Yandex Leak: Ultra Hidden Must Learn SEO Findings

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With the Yandex leak, you can learn more about what it means for ranking factors and how search engines work. Although there are more than 20000+ ranking factors for website SERP ranking, here are the top 30 factors that are a must-know for any SEO expert.

Improving these parameters can help a website rank higher in search engine results, which can drive more organic traffic to the site.

1. Crawl depth affects your ranking

2. Avoid pages that can’t be reached by links

3. Backlinks from main pages carry more weight

4. Search queries for your brand are a ranking factor

5. Wikipedia traffic impacts your ranking

6. A final destination page in a search session boosts rankings

7. Bookmarked URLs are a positive factor

8. Target keywords in the URL help with ranking

9. Returning traffic to your domain is a factor

10. The percentage of direct traffic affects your ranking

11. Broken images and videos negatively impact rankings

12. Target keywords and phrasing in anchor text matter

13. The ratio of good vs. bad backlinks is a factor

14. Low-quality content hurts your domain’s overall ranking potential

15. Advertisements decrease your ranking potential

16. The age of links is a factor

17. Traffic and organic traffic percentage matter

18. Dates and numbers in your URL structure harm your ranking

19. Reliable hosting improves your overall domain ranking

20. Document age and last update both play a role in ranking

Now explain them a little bit for better understanding:

1. Crawl depth refers to how many clicks it takes for search engines to reach a page from the homepage. A deeper crawl depth can negatively affect ranking because it signals that the page is less important.
2. Pages that cannot be reached by links are difficult for search engines to find and index, and thus can negatively impact ranking.
3. Backlinks from authoritative pages carry more weight and are considered more valuable in improving a website’s ranking.
4. Search queries for a brand name can signal to search engines the importance and relevance of a website, which can positively impact its ranking.
5. Wikipedia traffic to a website can signal to search engines the relevance and importance of a website, which can positively impact its ranking.
6. A final destination page in a search session, or the last page a user visits during a search, can positively impact a website’s ranking if it provides relevant and valuable information.
7. Bookmarked URLs can signal to search engines that a page is frequently visited and valuable, which can positively impact its ranking.
8. Including target keywords in the URL can help with ranking because it makes the page more easily discoverable by search engines.
9. Returning traffic to a domain can indicate to search engines that a website is providing valuable information, which can positively impact its ranking.
10. The percentage of direct traffic, or users who navigate directly to a website without clicking through from search results, can affect ranking because it signals the popularity and relevance of a website.
11. Broken images and videos can negatively impact a website’s ranking because it can decrease user experience and signal to search engines that the website is not well-maintained.
12. The use of target keywords and phrasing in anchor text, or the text that is clicked on to reach a link, can positively impact a website’s ranking because it signals to search engines the relevance of the linked content.
13. The ratio of good backlinks to bad backlinks, or links from low-quality websites, can affect ranking because it signals the quality and credibility of a website.
14. Low-quality content on a website can negatively impact its overall ranking potential because it signals to search engines that the website is not providing valuable information.
15. The use of advertisements on a website can negatively impact its ranking potential because it can decrease user experience and signal to search engines that the website’s primary focus is monetization.
16. The age of links, or how long a link has been in place, can affect ranking because older links are considered more valuable and credible.
17. Traffic volume and the percentage of organic traffic, or traffic from search results, can positively impact a website’s ranking because it signals the popularity and relevance of a website.
18. Including dates and numbers in a URL structure can negatively impact ranking because it can signal to search engines that the content is outdated and not as relevant.
19. Reliable hosting can positively impact a website’s overall domain ranking because it signals to search engines that the website is well-maintained and accessible.
20. The age of a document and when it was last updated can affect ranking because older, stale content can be considered less relevant and valuable to users.

Now let’s understand these factors straight from the https://twitter.com/alex_buraks mouth!

Reference Tweet: https://twitter.com/alex_buraks/status/1619370816092901383

1. #1 Crawl depth is a ranking factor. Keep your important pages closer to main page: – top pages: 1 click from the main page – important pages: <3 clicks
2. #2 Additionally: ranking factor for orphan pages. You can easy find them via Screaming Frog or other crawlers.
3. #3 Backlinks from main pages are more important than from internal pages.
4. #4 Number of search queries of your site/url is a ranking factor.
5. #5 Traffic from Wikipedia is a ranking factor.
6. #6 If your URL would be the last for search session (user will find what he needs) – it would impact rankings. There are strict factors for this and predictable factors as well.
7. #7 Bookmarks ranking factor. The more users add to bookmarks a url, the more factor value it has
8. #8 Special ranking factors for short videos (tiktok, shorts, reels)
9. #9 Maps js-api on page (for example Google Maps) is a ranking factor. In Google (for example in travel niche) adding map with useful info/functionality is working as well.
10. #10 Keywords in URL is a ranking factors. As we can see from the description – the optimal would be include up to 3 words from the search query.
11. #11 Returning users is a ranking factor. Build products with good retention and it would benefit your SEO (there are lot of ranking factors for measuring it).
12. #12 Percentage of CAPITAL LETTERS in <title> is a ranking factor. Really, how often do you see fully capitalized titles for website in top of Google?
13. #13 Percentage of direct traffic is a ranking factor. If all your traffic came from Organic Search – it’s suspicious + bad for rankings.
14. #14 One more ranking factor for content quality – broken embedded video on the page. Embed videos – good for rankings. Broken embed videos – bad.
15. #15 Verified accounts on social networks ranks differently as other urls. Imporant for brand searches – ideally searching your brand there should be only your domains + verified social networks in the top 10.
16. #16 If you backlinks anchors contain all words from the keywords – it’s good for SEO. If it is in a one link – it’s more beneficial. Especially if the order of words is the same.
17. #17 Ratio “good” vs “bad” backlinks is a ranking factor. Unfortunately not clarified what exactly does it mean “good” backlink, but it’s pretty clear.
18. #18 The quality rank of texts on the domain is a ranking factor. Pages with low quality content affect the entire domain.
19. #19 Amount of advertisement on page is a ranking factor. Less = better.
20. #20 Funny, there is a random as a separate ranking factor. When you don’t understand why some of page is on top – it could be just random (to test behaviour factors).
21. #21 JS from Google Analytics is a ranking factor. Predictably. Good websites using GA more often than bad websites.
22. #22 Backlinks from the top 100 best websites by PageRank impacts on rankings. That’s not news.

Now, Mr. Alex has also brought some attention to URL ranking factors according to Yandex.

Reference Tweet: https://twitter.com/alex_buraks/status/1619985104771911680

There are 10+ Yandex ranking factors for URLs, almost same best practices can be used in Google. Top of Form