5 Most Important Google Ranking Factors For 2022

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Did you know that there are over 200 ranking parameters used by Google? Google is, without a doubt, the most widely used search engine on the globe, with about 5.6 billion searches every day. As a result, it is understandable that you would want to appear higher in Google search results. But the question is how and what are the factors that are more important to focus on?

Does Google Chrome Collect Data For Ranking Purposes?

Let’s start by addressing the obvious: Google Analytics is not a ranking factor.

Google Analytics is a tool that helps you to track your return on investment and learn more about your clients. Since 2005, when it bought Urchin Web Analytics, now known as Google Analytics, Google has made this explicit.

Implementing Google Search Console on your website will not instantly propel you to the top of the search results. However, you may utilize Google Search Console data to boost your SEO which will definitely boost your rank.

Now let’s dive right into the:

5 Most Important Google Ranking Factors

1. 1. High-quality content
   2. Backlinks and keyword optimization
   3. Search intent
   4. Website loading speed, structure, and security
   5. User experience

High-quality Content

Google places a high value on the quality of your content. You cannot anticipate higher ranking if your content isn’t valuable, no matter how well-optimized your website is.

So, how does Google define content quality?

• Original, unique, and valuable content. If your content is the same or similar to that of other websites, it may have a negative influence on your SEO. For instance, your page may not be indexed or ranked by Google.
• Up to date and fresh content. If you cover issues that involve news or trends, content freshness is critical. Google favors pages that give the most up-to-date information on such topics.
• Content length. Ideally 2,100 to 2,400 words.
• Content structure and organization. You may use numerous headings and subheadings (H2, H3, H4, and so on) to combine your material together to improve the structure and organization of your articles.

Backlinks and Keyword Optimization

They are an essential aspect of Google’s ranking algorithm, as they are how the Google crawler finds and indexes your page. In reality, content and backlinks are inextricably linked, as webpages with no backlinks receive very little organic traffic. Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are a type of vote of confidence for your website. Google sums up all of the votes and determines if your website is deserving of a spot in the top ten rankings.

One of the most apparent ranking variables, other than developing content and obtaining backlinks, is the inclusion of keywords on your website. Keywords are search phrases that people use to hunt up information on Google. As a result, it’s critical that your website contains the keywords that your target audience is looking for.

Here’s a checklist:

• • Title tags
  • Meta description
  • Image alt text
  • Anchor text
  • Use LSI keywords
  • Avoid keyword stuffing
  • Include keywords in H2 and H3
  • Add keyword in URL

Search Intent

Matching the search intent of your content is another important ranking criteria for Google. What a person is looking for is referred to as search intent. On Google, each keyword is unique, and you must understand why that particular search query exists. It’s critical to match the search intent and develop the proper type of content if you’re going to create material on any of these topics.

Website Loading Speed, Mobile-friendliness, Structure, and Security

This is a list of factors that Google thinks to be crucial for your site’s user experience. It will assess the speed, responsiveness, and loading times of various components such as fonts and graphics.

Along with speed, another factor to consider is whether or not your site is mobile-friendly.

Since Google made the switch to mobile-first in 2019, it’s become critical that your website is mobile-friendly. Mobile-first implies that Google will now index and rank your website based on its mobile version. So make sure you got that covered.

As for structure, From a crawling and indexing standpoint, the architecture of your website is critical. It makes it simple for Google crawlers to locate your website and its pages. Make sure to optimize your WordPress robots.txt file as this provides a pathway for Google bots and tells them how to crawl and index your website.

Along with website layout, Google now considers security to be a major ranking factor. This is where you should make sure your site is now using HTTPS, which encrypts data between your website and the browser of your users.

User Experience

The overall user experience of your website is the final Google ranking criteria we have for you. There are several factors that now contribute to a positive user experience.

However, how does Google determine this?

Though there are other important ranking signals that Google uses for User Experience, these 3 factors are the major ones listed by MonsterInsights:

• • Click-through rate (CTR). It is the percentage of users that click on your website link in the search results. By improving your CTR, you can boost your rankings, especially if you are stuck in the top 5 results.
  • Bounce rate. Having a high bounce rate is not good for your site. If a high number of people click on your site and then hit the back button without interacting with your website, Google will think the page is not relevant and won’t rank it.
  • Dwell time. This measures how long a visitor stays on your site after coming from Google search results. The higher the dwell time, the better it is.

Check-Up

There are over 200 ranking factors that Google considers, and having to go over each would be overwhelming, but the following discussed are the top 5 ranking factors that most companies have utilized and have reaped the most impact from.

Have you applied any of the following for your business? If there are some of these that confuse you and still don’t know how to properly incorporate the following to improve your Google rankings, Verde is here to help! Feel free to ask questions – schedule an online consultation with us!