It’s very important to stay current with Google ranking factors to rank highly on search results, but keeping up with the latest developments can be challenging. Approximately 84% of the North American search market share is held by Google, making it the world’s most popular and powerful search engine.
We generally refer to Google’s ranking factors when we talk about SEO rather than those of Bing, Yahoo, or other search engines.
In addition to SEO strategies, businesses can also benefit greatly from tools like CRM implementation to manage and optimize customer relationships, which in turn can positively impact their search engine rankings. Learn more about CRM implementation and how it can integrate with your digital strategy.
The key to ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs) is understanding search engine ranking factors that Google uses to determine the position of your page in search engine results pages (SERPs).
This blog post will discuss the top 10 most important Google ranking factors you need to consider. You can focus on the most impactful improvements that will get you ranking higher on Google by using this list of the most important Google ranking factors.
What Is a Google Ranking Factor?
Google uses an algorithm to calculate ranking factors to determine whether a webpage answers a particular search query well. Google uses ranking factors to display content on its search engine that is most likely to be helpful for someone searching for the “best WordPress theme”.
In addition to the number of words on a page, ranking factors may also include the loading speed of images. Google’s ultimate goal is to provide users with the best content and an enjoyable online experience.
Top 10 Most Important Google Ranking Factors
Here is a list of the top 10 most important Google ranking factors you should consider to rank your website higher on search engine result pages (SERPs):
1. Focus on Quality Content
Quality content is one of the biggest and most important Google ranking factors to prioritize. Content quality measures whether a webpage is fresh, unique, and useful in response to a query. Google will rank your content higher in its SERPs if it offers hypothetical value to a target searcher. Google measures high-quality, unique, and original content when it comes to ranking factors.
If you focus on writing quality, SEO-friendly, and plagiarism-free content, Google will automatically rank that content higher on Google search results. Avoid using AI content writing tools so you can protect your content against copying.
Nevertheless, it ensures that users receive relevant, up-to-date information rather than outdated details by checking for up-to-date, fresh content. You can ensure that you’re providing your audience with high-quality content by writing excellent original content hiring writers who are knowledgeable in the field, and regularly updating old content. The content of your page is more important than the optimization if it’s not useful to searchers.
2. Page Load Speed
There are two types of page speed: page speed, which measures how fast the content on a particular page appears. There is also the ‘time to first byte’, which measures how long it takes to receive the first byte of data from the server, and ‘site speed’, which measures the speed of just a sample of page views on the entire website.
It is also important to consider bounce rate when ranking on Google when your page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Google’s PageSpeed Insights lets you monitor your site’s speed, and it offers suggestions for improving it. Last but not least, make sure your website loads within 2-3 seconds across all mobile devices and platforms.
3. User Experience
Click-through rate, bounce rate, and dwell time are some of the most important Google ranking factors you must consider. RankBrain is Google’s artificial intelligence signal that helps the search engine rank web pages crawl quickly & more effectively. If users visit your site and don’t like it, he/she will leave the site.
As a result, Google will think it’s irrelevant to the users’ needs. Hence, it might become more and more challenging to rank your site higher in search results if enough people do this.
Google values relevant results very much and strives to provide them to its users. You’ll be less likely to rank well if your click-through or bounce rate is too low or too high. The best way to optimize your content is by giving visitors a great user experience, not just for SEO purposes, because a great user experience attracts visitors and keeps them returning for more.
4. Website Structure
The algorithm of Google is highly advanced to measure and detect the quality of your website structure. With this in mind, you need to focus on creating a seamless user experience (UX) and strong website structure for your visitors.
If you were to walk through your website, you would need to think about whether it would be easy for a new visitor to find all the information or products they need.
Does your site make it easy for them to get in touch, locate a specific page, or view your knowledge base or blog? Your website needs to be redesigned to make it more structured and offer better user experiences if you answered “no” to any of these questions.
5. Quality Backlinks
There is a good chance that your online content has links pointing to it, which can be anything from Google Maps, partner sites, or profiles in online media to a link in your bio on social media. We understand that all backlinks are not equal.
Your link will be more valuable if the referring site has a high quality. Seek out & configure links on relevant, quality websites, such as directory listings, review websites, and map listings.
6. Mobile Usability
Google has been incorporating mobile usability into its ranking for several years now because more than half of all Internet traffic comes from mobile devices. As mobile internet use expands, Google is making this shift from indexing the desktop versions of your website to the mobile versions. For this reason, your website must be mobile-friendly if you want to maximize your search engine rankings.
Your website doesn’t need to be mobile-friendly, but it should be responsive and user-friendly regardless of screen size. You can test your content on multiple mobile devices and platforms by learning about web design principles, ensuring the site loads quickly, all buttons and links are easily accessible, and everything is accurate & legible.
7. Use of Social Media
Promoting your content across various social media platforms can significantly boost your brand presence and drive organic traffic to your website. By sharing your content on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms, you can create a strong brand identity and increase your website’s visibility. Additionally, search engines are linked to social media platforms, so having your website’s links and URLs on these platforms can help improve your website’s ranking.
To maximize the impact of your content, it’s crucial to have a well-designed social media strategy in place. By doing so, you can effectively promote your content, reach your target audience, and increase your website’s traffic and engagement.
8. Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is the process of selecting relevant keywords and strategically using them to improve search engine rankings and drive traffic. Finding out what search terms potential customers use involves incorporating those terms into website content, meta tags, titles, and descriptions.
The goal is to increase visibility and relevance for specific keywords, leading to higher rankings and more targeted traffic. However, it’s important to avoid “keyword stuffing” and prioritize user experience and quality content for long-term success.
So, it’s still possible to rank highly on Google with good old-fashioned SEO by researching and using keywords. Write naturally instead of stuffing your writing with keyword phrases, which is a bad practice.
There are a several ways to perform keyword optimization, including:
- Use latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords to let Google find your content quickly.
- Ensure that you use good anchor text for internal links and backlinks
- Be sure to write compelling meta-descriptions
- Use target keywords in headers
- Use keywords in the URL
9. Tags
Tags are terms used to describe pieces of information. You can find different types of tags in SEO:
1. Title Tag: The title tag represents the name of your website when it appears in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). It is that blue clickable font you see at the top of your website that shows the title tag. Keep your website content in mind. There should not be more than 30-40 characters in a sentence.
2. Alt tag: A tag that identifies an image is used as an alt attribute since Google cannot understand an image without one. It is important to include keywords that relate to the content of your website in these tags.
3. Meta descriptions: Meta descriptions serve as a summary of your website, and they are a great opportunity to get your website in front of the most viewers. There are 70-80 characters that can be used to conclude the paragraph, which should also include keywords and URLs.
4. Canonical Tag: Tags such as this tell search engines which version of a page should be indexed since it indicates what version it is. It is important for pages with duplicate content.
5. Robots Meta Tag: This tag tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to ignore. It is useful for pages that should not be indexed, such as login pages or duplicate content.
10. Website Security
It is important to prioritize website security, particularly using the most secure HTTPS protocol. This means your website encrypts your website’s data every time users interact with it, preventing personal data breaches.
The easiest way to achieve this is by installing an SSL certificate on your website. The padlock symbol in the address bar will let visitors know that your website has SSL certification, thereby increasing their trust in it.
Google crawls your external links and wants you to steer users away from potentially dangerous sites on your website, so make sure that all external links point to secure sites. It’s important to put your website security in the first place to ensure a safe and seamless user experience on the site.
Conclusion
In the bottom line, you will need to be patient and commit to monitoring and making adjustments over time even if you are confident in your SEO abilities. If you are creating a new webpage for your target audience or improving your web content, keep these 10 Google ranking factors in mind.
Plan, create, and publish content with these Google ranking factors in mind, and you will appear at the top of the search engine results page more often. If you are not sure how to implement or optimize your site for Google ranking factors, hire SEO experts from a reputed digital marketing agency.
