Are you aware that the Google algorithm uses more than 200 individual ranking factors?
For most business website owners, this is mind-boggling – and it can be overwhelming to contemplate how to align your website with these to achieve the highest possible position in search engine results listings.
This is where professional search engine optimisation enters the picture – and the services of an SEO expert become so valuable for your brand and your business.
Google’s Ranking System
It’s estimated that there are, in 2024, 1.09 billion websites on the internet – with a staggering 252,000 new ones created daily. (Not all of these are active.)
The volume of information on the internet, for practical purposes, is infinite. So too are the number of search queries conducted every day – with more than 8.5 billion each day on Google alone.
Google (and other search engine) ranking systems are designed to use bots to sort through hundreds of billions of pages of content to then automatically respond to search queries with the most useful, relevant results in just a fraction of a second.
To achieve this, search algorithms look at numerous signals and other factors. These include (but are certainly not limited to):
- Search terms
- Query nature
- Page relevance
- Page usability
- Source expertise/authority
- Location
- Settings
Google is the world’s most popular search engine, dominating with more than 90% of the planet’s online search traffic. It judges your website based on how well your content matches a particular online search. This is determined by a vast number of ranking factors. Knowing which to focus on – and focusing on all that are relevant for you and your targets – plays a major role in your business’s success.
Google Ranking Factors – In a Nutshell
A Google ranking factor is a piece of information that the search engine uses to decide how well a website landing page answers a specific query in terms of:
- Meaning
- Relevance
- Quality
- Usability
- Context
Ranking factors are used to display optimal content to meet the needs of the specific search, solve the request, and deliver a positive experience online.
The most important ranking factors are:
- High-quality content – the most important ranking factor. A website without enough unique, fresh, relevant, informative, valuable textual content simply will not rank.
- Backlinks – high-value incoming links from other websites to yours, giving yours authority.
- Technical SEO – page loading speed, crawlability, core web vitals, navigation, interlinking, mobile optimisation, etc.
- User Experience (UX) – the ease with which users navigate and experience your site and their level of enjoyment in doing so.
- Keyword Optimisation – using relevant keywords throughout your content to reflect the search terms your targets will most likely use to find you online; these help search engines understand your website’s purpose.
- Domain Authority – a measure of your site’s expertise on a specific topic.
- Website Structure – simple, organised structure including a sitemap to aid crawlability.
- Website Security – HTTPS protocol to encrypt data between your website and a user’s browser. Having an SSL certificate has never been more important.
Just a few of the many, many others include:
- Content volume/length
- Content originality/freshness
- Content organisation/structure
- Grammar/spelling
- Image optimisation
- Local ranking factors
- Search intent – content relevance
- Metas – Title Tags, Meta Description, Image Alt text, Anchor Text, H1, H2, H3 Headings – and how they feature keywords
- URL length
- Click-through rate
- Bounce rate
- Dwell time
- Schema markup
- Social signals
- Domain age and history
- Duplicate content (a BIG no-no!)
- Content recency
- Outbound links
- Broken links
- Reading level
- Human editors
- Bullets/numbered lists
- References/source citation
- Contact us information
- Domain trust
- Site updates
- Server location
- User reviews
- Guest posts
- Chrome bookmarks
- Spamming
- And MANY more
Google modifies its algorithm hundreds of times a year.
Choose SEOcycle for Affordable SEO Solutions
Say goodbye to the confusion and overwhelm. Meet the challenges of the Google algorithm (and those of other search engines as well) and align with its demands to be favourably seen and highly ranked in SERPs (search engine results pages) with SEOcycle.
SEOcycle is a Sydney-based, Australian-owned SEO agency offering high-quality, affordable SEO services. Working with many clients in a diverse range of industries and niches across Australia and internationally, our solutions are particularly suited to small- and medium-sized businesses and sole traders.
SEOcycle has been operating since late 2012 and, over that time, we have served hundreds of clients – some of whom have continuously been with us for a decade.
We transparently deliver our services with utmost integrity and with no lock-in contracts. We communicate openly and send our clients weekly reports to demonstrate the work we are doing on their behalf (unlike most other providers in our industry who seem to go “radio-silent” once clients have signed contracts).
Moreover, with a core focus on SEO and SEO-optimised website design and development, we know our industry and our niche inside-out.
SEOcycle is a genuine “SEO expert”.
Get in touch with us today.
