A new Google search rankings factors study conducted by Searchmetrics reveals that content relevance is gaining in importance as a ranking signal, which link importance is declining. You can download the full study over here, and here are the key takeaways from the report:

• The URLs with the highest content relevance are those on positions 3 to 6.
• Desktop content is around a third longer than mobile content.
• 53% of the top 20 URLs included the keyword in their title.
• The Time on Site for the top 10 URLs is 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
• The average Bounce Rate for URLs on the first page of search results is 46%
• The pages occupying positions 1 to 3 have an average CTR of 36%.
• Nearlt 50% of webpages in the top 10 now use of HTTPS encryption.
• 80% percent of the top 10 domains now use the .com TLD. (Note the report was for Google.com and this would most likely apply for Google.co.za as well).
• Pages ranking for mobile are a 1/3 smaller in terms of file size than their desktop equivalents.
• Mobile pages load around a second more quickly than desktop.
• The top 100 most visible domains all have mobile-friendly solutions for smartphone users. Outside the top 100, the rate is around 78%.
• There was  a marked increase in the use of structured elements like lists and bullet points that create an improved user experience.
• The correlation between social signals and Google ranking has remained similar compared with previous years.
• Backlinks are now just one of many contributing factors. The correlation for backlinks remains high, but their importance is set to continue its decline.

Google revealed last year that it is turning to sophisticated AI and machine-learning techniques such as RankBrain to help it better understand intent behind the words searchers enter, and to make its results more relevant,” Marcus Tober says. “User signals such as how often certain results are clicked and how long people spend on a page help the search engine get a sense of how well searchers’ questions are answered. That allows it to continually refine and improve relevance. – Searchmetrics

Here is the correlation report broken down by content, technical, user experience, user signals, social signals and backlinks factors. An upward arrow means the factor has increased in value, a right arrow means the effect of the factor remains the same,  and a downward arrow means it has decreased.

Download the full report here