By: Pankaj Sakariya

September 17, 2021

11+ Crucial Google Ranking Factors: What REALLY Matters for SEO

Focusing on the Google Ranking Factors has become inevitable to monitor the performance of the search engines and gain essential insights about SEO. The traditional method was to maintain balance and patience to get results. 

The biggest problem is many people do not have a clear outline of Google ranking factors. They focus to improve SEO ranking without proper knowledge of the essential elements that will actually make a difference. 

Why are Google Ranking Factors Significant?

Every time you search for something on search engines, you get the best ones on the first page out of billions of results. Search Engine Optimization is a dynamic thing that evolves rapidly every day. The mission is to provide the most reliable and relevant information to visitors. Search Engine updates the algorithm at regular intervals to decide the rankings. 

Various types of Google Ranking Factors in the digital world:

• Off-page Ranking Factors: These are the track of actions taken outside the website which affect your rankings. 
• On-Page Ranking Factors: It is mainly related to the keywords and informational quality of the web pages. 
• Technical Ranking Factors: This focuses on your platform’s overall performance compared to competitors in the market. 

You must be aware of the Google Core update and might want to learn more. This is highly beneficial as it helps to know the actual Google ranking factors that you must focus on.  

The unique Google Ranking Factors are:

1. Content is Still essential 

Higher ranking expects in-depth content which has a broad knowledge. It is vital to provide real value and engaging content. Focus on the quality of the content. There is never a thumb rule about the word count. It varies based on your target audience. 

2. Backlinks 

It is the strongest signal to decide the rankings of the website. Suppose you have multiple high-authority domains, which increases your chances of getting better ranks. Be it the best real estate SEO and top dentist SEO providers, you need to gain better reach in the digital world with the help of vital resources.

3. User Experience

It isn’t easy to measure User experience as it is different for every industry. You can focus on improving Core Web Vitals metrics, ensuring a smooth user experience on your web pages. With an engaging User-Interface, it is vital to have ease of navigation for the users. This helps to improve SEO ranking on the search engine. 

Some suggestions that you can follow are:

• Easy-to-read content 
• Interesting and informative content 
• Relevant Advertisements and Campaigns 
• Well-organized website structure 
• Responsive website on multiple platforms and devices 
• Fulfills user’s requirements and expectations

4. Fresh and Unique 

The updates of search engines have ensured that you need to update the old content at specific intervals. This helps to maintain a balance between the new and old content. 

5. Website and Page Speed 

This is one of the significant elements of Google Ranking Factors. Slower websites have higher bounce rates which mean lower rankings on the SERPs. This means your website and page speed must be quick for the visitors. Users are always eager to get the results and effortless browsing experience on the online platform. Some Top SEO company in Australia are using highly efficient tools which help to collect valuable insights and improve the website speed. 

6. Mobile Responsive 

Google prefers mobile-first indexing when it crawls the websites. This means that you need to make your online platforms responsive to mobile devices. Your rankings will be disrupted if you do not have a mobile-friendly platform. This will improve SEO ranking as users get the freedom to access your websites from their mobile devices. 

7. Keywords Targeting 

These are the center to improve SEO ranking on the search engines. The search terms are something that your target audience will use to look for the content. So, before you start working on the content, ensure to conduct keyword research. This will have a high impact on driving traffic and generate better leads. 

8. Title and Header Tags 

Ensure that you add relevant keywords in your title and header tags for better reach. Search engines use them to index and know what content you will be provided to the readers. The title tag is the most convincing line, which ensures if people will be interested in reading further. 

9. Meta Description 

This is a short description that lives in the HTML code of the web pages. As a critical Google ranking factor, it is essential to keep your content precise, informative, and relevant. This is displayed under your title on the search engines. 

10. Guest Posts 

This is another method to get backlinks and improve SEO rankings through external publications. The guest post helps build links for your website. The core target is to ensure you post high-quality and unique posts on the credible domains which target your audience. 

11. Search Intent 

Search engines generally crawl through meta-tags, alt-text, and on-page content to know what you will be offering. Search intent is something that users expect when they search queries. The Google ranking factor has divided the content into three categories: transactional, navigational, and informational. So, when you build your content, ensure that it satisfies the search intent of users. 

12. Brand Mentions

The rise of social media has been helped in increasing online presence. When you improve SEO rankings, you need to know the weight of backlinks on the website. Track the brand mentions on various social media platforms to enhance your online visibility. 

13. Website Structure 

This plays a significant role in the user experience on your website and impacts SEO. A good website structure ensures that visitors get relevant information without getting lost or confused on the website. As Google Ranking Factors better website navigation, more accessible for search engine crawlers to find your web pages. 

14. Secure Website 

The usage of HTTPS is appreciated on the search engines to ensure the data is safe on the website. Being a Google Ranking factor, the algorithm might flag the websites as not secure where the URL does not have HTTPS. This will significantly help to improve SEO ranking effortlessly. 

15. Feature Snippet 

This is also known as position 0 on search engines. You might need to be perfect, precise, and relevant to gain this position on Search Engine Result Pages. If you want to explore what are rich snippets or how they work? You might see them at the top position, which provides a short answer to your query in the best possible way. 

16. Local Targets 

Your local target must be based on relevance, distance, and prominence per Google Ranking factors. Relevance is how near the business is to the visitors. You must have business listings in Google My Business, where you need to add relevant information and critical attributes to help the visitor connect with you. 

Distance means the physical address between the searcher and your business. This helps in cases where you want to target people in your nearby location. Distance matters when a user will have search queries near me, and your business must appear. 

This is the popularity of your business in the offline mood. Search engines measure this based on the directories, links, articles, reviews, and ratings. This helps to improve SEO rankings on the SERPs. So it has become vital to focus on local SEO to boost your performance. 

The bonus checklist that will help in managing Google Ranking factors:

Obviously, it is advisable to take help from professionals. Now, you might be doubtful about how professional SEO services will make a difference for your website? They are already aware of the digital world, making it easier for them to apply the right strategies and focus on the crucial Google ranking factors.

Let us Disclose Some Points which might Come in Handy for your Business:

• Provide faster page loads 
• Aim to reach the featured snippets section 
• Use internal and external linking for your website 
• Target keywords that have higher search intent
• Optimize older content at regular intervals 
• Find opportunities for backlinks 
• Try partnerships 
• Focus on the recent trends and demands in the industry 
• Get backlinks from trustworthy platforms
• Increase Brand Awareness 
• Focus on quality and informational content 
• Optimize images 
• Add blog section 
• Fix broken links or any issues on the website 
• Make your platform easily accessible through mobile devices 
• Maintain a well-structured website 
• Make it  effortless to reach your business 
• Share content on multiple social media platforms 
• Make your title and meta-data click-worthy 
• Keep your URLs clean and optimized 

There might be many more Google Ranking Factors that you need to explore. Even initially, if you focus on this list, it will help enhance your SEO on the search engines. 

Wrapping it up!

When focusing on the Google ranking factors, you need to be calm. It takes time to show results. The thing is, you have invested your time, efforts, knowledge, and resources to boost your performance in the Digital world. Now you need to know the weak and strong points of your business. Then grab the right opportunity to optimize your content for better user engagement and online presence on the SERPs. You are wondering if this is possible? Or is this too much? Do not stress as we have the right person for you. Reach us now! And we will be building strategies that will handle Google Ranking factors effortlessly.