On the first page of Google, the first five results account for over 67% of all clicks. The tenth result gets only a meager 2.5% click-through rate. In this case, you can only imagine if anything reaches pages two, three, and even 10.
Everyone wants their website to appear on the first page of search engine results, but this is easier said than done. The first thing you need to know is over 200 Google ranking factors. The question is, which of these factors affect website rankings the most?
Many different factors play into how your site ranks, and it can be challenging to keep track of them all. This article will discuss nine factors that help or hinder your website rankings. By understanding these factors, you can optimize your website and rank higher on search engine results pages!
High-Quality Content
Google has made it clear that high-quality content is one of the most critical factors for ranking well in SERPs. To create high-quality content, you must first understand your audience’s wants and needs. Then, you must provide relevant, accurate, and engaging information.
In addition to writing great content, you can also improve the quality of your content by using images, videos, and infographics. To produce high-quality content, make sure that you’re writing for your target audience. Be sure to use keywords and phrases throughout your content so that search engines easily find it.
Mobile-Friendliness
One of the most important Google ranking factors for mobile search is whether or not a website is mobile-friendly. As more and more people use their phones and tablets to conduct searches, your website must display well on these devices. You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how your website scores.
If your website fails the test, you’ll need to make some changes to improve its ranking. In addition to being mobile-friendly, you should also make sure that all of your content is accessible from a mobile device. This includes images, videos, and other multimedia content.
Page Speed
Page speed is determined by how quickly a page loads on a user’s device. If a page takes too long to load, users will leave the site before loading fully. This can result in high bounce rates and low conversion rates. Google uses page speed as a ranking factor because slow-loading pages provide a poor user experience.
To improve your page speed, use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to find out what needs fixing on your site. Here are some tips for improving your page speed:
- Use a content delivery network to host your static files
- Optimize images for web use
- Minimize the number of redirects on your site
- Enable caching on your site
- Compress and optimize JavaScript and CSS files
If you’re’ having trouble improving your page speed, consider hiring a professional web developer to help you out.
User Experience
User experience (UX) is how a person feels when using your website. Factors that contribute to good UX include easy navigation, quick page loading times, and clear and concise content. If users don’t enjoy using your site, they’ll leave it quickly and may not return.
This negatively affects website rankings as search engines consider how long users stay on your site. To improve your UX, test your website using the five usability heuristics:
- Ease of Use
- Frequency of Use
- Recognition over Recall
- Controllability
- Satisfaction
If you find that your site needs improvement in any of these areas, make the necessary changes. An excellent way to improve your website ranking is by using a responsive design.
Internal and External Links
Internal links are the links on a website that point to other pages on the same site. External links are the links on a website that point to pages on other websites. Internal and external links help Google understand your website’s structure, essential for ranking in search engines.
Good internal and external linking practices can also improve the user experience. You see, they provide easy navigation around your website and help users find relevant information. In addition, external links can help you build trust with your audience by providing quality resources.
On-Page and Off-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the elements of your website that you can control, such as title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and images. Off-page SEO is everything else that affects your site’s ranking, including links from other websites, social media shares, and citations. You need to have a robust SEO strategy to excel in both areas.
To improve your on-page SEO, ensure that you use the correct keywords and phrases in your title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content. You can use a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find popular keywords related to your business. For off-page SEO, focus on building high-quality links from reputable websites.
Local SEO
Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website for local search results. This includes adding your business to Google My Business, filling out your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number), and creating localized content. When someone searches for a product or service near them, they’ll likely see businesses closer to them at the top of the search results.
By optimizing your website for local search, you can increase your chances of being seen by potential customers in your area. Google’s algorithms give preference to websites that optimize for local search. You can also use the free Google My Business tool to create a listing for your business on Google Maps.
Domain Name, Age, and Authority
The domain name, age, and authority are factors that search engines use to determine a website’s rank. The domain name is the website address, and the age is how long the site has been active. Authority is determined by factors such as the number of links to your site, the quality of those links, and how recently they were updated.
All three of these factors are essential to search engine optimization. A good domain name is easy to remember and includes keywords people might use when searching for your site. The age of your site shows search engines that you are a reputable source.
Duplicate Pages
Duplicate pages are a common issue that can hurt your website’s ranking. Duplicate pages are created when the same content appears on more than one page of your site. This can happen if you have multiple versions of a product page or accidentally publish the same post twice.
Search engines don’t like duplicate content because it confuses users and dilutes the authority of the site. If you have duplicate pages on your site, be sure to remove them or canonicalize them.
Top Factors Helping and Hindering Your Website Rankings
As you can see, many different factors play into how your website ranks in search engines. If you want to rank higher, you must optimize all of these factors. By following the tips in this article, you can improve your website’s ranking and increase your chances of ranking higher on SERPs.
Now that you understand what to do but need professional help pulling it off, please allow us to monitor changes to your site and fix it for you.
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