We’ll finally answer the question that concerns most newbie SEO learners at the end of this article: which is more important: pleasing Google or pleasing my audience?
Let’s take a quick look at how search engine rankings function before we delve into the specifics of each ranking element.
How Do I Rank Higher on Google?
Many people are curious about how Google ranks websites. So, before we go into the specific search engine ranking elements, let’s start with some of the most common queries concerning SEO.
The position of your content on the search engine results pages is referred to as ranking in SEO (SERPs). A #1 ranking indicates that your website is the first result when users search for a specific phrase (apart from promoted results, featured snippets, and answer boxes, which we’ll discuss later in this article).
1. Secure and reachable website
The first of our SEO ranking variables, unsurprisingly, has to do with having the appropriate kind of URL. That is, it is a URL that Google’s bots can readily access and crawl.
To put it another way, Google must be able to go to the URL and read the page content to figure out what the page is about. You’ll need the following items to assist the bots:
- A well-coded website built with a website builder
- A robots.txt file instructs Google where it can and cannot look for content on your website.
- A sitemap is a list of all the pages on your website.
If you have a WordPress site, you may use All in One SEO to create a sitemap. If not, you can create a sitemap using an online sitemap generator.
Although HTTPS isn’t used to determine whether or not a page should be indexed, Google’s John Mueller has stated that it is a “light-weight ranking consideration” and that “having HTTPS is helpful for users.”.
2. Page Speed
For years, page speed has been recognized as one of the most important SEO ranking elements. Google aims to improve its users’ web experience, and fast-loading web pages will help them do so.
In July 2018, Google revealed a search engine algorithm upgrade focusing on mobile page speed, which began to affect sites. Your site may be penalized if it does not load quickly on mobile devices.
To see how your site performs on a mobile device, use Google’s mobile testing tool.
Check out WPBeginner’s ideas for speeding up a WordPress site if you’re using WordPress.
However, if you haven’t done so before, you should start using Google Search Console. This features a whole section dedicated to keeping you up to date on the performance of your site, including its speed.
Check out this article on how to use Google Search Console to increase your SEO for a more in-depth look.
3. Domain Age, URL, and Authority
Did you know that approximately 60% of the top ten Google search ranking websites are three years old or older? According to data from an Ahrefs survey of two million pages, only a small percentage of sites under a year old obtain that ranking.
So if you’ve had your site for a long and optimized it with the advice in this post, you’re already ahead of the game.
The domain name is important in several instances. Although Google has penalized exact-match domains (those with the target term in the URL), this is usually reserved for spammy sites with little substance.
According to Moz, exact-match domains that are regarded to be relevant, important, and high-quality can benefit from a ranking boost. You don’t need to hunt for an exact-match domain for your business if you already have one.
What is the best way to select a domain? Instead, concentrate on a URL that accurately symbolizes your company and optimize it to the max!
Authority is important when it comes to search engine ranking considerations. As you’ll see, outstanding content (see the following tip) and off-page SEO signals like inbound links and social shares are typically used. It can also include the content creator’s authority, thanks to E-A-T.
This has been codified by Moz into page authority and domain authority scores, both of which are valued from 0 to 100 and indicate the likelihood of a page or domain ranking in search results.
Open Site Explorer can be used to check domain or page authority. Simply type your URL into the onsite search box to get a report that includes domain authority, page authority, existing links, and fresh links.
4. User Experience
Google has been employing artificial intelligence to improve the ranking of websites for a time now. It refers to this signal as RankBrain. Other indications that affect your search engine ranking are included in this category. These are some of them:
The percentage of users that visit your site after seeing an entry in search results is known as the click-through rate.
Bounce rate (particularly pogo-sticking): the percentage of visitors who land on your page and then immediately return to the search results.
Dwell time is the length of time visitors spend on your site after they arrive.
If visitors come to your site, don’t like it, and leave, Google will assume it isn’t relevant to their needs. If a large number of individuals do this, it may become more difficult for your site to rank higher in search results.
This is most likely a sign that your material doesn’t match the searcher’s intent. It’s possible that you’ll need to go back and choose a more effective keyword.
In contrast, if users visit your website and stay for a time, Google will know that your material is relevant to their search.
You can improve your search engine rating by optimizing titles, descriptions, and content to garner clicks and offer value on the other end.
