Google Ranking Factors: What You Need to Know

To rank well on Google, a website must be valuable, fast, and easy to use, with good design and relevant links. Read on for more ranking factors.

Ranking on Google isn’t hard. All you need is content with keywords. Well… not exactly. See, SEO is something Advent Trinity lives and breathes and we know there’s a lot more to it than just a few searchable keywords. 

To get ranked on Google, especially on the first page, you need to provide value to the user. You’ve also got to make sure your website conveys the right message, uploads quickly, and is user-friendly on multiple devices. Then there are design, backlinks, alt images… you get the picture. There’s quite a bit that goes into ranking on Google.

Top Google Ranking Factors

1. Content that provides valuable and unique insights.

Google has always emphasized quality content. Providing content that has value and unique insights not found on other websites can improve your ranking simply because your audience enjoys it.

2. Content that covers a topic in-depth.

Want to rank on the first page? Stop writing content with only a couple hundred words. Research has proven time and time again that content that covers all areas, whether long or short form, tends to do better in search results. 

Content length is one thing that several people debate about when it comes to SEO. Some believe upward of 2000 words should be the standard. However, that shouldn’t always be the case. Sure, long-form content seems to get the most backlinks, but it’s crucial that you write long-form only when you need that to cover the entire topic. Many times, you can get away with about 500-1000 words as long as the content is valuable.

It’s also a best practice to check what your competitors have because that can be an indicator of quality content. If all competitors have between 2000-4000 words and you write 200 words, you will likely not rank high for that topic.

3. Organic click-through rates.

Your organic click-through rate helps Google understand whether people like your content or not. If more people are clicking on your post in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), Google will believe your content is more relevant to that keyword and rank you higher for it.

You need to write a convincing meta title and description to improve your organic click-through rate. 

4. Keywords in the main heading.

The H1 is an indication of what your content is about. So, include your keyword in your H1. Be careful, though; some SEOs say that using the same sentence in your H1 and meta title is an indication that you are keyword stuffing. So, you might want to spice it up a bit while still ensuring that your keyword is present. Do this in combination with all on-page optimization (metadata, URL, other headings).

5. Mobile usability.

User experience is key for SEO success and users are increasingly accessing your website via mobile. That’s why Google sends constant mobile-friendliness notifications in Search Console when it sees that your site isn’t responsive.

If you want to score points with Google and, more importantly, your users, work on your mobile usability.

6. Page loading speed via HTML.

If your site is too slow to load or slow to interact with, Google is more likely to reduce your rankings, especially when your competitors have fast site speed and great content.

There’s More?

Yes. There’s more. Altogether, Google has 200 known ranking factors (and probably many we haven’t discovered yet.) For example, here are other important ranking factors that we didn’t go into:

• Over-optimizing
• Page loading speed via HTML
• Total number of backlinks
• Quality of internal links pointing to a page
• Site architecture
• Site usability
• Contextual links
• Outbound link quality
• Dwell time
• Branded searches
• Image alt text
• Algorithm 
• Bounce rate
• Grammar and spelling
• Geo-targeting
• Social media presence
• And yes, even more…

Google It

Ranking on Google is a crucial aspect for any business website looking to increase its online visibility and attract more potential customers. It requires a combination of various factors including website design, speed, user-friendliness, and relevance. By prioritizing these elements, a website can improve its chances of appearing on the first page of Google search results and reaching its target audience. However, it’s important to keep in mind that ranking on Google is a continuous process and requires regular monitoring and search engine optimization to maintain and improve the website’s visibility.

Is all of this Greek to you? Let Advent Trinity handle it for you.

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By Leslie Radford