Most important Google ranking factor?
Did you know that there are over 200 Google ranking factors? Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world.
Google Ranking Factors for 2022 ( Most Important)
It dominates other search engines like Bing and Yahoo with over 5.14 billion Google searches per day. So it’s no surprise that you want to rank high in Google search results.
However, since SEO (Search Engine Optimization) changes from time to time, it can be difficult to implement and keep up with all the changes.
You may be wondering: What are the most important Google ranking factors for your website?
Note: In this article, we take a closer look at Few important factors that can help you improve your ranking.
Let’s dive……….
Most Important Google Ranking Factors
When it comes to ranking high, many website owners would like to follow all the ranking factors.
But what if we told you that you only need to focus on some of these factors?
To help you with this, we have identified the most important ranking factors that you should definitely consider for your website.
1. Quality Content
You must have read in various places that content is king. And when it comes to Google ranking factors, it is definitely king.
If you can create content that is unique, new, and useful to users, Google will rank you higher on the search engine results page (SERP).
Google pays special attention to the quality of your content. No matter how optimized your website is, you cannot expect high rankings if your content is not valuable.
So what is content quality for Google?
Original, unique and valuable content
Google prioritizes new and unique content. You want to create posts that answer your readers’ questions, provide value, and are original.
If your content is duplicate or similar to other websites, it can have a negative impact on your SEO. For starters, Google cannot index or rank your page.
And if you regularly post duplicate content, Google will slow down your site’s crawl speed.
So when creating content, make sure it is different and better than other websites that rank for the search term.
updated and fresh content: Another way to improve the quality of your content is to keep it fresh and up to date. By regularly updating your posts and adding new information, you send a positive signal to the search engines.
The freshness of the content plays an important role when you cover news or trending topics. For such topics, Google gives priority to pages that provide up-to-date information.
For example, if you’re writing about a global health crisis, you want your content to include the latest news and research. And an easy way to get the latest information to keep your content fresh is to use Google Trends.
Content Length: One of the questions we often face is whether or not content length is part of Google’s ranking factors.
According to various studies, content length has an impact on ranking in search results. On average, posts with 1890 words rank on the first page.
However, there is no hard and fast rule that you have to follow the word limit while writing.
A better way to look at it is to create content that has depth and covers a topic in great detail. This is because Google gives priority to pages that fully answer the user’s question and provide detailed solutions.
Content Structure and Organization: When it comes to content quality, your blog posts need to be well-organized and structured. This makes it easy for your visitors to read your posts and find solutions to their problems easily.
To improve the structure and organization of your articles, you can use different headings and subheadings (H2, H3, H4, etc.) to group your content.
You can also use the HTML bullet (ol) and numbered list (li) tags to further organize your content. This is beneficial because Google aggregates these lists and displays them as featured snippets for various keywords. And don’t forget to look at your article flow and see which section you want to appear in first.
So by working on the structure and organization of your content, you increase its readability. As a result, you improve the user experience of your website, which indirectly improves your chances of ranking higher on Google.
Backlinks
Backlinks are the second most important Google ranking factor after content. They are an important part of Google’s ranking algorithm and determine how Google’s crawler locates your website for indexing.
In fact, content and backlinks go hand in hand as websites without backlinks hardly get any organic traffic.
How important are backlinks for your website’s SEO?
Backlinks or inbound links are like a vote of confidence in your website. Google adds up all these votes and sees whether your site deserves to be in the top 10 results or not.
If you can get backlinks from high-ranking websites, you can increase your chances of getting a high ranking. This is because by getting these links, you are sending a signal to Google that your content can be trusted, as various sites can confirm.
Search intent
Another important ranking factor for Google is matching the search intent of your content. Search intent is basically what the user is searching for.
Every keyword on Google is different and you need to understand the reason behind that search query. When creating content on any topic, it is important that you match the search intent and create the right type of content.
Now, depending on the nature and style of the content, the search intent can be different. For example, in some cases, Google only shows videos and infographics in the first few results. This means that if you want to rank for these keywords then you have to create a video or infographic.
In addition, search intent also shows where your visitors are in the buyer’s journey.
Are you looking for basic information about your products, a tutorial in the form of a how-to article, or are you in the final stages and ready to make a purchase?
By matching search intent, you can answer these questions and create content that people search for.
Website loading speed
Out of 200 different Google ranking factors, another factor you should pay attention to is your page speed. This is because, in May 2021, Google made website loading speed a part of its core web vitals.
These are a set of factors that Google considers important to the user experience on your site. You’ll check speed, responsiveness, and how quickly various elements, such as fonts and images, load.
Now, the goal here is not to beat your competitors with millisecond load times. But you have to pay attention to how fast a page loads for your users.
Google wants your website to load fast and provide a great user experience to your visitors.
Mobile friendliness
Along with speed, another thing to consider is whether your site is mobile-friendly.
Since Google went mobile first in 2019, it’s important to make your website mobile responsive. Mobile first means that Google will now use the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking.
Previously, Google used its desktop as the main version of indexing. But with 3.7 billion mobile Internet users in the world, it’s no surprise that Google has made a difference.
So if you want to improve your ranking, now is the best time to make your website mobile friendly.