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Last updated on Jul 28th, 2022 at 03:21 pm
There are said to be over 200 factors that all play a part in your Google ranking. We do not know what all these factors are because Google keeps it a secret, but we can determine some common factors that definitely help determine what affects your ranking on Google.
Unfortunately, there are no top 5 specific factors that determine your website’s success or ranking. These 200+ factors change all the time, so bear in mind there is no quick ranking method. Google’s ranking algorithm is constantly changing.
First and foremost, I’m sure by now you are familiar with the importance of SEO for your site. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is responsible for optimizing web pages for search engine results. A ranking refers to your website or page’s position on the search engine results.
Now let’s take a look at some top ranking factors:
Quality Content
One of the top ranking factors will always be the quality of your content. Google checks and favours helpful content that is most relatable to the search. User experience is prioritized by Google, meaning the results which are most helpful and understandable for the reader will be prioritized. A subfactor of this topic is your content length. Although there is no particular length that your content should be, SEO experts have conducted some tests and found that longer content ranks higher. As a general guide, between 500-1,000 words is most common.
Relevant Keyword Usage
Keywords that are relevant to your content are important because these keywords are what a user will be searching when they’re looking for something on Google. So, your keywords and content should be relative, helpful and easy to understand. Do not use unrelated keywords or “black hat” SEO techniques to hide keywords in your content as this can result in your site being seen as spam.
Page Speed
It has been confirmed by Google that site speed is taken into account for their search rankings. This makes sense because they focus a lot on positive user experience, and users do not like slow websites. Many studies from SEO experts prove that if a page takes long to load, a visitor spends less time there and would rather go back and load the next search result. It is recommended you get your site to load in under 2 seconds.
Mobile usability
The number of searches made on desktop versus mobile is constantly fluctuating, but the fact remains that the number of mobile searches is increasing year by year. It has been stated that more than 50% of searches made on Google are through a mobile device. This is definitely a very important fact to consider. We recommend you make your site’s mobile friendliness at the top of your priorities.
Domain Age
The age of your website domain is a factor in your Google ranking because older websites hold top ranking keywords for longer. This makes it harder for new domains to match up to your site relevance and long-term usage of keywords in your niche.
Backlinks
Still rated as one of the highest ranking factors, backlinks play a big role in your Google ranking. Quality backlinks prove to Google that your site is authentic and you are producing helpful content for visitors. Your site will also come across as trustworthy to Google if you have quality and related backlinks.
Social Shares
A strong online presence drives organic traffic. It is no secret that having a presence on social media platforms is beneficial to your site. When visitors enjoy content, they share it. Shared content drives more traffic to the content source, your website. Google’s spiders “crawl” pages and take notes on your content shares. Again, Google highly favours user experience. If a user is sharing your content that means your content is good quality, trustworthy and helpful – all extremely important in the Google ranking algorithm.
Final thoughts
What affects your ranking on Google doesn’t come down to any specific method or SEO strategy. As you’ve learned from this discussion, there are more than 200 factors in Google’s ranking algorithm. But with the help of SEO experts, we have some insight into the highest Google ranking factors. We know there are a few basic rules and guidelines to follow to help your rankings.
Take notes, stay consistent, follow expert advice, and hopefully, your site will rank in the top three search results with time.
If you’re looking for an SEO team to help get your rankings up, check out our affordable SEO plans and we’ll help get you going!
