5 Important Google Ranking Factors | Dygiq

Perform a Google search on one of your favourite topics or a look into a specific local business category, and you’ll immediately see several million to billions of results before your eyes. But you don’t necessarily go through every one of those. More often than not, you stay within the first page of search results – then modify your query if you still haven’t found the content you’re looking for.

What does “Ranking” mean?

In games, “ranking up” usually means reaching higher levels than other players. It’s a similar concept in search engine optimisation (SEO): to be seen by your target audience, you need to appear up high on search engine results (or SERPs).

1. High-Quality Content

Regardless of word count or video length, your content should be relevant to your readers for it to rank. High-quality content also gives you lower bounce rates, a ranking signal for Google’s algorithms.

2. Backlinks

Still considered to be one of the strongest ranking factors for the search engine, backlinks are hyperlinks on another website. When several websites link back to you, search engines will deem you worthy of ranking high up in SERPs.

3. Keyword Targeting

There are two kinds of keywords: short tail and long tail. Short tail keywords are a string of keywords that are less than three words (e.g. women’s shoes), and long-tail keywords contain more than three words (e.g. Nike women’s shoes near me). Unless they’re branded keywords, the fewer words you have, the more broad your search results will be.

4. Mobile Responsiveness

How does this become a ranking factor? Early this year, Google announced that it would be employing mobile-first indexing practices. This means that the algorithm will look at the mobile version of your website and consider its content for ranking and indexing. As more people look at their phones, the search engine giant would naturally have their spiders crawl mobile-friendly websites.

5. Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals ensure that your website looks and functions intuitively, so a quick and well-designed website with fast-loading images and easy-to-read written content that doesn’t move around is imperative if you want to raise the SERPs.

Conclusion

There are many other Google ranking factors (legend says there are more than 200!) and ranking signals that you need to consider, but the top 5 factors are easy enough to tackle. If you find this still confusing, talk to us at Dygiq, and we’ll be your partner in turning your website into a lean, mean ranking machine.