How many factors Google consider to calculate the ranking?

50? 200? 5000?

[kch333]

In the beginning, I guess it is about 50 factors, but 5000 factors is also possible, right?

kch333

[BigDave]

Google says "over 100".

My guess is that you could have 10 google engineers, with access to the source code, count them and you would get 10 different results.

It really doesn't matter anyway, you will find you will do very well sticking with the main obvious ones.

[coconutz]

Here's a previous discussion that you may find helpful:

100 variables [google.com]

And from Google:

Google Search Appliance: Product Info [google.com]

Google quality and ranking

"For each query, Google factors in 100 variables, including anchor text, URL patterns, fonts and positioning data to calculate relevance."

fonts?

[danielm]

*nod* Fonts. Comic Sans gets a penalty.

[daroz]

Speaking of fonts...

Does GoogleBot read/parse the css files? Many sites (including lets see... Google) are setting font information only in the CSS files...

[MNBill]

Hi -
Newbie, first time posting here. Ummmm, so are you serious about the fonts (Comic Sans) thing? Or am I not yet up to speed on some forum-style tongue-in-cheek?

I see that they list 'fonts' as one of the 100 variables. If Comic Sans is a no-no, any others that are penalized?

Thanks for any additional insight on this issue.

Bill S.

[danielm]

That was tongue-in-cheek ;-)

Although, it would be funny if that was the case, wouldn't it? It could be true, for all I (or anyone but a few Comic Sans-hating Google engineers) know.

[MNBill]

Ha-ha, Daniel, although I agree with you about Comic Sans. It would be funny if that was a criterion, although perhaps stranger things have happened!

Bill in MN (just trying to calibrate my humor detector on this forum)