As an SEO, you do keyword research and create content that performs well then algorithm updates come along.

Algorithm updates can help or hurt your rankings but they’re inevitable.

So facing facts and taking changes in your stride.

This list of Google’s known ranking factors will help you ger your webpages to the top of the SERPs.

But understand everything in SEO is debatable, especially on which ranking factors matter the most or which are more important.

So use this list of ranking factors to improve your SEO and marketing strategy.

What are Google’s ranking factors?

Ranking factors are standards used by Google for webpages to decide the relevant order they show for search query results.

Understanding ranking factors is important for effective SEO by:

  • Marketers
  • Content creators
  • SEO strategists

Because they help create a better user experience, which brings more leads and conversions for businesses.

Number of Google ranking factors

Google has over 200 ranking factors, some have been proven but others are speculation.

Since after each update, SEOs have to test changes.

Becuase thousands of algorithm updates have been implemented since 2006.

Known Ranking Factors

The top categories of ranking factors include:

  • Domain
  • Web Page
  • Web Site
  • Backlink
  • User Interaction
  • Google Algorithm Rules
  • Brand Signals
  • On-Site Webspam
  • Off-Site Webspam

Domain

Domain factors are ranking factors connecting with your domain, including:

  • Domain age
  • Domain Keyword
  • The first domain word is the Keyword
  • Domain registration length
  • Dubdomain Keyword
  • Domain history
  • Penalised Whois owner
  • Public WhoIs instead of private Whois

Web Page

Web Page level factors are factors that can be optimised on each webpage, like:

  • Keyword in title tag
  • Keyword at the beginning of title tag
  • Keyword in meta description tag
  • Keyword in H1 tag
  • Keyword frequency in content
  • Content length
  • Word count rankings
  • Linked table of contents
  • Keyword density
  • Semantically related keywords
  • Semantically related keyword in meta title and description
  • In-depth quality content
  • Useful content
  • Page loading speed via HTML
  • Page loading speed tested on Chrome
  • Core web vitals
  • No duplicate content on same website
  • Image optimised with ALT, title and file name
  • Recent content (newer = better)
  • Page age
  • Number of edits made to content during updates
  • Historical data on page updates
  • Proper use of rel=canonical
  • Keyword in H2 and H3 tags
  • Keyword in first 100 words
  • Grammar and spelling
  • Original page content
  • Entity match
  • Mobile useability and optimisation
  • Hidden content on mobile (might not be indexed)
  • Web page mobile optimisation
  • Multimedia, like images and videos
  • How many outbound links
  • Outbound links quality
  • Outbound links theme
  • Helpful supplementary content, like free tools and calculators
  • Content hidden behind tabs (might not be indexed and won’t show in search snippets)
  • How many internal links pointing to webpage
  • Internal links quality
  • Too many broken links (might lower ranking potential)
  • Web page reading level
  • Too many affiliate links
  • Too many HTML errors
  • Domain authority/trust level
  • Web page authority/trust level
  • PageRank
  • URL length
  • URL to homepage closeness
  • Keyword in URL
  • Human editors opinion
  • Web page’s category to web page relevance
  • User-friendly and readable content formatting
  • Sitemap.xml webpage priority
  • Webpages UX signal ranking for same keyword
  • Citing references and sources
  • User-friendly layout
  • URL string in Google search engine results
  • Internal link anchor text to web page
  • Structured data use

Web Site

Website-level factors are above the webpage level and look at aspects of the whole website, including:

  • Contact us page or appropriate amount of contact information
  • Website content provides value or new insights
  • TrustRank (linking closeness of website to known and trusted website)
  • Website freshness updates
  • Site architecture
  • Sitemap use
  • Long-term website downtime
  • Server location
  • HTTPs / valid SSL certificate use
  • Legal pages (terms and conditions and privacy policy)
  • Unique metadata
  • Breadcrumb markup
  • Mobile optimised website
  • User-friendly website (usabile and interactive)
  • Bounce rate
  • Domain authority
  • User reviews
  • Website reputation

Backlink

Backlink factors rank your webpages based on the websites linking to you.

High qulaity websites linking to your website means higher rankings when coupled with quality content.

The backlink factors include:

  • Linking domain age
  • How many referring domains
  • How mant links from separate c-class IPs
  • How many referring pages
  • Backlinks anchor text
  • Image links ALT
  • How many links from .edu and .gov domains
  • Linking webpage trust factor
  • Linking domain trust factor
  • Links from competitors
  • How many links from expected websites in same industry
  • Bad neighborhoods links
  • How many links not from ads
  • Referring domains country TLD
  • Domain authority
  • Some nofollow links
  • Link profile diversity
  • Content context of linking webpage’s content
  • More sponsored or UGC follow links
  • Backlinks to URLs with 301 redirects
  • The text that shows when hovering over a link
  • Webpage link location
  • Content link location
  • Relevant domains links
  • Relevant webpages links
  • Webpage’s keyword in title of linking webpage
  • Natural growth rate of links number
  • Unnatural growth rate of links number
  • Top resources links on certain topic or hubs
  • How many links from authority websites
  • Linked as Wikipedia article source
  • Words around backlinks
  • Backlink age
  • Real websites vs. fake blogs links
  • Natural link profile
  • Excessive reciprocal links
  • Real content vs. UGC links
  • Backlinks from webpages with 301 redirects
  • Linking website TrustRank
  • Fewer outbound links on linking webpage
  • Real content links vs. forums links
  • Linking content word count
  • Linking content quality
  • Sitewide links = one link

User Interaction

Google puts emphasis on providing an excellent user experience for website visitors.

These factors use user interaction to rank your webpages, including:

  • Exact keywork organic click through rate
  • Ranking keywords organic click through rates
  • Dwell time
  • Bounce rate
  • Measuring users interactions on websites based on RankBrain
  • Total direct traffic
  • Repeat visitors percentage
  • Blocked sites
  • Visitors percentage clicking on other SERP webpages after visiting your webpage
  • Webpages bookmark frequency by Chrome users
  • How many webpage comments

Google Algorithm Rules

Some Google Algorithm rules aren’t directly connected to webpages or domains.

Including factors looking at personalising search results for users or overall better search results.

Some of them include:

  • Diversity need in the SERP
  • Freshness need in the SERP
  • User browsing history
  • User search history
  • Brief answers, formatting, page authority and HTTPS for featured snippets
  • Geo-targeting
  • Adult content or curse words (excluded from safe search results)
  • High quality content standards for YMYL keywords
  • Legitimate DMCA complaints
  • Domain diversity need in SERP
  • Transactional searches
  • Local search results
  • Top Stories box news stories related to keyword
  • Search intent
  • Big brands with relevant content (Which rank higher)
  • Optimised results for Google Shopping
  • Image results
  • Branded search
  • Easter eggs and April Fools’ Day jokes and hoaxes from Google
  • Spammy queries
  • Spammy sites

Brand Signals

Focus on brand mentions and internet branding because ranking factors relate to brands, such as:

  • Brand plus keyword searches
  • Branded anchor text
  • Twitter profile with followers
  • Official LinkedIn page
  • Facebook page with likes
  • Branded searches
  • Known author or verified online profile
  • Real social media accounts
  • Top stories with brand mentions
  • Brand mentions without links
  • Physical office location

On-site Webspam

Your website shouldnt be spammy or look spammy to rank high on search engine results.

The following are related factors:

  • Low-quality content
  • Bad neighborhoods links
  • Sneaky and multiple redirects
  • Flagged server IP address
  • Distracting ads and popups
  • Spammy and difficult to close popups
  • Over-optimised website
  • Needless content
  • Doorway webpages use
  • Too many ads above the fold and not enough content
  • Hidden affiliate links
  • Low-value content websites
  • Affiliate sites
  • Meta tage keyword stuffing
  • Computer generated content
  • All outbound links are nofollow

Off-site Webspam

Off-site webspam factors are based on activities outside your website that connect with your website, including:

  • Unnatural backlinks and sudden increases in backlinks
  • Hacked website
  • Alot of low-quality backlinks
  • High percentage of unrelated website links
  • Low-quality directory links
  • Automatic links in widgets
  • Links from websites with the same server IP
  • Toxic anchor text
  • Ignoring manual actions in search console
  • Selling links
  • Temporary link schemes

Start with these Google Ranking Factors

Everyone has their own ranking factors they consider important.

The following ranking factors are based on basic improvements you can make without being overwelmed:

Content providing valuable and unique insights

Google emphasises quality content, so thats content that gives value and unique insights other website dont.

This can help improve your ranking because your audience will simply enjoy it.

Do this by:

  • Making sure you’re the subject expert or you understand the topic in-depth
  • Hire subject experts to write content
  • Give factual information, answering audience’s most important questions
  • Don’t write fluff

Content covers topics in-depth

To rank on the first page, dont write thin content.

Content should instead cover all areas, long or short form, to rank better in search results. 

Do this by:

  • Studying competitors’ content and write about what they didnt
  • Cover every relevant topic area and answer all the questions readers might ask
  • Make text readable by adding images, clickable table of contents, jump links and CTAs to relevant information

Keywords in H1

The H1 shows what your content is about, so include your keyword in your H1.

But using the same sentence in your H1 and meta title can be seen as keyword stuffing.

But still make sure to add your keywords but change things up a little.

And remember to combine this with all on-page optimisation tactics like optimising meta data, URL, other headings, etc.

Content’s length

For content length, some SEO marketers say write more than 2000 words.

Althought, long-form content does get the most backlinks, but only write long-form to cover the whole topic.

Also check your competitors word count to see the standard of quality content for that topic. 

So if your competitors write between 2000-4000 words and you write less, you wont rank higher than them for that term.

Page loading speed via HTML

Core web vitals is part of PageSpeed because a webpage’s speed affects user experience.

Website that are slow to load, will hurt their rankings and Google will rank competitors higher because they are faster and also have great content.

Mobile usability

More and more users are accessing websites using their mobile devices.

Google even sends mobile-friendliness notifications in Search Console when your website isn’t mobile responsive.

So its important to work on your mobile usability to keep Google and your users happy.

Conclusion

Use th above mentioned ranking factors as a guide to help your website and its web pages rank higher.

Just remember, user experience is important, so always optimise to appeal to your target audience.

Now its over to you.

Tell me which ranking factors have you optimised to rank your web pages higher?

Let me know in the comment section below.