Many factors have to be taken into consideration for achieving a good ranking in Google. However, there are some core aspects that you need to pay attention to for being successful in Google. Your website must be perfectly optimized in order to get significant amount of traffic to your website and thereby SERPs. It is a fact that Google’s algorithm changes frequently and we cannot rely on yesterday’s ranking factors, however the 5 factors mentioned in this post will surely be helpful for you for the year 2017.
Here Are The 5 Most Vital Ranking Factors For Google:
High-Quality & Useful Content
High quality content tops Google’s list of criteria for ranking a website. Google is the best and the most widely used search engine because it provides its users with relevant and useful content. If the search results direct people to any type of content that is not useful and does not provide any value, then people won’t consider Google as an authoritative search engine. As a result of this, websites that have high quality content get better rankings in Google.
For creating best content think from the point of view of your readers, potential customers and users. Think about what type of information will provide value to them.
Another important aspect that you need to take into consideration is that Google ranks your content on the basis of an algorithm. Basically, there is a system that verifies your content and not human verification. Here are some of the important factors on the basis of which content is ranked by Google:
- The number of links to your website pages from other high ranking websites
- The domain authority of your website – .edu and .gov domains are always ranked higher
- The number of social media mentions the page / posts have
- Time spent by people on your website pages – the higher, the better
- The bounce rate of your content pages – the lower, the better
The above mentioned factors indicate to Google that people have found your website pages useful previously. It is important to take into consideration that the focus is on individual pages and Google ranks individual pages of your website.
Backlinks
Backlinks remain an important ranking factor for Google; however it is important to make sure that the backlinks are created from diverse and authoritative websites. The key to a strong link building profile is to create content that people want to read, and then promote the content through every medium possible. When other people and industry authorities read your content and link to your content, Google will detect your backlink’s matching anchor text and it will rate your content as useful.
When your content gets a lot of high-quality backlinks, you are able to achieve the three most important ranking factors:
- Number of backlinks
- Link authority
- Link diversity
Optimized Keywords
Keywords optimization is also an important ranking factor. The appearance of the appropriate keywords in page titles, URLs, meta description and text implies the relevance of your content in respect of a particular search query.
It is also important to take into consideration that Google’s algorithm is much more advanced and it can judge the relevance of your content through a system called ’latent semantic keywords’; this means that after identifying the keywords in your content, the algorithm will then search for words that it expects to be associated with those keywords.
For example is someone is searching for – ‘The best way to learn to drive a car’, Google will not just look for the words ‘learn to drive a car’, but it will also look for words like speed, accelerator, driving, roads etc. as these words are associated with the topic. As a result of this, Google can filter the relevant results.
Therefore, if you would like to secure a good ranking for your website, it is important to make the use of the right keywords and along with them you should also make use of the other related keywords.
Optimize Your Website For Mobile
One of the biggest changes that we witnessed from the year 2016 is the Google’s shift towards mobile-first indexing. This goes on to say that Google will first crawl the mobile version of the website rather than the desktop version. Mobile optimization has now become an extremely important ranking factor. In 2017 and in the coming years it will be extremely important that your content is responsive through all the mobile devices and it looks identical to the content present on your desktop website. Mobile friendliness is the new norm and you need to make sure that your website is developed in accordance with this norm.
It is important to note that if you are in the process of creating the mobile version of your website, hold the launch of the mobile version until it is completed. If you release an incomplete version of your mobile website, you might end up hurting your website ranking. It is a better option to keep your website in the desktop mode until the mobile version is completely ready.
Other Important Technical Website Ranking Factors
There are many other important technical factors that seem to be small but play an important role in ranking your website, they include the following:
Encryption : There is certainly a correlation between the HTTPS encrypted websites and the first page Google rankings. Google confirmed in one of the updates back in 2014 that websites that have an HTTPS encryption will be in a better position in terms of rankings in comparison to their HTTP counterparts. This is an important factor that still hold true and it also portrays the credibility of your website.
H1 and H2 Headings : You will find that most of the leading websites in Google have the H1 and H2 headings in the source code. There is a strong correlation between having the right H1 and H2 headings and gaining a better rank.
Anchor Text : Having the exact match anchor text still has a significant influence on website rankings; however, it is important to note that you might risk your website for a penalty if your anchor text appears to be unnatural or spammy. An easy solution to this is to ensure that you have a diverse and organic backlink anchor text.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization has been evolving over time and we will see new changes in the future. However, the importance of the 5 factors motioned above is going to help your website rankings for a long time. If you prioritize the essential elements of your website, then you will surely gain a competitive edge, good amount of targeted traffic to your website and ofcourse impressive website rankings.
