Google is the world's most popular and powerful search engine with a market share of approximately 84 % in North America. When we talk about improving our ranking through SEO, we usually refer to Google's ranking factors as opposed to Bing, Yahoo or other alternative search engines.
That's why it's so important to learn how to get your content to the top of Google's search engine results pages (SERPs) when your target audience searches for keywords related to your products or services.
However, this is easier said than done, especially when you consider that there are over 200 ranking factors that Google takes into account to decide who gets the top spot.
However, some ranking factors are more important than others. These are the factors that have been maintained over the last ten years despite the numerous major updates to Google's algorithm, some of which are even more important today than ever before.
Read on to discover the key Google ranking factors that will take priority in 2023.
Most important ranking factors at page level
1. quality of the content
By far one of the most important ranking factors on Google is the quality of the content.
In short, content quality is a comprehensive metric that measures how fresh, unique and helpful a web page is in relation to a search query. The greater the hypothetical value your content could have for a searcher, the higher Google will rank it in the SERPs.
Google measures quality by looking for uniqueness and originality. This is one of the safeguards against copied content and a reason why you should be careful when using AI tools to create content. However, Google also checks that the content is up-to-date and fresh to ensure that searchers are getting genuine and relevant information for their needs and not outdated details.
Prioritize the quality of content by writing excellent content or hiring competent writers to do so and updating older content regularly. It doesn't matter how well optimized your website is if the content isn't helpful to searchers!
2. relevance of the content
The more relevant your content is to a search query, the better it will be rated by Google's algorithms. This is comparable to the quality of content described above.
The best way to make sure your content is relevant is to look at other pages ranking highly for the same keywords or topics. For example, if you want to create a page about cybersecurity lessons in 2022, you'll find that most of the top articles are lists that teach searchers some basic lessons or tips.
You should create content that competes directly with these pages by offering better information and a fresh perspective in the same format (i.e. as an article). This will ensure that your content is relevant to the search intent and will rank highly.
3. user experience
Google also measures the user experience on the site by taking into account various subordinate factors, such as
- the CTR or click-through rate, which indicates how often users click on the main link of your website in the Google search results
- the dwell time, i.e. how long a visitor stays on your website after arriving on your website via Google
- «Pogo-sticking«, i.e. how many visitors click on your website and then hit the back button without interacting with the website because it didn't load properly or didn't fulfill their search query
The better the on-page experience through high-quality content, a solid structure and an appealing design, the higher Google will rank your website overall.
4. keyword optimization
Good old SEO through keyword research and usage is still a great way to get your content to rank well on Google. There are several ways to do this, including
- Write meaningful meta descriptions.
- Use of LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords to help Google determine the topic of your content.
- Use of good anchor texts for internal links and backlinks
- Use of target keywords in headlines
- Use of keywords in the URL
- Avoid keyword stuffing, i.e. the negative practice of repeating primary search terms instead of writing them naturally.
The most important ranking factors at website level and outside the website
5. technical SEO health
Ranking factors at website level take into account the state of your website as a whole and not just part of the content.
Conduct regular audits with an SEO tool to report on the technical SEO health of your website. The audits will highlight any issues with your website's technical SEO, which can range from minor warnings to major errors that need to be fixed immediately.
Examples of problems that can be uncovered by a thorough SEO audit are:
- Loops or detour chains
- Faulty pages
- Faulty internal or external links
- Faulty images
- Incorrect or excessive CSS or JavaScript
- Duplicated content
- Thin content
- Sitemap problems
- Orphaned pages
- Pages blocked for crawling
6. mobile usability
More than half of all internet traffic is handled by mobile devices, which means that your web content must also be navigable for mobile users. Google has been taking mobile usability into account in its ratings for several years now.
You don't need a mobile-first web design, but your website and its content must be responsive and easy to navigate on all screen sizes. Familiarize yourself with the principles of web design and test your content by viewing it on your own mobile device to ensure that pages load quickly, everything is readable and all buttons and links (even within text) are easy to finger-touch.
If you feel overwhelmed, you can call in a consultant or a web design agency.
7. website structure/navigation
Google's algorithm is able to analyze and recognize the quality of your website's structure. With this in mind, you need to understand what makes a strong website structure and a good user experience (UX) for your visitors.
Go through your website and ask yourself if a new visitor can find all the content or products they are looking for. Are menus and CTAs easy to find and accessible to navigate the site? Is it easy to contact you, find a specific page or visit your blog or knowledge base?
If the answer to any of these questions is «no», you need to redesign your website so that it is well structured and provides a better user experience for every visitor.
8. the loading speed of the page
The loading speed of a page is also an important ranking factor. The faster your pages load, the higher Google will rank them. One of the reasons for this is that many users will not stay on a page if it takes longer than half a second to load.
Another reason why Google prioritizes this factor is that page load speed is part of the user experience. You don't necessarily need to worry about your pages being a few milliseconds faster than your competitors. Rather, the goal is to meet the minimum standards for page load time (usually faster than 500 milliseconds or so).
You can easily test your pages with free tools such as GTmetrix.
9. security of the website
Don't forget to prioritize the security of your website, especially by ensuring that your website uses the HTTPS protocol. This means that the website constantly encrypts the data between users and your website to prevent the theft of personal information.
This can be easily achieved by applying for and obtaining SSL certification for your website. Once you have an SSL certificate, visitors will see a padlock icon in the address bar and will trust your website more overall. Also, make sure your external links point to secure websites - Google crawls your links and doesn't want you pointing users to potentially insecure websites.
The security of a website is an important part of the user experience and therefore a decisive ranking factor.
10. backlink quality
Backlinks are located outside your website, but have an influence on the ranking of your website.
Chances are good that your online content contains backlinks from other websites that refer to your website. This could be a link in your company bio, on social media, Google Maps, partner websites or profiles in online media.
Not all backlinks are the same. The higher the quality of the linking website, the better the SEO value you get from the link. Take every opportunity to search for or build links from relevant, high-quality websites, e.g. business directories, review portals, map listings, etc.
Also check your backlinks regularly to make sure they are not pointing to deleted pages. If you change the URL of a page that you know has good backlinks, make sure you set up a proper redirect and even consider contacting the other websites and asking them to change the link.
You can also try to optimize the backlinks by asking the owner of the referring website to set them to relevant anchor texts.
Summary
These 10 Google ranking factors are the most important ones to consider when creating a new website or improving your web content for your target audience. If you focus on these factors when planning, creating and publishing content, your pages are more likely to appear high up in the SERPs.
