Powerful 20 SEO Ranking Factors: How Google Ranks You On Google.
Credit: Nick Skliarov
Have you ever thought about how Google’s SEO Ranking Factors and SEO works? Here is an in-depth overview of what it has under the hood:
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐๐ is an AI-powered system that helps understand the meaning of words and query intent.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง – Responsible for extradition alerts during various crises (personal or catastrophes).
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง is a grouper of similar search results for inquiry. Works with both pages and fragments, removing useless duplicates from the search results.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง – an algorithm that calculates the key weight of a keyword (phrase) in a domain if it turns out that it is named purely for SEO.
โ๏ธ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ – a system that monitors the freshness of the results for those queries where it is expected. For example, by the name of a movie that just came out.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ – Makes sure users see original and useful content written by people and for people. And not just to get SEO traffic.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฌ – This includes many subsystems that analyze document links and their usage.
โ๏ธ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฌ – a system for identifying and displaying multiple news sources (“Top News” and “Local News”).
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐ (๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ) – Created for language understanding and generation. Used only in some search cases.
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ โ Classifies queries and queries for their respective pages (links) to each other.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ is a canonicalization system for content. Gives preference to original sources and works with the hreflang/canonical attribute.
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง-๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ – system for removing information from a search (personal or copyrighted).
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ – analyzes page performance and safety.
โ๏ธ Passage ranking is an AI system for analyzing rare sections/passages on a page for full disclosure of how relevant it is to a query.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ๐ฌ โ analyzes the quality of reviewers.
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐ง๐ค๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง is an AI system that links words to concepts. It improves the search by phrases that do not contain the right keyword enter thanks to the understanding of linking words and concepts.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง is a system that selects authoritative content. It uses what SEOs call the E-A-T concept.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฒ – Group results from one site to show no more than two at the top. Subdomains here are considered the same site as the main domain (with rare exceptions).
โ๏ธ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง – analyzes content spam and behavioural spam.
โ๏ธ The remaining systems are implemented in the Core Algorithm or separate subsystems:
โ Hummingbird
โ Mobile Ranking, Page Speed โโSystem, Safe Sites
โ Panda, Penguin
And there you have it, the powerful 20 SEO ranking factors that you should keep in mind for your content marketing.
If you are looking to rank high in search engines to get a lot of targeted traffic, book a call here.
How To Get Free Traffic: A Quick SEO Guide.
Introduction: Why you should care about getting more traffic from the search engines
SEO is short form for โsearch engine optimization.โ It is a long-term marketing strategy employed in order to improve a websites visibility and organic search results in google and other global search engines. When done correctly, affordable SEO services can result in dramatic increases of website traffic, leads, and sales.
The basic concept behind SEO is that if you can improve your website’s ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs), you will receive more website visitors. The higher your website ranks, the more likely it is that visitors will click on your link over one of your competitor’s links.
Step 1: Choose the right keywords
SEO is one of the most important aspects of online marketing. It refers to the process of optimizing a website so that it can rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). By doing this, you can attract more visitors to your site, who are then more likely to convert into customers.
So how do you go about optimizing your website for SEO? The first step is to choose the right keywords. These are the words or phrases that people are most likely to type into a search engine when looking for information on a particular topic. You should think carefully about which keywords best reflect your business and its products or services.
Once you’ve selected the right keywords, you need to incorporate them into your website’s content and onto its title tags and meta descriptions. You can also use them in your paid advertising campaigns and in social media posts.
Step 2: Research your competition
The second step in SEO is to research one’s competition. By understanding what techniques their websites are using to rank high, business owners can adapt and improve their own website accordingly. There are a number of free tools available online that can help with this process, such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Moz’s Open Site Explorer.
Once the competition has been researched, the next step is to begin implementing SEO techniques.
Step 3: Optimize your website for the search engines
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing a website’s content and structure to improve its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of on-page SEO is to make sure that a site’s content and markup are as relevant and effective as possible for both users and search engines.
On-page SEO techniques include optimizing the title tag, meta description, header tags, image alt text, and internal links. In addition, site owners can use tools such as Google Search Console to help them track their site’s search engine visibility and performance.
In the ever-changing and complex world of SEO, off page SEO is one of the most mysterious and least understood aspects. Many people are still unclear on what it is, how it works and why it’s important.
Off page SEO is the process of optimising a website through external methods, such as link building, social media and article marketing. The purpose of off page SEO is to improve a website’s position in the search engine results pages (SERPs), by increasing its visibility and credibility. Off page SEO can also help to drive traffic to a website from other sources, such as social media networks and directories.
There are a number of factors that contribute to a website’s ranking in the SERPs, including its visibility, relevance, authority and trustworthiness.
Technical SEO is all about making your website as search engine friendly as possible. This means optimizing your site for crawlability, indexing, and ranking. This is also done by ensuring that your website is well-constructed and following best practices for on-page optimization. Advanced techniques like schema markup, canonicalization, and hreflang implementation to make sure your site ranks well in international searches.
Step 4: Publish great content
There are a variety of factors that go into SEO, but at its core, itโs about creating valuable content that will rank well in Google search results. This means using keyword research to identify high-traffic keywords relevant to your business, then incorporating those keywords into your website content and blog posts in a way that sounds natural and engaging to your audience. You can also use keyword optimization tactics like title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 headers to help your site rank higher in Google search results.
Step 5: Use social media to promote your content
One of the most effective ways to promote your website and its content is through social media. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn offer great opportunities to share your content with a wider audience, and can also help to improve your websiteโs ranking on search engines. By sharing your content on social media sites, you can reach more people and improve your SEO at the same time.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to increase the traffic to your website and are unversed in the realm of SEO, you can either get us to do SEO for you or get a more detailed guide here.
SEO: A long term digital marketing strategy.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
According to Search Engine Land, itโs defined as: โThe process of getting traffic from the free, organic, editorial or natural search results on search enginesโ
Organic vs Paid
Paid traffic through search engine advertising can generate near-instant results and often in minutes. You pay-per-click (PPC) on a cost per-click (CPC) keyword basis and ROI is much easier to measure but can stagnate and decline over time. Statistically, a 20-30% of searchers click on paid results.
Organic traffic on the other hand, takes a long time to achieve, most of the time over the course of months, sometimes even years. So whilst traffic is free, it does require time and investment. ROI is hard to measure but tools like SEM Rush, Ahrefs and Google Search Console make things much easier. A good SEO strategy will also net you a good portion of the remaining 70-80% of the searchers that click, providing you rank well.
Both organic and paid traffic require a solid keyword research.
The Three Pillars of SEO
Technical SEO includes non-content onsite activities that improve SEO.
On-Page SEO includes content and keyword targeting onsite activities that improve SEO.
Off-Page SEO includes offsite activities, like gaining external links (also referred to as backlinks), to improve SEO.
All the strategies mentioned above helps the search engines crawl, index and rank each website accordingly.
At the end of the day, search engines exist as algorithms that look for clues to give the searcher back exactly what they want.
Keyword Research
All good SEO strategies start with a strong keyword research.
Keyword research is the process of discovering the keywords used by potential customers to find your products and picking the most relevant keywords that are within your reach and that have good search volume.
Keywords can be how to queries, navigational referring to sites or best of all, transactional queries that are most likely to lead to a sale:
Informational Keywords
- Collectively the largest proportion of all keywords
- Earlier stage of the buying cycle
- Harder to convert into sales
- Less competitive to rank for
Navigational Keywords
- Smaller proportion of all keywords
- Often brand related keywords
- Can occur at all stages of the buying cycle
Transactional Keywords
- Smaller proportion of all keywords
- Last stage of the buying cycle
- Easier to convert into sales
- More competitive to rank for
The right types of keywords lead to:
- Get the right kind of visitors to your site
- Identify keywords with high search volume and omit low volume terms
- Identify content gaps on your website
- Target keywords that are within your reach
Keywords can be short tail or long tail. Short-tail keywords are typically one or two words and less specific such as summer holidays. Long-tail Keywords are typically three or more words and more specific such as summer holidays in Rome.
Long tail keywords work better then short tail keywords as accounts for 70% of all search traffic and are easier to convert and rank for. This comes with a caveat though as they harder to research and require more in-depth and a greater amount of content.
A good keyword research can be carried out with the following steps:
Step 1: Pick a topic
- Focus on one topic at a time
- Think of topics closely aligned to your objectives or industry
- Have a webpage in mind
- Think of the needs of your customers
Step 2: Brainstorm keywords
- Think of closely related keywords
- Think synonyms
- Include plural and singular keywords
- Aim for quantity, rather than quality.)
A good idea is to use Google Keyword Planner, you will get the keywords recommended by the search engine and best of all, and itโs free!
SEM Rush and Wordstream are also other great tools to help you look up keywords.
Step 3: Review keyword value
Search Volume and Relevancy are the two main factors to consider with valuing keywords. The ideal keywords have high search volume and relevant to the topic you are developing your SEO strategy around. Remember long tail keywords over short tail keywords to have more specificity around your topic.
Technical SEO
As explained earlier, Technical SEO includes activities completed on your site that are designed to improve SEO but are not related to content. This will allow web crawlers from the search engine to crawl your website effectively.
You can ensure your website crawlability by:
1. Minimizing site errors
2. Using redirects wisely
3. Creating and submitting an up-to-date XML sitemap
4. Minimizing duplicate content
5. Checking for indexed pages
Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google Search results and can help greatly with your Technical SEO efforts.
Technical SEO also includes page speed, mobile responsiveness and website security.
Page speed
Page speed can be achieved by:
- Aiming for 3.5 seconds or less
- Making image file sizes smaller
- Compressing text and files
- Minimizing the number of requests made
- Upgrading your web hosting.
Another free tool by Google, PageSpeed Insights, measures your page speed, as well as giving you recommendations on what you can do to improve it.
Mobile Responsiveness
Google announced mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor back in 2015 and mobile usage overtook desktop in the same year.
Website Security
Google announced HTTPs (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) as a ranking factor back in 2014. HTTPs was primarily used to protect pages that collected information like a contact us or a shopping cart page. Implementing HTTPs from HTTP requires careful redirect planning and requires an SSL certificate.
On-Page Optimization
On-Page Optimization is the process of ensuring your content is both relevant and provides a great user experience. It includes targeting the right keywords within your content and plays a leading role in search engine rankings.
Factors that include on page optimisations are:
- Title Tags
- URLs
- Meta Descriptions
- Headings
- Main Copy
- Images
Of course, the before mentioned keyword strategy applies here.
For title tags, it is key to include as many keywords as possible, although the space is limited to 70 characters, so it is recommended to be as descriptive and engaging as possible.
The same applies for meta descriptions and URLs, although the space is limited to 156 and 70 characters respectively.
Content should be organized properly with headings and subheadings using the conventional H tags (H1, H2, H3 and so on).
There are no strict guidelines with length but keyword stuffing/spamming is to be avoided. The idea is to have content which keeps the reader engaged.
Hyperlinks should be included in the main copy which is called anchor text and pass relevancy to the receiving page. The more internal links a page has the more important it is deemed to be, so it will stand a better chance of ranking.
Any images added should a description in the Alt text. Images must also be optimized in size to avoid weighing down on website speed.
Off-Page Optimization
Off-Page Optimization is the process of enhancing a websiteโs search engine rankings through activities outside of the website. This is largely driven by building backlinks to your site.
A backlink is an incoming hyperlink from one website to another and increasing the number of backlinks to your site is one of the key SEO goals you should definitely implement.
Backlinks are either relevant to your industry, respected and trusted by authority websites or earned on merit.
Ultimately, backlinks lead to improvement in Page Rank.
When a website receives a link from an external website (backlink), some reputation is passed to it. It acts like one webpage is voting that the page it links to is credible. Google has a sub-algorithm called PageRank which calculates how much reputation is passed.
PageRank should be considered more as a concept and not as a metric.
The role of social media in the context of backlinks are also known as social signals. These are different to backlinks because they tend not to pass reputation or PageRank. However, the more views you get from your content, the more likely a person will link to you from their website in the form of a backlink. Therefore social signals are still perceived as important.
Monitoring your SEO Strategy
Traffic can be direct, referral or organic.
Direct traffic can be URLs typed in directly in the browser, links in PDFs and emails.
Referral traffic can be backlinks.
Organic traffic is gauged on how well you rank for keywords on search engines.
Key Metrics
Metrics measuring SEO performance are:
- Keyword Rankings: Keyword rankings for a targeted list of keywords.
- Traffic: Monthly organic traffic and referral traffic year-on-year.
- Conversions: Total number of monthly conversions.
- Links: Number of external links.
SEO can falter for various reasons. You can use Google Search Console to check for any errors in your URLs as well as indexing your pages properly. Check that your keywords are not excessive and following best practices. A lack of backlinks can also be a reason why your website is not ranking well enough.
Monitor organic traffic in Google Analytics. Remember to set up a segment that will allow you to analyze organic traffic only. Where relevant, setup conversions and sales traffic in Google Analytics. If you are selling things online, take this a step further and set up goals to track ecommerce also.
Final Thoughts
SEO can be a long and arduous journey. However it can be one with great rewards when implemented and maintained properly. It can take 2-6 months to rank for a competitive keywords (some hyper competitive keywords, even longer).
If you require an expert in SEO at your side to either implement an SEO strategy for you, or guide you on one, feel free to check out our SEO service here.