By SEO ranking factors, we mean the critical ranking factors, focusing on which can bring you higher rankings. The magnitude of importance of these ranking factors fluctuates based on what SEO executives observe.
Get the concept clear with a real-life example
There was an SEO executive named Peter. He was assigned to make a website rank in the 1st spot of SERP. So, he conducted a comprehensive site analysis. He discovered that two main issues were the culprits of the downfallen ranking. One was ‘site speed,’ and another was ‘duplicate and thin content’. He further assigned the task to the content writer, who was supposed to demand abundant time to deliver high-quality content (approximately one week).
Meanwhile, he started working on site speed optimization. It took approximately 2 to 3 days, and everything was okay. The site ranking continued to elevate gradually. After a week, the content was updated, and the site reached the first page, all thanks to the high-quality content. So from that perspective, the content as a ranking factor ranks one slot higher than the site speed.
So, based on Google’s behaviour and how it responds to particular efforts, the magnitude of importance and the listing slot of ranking factors is deciphered.
Why is reading this blog beneficial?
This blog is not researched from the already published articles and blogs; instead, the information contained in it is derived from the years of experience of SEO Toronto Experts.
Top 10 SEO Ranking Factors
Content
SEO executives usually say, “Content is King.” But our SEO Toronto Experts say, “Content is the emperor of the SEO kingdom”. Without high-quality, information-offering and niche-relevant content, you can’t rank higher on Google. Nowadays, ChatGpt has emerged as a boon for those going through a shortage of content-creating resources.
Is ChatGPT really a boon or a bane?
Well, it generates content with considerably better speed than human content writers. But, the content is usually plagiarized. Besides, it doesn’t offer any unique value to the content; rather, it picks and rephrases information from published blogs and articles. We have experienced that the content cannot pass the plagiarism tests, and Google dislikes plagiarized or duplicate content. So, if you want to impress and help your targeted audience, you must never use ChatGPT.
Site Speed
If a site can’t load in less than 3 seconds, it can never rank on the 1st Page because all the statistical facts present on the internet state that users do not give a site a chance if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds, irrespective of how good it is.
The website’s speed needs to be optimized for all kinds of devices, be it PCs, laptops, tablets or mobile devices. There are tons of things that need to be corrected to optimize site speed –
- Minifying code
- Optimization of image sizes
- Implementing Gzip compression
- Having mobile-first code for the website
- Reducing the number of HTTP Requests
From the mentioned bullets, you must have understood that site speed optimization is not a task that an SEO executive can do independently. Still, the role of a developer is also significant in this regard. For instance, code minification is a thing for developers.
User Experience
User experience is a game changer for business. An online business can never be successful if a website doesn’t offer a pleasant experience to the target audience. Here, it is noteworthy – no matter whether the products they sell or the services they offer are of high or low quality. ‘What you portray is what you become until the user experiences the quality of your products and services.
For SEO executives, the user experience must be a technical term, but for the layman who has come to your site, it defines the user experience in different terms. For the layman, the user experience is –
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Colours |
If you use immensely bright colours, the user will get uncomfortable as he will find it challenging to consume the content. So the eventual decision he may take is to leave your site and visit a site with a sleek, simple, eye-catching, and relaxing design. |
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Navigation |
Navigation is one of the most critical aspects of the user experience. If users can’t find what they want on the website, they will never stay. This calls for the need to structure a website neatly. The services and sub-service pages need to be placed correctly on the site architecture. |
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Query Resolving |
When users are visiting your website to buy products or services, it is natural for them to have doubts and queries. You must have an FAQ section on the website to deal with them. If the doubt or query they are having doesn’t appear in the FAQ section, you must add a button of ‘Call Us’ or ‘Message Your Query’ or anything. This helps to enrich the experience of the users. |
Site Security
A site with security issues is spammy, and such sites can never reach the 1st page of SERP. If Google suspects something is fishy with a site, it will try its best to ensure that such a site remains at the lower ranking spots on search engines. Lower ranking spots ensure that people don’t reach such sites. Some of the ways to maintain website security are:
- Keep the website plugins updated
- Adding an SSL and an HTTPS certificate
- Choosing a complicated password
- Using a secure website hosting
Domain Age
According to a study by ahrefs, Domains under three years of age are less likely to be on the 1st page. The concept is similar to wine – ‘The older, the better’.
So, if you have just launched a website and expect it to reach the 1st SERP within 2 to 3 months, it’s unrealistic. You can’t be impatient or desperate when ranking your website.
Wrap Up!
This digital era is witnessing a cut-throat competition to rank a website in 1st spot of SERP. For that, there is a roadmap. The milestones are the ranking factors. Those mentioned above are just a few required to set a pace to continue ranking higher and higher. Apart from these, the URL, page authority, technical SEO, and backlink profile are other potential ranking factors.
