It’s difficult enough to get your website to rank on Google. Improving your SERP ranking can be difficult, especially if you’re in a competitive market or have a very niche product.
However, if you’ve noticed that your site’s rankings have remained static or aren’t moving in any direction, we can help. We’ll answer some of your questions and give you some helpful hints along the way.
What is the Ranking Factor?
The term “Ranking Factors” refers to the criteria that search engines use to evaluate web pages in order to compile the rankings of their search results. Ranking factors can be related to a website’s content, technical implementation, user signals, backlink profile, or any other features deemed relevant by the search engine.
In conclusion, the position of your content on search engine results pages is referred to as ranking in SEO (SERPs).
The Most Crucial SEO Ranking Factors
- A Secure and Easy-to-use Website
The first of our SEO ranking factors, unsurprisingly, has to do with having the right kind of URL. That is, it is a URL that Google’s bots can easily access and crawl.
To put it another way, Google must be able to go to the URL and read the page content to figure out what the page is about.
- Page Speed (Including Mobile Page Speed)
For years, page speed has been cited as one of the most important SEO ranking factors. Google wants to improve its users’ web experience, and fast-loading web pages will help them do so.
In July 2018, Google announced a search engine algorithm update focused on mobile page speed, which began to affect sites. Your site may be penalized if it does not load quickly on mobile devices.
- Mobile Friendliness
While we’re on the subject of mobile, another important SEO ranking factor is mobile friendliness. Because more people use mobile devices to access the internet than desktop computers, Google has changed how it ranks search results.
Google’s mobile-first index is now live, which means it will prioritize mobile-optimized sites over desktop-optimized sites in its search results. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you risk being buried in the search results.
- Domain Age, URL, and Authority
The domain name is important in some cases. Although Google has penalized exact-match domains (those with the target keyword in the URL), this is usually reserved for spammy sites with little content.
What is the best way to select a domain? Instead, concentrate on a URL that accurately reflects your company and optimize it to the max!
Authority is important when it comes to search engine ranking factors. As you can see, great content and off-page SEO signals like inbound links and social shares are usually combined.
- Optimized Content
In this guide to Google SEO ranking factors, we’ve talked a lot about content. That’s because it’s one of the most important search ranking factors.
Google’s search algorithm is based on keywords, as we mentioned in our keyword research guide. When people are looking for information, they use these words and phrases. They’re also the words and phrases that describe the subjects of your website.
Ideally, they’ll be compatible. That is why it is critical to include keywords in your content.
- Technical SEO
As we previously stated, one aspect of optimizing content for better search engine rankings is getting the code right. This can be intimidating, especially if you’re a writer rather than a “techie.”
Even if you’re not a coder, you can control the following aspects:
- Include keyword phrases in page titles, as this is where Google looks first to see what content is relevant to a given search.
- Write a meta description that entices readers while also incorporating your keyword phrase.
- Use keyword phrases in image alt tags to show how those images are related to the main content.
- Including alt tags also helps people who are visually impaired enjoy your site with screenreaders.
- Use header tags to show content hierarchy, starting with the h1 tag for your title and moving down to h2 or h3 for subheads.
- Links
The web is built on links, as we stated at the outset. Links are, of course, an important SEO ranking signal. There are three types of links to consider:
- Inbound links. Inbound links are one factor Google considers when determining how authoritative and relevant your content is.
- Outbound links. At the same time, you want to demonstrate to your visitors that you’re producing high-quality content. Outbound links are created by linking to relevant, authoritative sites in your niche.
- Internal links. Finally, linking to your own content can help Google and your visitors connect pages, making each one more valuable. If you have an authoritative page and link to another page on your site, your visitors will be able to find the other page more easily and you will be able to pass on some authority.
- Social Signals
According to Google, social shares are not a direct ranking factor. Links from Twitter or Facebook are not counted in the same way that links from other reputable websites are.
Nonetheless, the highest-ranking pages in Google search results usually have a large number of shares.
- Real Business Information
This last point is critical for businesses that are targeting specific geographic areas. One of the most important local SEO ranking factors is the presence or absence of business information.
When it comes to your website rankings, there are a variety of reasons why they may be stagnant or not as high as you would like. We hope that by using this guide and some of the other resources provided, you will be able to begin improving your website so that it performs better in SERPs.
That concludes our discussion. You now understand the most important SEO ranking factors. Check out our other SEO guides for more information.
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