Before reaching a website, most people usually did not go straight to it by typing the web address. Instead, the first place they went to is search engines such as Google, which then redirected or led them to the site.
Google as a search engine is by far the most frequently used, handling an average of 8.5 billion searches daily. Google search displays search results and as well related searches. Google search results usually give multiple pages.
Given that Google is considered to be on the top of its game, it is undoubtedly a goal for web page owners’ on top. But the probability for a page to appear is dependent on one thing, and that is Search Engine Optimization.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is simply increasing the possibility of web pages to be more visible and have elevated status based on search results. Search engines like Google cannot be paid to boost your site’s appearance because it is based on organic traffic. So how will your web page appear first? SEO is the key.
Google and other search engines are based on organic traffic from search results. This is why SEO is a major ranking factor. Search engine rankings are based on-page optimization. SEO ranking factors should be considered for a website to have a higher search engine ranking.
Several SEO ranking factors affect this probability. If you want your page to appear first on Google search results, you should consider the Google ranking factors. This article will help you improve your Google ranking.
To make your Google ranking higher, it is important to know what is important based on Google’s ranking algorithm. This article will discuss the vital ranking factors important to SEO in this article.
The most important Google ranking factors include high-quality content, page speed, user experience, core web vitals, internal linking, backlinks, title and header tags, site security, Image Alt-Text, and URL structure.
When search queries related to your brand or company are made, search engine spiders creep over the web to gather data and do latent semantic indexing. Thus, it is critical to ensure that Google’s algorithm will provide users with links to your page.
Let’s go over these Google ranking factors one by one to make the elevated rank happen.
High-Quality Content
It is important that when search queries are made about your brand or company. One of the ranking factors to improve your google ranking is content. There are some SEO ranking factors to consider in terms of content that can make the rank higher on google.
Google’s search algorithm considers all the ranking factors. In terms of content, the page must provide fresh content. It is important to ensure that the content provided based on the search query is up to date and time relevant. Fresh quality is also defined by its novelty, so do not publish duplicate content.
Google’s ranking factor also encompasses the provision of relevant and useful content. The quality of content is screened by E-A-T. In 2018, Google announced a reference guide highlighting expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T). This is considered to be one of the most important ranking factors.
The importance of pages based on quality is dependent on the standard mentioned above. This standard encompasses the creator, the content, and the website itself. Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are ensured by having an expert and credible creator of the main content.
Google’s ranking factors also consider the relevance of the content, which necessitates optimizing by providing compelling, easy to comprehend, and accurate content. It also matters to incorporate a target keyword. In addition, assimilating these so-called keywords should be done naturally to boost page relevance.
It is vital to cover topics relevant to users, but an added crucial ranking factor to this is the content length. Content length is not just defined as having many words but by depth. It should be useful content that provides valuable information and data.
Another important ranking factor is content optimization. This can be done by maximizing Google analytics by understanding search intent and keyword research. The searcher’s intent also requires analyzing branded searches and related searches as an SEO strategy.
Page Speed (Desktop and Mobile)
Google algorithm emphasizes the importance of the load time of pages on both desktop and mobile. Page speed is also one of the Google ranking factors that matter to SEO. It is actually listed as one of the top-ranking factors for pages.
In 2021, webpages underwent mobile usability indexing. With the contemporary changes, many people search on their mobile phones. Thus, even if your pages work well with desktops, its mobile-friendliness, as one of google ranking factors, matters as much too.
The mobile experience of users is indeed significant. When it comes to how fast websites load, the mobile ranking factor is also another area to consider.
The mobile-friendliness of pages, if not appropriately met, it can be the cause for rank to be dragged down. Thus, it is vital to ensure that the pages are also mobile-optimized to warrant a good rank.
It is also important to note that the longer it takes for your page to load, the more visitors you lose in the process. You can check this by using free tools, and the use of a search console is advised. You can also try to use the Google search console to evaluate and improve your page’s rank.
User Experience
Another factor is user experience. This poses a huge impact on SEO. This direct ranking factor deals with how users interact with the website. Search intent, general façade, easy navigation, and page responsiveness are things to ponder on.
It is imperative to create a better user experience. Addressing the search intent and providing a vast pool of information will improve rank because it guarantees user satisfaction.
The general façade of the website, from its fonts, font size, and colour, is also significant. It matters that the page is easy to read and the essential matters are highlighted and not hidden by ads. A great design and efficient organization will give a lot of advantages.
It is also important that the site is easy to navigate. When navigation hinders good viewing, it simply makes the usefulness and depth of the content futile.
Page responsiveness also is as vital as the others. Make sure that buttons and links work to improve bounce rate, dwell time, and other user interaction measures. This way, an optimized and better user experience is guaranteed, thus ensuring SEO milestones.
Core Web Vitals
As Google’s John Mueller argues on google ranking factors, Core Web Vitals covers important points since it measures the pages’ user experience. This accounts for three main key points, speed of loading the page, page receptiveness, and visual soundness.
Core Web Vitals statistically defines the person’s experience through quantification. To ensure the main key points and enhance user experience, the Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift are boosted.
Largest Contentful Paint(LCP) defines the rate of loading the page as it measures the loading time of the content and visible elements on your website. This can be improved by upgrading the web host and also by making images appear only upon scrolling, thus reducing loading time.
First Input Delay (FID) entails page receptiveness as it looks into the time it takes for your page to register visitors’ clicks. This can be enhanced by removing non-essential third-party scripts.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) covers visual soundness as it sees the stability of your website’s elements. To avoid unnecessary visual disruptions, you can customize the size attribute dimensions of pictures and videos.
This can be considered successful if the user experience can be akin to having a personal and meaningful conversation when using your website.
Internal Linking
Building an internal linking structure is another point to ponder when aiming for a better Google rank. Engines work by the use of spiders and indexing the content of your pages.
Internal links are links that are redirected to your pages. This will increase page visibility on engines and help achieve searcher intent. The Google spiders use the internal links to synthesize information and properly provide google analytics data.
When building an internal linking structure, it must be closed-knit and organized. Create links that will redirect you from one page of your website to another. Your page will be easily found, and traffic will be easily managed with this system.
To improve the linking system, external links or outbound links can also be added, which will boost traffic to your site. Creating a well-arranged priority system will help improve your site’s visibility and thus the possibility to appear on the top rank and the first page.
Backlinks
Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are also salient. Apart from adding outbound links to establish the quality of content, being able to be added as one by other websites is equally important.
The goal is to collect a high volume of backlinks to strengthen your content’s authoritativeness further. Backlinks from a renowned domain authority will elevate the chances for your website to go higher.
Backlinks can be gathered using several ways and one of which is building your site to become a domain authority by crafting high-quality content. Though this will take time to establish, it is the best ticket to better Google ranking.
Other ways to get backlinks can be through guest blogging through the use of anchor texts, pitching content to authors for connections, and even building broken links.
Title and Header Tags
Title and header tags are also pertinent to move up on google search results. Search intent is the major focus of this factor. This process includes creating the meta description along with the title tag.
Once you have determined the target keyword you want to gain dominance at, insert the title and header tags. Engines will use these along with the meta description to analyze what the page is about.
Search engines also use these to index content appropriately and generate better search results for your website. The tags and meta description make a good keyword search that can be a great way to power up your site based on Google’s search algorithm.
Site’s Security
One of the ranking factors is the site’s security. To improve search results, this point has to be pondered on as one of the Google ranking factors.
Even with valuable search intent, not having a secured site makes your website prone to hacking, leading to being blocklisted. This is why it is salient to protect your site from possible tampering.
A secured website also establishes a notable trustworthy status for your page. Visitors will not have to be anxious and worry about dealing with red flags and other concerns if your website is protected.
To ensure your site’s security, you have to switch to HTTPS and acquire an SSL certificate. This is a worthy investment to protect your page’s data and information and as well as to ensure a better organic search status.
Image Alt-Text
Another way to improve position on search results is the alt text. This is the text copy that shows in place of an image on a webpage if the picture does not properly load.
This ranking factor is an important way to foster a better ranking. Remember that every picture from your site comes with an alt-text or also referred to as an alt-tag. This poses several advantages apart from the abovementioned.
An alt-text helps your page to cater to visually impaired readers through the screen reader. It also permits engines to interpret and index images correctly, thus the rank advantage. Properly optimized images pave the way to a better Google ranking.
URL Structure
The last of the Google ranking factors to be discussed in this article is URL structure. Creating a good URL structure or a domain name helps direct organic traffic to your website.
Creating exact match domains(EMD) helps promote google ranking from search results because it contains the exact keyword research needed. This will help in improving the ranking position.
To achieve this, there should be a properly structured URL. It should contain the appropriate keyword search. It must be short and easy to remember. That way, it guarantees your pages’ increased rank for a search query.
Conclusion
Google being at the top as a search portal is indeed a dream place to be on the top too. However, it is not easy to obtain this status since it should be worked hard for by optimizing the rank on search engine result pages.
SEO is an aspect that is perpetually changing and, therefore, demands the efforts generated to stay at the apex not to be fleeting. The need to constantly muddle through the ranking factors is a necessity.
The only way to attain a top mark on Google search status is the continuous efforts to transform with the contemporary evolutions it requires.
