Google SEO is a convoluted affair. These days SEO includes 3 main components; on-page, off-page, and social media optimization.
This post is going to cover just the highlights of off-page SEO for Google.
By looking at the chart from SEOBlog.com, it's clearly evident that inbound links from other sites into yours are a critical component to the Google ranking algorithms, of which there are over 100.
But inbound links are not all created equal. Google ranks the quality of the inbound link based on the quality of the site in terms of subject or keyword authority, and traffic to the site and the page where the link resides (22% of weight), and the relevancy of the linking text used, known as "anchor text" (20% of weight).
In other words, if the site in which the link comes from is a higher traffic site and/or page than yours, and the anchor text in the link matches exactly the keyword or phrase that is in your meta tags for your title page, keywords and page description, you have a very high ranking link.
You also want your URL owned for at least 5 years in advance, and hosted by a reputable company. These are indicators that you are not a spammer or illegitimate (25% of weight).
So there is 67% of your SEO weight. And that's just the beginning. Because Google changes its algorithms monthly, and the on-page and social media optimization is also very important to be seen in a crowded field.
