10 Google Ranking Factors for Business Websites that Matter in 2024
“Why don’t we get organic traffic? We have a good website!” This is one of the most frequent questions our website creation specialists get from potential clients. After a careful analysis of the respective site, we find out that it does not meet the criteria of several Google ranking factors.
For this reason, in this article we will discuss in detail the most important search engine ranking factors, used not just by Google, but also by Bing. These are:
1. High Quality Content
The main purpose of a website is to deliver accurate, truthful and helpful information. And Google takes this aspect very seriously. Its bots continually scan websites, reading and analysing the content found on them.
Thus, one of the top ranking criteria Google uses is the presence of content that meets these conditions:
- It is unique (it is not duplicated on another web page)
- It is original (it is not copied or slightly modified from another website)
- It is authoritative (the author is a reputed professional in the field covered by the content)
- It is reliable (the assertions are backed by data and reputable sources)
- It is well-written, free of typos and grammatical errors
- It is relevant for the niche or line of business of the website.
2. Backlinks
Backlinks are links pointing to a page on your site which are found on other websites. Essentially, it means that other sites use your content as reliable source of information to back their assertions. This is one of the top Google ranking factors, because backlinks act as an endorsement for your website.
However, not all backlinks are good. Those coming from low-quality or spammy websites can actually decrease your page rank. For this reason, you need to constantly monitor backlinks and disavow low quality ones.
3. Mobile Ready Website
A website not optimised for mobile browsing has very little chances of ranking in Google search result pages. This has been a basic prerequisite for Google indexing for over a year. Yet, some websites still have an outdated design, which does not incorporate responsive principles.
Our digital marketing specialists need less than a minute to test if your website is mobile-friendly. If this is the case, the best solution for ranking is to perform a complete website redesign.
4. Page Speed
A fast-loading page is one of the most critical Google ranking factors. One of the reasons for it is that users have increasingly shorter attention spans. If they do not get a fully loaded web page within 2 seconds after clicking or tapping on a search result, they go to the next result.
Thus, Google weeds out websites that load slowly and pushes them back beyond page two of results – where myths say you can safely hide a body, because no one looks there. Essentially, a site that loads slowly cancels all your SEO and digital marketing efforts. Neither Google, nor users like it.
5. User Experience
When you ask yourself “what are the most important Google ranking factors?”, continue the question by including people who use your site. Because Google definitely does this. The search engine can monitor how users interact with a site:
- How much time they spend on a page
- How many pages they visit
- If they take any actions following CTAs
- What page they were browsing when they leave your site.
If Google notices that many people leave your site shortly after landing on it, it means that they found it difficult to use. This means that your site does not offer a good user experience. To fix this issue, you must ensure that:
- The navigational structure is simple and easy to understand
- You include breadcrumbs and a site map to allow users to move between pages back and forth
- You include accessibility options for users with sight, hearing or motion impairments.
6. Security
The internet is rife with threats, both to users’ data and to the devices they use for browsing. Thus, business website owners must implement various security measures to protect users while they spend time on and interact with their site.
The two most efficient methods, which are also important Google ranking factors, are:
- HTTPS – the secure version of the HTTP protocol for sending data between a website and a web browser
- SSL certificate – a security certificate obtained from an outside authority, a trusted third-party. The presence of the certificate is signalled by a padlock symbol in front of the URL in the browser bar.
7. Domain Authority
This is one of the search engine ranking factors that was not actually created by Google, but a SEO company. It is a number between 0 and 100, the higher the better. The domain authority of a website is calculated by looking at various factors, including backlinks.
While Google does not specifically state that it relies on this factor, practical experience tells our digital marketing specialists that it actually does. Thus, we constantly monitor our clients’ domain authority values and strive to enhance them.
8. Keyword Optimisation
If you read a few basic things about search engine optimisation, you may be surprised that we did not start our article with this ranking factor. The reason for this is that it is one, but not the number one on the list of top Google ranking factors.
Without the other factors, simple keyword optimisation will not do a lot of things for your website.
9. Social Signals
For a long time, Google denied that social media plays any role in its ranking decisions. However, its top officers had to backtrack from this firm stance. And for a good reason, since Google now includes content shared on various social media platforms among other search results.
Thus, your site must have social media buttons embedded on all pages, allowing users to share interesting content with ease to their social media friends.
10. Schema Markup
The schema markup is a standardised structured data form added to the website. It helps search engines understand what the website is about. This is crucial so Google can evaluate whether its content is relevant for a user’s query.
Do you want to see your website showing up on the first page of Google search results? Then contact the Techtio experts to ensure your site meets the most important Google ranking factors!
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