The phrase Ranking Factor is applied liberally to many things that aren’t actually ranking factors. On occasion, as in the case of Facebook likes, the SEO industry has clearly got it wrong. But what about the other factors that are based on patents, research papers and reasonable observations?  It can seem contradictory to know something is necessary to rank well in the search engines while Googlers say it is not a ranking factor. The following may sound like a contradiction but the surprising truth is that some factors necessary to rank are not always ranking factors.  Understanding the difference will make you a better Internet marketer.

Modification Engine

Here’s an example. There’s a Google patent called, Modifying search result ranking based on implicit user feedback and a model of presentation bias.  It discusses using CTR to modify search results. But not in real-time. This is a process that happens over time and most importantly it is called a re-ranking of search results. That’s an important detail. It means that the CTR data is something that happens after the ranking part of the algorithm (referred to as the Ranking Engine) has done it’s job.

The CTR algo part (often referred to as part of the Modification Engine) comes after the Ranking Engine part. That explains why CTR is not a ranking factor. What that patent describes is a kind of feedback that acts like users voting with their clicks and after enough data is accumulated, the modification engine can make a smart guess that perhaps certain sites should be re-ranked.  Here’s the relevant part of that patent that’s been overlooked or misunderstood by those who think CTR is a ranking factor:

That means that the CTR part is a function of the Modification Engine, not the Ranking Engine. Thus, it’s a modification factor, not a ranking factor because only factors that are a part of the Ranking Engine can be called Ranking Factors.

Modification Engine is Outside of the Ranking Algorithm

This is an important distinction to understand! The reason is because the user experience is what will determine the winners and losers in the kind of algorithm that patent describes.

If CTR was a ranking factor this wouldn’t be the case. The CTR would be just another signal to spam. But it’s not. A site still  has to pass through the ranking engine first, all the actual ranking factors remain, without the CTR data being applied.

The only way to rank well in a system as described in the above patent is to provide a solid user experience. Your keywords or links have no credentials in the kind of algorithm that measures a users experience.

Mobile design a Ranking Factor?

The mobile friendliness of a site is a user experience metric and Google has stated that mobile friendly pages will get a boost in the rankings for the mobile search results. Mobile friendliness appears to be a ranking factor, but mobile friendliness is not a ranking factor. Appearances, as they say, can be deceiving. The concept of a ranking factor is one of the most misunderstood aspects of how search engines rank sites.

The definition of a ranking factor depends on who is defining it. Whose definition is more authoritative, the search engineers or an SEO blogger?  Since it’s the search engines we are trying to understand, I prefer to use the language in the proper form that the search engineers and information retrieval researchers use. Thus, some elements might look like a ranking factor since they’re needed to rank. But that’s not what is actually happening. It’s best to align our understanding with what is really happening because the alternative is to grasp at mistaken ideas like Facebook likes as ranking factors.

Modification engine vs ranking engine

So if a Googler says that something is not a ranking factor then it’s probably not a part of the algorithmic process that happens in the Ranking Engine. This means the factor under consideration may be a part of a different process that sometimes affects the rankings and in other applications has no direct impact at all. The Ranking Engine is the part of the ranking process where the so-called “200 ranking factors” are considered.

But there are other processes before and after the Ranking Engine. What happens before the Ranking Engine is the Indexing Engine. What happens after the Ranking Engine can happen in the Modification Engine.

It is important to understand the concepts of  what happens in the Ranking Engine and what happens in the Modification Engine. Once you understand this simple concept, you will be able to make better sense of discussions about algorithms and most importantly not waste time spinning your wheels trying to rank better using faulty information.

What’s a modification engine?

In simple terms, the Modification Engine comes after the ranking process and modifies the ranked search results. The modification engine can change the results of the Ranking Engine because of geographic factors (to give more weight to results that are local to you).  Factors involved in the Modification Engine are not ranking factors because ranking factors are elements of the Ranking Engine. Ranking Factors are elements of the Ranking Engine. I’ve never read of anything called a Modification Engine Factor, but if I were to give it a name, that one makes sense. Factors that are not a part of the Ranking Engine are not ranking factors. Thus, things like user experience and mobile friendliness, if part of the Modification Engine can not properly be called a Ranking Factor because that’s not how search engines process a ranking.

There are ranking factors and there are pulp fiction ranking factors. The distinction of what is a true ranking factor is important to understand. If you enjoyed this article, please share it!

Good luck!

Roger Montti