SEO Ranking Factors: Unveiling 10 Powerful Factors for 2024
In its algorithm, Google considers more than 200 ranking parameters. To put it mildly, dealing with 200 SEO ranking elements might be intimidating, even though it is not wise to ignore any or all of them. To make matters worse, Google periodically releases updates and continuously alerts users with the algorithm, making life extremely difficult for SEO experts.
However, you must be aware of certain things if you want your Google rankings to rise from nowhere to the top of the list. To succeed in organic search results, this guide provides the most important and recent SEO ranking elements. Let’s quickly review the fundamentals of search engine optimization ranking before delving into the specifics of each ranking component.
Determining Your Google Page Rank: An Overview of SEO
Many are curious about how Google ranks content. So let’s begin by addressing some common queries regarding SEO before delving into the SEO ranking elements itself.
SEO Ranking: What Is It?
The position of a website for particular keywords or phrases on search engine results pages (SERPs) is known as its SEO ranking. A website is more likely to be seen and receive more hits and traffic the higher it ranks.
How Search rankings are determined by Google
First, the web is crawled by Google’s search bots, which are automated software programs referred to as “spiders” or “crawlers.” It sounds eerie, we realize. But that only indicates that they browse websites. Second, they add pages that are properly optimized and crawlable to Google’s index so that it can catalog them.
Third, out of the billions of pages in Google’s database, when users search, the search engine returns results it deems to be the most relevant based on the search terms they type.
Google uses a number of extremely intricate algorithms to determine which information is presented first and in what sequence. But later, we’ll talk about all that exciting stuff. You must rely on your page titles and meta descriptions to get searchers to visit your page after it appears in the SERP.
How Are Search Rankings Sorted by Google?
People type or speak terms relating to what they’re looking for when they wish to find information. These are known as keywords, and this guide’s content optimization section will address them.
However, optimizing your website for competitive keywords isn’t the only way to maintain its Google rating. The caliber of the information is also important.
Google’s own search quality ratings state that the following criteria are checked when it crawls a page’s core content:
- Purpose of the page
- Content quality and amount
- Website info and info about the content creator
- Website reputation and content creator reputation
- User interaction with the page (time on page, bounce rates, and so on)
- Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T)
We’re going to go into greater depth about the final one (E-A-T) in a bit because it has been increasingly significant. For the time being, it’s sufficient to know that each of the aforementioned elements influences Google’s algorithm and influences SEO ranking.
Google presents searchers with the most relevant and high-quality results pertaining to their query based on the rating parameters mentioned above. The most pertinent are displayed first, followed by the remaining content on subsequent pages.
WordPress for beginners google search
Notifying Google of which of your website’s pages are pertinent to specific search queries is one of the objectives of addressing SEO ranking criteria, as this encourages users to click on the links and visit your website. Prior to discussing the two categories of SEO, let’s examine the ideas of authority, competence, and reliability in more detail.
Why Does E-A-T Matter and What Does It Mean?
Google released the “medic update” in August 2018, emphasizing the importance of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) as key components of Google ranking. In certain cases, they even substituted “high EAT” for “high-quality content.”
This modification was made to make sure consumers were receiving accurate information from high-quality content as well as stuff of the greatest caliber. And it’s crucial that you comprehend this. Google discovered that the majority of searchers use their platform for almost anything. That implies that if the incorrect results show up, their users’ life could be drastically affected negatively. Websites that have the potential to change someone’s life are classified as “your money or your life” (YMYL).
Consider websites related to medicine, financial planning, or anything else that has the power to alter someone’s financial situation, happiness, or health. Google aims to provide its users with the most accurate results when they search for information that can have practical implications. Assessing the reputation of the creator in addition to the content of a page is one aspect of this.
EAT Author standing
Google now attempts to ascertain the author of a site’s content rather than just concentrating on what the page says. This applies especially to the YMYL websites.
This entails examining each category separately:
- Expertise: Does a content creator possess the necessary abilities and expertise in their field?
- Authority: Is this the most reliable source to respond to the query from the searcher, or is there another “go-to” someone who would be more helpful?
- Credibility: Does the author present the subject in their content in an honest, objective manner? However, what is Google’s precise E-A-T measurement formula? That’s the difficult part, though.
Really, nobody knows outside of Google.
We are aware, nevertheless, that they employ a sizable workforce of human searchers to ensure that E-A-T is measured as precisely as feasible. Google measures E-A-T in three ways, as explained by Ahrefs.
Steps:
- An algorithm is developed by engineers to enhance search results.
- Superiority Raters, or human searchers, view results that include and without the modifications the engineers made
- Google considers input from Quality Raters when determining whether to implement the algorithm modification indefinitely.
It’s not yet an ideal system. However, it is remarkably accurate in assessing the level of authority, competence, and reliability of a website. Currently, several SEO experts minimize E-A-T’s significance as an SEO ranking criterion.
Furthermore, since nobody really comprehends Google’s intricate ranking algorithms, it is difficult to refute them with specific examples. Having said that, credible researchers have shown a substantial relationship between E-A-T and ranking. Okay, so how do you raise your E-A-T and what does any of this mean for you personally? Here are some useful pointers:
- Make a thorough “About Us” page for your website.
- Make your page search engine friendly (more on this later).
- Put any honors, certifications, or qualifications prominently on your website.
- Increase your online authority by writing guest posts.
- Address both favorable and unfavorable reviews.
- Make sure that every piece of information on your page is impartial and true.
- Make your contact page clearly readable and provide multiple avenues for users to get in touch with you or your staff.
All of these methods help users raise their E-A-T to get better SEO rankings. And a lot of it comes down to managing your internet reputation through best practices.
What do Off-Page and On-Page SEO mean?
When discussing SEO ranking variables, two terms that are frequently brought up are on-page SEO and external search engine optimization. The term “on-page SEO” describes elements of your own website that you can improve, like the content and the underlying code.
Off-page SEO is the term for activities you conduct off your website to influence its authority and trustworthiness through social media signals and appropriate inbound link building. The top SEO ranking parameters apply to both forms of content. Let’s make sure everyone understands the importance of tracking and monitoring ranking before moving on to our top ten ranking variables.
How to Keep an Eye on Search Engine Results
You must first understand where you stand before trying to raise your SEO rating. There are two methods for locating this. Use the terms you believe your clients will use to search Google first. Use a private or incognito window on your browser to prevent results from being distorted by Google’s personalization. Check the places where your material gets displayed.
For larger sites with hundreds of pages, this is unfeasible, therefore you’ll probably need an SEO tool to assist you. For instance, you can use Semrush to view the top organic keywords you rank for by typing your website into the search box and waiting for the report to load. Alternatively, track the precise keywords you’re attempting to SEO rank for by using their keyword position tracking tool.
Let’s now examine the most important SEO ranking elements in detail and discuss how to become an expert in Google search engine optimization ranking. Ultimately, the main goal of SEO is to rank #1, especially on Google.
Google's Top 10 SEO Ranking Factors Right Now
1. A Safe and Accessible Website
Naturally, having the appropriate kind of URL is the first of our SEO ranking variables. In particular, Google’s crawlers may readily access and crawl that URL.
Put another way, for Google to determine the purpose of a page, it needs to be able to access the URL and view the content of the page. You’ll need the following in order to assist the bots:
- A website produced using a website builder with proper coding
- A robots.txt file that instructs Google on where to look and what not to look for on your website
- A list of all the pages on your website
- Using All in One Sitemap, you may create a sitemap for a WordPress website. If not, you can Create a sitemap online using a generator.
- Utilize sitemaps to enhance crawl—seo ranking factors
Although Google’s own John Mueller has tweeted that HTTPS is a “light-weight ranking factor” and that “having HTTPS is great for users,” HTTPS is not a factor that Google considers when determining whether or not to index a page.
2. Page Speed—Including the Speed of Mobile Pages
For many years, page speed has been listed as one of the most important SEO ranking elements. Google aims to make the web experience better for users, and quickly loading webpages will help with that.
In July 2018, Google revealed a change to its search engine algorithm that prioritized mobile page performance. You can face consequences if your website loads slowly on mobile devices.
Check out how well your website performs by using Google’s PageSpeed Insight tool.
2. Page Speed—Including the Speed of Mobile Pages
For many years, page speed has been listed as one of the most important SEO ranking elements. Google aims to make the web experience better for users, and quickly loading webpages will help with that.
In July 2018, Google revealed a change to its search engine algorithm that prioritized mobile page performance. You can face consequences if your website loads slowly on mobile devices.
Check out how well your website performs by using Google’s PageSpeed Insight tool.
SEO Ranking Factors: PageSpeed Insight
Additionally, if you use WordPress, take a look at WPBeginner’s suggestions for accelerating a WordPress website. If you haven’t already, using Google Search Console is the best course of action. This includes a whole area devoted to providing you with performance, including speed updates for your website.
3. Adaptability to Mobile Devices
While we’re talking about mobile, another important SEO ranking element is mobile friendliness. Mobile devices are more popular than desktop computers for web browsing, which is one of the reasons there have been alterations to Google’s search result ranking.
Now that mobile-first indexing is a reality, Google is prioritizing results from mobile-optimized websites over those designed for desktop computers. Being mobile-friendly will help you avoid being unnecessarily ranked lower.
Although a lot of the SEO ranking elements we’ll cover in this post will assist you in building a solid foundation for search engine rankings, you also need to consider the user experience that visitors have on your website.
Considerations to make include if you:
- Maintain a responsive website that adjusts its size to the device automatically.
- To make text easy to read on a small screen, use large fonts.
- Add navigable menus to make your website easier to use.
- Make sure advertisements don’t obscure necessary material
- See our guide on increasing your mobile conversion rate for more advice on how to create a mobile-friendly website that will boost your Google search rating.
You should investigate Google AMP (accelerated mobile pages) if you have the necessary resources—a staff, time, and energy. One benefit is that mobile devices can view your pages almost instantaneously. Rumor has it that Google gives AMP-built websites a higher ranking than non-AMP sites.
The drawback is that you have to create another version of your website that complies with AMP’s requirements. After that, everything needs to be maintained. This can be a labor-intensive project, as you can see. However, regardless of your choice to test Google AMP, you still need to make sure that your website is fully mobile-friendly.
4. Domain Age, URL, and Authority
It may surprise you to learn that three years or older makeup over 60% of the websites that rank in the top 10 on Google. A study on SEO trends conducted by Ahrefs on two million pages revealed that less than a year old websites are ranked at that position.
Therefore, you already have an advantage if you’ve had your site for a long time and have optimized it utilizing the advice in this post. The domain name is important in several situations. Even though exact-match domains—those having the target keyword in the URL—have been penalized by Google, these domains are typically spammy sites with sparse content.
According to Moz research, exact-match domains that are thought to be important, relevant, and high-quality may benefit from a ranking bump. Since your website is already well-established, you don’t need to search for a domain name that exactly matches your company.
Which path is ideal for selecting your domain? Instead, concentrate on a URL that best represents your company and make it as optimized as possible!
Authority is important when it comes to SEO ranking criteria. As you’ll see, that’s typically achieved by combining off-page SEO signals like social shares and inbound links with excellent content (see the following tip). Additionally, it might incorporate the creator’s authority because of E-A-T.
This has been measured by Moz using measures called page authority and domain authority scores, which are scored from 0 to 100 and indicate the likelihood that a specific page or domain would rank in organic search results. Open Site Explorer can be used to verify page authority or domain authority. You can obtain a report that displays domain authority, page authority, established links, and fresh links by simply entering your URL into the onsite search box.
5. Content Optimization
In this overview to Google SEO ranking variables, we’ve covered content. This is due to the fact that it ranks among the most significant search ranking factors—ranking right up there with links, user experience, and RankBrain, which we’ll discuss later. Let’s examine what exactly content optimization for search engines entails now.
As stated in our guide to keyword research, keywords are essential to Google’s search algorithm. When looking for information, searchers utilize these terms and expressions. They are also the terms and expressions that characterize the subjects of your website. Ideally, those will correspond. This is the reason why using keywords in your text is crucial.
Duplicate content is one thing to watch out for that lowers your SEO ranking. Original, new content is always preferable for SEO. Additionally, use canonical URLs to indicate to Google which of your related pieces of content should be ranked as the most authoritative. Nonetheless, using LSI keywords to enhance content is one of the most common queries we receive at Trajital. So let’s get going there.
Comprehending SEO Ranking and LSI Keywords
Not all SEO is about the primary keyword. It’s crucial to incorporate terms that are associated with the primary terms that people search for. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are what these are known as. They offer an online word association tool to assist Google in understanding which outcomes to display. If you use the appropriate LSI keywords, for instance, Google will know that your website is relevant to cars rather than skirts when users type in “mini,” and vice versa.
LSI keywords as a determinant in SEO ranking
It’s important to remember that content optimization encompasses optimizing for queries and natural language searches, since more people conduct voice searches. As a result, because individuals talk differently than they type, some LSI keywords will be lengthier.
Consider this: Suppose you are a restaurant owner. Additionally, 50% of your patrons search for “best restaurant near me” online. However, while using voice search, individuals also look for “what’s the best restaurant in Montreal.” Even when both inquiries are aimed at the same item, Google may display different results.
One approach to make sure your restaurant appears in the results for both sets of questions is to use LSI keywords. In your niche, your page SEO rank is more likely to rise the more assistance you can provide Google with in understanding your content. But here’s the thing: cramming keywords into web pages is prohibited because it degrades the quality of the content and lowers your search engine ranking.
Thus, after you’ve chosen your keyword, be sure to only incorporate it (together with your LSI keywords) in a natural and organic way.
Recognizing Search Intent for Content Improvement
When it comes to content optimization, search intent is equally crucial. It entails figuring out what people are actually searching for when they input search terms. Google will detect that your content does not fit the search intent of their users through a sequence of poor click-through rates and high bounce rates (which we shall address further in a moment).
Sometimes, it’s obvious what someone is trying to find. When someone uses the word “compare,” for instance, they probably mean to weigh their options before making a purchase. Additionally, they intend to make a purchase if they use the word “buy.”
Depending on whether they wish to, they will alter the keywords they use:
- Locate a specific webpage using the menu.
- Obtain the informational response to a query.
- Before making a purchase, do some exploratory research.
- Make a transactional purchase.
- Business websites that are well-optimized will have material for all of those search categories.
So how can you ensure that the purpose of the user matches your keyword? Go right to the source!
Enter your query into an open Google search in your in-private browser. Check out the results that are currently ranking to see whether your content would be a suitable fit. You should relaunch your keyword research if not. If so, use this chance to investigate the rating of specific pages.
You can find out how to improve your content even further by conducting a competitive study of the top 10 SERP results! Then, by making your content better than the current search results, you can fully optimize it.
Does Content Length Affect SEO Ranking?
Absolutely, in a word. Google desires for material to be both in terms of length and quality. Although it’s seldom a good idea to write additional words to make a piece longer, if the subject matter demands it, give it more. According to study, content longer than 2000 words performs higher in Google’s top ten results.
Length of serp-iq content
There are undoubtedly some exceptions to this general rule, therefore it’s not inflexible. However, as a general guideline, if you truly want to be competitive on the SERP, your content should be at least 2,000 words long. In addition, longer content gets more shares and links, two other crucial SEO ranking factors that we’ll talk about in a moment.
SEO Ranking Elements: "Zero Position" or Answer Boxes
Google is using answer boxes more and more to offer responses as an additional component of search engine optimization. This is how an answer box appears:
- Assigning headings to the questions and using appropriately styled title tags (more on that in the following tip)
- Making sure the responses are accurate, pertinent, and concise
- concentrating content on keywords with answer boxes already in place
- Including tables or lists
But the highly sought-after “zero position” has a drawback:
- On occasion, it prevents users from clicking through to your website.
- People might not want to read the rest of the text as they receive the answers to their inquiries right away. In other words, just 10,000 individuals may click through to the article even though 100,000 people may have seen your slot in the answer box.
However, let’s face it: receiving that zero position is awesome because it indicates that Google finds your content valuable, which is always a compliment. It also increases brand recognition and drives more visitors than you would have otherwise. Plus, someone else will get that alot if you don’t.
How to Boost Your SEO Ranking Using Videos
- People of all ages are watching videos.
- About 79% of individuals say watching a video is preferable to reading a blog post.
- Individuals consult videos when making selections about what to buy (do you recall those transactional searches?).
- The final word? Incorporate videos into your content strategy from now on. Video receives a lot of signals to boost your search ranking, including reading, sharing, and linking.
6. Technical Search Engine Optimization
As we previously mentioned, one part of content optimization for higher SEO ranks is writing proper code. This may seem daunting, particularly if you consider yourself more of a writer than a “techie.”
Even if you’re not a programmer, you can still manage some of the following aspects:
- Include keyword terms in page titles because that’s where Google searches first to figure out what content is related to what search.
- Employ header tags to display the hierarchy of material, with your title appearing at h1, followed by subheads at h2 or h3.
- Make a meta description that includes your keyword phrase and draws readers in.
- Keep your meta descriptions to 160 characters or less, brief and attention-grabbing.
- Include alt tags in your image alt tags to demonstrate how the images relate to the primary content. This will benefit screen readers and visually impaired users of your site.
- To inform Google about the type of content you are creating, use schema markup. All in One SEO is the greatest WordPress SEO plugin available, and it makes setting up all of this very simple.
Homepage for AIOSEO
You can select a focus key phrase and additional key phrases using All in One SEO, and the TruSEO on-page analysis will grade the degree of optimization of your pages and articles. It also provides you with a to-do list that you may utilize to improve. Include alt tags in your image alt tags to demonstrate how the images relate to the primary content. This will benefit screen readers and visually impaired users of your site.
It also provides you with a to-do list that you may utilize to improve the quantity of visitors who land on your page just to swiftly return to the search results. Dwell time is the amount of time visitors spend on your website after arriving
One of the SEO ranking factors in search engine land is rankbrain. Google will believe that your website is irrelevant to users if they visit it, leave, and don’t like it. This could make it harder for your website to rank higher in search results if enough people do it.
This suggests that the goal of the searcher must be reflected in your material. You ought to go back and choose a more useful keyword to target. On the other hand, if visitors go through to your website and stay on it for some time, Google will know that your material is pertinent to their query.
Thus, when you tailor content, descriptions, and titles to It also provides you with a to-do list that you may utilize to improve you can raise your search engine rating if you can attract clicks and provide value to the user.
8. Links (Backlinks, Outbound & Internal)
The foundation of the web is links, as we stated at the outset. Links are therefore a vital component of the SEO ranking signal. There are three different types of links to consider:
- Inbound links
- Outbound links
- Internal links
All three are typically tied to a descriptive anchor text.
Inbound Links
Google analyzes inbound links to assess the authority and relevancy of your content. The ideal situation is when a reputable website links to yours in a relevant section of their material. Therefore, it will be seen more favorably if the Content Marketing Institute links to your content marketing resource than if a random person having a substandard website links to it.
It’s possible that you’ve heard of inbound links called “backlinks.” Getting as many reputable websites to link back to you is your goal. Additionally, you should aim for a very small number of inbound links from low-quality domains. You can use a tool like Semrush to find your incoming links.
Outbound Connections
You also want to demonstrate to your audience that you are producing high-quality material. This entails employing outbound linking to point to pertinent, reliable websites within your industry. Does this imply that exchanging a lot of outbound links will increase your authority? Not at all. It simply means that when conducting research, you should only use credible, high domain sources. To be honest, you should definitely be doing this anyway to make sure you’re providing the maximum value for your users.
Internal Links
Ultimately, pages become more valuable when they are linked to from within your own content, which benefits both Google and your visitors. When an authoritative page on your website has a link to another page, it facilitates users’ navigation and adds credibility to the other page. This improves the search engine rating of the second page.
Establish a strong network of internal linkages between your pages as you produce fresh material to help them support one another. Remember what we mentioned at the beginning of this part as well:
There is a relationship between all three kinds of links and informative anchor text.
When you include a link in your material, the wording you include should explain where the link will lead!
To expedite the process of internal linking, you can make advantage of All in One SEO’s Link Assistant extension. For your website, it will automatically create a link report that provides you with information about the following:
- Opportunities for links: Lists of pertinent pages to link to and examples of appropriate anchor text.
- Orphaned posts: Any pages or posts on your website that lack internal links are considered orphaned posts.
- Report on AIOSEO Link Assistant
9. Social Signals
Another indication that your content is valuable is when users share it on social media. There is a clear correlation between social shares and search engine ranking, according to Cognitive SEO’s analysis of 23 million shares.
According to Google, social media shares do not directly affect SEO ranking. Links from Facebook or Twitter are not given the same weight as links from reliable websites. It remains undeniable, nonetheless, that the pages with the greatest rankings in Google search results typically have a large number of shares. Though a few connected causes are most likely to blame for this:
- Increased social media shares lead to increased website visitors.
- Your work is also more likely to get backlinks if it receives more shares.
- Consequently, obtaining more social media shares benefits your search engine ranks, even if just indirectly.
- In addition to maintaining your own social media presence, you also need to facilitate content sharing and boost those social signals.
10. Accurate Business Data
For firms aiming to target specific local locations, this final piece of advice is crucial. One of the most important aspects influencing local SEO ranking is the existence or lack of business information.
Thus, it’s critical to attend to issues such as:
- Name, address, and phone number (NAP)
- Google My Business and Facebook business listings
- Reviews on those platforms and pertinent directories such as Yelp and others
- The appropriate local search phrases
And that’s it! You now understand the key components of SEO ranking. See our other guides on SEO strategy and content marketing for more useful information:
- Expert SEO advice and best practices
- How to Generate Leads Using SEO
- Wonderful Examples of Content Marketing
- Additionally, to assist you in increasing site traffic, you should review these SEO statistics.
Is It Better to Try to Appease Google or Your Audience?
This is really the essence of search engine optimization. Is creating material that is easy for Google to read and rank, or is it just creating content that your audience will find entertaining?
Sadly, the response is not nearly as dramatic as you might think: it’s both.
It would be similar to asking which side of a pair of scissors is sharper to inquire which of these two factors is more significant. To rank well, both SEO components must be in perfect alignment. The user experience (UX) should never be compromised in order to appease Google. Ironically, doing so will make your viewers angry and cause you to receive a penalty from Google!
Furthermore, bear in mind that although achieving a high Google position can propel your company to new heights, Google is not and will never be your paying client. Conversely, your readers could make a financial contribution to you. Thus, in order to obtain Thus, here is the greatest SEO advice you’ve ever heard if you want it:
Provide amazing material that your audience will adore. Next, optimize that content with just as much vigor to assist Google in deciphering why your audience finds it so compelling. But start with your user in mind at all times, no matter what.
That’s what the multi-billion dollar SEO industry is all about.
Final Thoughts
Lastly, even though your SEO is fantastic, you need to take other factors into account for your Google ranking. You must convert that organic traffic once it reaches your page. The best conversion optimization kit in the world, Trajital offers SEO services which increase traffic, expands email list size, and increases revenue. Thus, why do you delay? Sign up with Trajital today to join thousands of smart digital marketers!
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