Searchmetrics recently launched their top SEO ranking factors for 2013 supported by a great infographic.

The study revealed that:

1. Compared to 2012, The importance of keywords in the URL / domain has significantly decreased as a ranking factor.

2. Brands get a hall pass when it comes to many of the SEO rules that apply to other websites.

3. Social sharing is still important as well positioned URLs have a high number of likes, shares, tweets and plus ones.

4. Good ranking URLs…have more text and a higher number of additional media integrations compared with 2012.

5. Backlinks continue to be one of the most important SEO metrics.

6. On-page factors – such as site speed –  do more harm than good when it comes to page ranking