Significant content?

Following could be some of the signals. However, its not a definite list.

1: Amount of ads per page
2: Location of ads, above the fold!
3: Interaction in terms of comments
4: Any unique good quality images?
5: Video!
6: Amount of G+ twitter fb likes on the story
7: Bounce rate of page?
8: Page speed

There could be more, but if you have really good back link profile, you might get away doing couple of things wrong on on-page

Authority: "...an accepted source of information, advice, etc". The way I see it, you need to be the site that people think of when they need whatever it is you have. So whatever you can do to achieve that I think will eventually filter through to search rankings one way or another.

I put a lot of effort into social proof, making sure that my content is easily shareable, staying in communication with my users on FB and Twitter, trying to come across like a human instead of a bot. I try to create content that influential sites want to link to (like state and municipal .gov sites) and I link out like crazy, but only to reputable and influential sites (often if they see you linking to them, some will link back). Other than that, I pay no attention to linking, I don't use nofollow, and I don't do linkbuilding. (I don't have the patience for it and it turns out that's probably for the best)

I try to keep the site load zippy, and I have optimized mobile versions as well. I try not to overdo the ads.

And, to be fair, I also really try to pick niches where there aren't a lot of players, so that makes it easier for me to become the authority. I am not trying to challenge or prove myself, I'm trying to create a retirement plan.

@netmeg very well said... & I do appreciate you share your personal view.
If people'll do things in this way as netmeg said then they can easily become the authority.

Authority is a big word. I'll focus on 8 quality signals as I see it.


#1, Quality of the Content:
It has always been the king. However, it's subjective. You never know if it is quality enough in the eyes of search engine.

#2, Social sharing and comments:
Lately, I have seen some brands and so called authority sites do not put the social sharing buttons. I decided to remove these buttons and it doesn't seem to have any affect on the site.
I think, it depends on the topic of the site. Some may need to socialize and some may not - socializing could be pointless to info site and how-to sites.

#3, Many comments
I don't know how many read comments and stay longer because of these comments. It's a fraction, unless the topic is very controversial.
Comments are good if they add something to the page and wouldn't harm its SEO.

#4, Linking out:
When the link gives an added value to the readers. Of course, you wouldn't want to link to a spammy site.

#5, Link building:
A good site should win these types of links. I have never work on building external links.

#6, Site structure:
Make all what it needs to have a site easy to navigate. Put your best content in front of the reader, so s/he won't leave the site unhappy.

#7, in-page SEO:
Optimize the titles of the pages + it's headers. A good keyword research is still important. You want the search engines find and categorize your site easily.

#8, Bounce rate/time-on-site + exit rate/time-on-site:
These two factors are the most important. The site metrics can give you some good insights as to how people interact with the site.
Identify the weakest part of the site and work on improving it.

I wonder if outbound links are preferred when they are not target_blank?

Don't authority sites often tend to be more concerned about providing good information rather than keeping you on their website?

They might, but in my experience they don't. Most of my outbounds open a new window.

Don't authority sites often tend to be more concerned about providing good information rather than keeping you on their website?

Their focus is on both of them. How many of those authority sites that you find on SERPS, link out? Be it wikipedia or about (I am mentioning them as I see a huge push of about.com in google SERPS and I am seeing them flooding several newer territories, those that I follow for several years now).

It is something very similar to those popular twitter users who try to keep their following list as small a percentage of the followers list.

I don't know whether Google rewards that behaviour but it is true with most of those top sites.

(I for one would not consider About to be an authority site (more of a brand), but maybe that's just my own bias)

I think authority sites do link out, but they do it carefully. Which means, depending on the subject matter, there tend to be fewer links. In ecommerce, maybe none.

Their focus is on both of them. How many of those authority sites that you find on SERPS, link out? Be it wikipedia or about (I am mentioning them as I see a huge push of about.com in google SERPS and I am seeing them flooding several newer territories, those that I follow for several years now).

Wikipedia's outbound links to references open in the same window.

Wikipedia's outbound links to references open in the same window.

For wikipedia, considering the huge number of internal links which tend to dwarf the relatively very small number of external links and the fact that external links are way below the fold on most of their pages would translate to almost no clicks on them.

However, I have never seen any difference between opening external links in the same window and in a newer window.

Most of authority sites in my niche, their every single news page links out to some other authority sites.

If we count sites like NYT and CNN as authorities, I've yet to see them link out. They may type up the URL, but there's no link even when they're referencing a site.

Most of authority sites in my niche, their every single news page links out to some other authority sites.

you are lucky to be in that niche...

@diberry, those two sites link out all the time within articles. Maybe you don't read them enough ?

Reviews...Reviews...Reviews...embedded of the page

klark0, I read them pretty often, but may it depends which section of the site you're looking at.

What we are discussing as link out here is external links and not internal links and definitely there are several authority sites which don't do them that well.

What's the consensus on linking to give the impression of quality by association? e.g. member associations , license numbers , registrations / trademark references