To have a good positioning that brings more organic traffic and conversions, it is essential to pay attention to Google ranking factors. They are increasingly personalized to provide good results and a positive experience for users who use the search engine.
Understanding how each factor works will guide you to get your site on the first page of results when users search for keywords related to your industry. That way, you will build an image of authority in your area of expertise!
But what are these search engine criteria? Check out! In this article, we will present some examples to understand better.
What are the factors that affect Google ranking?
Google ranking factors determine whether a website ranks well in search results. There are more than 200 criteria to define which pages are best positioned. We have gathered the main ones that cannot be ignored.
Therefore, to generate more credibility and visibility for your website, and even avoid Google penalties, pay attention to:
1. Relevance of links
This criterion looks at how many other sites are linking to your page. Therefore, the more you are used as a reference on different pages in your segment, the more Google understands that your site is an authority with valuable content and can be in the top positions.
This can occur organically or from relationships with other companies, with blogs from relevant companies that operate in markets that complement yours.
2. Broken links
Broken links that lead people to Error 404 pages should be avoided because when there are too many of them on your site, the user experience is frustrated, as he does not have access to the information he would like. As a result, these errors can lead Google to downgrade your site’s positioning.
3. Canonical tags
When there is more than one page with the exact text, the canonical tag shows Google, the main one, the “original”. Therefore, it is an essential feature to prevent the search engine from penalizing your site due to duplicate content.
4. Errors in HTML
HTML errors also cause frustration for the user, as it affects the site’s functionality, which does not load correctly and even harms the search engine’s crawling. Therefore, when the site has a lot of programming problems, its ranking is negatively impacted.
One of the most important Google ranking factors is page load speed. The maximum time your website should take to load in 2 seconds. Beyond that, it could be penalized by Google because it harms the user experience.
After all, think about when you want to open a website, and it takes a while to load. Indeed, the delay makes the user lose interest and look for content on other pages.
A simple action that helps increase loading speed is to reduce the size of images and GIFs on the site. Combined with other SEO improvements, this can improve page performance.
Watch the video below to find out how to see your site’s loading speed and what to do to improve it:
5. Responsiveness
Google searches through mobile devices have increased. Taking this into account, the search giant prioritizes responsive sites – which is different from having a mobile version.
Responsive websites have a layout that adjusts to any resolution or device, providing a good reading experience for the user. This also helps with loading speed.
6. Image optimization
Speaking of images, Google’s search engines cannot see them as the human eye, as they only identify pixels. Therefore, it is essential to put:
- the central theme of the image and the keyword like
- file name at the time of saving the photo;
- alternative text;
- description;
- subtitle.
In this way, the robot can understand what the image refers to and, thus, make the content of your page more complete, which contributes to one of the ranking factors for Google Images. In addition, it is a form of accessibility, as it facilitates the experience for users with visual impairments.
7. Keywords
The keyword must be present at various points on your site. One of the main ones is in the title tag. A title tag is a tag in the code that identifies the page’s title to search engines. Putting this information shows the algorithm what the main subject of the page is and attracts the user’s interest and click.
And if the keyword is at the beginning of the title tag, even better!
The meta description acts as a way to attract the user to your website, so it is essential to put the keyword in it, as the report is the preview that appears in the results of the Google search page.
Heading tags also need a keyword. They show the hierarchy of your page’s content to Google and help users find the information they are looking for more easily. Among them, the most important are:
- the H1 tag, which represents the title of the content that appears on the page;
- the H2 and H3 tags, which follow the hierarchy of heading tags.
To reinforce the theme of the text on the page and the keyword, it is also possible to use synonyms and related terms.
These are just some Google ranking factors that affect your website. It is indispensable always to have a professional who can guide you and help you achieve the best performance.
