Top Google Ranking Factors

Want to increase your Google Ranking?

Ever wondered what are the top Google ranking factors that can actually help boost your site?

Search engines don’t reveal exactly how they rank websites, but SEO experts estimate that search engines use between 90 to 200 different ranking signals!

Luckily, you don’t have to worry about all of these ranking signals – just a few make up the majority of what produces results.

Want to know where to focus your efforts?

Here are the top search engine ranking factors that you should focus on to get more SEO traffic to your website.

Content

In order to rank in the search engines, you must have a piece of content to rank that answers the query that someone typed into a search engine.

It sounds obvious, but actually creating the content is often missed! Many people just try to rank their homepage for every single one of their keywords.

Instead, you need to show search engines what your website is about by creating a page for each service you offer, each product you offer, etc.

Without these optimized pages, search engines don’t know what your website is about. That’s why having optimized content is one of the most important Google ranking factors.

On-Page Optimization

After you create your content, you’ll want to make sure it’s optimized so that search engines understand what it’s about.

The first step is to make sure your keywords are in your title tag and meta description. A web page’s title tag is the text in the link that shows up on the search engine results page.

Including your target keywords in your meta description tag is also a good step to take. A well-written description can convince searchers to click on your link from the search engine result pages (SERPs).

You should also include your target keywords naturally in the content of the actual web page.

Content Length

Content length can affect search engine performance.

A study from Backlinko shows that longer content (content above 1800 words) tends to rank higher than short content.

In many cases, Google tends to prefer long-form content that fully addresses the user’s questions. When you write long content, you’re more likely to cover everything that a searcher is looking for!

With that said, long content does not always rank better if the searcher’s intent doesn’t match.

Some queries like searches for recipes or quotes might work better with short content as such individuals are likely looking for quick information.

So how long should your content be to optimize search engine traffic?

A simple answer is that content should be as long as it needs to be to provide value to the reader.

When creating content, take a look at the competing content that is already ranking. Ideally, your content should be at least as good as the articles that are currently ranking. This usually means that your content will be at least around the same length or slightly longer.

Search Intent

Search intent is another important factor to consider. Even if you do everything right to optimize your web page, it still won’t rank if you are targeting the wrong keywords with the wrong content type.

For instance, Google tends to rank more articles over product pages. If you search right now for “best email marketing software,” you might notice that Google is ranking articles about the best marketing software, as opposed to a product page from one of the top brands.

Google thinks the intent of the search is not to buy software immediately but to figure out which software is best through reviews.

In this case, it would be very difficult to rank your product page for “best marketing software,” and if you wanted to rank for this term, you would want to match the content type that is ranking.

To evaluate search intent, see what types of web pages are currently ranking when you type in a search query.

Content Freshness

Content freshness is also a ranking factor. Google doesn’t to serve outdated content, so make sure your content is up-to-date!

Inbound Links

Another important ranking factor is links, including links from other websites to your website as well as internal links within your own website.

Links are like votes for your website – If a lot of people are linking to your website, search engines see your website as popular and therefore can rank you higher.

Quantity Of Links

Getting a large number of links to your website can help you rank in the search engines if those links appear to grow at a natural pace. Generating awareness for your brand and publicity will result in other people linking to your site naturally.

You can also get more links to your site by doing email outreach and building relationships with other website owners or even asking for links.

Learn how to How To Get Backlinks in our guide!

Quality Of Links

Another important factor to consider is the quality of the links you receive. Your website can rank well with just a few high-quality links from high authority sites.

For example, a link from CNN.com would have much more value than a link from your friend’s personal blog. The reason is that CNN already has a ton of inbound links from other sites as is therefore considered an authority site.

Anchor Text

The anchor text (also known as link text) can influence your rankings as well. “Anchor Text” is the text that is linked. Achor text can let search engines know what your webpage is about.

Usability

Another ranking factor that websites should pay attention to is usability and user experience. Websites that are not user-friendly could cause users to get frustrated and even leave, even if the content is good.

Bounce Rate

Have you ever visited a website, realized it’s not what you were looking for and immediately closed the window?

That’s called a “bounce” and in analytics, you can watch your bounce rate to make sure that it’s not too high.

If a visitor comes to your website and immediately returns to the search results page to click on something else, then this behavior could tell the search engines that your web page is not a result that people want to see.

Page Speed

With today’s fast internet speeds, users are impatient!

If your website loads too slowly, visitors will leave before your site even has a chance to load – which is why having a fast website is increasingly important.

Search engines also like websites that load quickly, so be sure to optimize your website for speed. Slow loading pages frustrate users and cause them to leave.

You can use a tool like GTMetrix to check how quickly your site loads.

Mobile-Friendly Design

Mobile search traffic (people searching on their phones) is now outpacing the number of people who search from their desktops. Making sure your website looks good on mobile is very important.

Be sure to test your website to make sure it’s compatible with various devices and web browsers.

Security & HTTPs

Studies show that websites that use SSL and implement HTTPs rank moderately better in the search engines. Secure browsing is particularly important for e-commerce sites that are collecting sensitive data like credit card details.

Conclusion

By focusing on these top Google ranking factors, you can start ranking and getting traffic from Google and other search engines.

Focus on creating great content, getting links, and providing a great user experience and search engines will reward you with the traffic you deserve!