5 Statistics on Top Ranking Content You Need to Understand

What it takes to be number 1 is not an easy question. What we know for sure though is that it can be difficult. Therefore we have gathered 5 statistics, which highlights strong signals behind top ranking content today.

Why these statistics help you

An interesting statistic to help you increase the performance of your SEO efforts is the type of content typically found on page 1 of Google (also called the SERP).

This is due to the quality of top ranking pages and the efforts behind their road to glory. If you can meet same kind of search intent or make sure to optimize in the same way perhaps your content is next in line to top ranking results.

Based on almost 12 million Google search results, we have gathered some important findings that will help you create more interesting content for your users.

1. Word Count

An interesting fact about content is that the average number one page has more than 1.400 words. This stresses the fact that thorough, in-depth, and long-form content far outperforms shallow and “quick” content.

In a study done by Backlinko they further found that long-form content on average gets more than 77% more backlinks compared to shorter content.

We can conclude that in order to compete with established competitors, you must sharpen your pencils and designate a proper amount of time on creating relevant and in depth content. In depth content that typically has a bigger word count.

2. Title Tags

Title tags have always been an important part of SEO, but have received increased attention lately since Google announced their title tag update in late august.

The update basically entails that Google now automatically pulls information from the headers and body text and uses this for the title tag – insofar the search query matches this information compared to the manual title tag.

However, “a focus on good HTML title tags remains valid”, says Google.

Statistically speaking, 65-85% of top performers on any given keyword will have the exact same keyword included in their title tag.

This says a lot about the correlation between meeting search intent and delivering this information in the title tag.

However, there is little to no correlation between increasing in ranking on page 1 and having the keyword in the title tag.

Correct use of keywords in title tags will enable you to appear on page 1, but climbing from there you will need to put your SEO-focus elsewhere.

3. H1 Tags

Much in the same vein, keyword optimized H1s (headers) essentially have no relationship with climbing page 1 of Google.

Somewhere between 60-80% of H1 tags found on page 1 of Google contain the given keyword. Looking more closely at the distribution of numbers, it’s evident that top performers do not contain more keyword-enriched H1 tags.

As such, using keyword optimized H1 tags might help you reach the SERP, but after this you are much better off focusing on long-form content and gaining healthy backlinks.

4. Dwell Time

Dwell time is a metric calculating the amount of time a user spends on your site. The study shows that top performing websites had a higher dwell time.

And this makes a lot of sense. Spending time on a given site is quite indicative of the site having relevant content that the user finds useful. Google translates this into relevance, and thus places the site higher in the SERP.

To utilize this finding you must reflect on how to make people stay longer on your site.

Providing relevant and long-form content is obvious.

But how about creating interactive content that invites the user to spend time on the site while having a bunch of fun with it?

These are also some of the tactics we deploy in Bonzer when we help clients optimize.

5. Backlinks

First up, the average number 1 URL on a SERP contains 3.8 times more backlinks compared to competitors in rank 2-10.

According to the numbers, backlinks have a direct impact on the ranking of your pages. Translating this into actionable insights, you should direct your attention to gaining relevant and high-value backlinks. This can be done through various means, but a classic way is doing outreach.

Take Your Marketing to the Next Level Today

In the space of online visibility you'll find a lot of correlations between input and output.

As a specialized SEO agency, we have plenty of knowledge and practical know-how in regards to ranking organically in search engines.

If you are on the fence about making a long term investment in SEO, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us; we can talk over the different marketing scenarios and possibilities of growth.