10 Google Ranking Factors For 2023

Google Ranking Factors
Google Ranking Factors

Every second of every day, Google, the world’s most popular internet search engine, handles roughly 63,000 search inquiries. This means that anyone with a smart device and internet access will utilise it at least once a day to find useful information online. While you may be a Google user, have you ever pondered how the search engine determines in a fraction of a second which websites best match your search query? We’ll go over several Google ranking variables and what they mean for website owners and SEO (search engine optimization) professionals all across the world in this piece.

Top Google Ranking Factors

So, how can one ensure that their website receives maximum online exposure? To assist you understand how to rank higher in Google’s SERPs, below are a few of the most essential google ranking factors:

1. Content is Still King

content is a king
content is a king

Your sites must contain original, well-researched content that adds value to the visitor if you want to rank well in Google’s SERPs for a keyword(s). There will be no repeat visits if they do not understand what you are saying. Furthermore, the bounce rate will be extremely high (conversely, the dwell time will be low). Consider the user’s search intent and the many queries/questions they might have regarding a subject. In fact, Google has just released a new featured snippet for multi-intent search queries.

To devise efficient SEO methods for diverse search topics, conduct a thorough keyword study utilising Google’s Keyword Planner. Keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing can also be extremely beneficial in this regard. Make sure to look into mobile, local, and voice search terms as well, and factor them into your strategy.

2. HTTPS

https
https

In 2014, Google made HTTPS a ranking indication, and in 2017, Google heavily encouraged sites to go secure. In fact, sites that do not use a secure HTTPS connection are now marked as ‘not secure’ in the Chrome browser’s address bar, which is an eyesore for site visitors. As a result, failing to switch to HTTPS may result in higher bounce rates. However, if you do make the modification, you may experience canonicalization issues.

3. All About Domains

all about domains
all about domains

You have a strong organic search advantage if you have an exact-match domain name that includes the term you’re pursuing. However, targeting every big keyword in this manner is not always feasible. Furthermore, studies have shown that top-performing, older domains do better in organic search than new brands, owing to Google’s long-term monitoring of their activity and assessment of them as trustworthy.

4. A Mobile-friendly Website is a Must

mobile friendly website
mobile friendly website

The amount of searches performed on mobile devices is rapidly increasing. This implies that if you want to stay competitive, you’ll need to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Instead of needing to refer back to the desktop version of your site, Google can index it fast and properly if it is mobile-friendly.

Since 2015, mobile usability has been a top Google ranking criteria, and your mobile and desktop sites must have similar content to properly satisfy the mobile-first index guideline. For more information, consult Google’s recommendations on the subject.

5. Page Speed Could Make All the Difference

page speed
page speed

According to recent studies, every two-second delay in page loading doubles the bounce rate. In reality, huge internet firms have lost millions of dollars in revenue as a result of a second’s delay in page loading. Compressing your HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files, eliminating page redirects, optimising pictures, and addressing any server performance issues are all ways to improve page speed. Additionally, you can use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to decrease bottlenecks on mobile pages. The Google PageSpeed Insights tool can be used to assess the speed of your website.

6. Make User Experience Top Priority

user friendly website
user friendly website

When users visit a website, Google keeps track of their actions. The amount of time visitors spend on your site, the number of visitors who depart after only viewing one page, the number of other sites they visit, and so on are all key SEO ranking criteria. Improve the structure of your website so that users can easily go from one page to the next and discover what they’re searching for with as few clicks as possible.

7. On-Page SEO

on page seo
on page seo

As we all know, on-page SEO refers to the steps you do on your website to improve your organic search rankings. Simple changes such as updating old content, cleaning up your metadata, including header tags in your content, using the appropriate schema so that Google better understands what your site is about and populates rich snippets for your pages, and so on can help you improve your organic search rankings. Technical SEO measures such as removing duplicate content, correcting broken links, optimising URL structure, and updating your robots.txt file are also required.

8. Backlinks are a Vote of Confidence

backlinks
backlinks

Off-page SEO is a significant ranking component in SEO. If you have a lot of reliable sites linked to you, Google knows you’re a popular and trustworthy source of information. Here, quality over quantity is the goal, so post guest articles from industry experts, client case studies, infographics, and industry surveys, and team up with renowned bloggers or influencers in your niche to create links. This will draw the attention of other high-authority websites, which will link to you if they find your content useful.

9. Brand Authority

brand authority
brand authority

It gives a strong signal to Google that you are a popular business if you can draw attention to your brand and target more brand keywords or search terms. This will boost your Google rankings and drive more traffic to your website. According to studies, 50% of people will click on a result if the brand appears in many organic search results on a SERP.

10. Social Signals

social signals
social signals

Having a strong social presence has its own set of benefits. Select a social media platform that complements your brand voice and encourages your target demographic to interact with you. Collaborate with influencers in your industry to gain access to their audience. Regularly post engaging, shareable content to give your followers something to look forward to, as well as respond to their questions and concerns. Although social media marketing is not a Google ranking element in and of itself, it can help you achieve good organic traffic increase when combined with brand power.

Conclusion

Aside from the actions you take to guarantee your site is found online, Google algorithm adjustments, which are issued practically every day of the year, have a significant impact on SEO. While you can always start with a few simple steps to maintain basic SEO hygiene, it may be a better idea to hire a team of pros in-house or hire an SEO company like us to do all the hard lifting for you.


10 Top SEO Ranking Factors You Should Be Practicing Already

10 Top seo ranking factors COVER

You have a product that you want to sell on Google and you are not following the top SEO ranking factors then it is most likely that you won’t be generating any sales.

Google is ever-changing with its updates and it is important to keep up with its needs. To be able to reach the mass that you dreamt of, it is important to know the correct way to do SEO. 

Now, if we really get into it, there are more than 200 google ranking factors that most of us are oblivious of but if you are doing these 11 things right, you are sure going to level up than most. 

Want to create leads and rank on the first page of google?

Let me teach you how with these 10 proven top SEO ranking factors. 

1. SSL Certificate

SSL Certificate

Have you ever been to a site that suddenly takes you to a page that says “not safe to proceed”? Any normal person would right away click on the cross button. 

What does it do? It does not only trigger their exit rate but also marks their website as an unsafe affair. The first thing SEO ranking factors teach you is to tighten up your site security. 

Get an SSL certificate that will immediately encrypt your website with HTTPS. It creates a secured connection between the users and the website making the site safe to use. 

The more trustworthy your site, the more the search engine would make it available to the users. 

2. Page Speed

Page Speed

Google always tried to make its experience the best for its users. In the process, page speed has become one of the most important google ranking factors. 

Nobody would want to be stuck in the middle of a conversation just because the website they are trying to access is not loading. It is always preferable to check your current page speed and optimize it for a better user experience. 

Getting Google Search Console is going to solve a lot of problems and will help you strengthen your core web vitals. 

3. Optimize It For Mobile

Optimize It For Mobile

70% of the world’s population uses mobile phones to search. In fact, SEO strategists can expect up to 89% by the end of 2025. 

Well then? What did Google do? It introduced an algorithm called Mobile that shifted its focus from desktop to mobile optimization. 

Getting a mobile responsive site that responds to the device your audience is using has become one of the top SEO ranking factors. 

In fact, Google’s mobile-first index has started to draw websites that are mobile-optimized first than the ones which are not optimized. If you haven’t made your website mobile-friendly yet, you are losing yourself some great deal of traffic. 

4. Be Available To Google Bots

Be Available To Google Bots

The most important factor to rank on Google is to be available to the crawlers. Your crawlability will allow the bots to skim and scan your content and make it available on Google. 

Submit a sitemap to the top search engines and keep a track of your indexing. Google Search Console can help you a great deal to check your index status and make sure that your website is up there on Google. 

And the most important of all is robot.txt. Make proper use of robots.txt because this is where your game changes.  Apart from robots.txt, there is an entire technical SEO checklist that you need to have an idea of. 

5. User Interaction

Google gives a lot of preference for websites that have shown strong user engagement. Thanks to the RankBrain update that has been studied and up-ranking websites that have shown positive user behaviour. 

It keeps an eye on the dwell time, bounce rate and the CTR of the website. So, if you want to please RankBrain, it is important to see crawlers not as bots but as humans. 

A perfect blend of high click-through Rates, high dwell times and low bounce rates will automatically take you one position higher than the rest. 

It is an important ranking factor to have a smooth site architecture, high-quality graphics and strong internal linking if you want to have good engagement. 

6. User-Generated Content

06. User-Generated Content

Let me tell you this – Content is the king. If you have been successful in delivering high-quality, user-generated content, Google is almost happy with you.  With every year, Google has become more user-oriented and always helps pages that have professional content and are consistent in posting it. 

Make sure that your content has strong Keyword research. There are a hundred tools out there including Semrush, Ubersuggest and Ahrefs, that can do wonders for your keyword research technique. 

But what is also important is to publish a genuine piece from a professional 

Most of the top sites have well-research, well-written and informative pieces that educate people. The more friendly you are to your user, the more chance you make it to the top. 

Content marketing is the future of SEO and it is advisable that you kick-start it. 

7. Search Intent

Search Intent

Google does not just rank a website or an article because the search query matches the keyword you use. It has gone beyond that and tries to understand the intent of the user behind searching a query. 

If a user is looking for the keyword “buy apple laptops”, the intent is to buy a product. This immediately gives e-commerce websites a ranking. 

However, if the same user looks for the keyword “apple watch launch”, his intent is towards getting a piece of information rather than buying. In such cases, review pages or new pages would see a rank. 

It is one of the top SEO ranking factors to be aware of the intent and write according to that.

8. Strong Backlinking Profile

Strong Backlinking Profile

Creating a strong backlinking profile is one of the biggest proof that you have an authoritative website. 

It is not about buying links from link farms but creating quality links to your website. The number of good links to your website directly influences your ranking factors and increases your traffic a great deal. 

If you want your site to rank, you need to consider increasing your backlink score through guest posting, link acquisition, digital PR, cross-linking and other link building strategies. 

9. Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO

If you are an SEO expert, you would know that it is not just about doing your On-Page SEO right. 

Listen to me, Off-Page Seo matters a lot.

When people share your content on social media, it increases your brand awareness and brings your traffic from places unknown.

Although links from social profiles are not officially counted the same as from another website, it definitely brings in organic traffic. If your social media marketing strategies are on point, you may get a few sales too. 

Not only does it create a social presence for your brand but also makes the world easy to share and create social signals for you. 

This brings me to the last, most important SEO ranking factors of Google. 

10. Freshness

Freshness

Google is always on the lookout for fresh and updated content. SEO rankings factors say that it is always important to keep revamping and rewriting your old articles with updated information. 

One needs to either re-publish updated content or keep posting new articles in order to keep up with the user demand. 

Update your landing pages once a year or whenever you see that the page is ranking down. 

The freshness of your page tells Google how up to date you are with the trends. 

Over To You

Everything boils down to these 10 SEO ranking factors. While none of these factors is new, most of us miserably fail to follow them. Most importantly, please your readers with expert, authoritative and trustworthy (E-A-T) content and the ranking will come following it. 

Are you following any of these top SEO ranking factors? Let us know in the comment. 

See you next time!


10 Top SEO Ranking Factors You Should Be Practicing Already

10 Top seo ranking factors COVER

You have a product that you want to sell on Google and you are not following the top SEO ranking factors then it is most likely that you won’t be generating any sales.

Google is ever-changing with its updates and it is important to keep up with its needs. To be able to reach the mass that you dreamt of, it is important to know the correct way to do SEO. 

Now, if we really get into it, there are more than 200 google ranking factors that most of us are oblivious of but if you are doing these 11 things right, you are sure going to level up than most. 

Want to create leads and rank on the first page of google?

Let me teach you how with these 10 proven top SEO ranking factors. 

1. SSL Certificate

SSL Certificate

Have you ever been to a site that suddenly takes you to a page that says “not safe to proceed”? Any normal person would right away click on the cross button. 

What does it do? It does not only trigger their exit rate but also marks their website as an unsafe affair. The first thing SEO ranking factors teach you is to tighten up your site security. 

Get an SSL certificate that will immediately encrypt your website with HTTPS. It creates a secured connection between the users and the website making the site safe to use. 

The more trustworthy your site, the more the search engine would make it available to the users. 

2. Page Speed

Page Speed

Google always tried to make its experience the best for its users. In the process, page speed has become one of the most important google ranking factors. 

Nobody would want to be stuck in the middle of a conversation just because the website they are trying to access is not loading. It is always preferable to check your current page speed and optimize it for a better user experience. 

Getting Google Search Console is going to solve a lot of problems and will help you strengthen your core web vitals. 

3. Optimize It For Mobile

Optimize It For Mobile

70% of the world’s population uses mobile phones to search. In fact, SEO strategists can expect up to 89% by the end of 2025. 

Well then? What did Google do? It introduced an algorithm called Mobile that shifted its focus from desktop to mobile optimization. 

Getting a mobile responsive site that responds to the device your audience is using has become one of the top SEO ranking factors. 

In fact, Google’s mobile-first index has started to draw websites that are mobile-optimized first than the ones which are not optimized. If you haven’t made your website mobile-friendly yet, you are losing yourself some great deal of traffic. 

4. Be Available To Google Bots

Be Available To Google Bots

The most important factor to rank on Google is to be available to the crawlers. Your crawlability will allow the bots to skim and scan your content and make it available on Google. 

Submit a sitemap to the top search engines and keep a track of your indexing. Google Search Console can help you a great deal to check your index status and make sure that your website is up there on Google. 

And the most important of all is robot.txt. Make proper use of robots.txt because this is where your game changes.  Apart from robots.txt, there is an entire technical SEO checklist that you need to have an idea of. 

5. User Interaction

Google gives a lot of preference for websites that have shown strong user engagement. Thanks to the RankBrain update that has been studied and up-ranking websites that have shown positive user behaviour. 

It keeps an eye on the dwell time, bounce rate and the CTR of the website. So, if you want to please RankBrain, it is important to see crawlers not as bots but as humans. 

A perfect blend of high click-through Rates, high dwell times and low bounce rates will automatically take you one position higher than the rest. 

It is an important ranking factor to have a smooth site architecture, high-quality graphics and strong internal linking if you want to have good engagement. 

6. User-Generated Content

06. User-Generated Content

Let me tell you this – Content is the king. If you have been successful in delivering high-quality, user-generated content, Google is almost happy with you.  With every year, Google has become more user-oriented and always helps pages that have professional content and are consistent in posting it. 

Make sure that your content has strong Keyword research. There are a hundred tools out there including Semrush, Ubersuggest and Ahrefs, that can do wonders for your keyword research technique. 

But what is also important is to publish a genuine piece from a professional 

Most of the top sites have well-research, well-written and informative pieces that educate people. The more friendly you are to your user, the more chance you make it to the top. 

Content marketing is the future of SEO and it is advisable that you kick-start it. 

7. Search Intent

Search Intent

Google does not just rank a website or an article because the search query matches the keyword you use. It has gone beyond that and tries to understand the intent of the user behind searching a query. 

If a user is looking for the keyword “buy apple laptops”, the intent is to buy a product. This immediately gives e-commerce websites a ranking. 

However, if the same user looks for the keyword “apple watch launch”, his intent is towards getting a piece of information rather than buying. In such cases, review pages or new pages would see a rank. 

It is one of the top SEO ranking factors to be aware of the intent and write according to that.

8. Strong Backlinking Profile

Strong Backlinking Profile

Creating a strong backlinking profile is one of the biggest proof that you have an authoritative website. 

It is not about buying links from link farms but creating quality links to your website. The number of good links to your website directly influences your ranking factors and increases your traffic a great deal. 

If you want your site to rank, you need to consider increasing your backlink score through guest posting, link acquisition, digital PR, cross-linking and other link building strategies. 

9. Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO

If you are an SEO expert, you would know that it is not just about doing your On-Page SEO right. 

Listen to me, Off-Page Seo matters a lot.

When people share your content on social media, it increases your brand awareness and brings your traffic from places unknown.

Although links from social profiles are not officially counted the same as from another website, it definitely brings in organic traffic. If your social media marketing strategies are on point, you may get a few sales too. 

Not only does it create a social presence for your brand but also makes the world easy to share and create social signals for you. 

This brings me to the last, most important SEO ranking factors of Google. 

10. Freshness

Freshness

Google is always on the lookout for fresh and updated content. SEO rankings factors say that it is always important to keep revamping and rewriting your old articles with updated information. 

One needs to either re-publish updated content or keep posting new articles in order to keep up with the user demand. 

Update your landing pages once a year or whenever you see that the page is ranking down. 

The freshness of your page tells Google how up to date you are with the trends. 

Over To You

Everything boils down to these 10 SEO ranking factors. While none of these factors is new, most of us miserably fail to follow them. Most importantly, please your readers with expert, authoritative and trustworthy (E-A-T) content and the ranking will come following it. 

Are you following any of these top SEO ranking factors? Let us know in the comment. 

See you next time!

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