than others in achieving high organic search engine rankings.
Facebook Comments were identified as being key to website ranking with top websites having over 425 comments on posts. The social media site also represents an efficient way of spreading information about a website through its "Shares" with top websites having more than 1,000 "Shares" in contrast with those ranking 41-50 having around 350 shares.
LinkedIn also represents an important element in developing strong organic rankings, with top ranking sites recording more than 65 LinkedIn Shares against lower ranking sites with 20 or less.
The study included a number of different aggregators and other domains which allow users to post their preferences and attitudes towards a particular website. All showed a similar pattern of large numbers of positive mentions for top websites and a significant statistical drop for those which have lower organic search rankings.
One surprise to Social Media Marketers was the revelation that Twitter may be less important than may be perceived, with a much smaller statistical difference between top and lower ranking websites that are Tweeted about.