We know that Google is the world's most popular online search engine. Nearly 63,000 search queries every single second of each day mean that anyone with a smart device will access the internet to find valuable information online at least once daily.
Have you ever wondered how the Google search engine crawler decides which website or blog best fits your search query in just a fraction of a second? So, in this blog article, we will discuss 10 important Google ranking factors to rank websites and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Important Google Ranking Factors
Have you ever thought about how we can ensure that our
website gets maximum visibility online? Here, the most important Google ranking
factors will help you understand how to rank higher on Google search results
(SERPs) quickly. The following factors are listed below –
1. Content is King
If you
want to rank higher on Google's SERPs for keywords, your pages must carry
original content and well-researched content that is a valuable addition to the
visitors if the visitors do not understand what you want to explain. Then,
there will not be repeat visits to your website. Moreover, the bounce rate of
your website/blog will be high.
Always keep the visitors' search intent in mind and think of
the different queries that they may have about a topic. Recently, Google
launched a new featured snippet for multi-intent search queries.
Do keyword research/analysis for various search topics.
Keeping an eye on selecting keywords, it should be high volume and low
competition. Make sure that to analyze the mobile, local, and voice search;
keywords should be included in your strategy.
2. HTTPS
HTTPS is a Google ranking signal which shows your website is
secure. In 2017, Google strongly encouraged websites to go secure. Websites
without a secure HTTPS connection are considered and shown as 'not secure' in
the Chrome browser's address bar.
Thus, not transitioning to HTTPS can lead to increased
bounce rates on your site. But be warned; you may face canonicalization issues
if you do make the change.
3. SEO-Friendly Domains
You will get strong organic search advantages if you have a
domain name that includes your targeting keyword. However, it is only sometimes
practical to target each major keyword in this way.
Moreover, studies have revealed that consistently
top-performing older domains do better in organic search than new brands
because Google has monitored their activity for extended periods and views them
as trustworthy.
4. Mobile-friendly Website
There is a huge number of searches conducted through Mobile
devices. If you want to stay in the game, your website or blog should be
mobile-responsive. Google can quickly and accurately index mobile-friendly websites rather than the desktop
version.
Since 2015, the Mobile-responsive website has been a top
Google ranking factor in order to satisfy the mobile-first index. Make sure
that your mobile and desktop website must have identical content. You can also
refer to Google's guidelines on this topic for more info.
5. Page Speed
We have concluded that the bounce rate doubles for every two
seconds of delay in page loading. This means that large online businesses have
lost millions of dollars in revenue with delay seconds in page
loading.
You can increase page speed by compressing your HTML, CSS,
and JavaScript files, reducing page redirects, properly optimizing images,
Resolving server performance issues, etc.
Moreover, you can use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for
mobile pages to reduce bottlenecks. Various tools are available on the
internet. Through the help of it, you can measure your website/page speed—one
of the popular tools to measure page speed by using the Google PageSpeed
Insights Tool.
6. Make User Experience Top Priority
Google constantly monitors the user behavior when they visit
your website – how much time they spend on your site, the number of visitors
who leaves your site from the very first page, the number of users who visit
other pages of your website, etc. all-important Google ranking factors.
Make your site structure smooth to ensure visitors can
navigate easily from one page to another. This way, they can easily find what
they are looking for in as few clicks as possible.
7. Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Repeating the same keywords multiple times in a page
article is not useful regarding Google search ranking factors. It will
discourage your users from reading the article, but it is also a signal to
search engines that you are trying to manipulate their algorithms.
Mention your keywords in the page title, description,
starting paragraph, and a couple of more times naturally in the article.
Keyword stuffing could be a better SEO practice to rank websites, and Google
may down your page rank.
8. On-Page SEO
As we all know, On-page SEO techniques optimize website pages to gain
better organic search rankings. It includes making simple changes like updating
the old article and header tags, cleaning up metadata, and using appropriate
titles so that Google better understands your website.
To get a better organic search ranking, you have to focus on
Technical SEO like getting rid of duplicate content, loading speed, robots.txt,
sitemap, optimizing URL structure, and many more.
9. Backlinks
Backlinks are very important Google ranking factors. If you
have multiple reputable websites linking to your site, it signals to Google
that you are popular and have an open source of information. Before creating backlinks, always Target quality (High DA/PA
sites) over quantity.
In this way, you can attract the attention of other high-quality
websites that will link to your site if they find your article valuable. Engage
in link-building exercises like - posting guest posts by experts, client case studies, and
infographics and pairing up with popular bloggers within your niche.
10. Brand Authority
Research has found that 50% of users will click on a result
if they see that the brand is appearing in several organic search results on
SERPs (search engine results). If you can attract your brand and target more
keywords, it signals to Google crawlers that you are a popular
business/website.
11. Social Signals
Select a social media platform that suits your brand voice
and target demographic actively engaging with your business. Social media has a
huge amount of traffic to grow your site by posting engaging, Share-worthy
content and concern. With the help of social media marketing, you can see
positive organic traffic growth.
The Conclusion
We have successfully explained all the 10 important Google
Ranking Factors to rank websites. Besides the steps you take to ensure your
website is discoverable online, SEO is often influenced by the Google algorithm
updates released almost every day of the year.
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