Google 200 Ranking Factors: A Comprehensive Guide

Google's algorithm is a complex beast, and understanding the 200 ranking factors that influence it can feel like trying to drink from a firehose.

Google's algorithm is constantly evolving, with new updates and changes rolling out regularly.

To help you navigate this complex landscape, we'll break down the key takeaways from Google's algorithm update history, including the Panda and Penguin updates.

Here are some key facts to keep in mind: Google's algorithm update history dates back to 2001, with the first major update, Google Dance, affecting 1% of search results.

Worth a look: Ranking Fluctuations on Google Updates

Google's algorithm takes into account various domain and site-level factors to determine your website's ranking. Domain age helps nothing, according to Google's John Mueller.

A keyword appearing in your domain name still acts as a relevancy signal, even if it doesn't give you the SEO boost it used to. A Google patent states that the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain.

If this caught your attention, see: Alexa Rank Google Pagerank Domain Age

Having a keyword in your subdomain can boost rankings, according to Moz's expert panel. A site with volatile ownership or several drops may tell Google to "reset" the site's history, negating links pointing to the domain.

Exact Match Domains probably have little to no direct SEO benefit. Private WhoIs information may be a sign of "something to hide", as Googler Matt Cutts has stated.

Having whois privacy turned on isn't automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors all together, you're often talking about a very different type of webmaster. If Google identifies a particular person as a spammer, it makes sense that they would scrutinize other sites owned by that person.

Having a Country Code Top Level Domain can sometimes help the site rank for that particular country, but it can limit the site's ability to rank globally.

Page speed is a top Google ranking factor that directly affects user experience. It's part of the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console, which checks user interactions with a website.

If your website loads slowly, many users will bounce off and click on another search result, sending bad UX signals to Google.

To improve your site speed, consider compressing file sizes for all visuals and reducing the number of redirects.

Using cache memory to store temp files and leveraging a content delivery network (CDN) can also help speed up your website.

Clearing and streamlining your site code and optimizing server response times are also important for faster loading times.

Here are some actionable tips to improve your site speed:

A strong backlink profile is a combination of several Google ranking factors, including the number of backlinks, number of referring domains, quality of referring domains, and quality of backlinks.

To strengthen your backlink profile, focus on building more high-quality backlinks to your website. You can do this by contributing guest posts on authoritative websites, creating and distributing infographics with links in the description, and reclaiming broken links by providing correct or updated links.

For another approach, see: Why Backlinks Are Important

Here are some link-building best practices to ensure a high-quality backlink profile:

A strong backlink profile is a crucial factor in Google's ranking algorithm. It's a combination of several Google ranking factors like the number of backlinks, referring domains, quality of referring domains, and quality of backlinks.

The quality of referring domains is a key aspect of a strong backlink profile. You should focus on getting backlinks from authoritative sites rather than low-authority sites.

Here are some link-building tactics that can help you strengthen your backlink profile:

To maintain a natural and diverse backlink profile, use variations of anchor text and avoid using the same anchor text multiple times. Also, make sure to get backlinks from recent or regularly updated pages and remove backlinks from old and outdated pages.

Here's an interesting read: A Page Ranking Algroithm Ranks Web Pages Accroding to

Here are some link-building best practices to keep in mind:

Yandex vs. Google - What's the Difference?

Yandex is not Google, despite being 70% similar in terms of results listed on the first page for the same queries. This means that while studying Yandex's ranking factors can provide interesting insights for Google SEO, it's essential to understand that the information may not be directly applicable.

Yandex uses an algorithm similar to PageRank to assess the quality of links, taking into account elements such as text and age. This is a crucial ranking signal for Yandex, and it's essential to focus on building high-quality backlinks.

Yandex values user signals, which include CTR, time on site, bounce rate, and number of visitors returning to SERPs. This means that creating engaging content that resonates with users is essential for improving rankings on Yandex.

Relevance is another key ranking factor for Yandex, mainly using BM25 and other elements, such as whether the keyword is contained in the URL. This highlights the importance of optimizing content for specific keywords.

For more insights, see: Content Seo Checklist

Yandex applies higher quality requirements for sensitive topics, such as health and financial content, with 7 different ranking factors for medical topics alone. This means that creating high-quality, trustworthy content is essential for ranking well on Yandex.

Here's a summary of the key differences between Yandex and Google:

User interaction and engagement are crucial factors in Google's ranking algorithm. Google's AI algorithm, RankBrain, measures how users interact with search results to rank them accordingly.

Google pays close attention to organic click-through rate (CTR) for a keyword, which may give a SERP boost for that particular keyword. This means that if your page gets clicked on more often, you're more likely to rank higher.

Pages with lots of comments may be a signal of user-interaction and quality. In fact, one Googler said comments can help "a lot" with rankings.

Here are some key user interaction metrics that Google looks for:

A site's organic CTR for all keywords it ranks for may be a human-based, user interaction signal, also known as a "Quality Score" for the organic results.

Mobile friendliness is crucial for a good user experience. Google prefers to rank sites that can be easily accessed from all kinds of devices.

A mobile-friendly site is rewarded with higher rankings, while those that don't render well on mobile devices are punished. You can check if your website is mobile-friendly using Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

To make your site mobile-friendly, use a mobile-responsive theme and compress the file sizes of your on-page visuals. A clean and simple website layout and design also helps.

Adding the viewport meta tag to your site's HTML code is another essential step. You can also use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to improve mobile responsiveness.

Avoid using pop-up ads or forms that block your content, as they can negatively impact user experience.

Take a look at this: Optimize Site for Google

User Interaction is a crucial aspect of Google's algorithm, and it's not just about how users interact with your website, but also how Google measures that interaction. RankBrain, Google's AI algorithm, is designed to measure user interaction with search results and rank them accordingly.

Google pays close attention to Organic Click Through Rate (CTR) for a keyword, and pages with higher CTR may get a SERP boost. This means that if your page is clicked more often, it's likely to rank higher for that particular keyword.

Bounce Rate is another metric that Google considers. While some SEO experts disagree on its importance, a large study by SEMRush found a correlation between bounce rate and Google rankings. This suggests that pages with high bounce rates may not be great results for a keyword.

Direct Traffic is a confirmed Google ranking signal. Sites with lots of direct traffic are likely higher quality sites compared to those with little direct traffic. This is because Google uses data from Google Chrome to determine how many people visit a site and how often.

Here are some key metrics that Google considers for User Interaction:

These metrics indicate whether users find your content useful and engaging. If users spend more time reading your content and check out other related content, it's a good sign for your website's user interaction.

A site's organic CTR for all keywords it ranks for may be a human-based, user interaction signal, also known as a "Quality Score" for organic results. This means that if your page is clicked more often across all keywords, it's likely to rank higher overall.

See what others are reading: Seo Content Writing Samples

Pogosticking, a type of bounce where users click on other search results, can actually harm your rankings. This suggests that users are not finding what they're looking for on your page, and it's a sign of poor user interaction.

Pages with lots of comments may be a signal of user-interaction and quality. In fact, one Googler said comments can help "a lot" with rankings.

Additional reading: Website Rankings by Traffic

Google has a long list of ranking factors that can affect your website's search visibility. A Panda penalty can hit your site if it's found to have low-quality content, particularly content farms.

Sneaky redirects and excessive keyword stuffing are also big no-nos. Google has a patent that outlines how it can identify "gibberish" content, which is helpful for filtering out spun or auto-generated content from their index.

On the other hand, Google frowns on links to bad neighborhoods, such as spammy pharmacy or payday loan sites. A high-percentage of backlinks from topically-unrelated sites can also increase the odds of a manual penalty.

If your server's IP address is flagged for spam, it may affect all sites on that server. Google also considers links from low-quality directories, article directories, and press releases as a link scheme in many cases.

Google has a Disavow Tool that can help remove harmful backlinks that have or may cause a penalty. After removing such links, you can send a reconsideration request to Google, which may lift the penalty and improve your search visibility and rankings.

If this caught your attention, see: Reciprocal Links Seo

Off-Site Webspam can be a major ranking killer, and it's not just about the quality of the links pointing to your site, but also the quantity and type of links.

Google de-indexes sites it thinks are hacked, so make sure your site is secure.

An unnatural influx of links can be a sign of black hat link-building schemes, and Google can identify these.

Penguin penalty is a thing, and sites that were hit by it are significantly less visible in search.

Lots of low-quality links from sources like blog comments and forum profiles may be a sign of gaming the system.

Links from topically-unrelated sites can increase the odds of a manual penalty.

Google has sent out thousands of "Google Search Console notice of detected unnatural links" messages, which usually precedes a ranking drop.

Backlinks from low-quality directories can lead to a penalty, so be careful where you get your links from.

Widget links that are automatically generated when a user embeds a widget on their site are frowned upon by Google.

Getting an unnatural amount of links from sites on the same server IP may help Google determine that your links are coming from a blog network.

Using "poison" anchor text, especially pharmacy keywords, pointed to your site may be a sign of spam or a hacked site.

A 2013 Google Patent describes how Google can identify whether or not an influx of links to a page is legitimate.

Articles directories and press releases have been abused to the point that Google now considers these two link-building strategies a "link scheme" in many cases.

Related reading: Low Bounce Rate

Manual actions from Google can often be taken against unethical SEO practices.

Getting caught selling links can hurt your search visibility.

New sites that get a sudden influx of links are sometimes put in the Google Sandbox, which temporarily limits search visibility.

The Google Dance can temporarily shake up rankings, and according to a Google Patent, this may be a way for them to determine whether or not a site is trying to game the algorithm.

Using the Disavow Tool may remove a manual or algorithmic penalty for sites that were the victims of negative SEO.

A successful reconsideration request can lift a penalty, but it's essential to address the underlying issues first.

Temporary link schemes, where spammy links are added and then removed, can be identified and penalized by Google.

Google has a zero-tolerance policy for on-site webspam, which can lead to penalties or even de-indexing.

Sites with low-quality content, particularly content farms, are less visible in search after getting hit by a Panda penalty.

Low-quality content is a major red flag for Google, and it's not just about the quality of the content itself, but also about the user experience it provides.

Google may penalize sites that display full page "interstitial" popups to mobile users, which can be frustrating for users.

Sneaky redirects can get a site not just penalized, but de-indexed, so it's essential to use transparent and user-friendly redirects.

Popups and distracting ads are a sign of a low-quality site, and Google may penalize sites that use them excessively.

Keyword stuffing, header tag stuffing, and excessive keyword decoration are all forms of over-optimization that can get a site penalized.

Google hates autogenerated content, and if they suspect that your site is pumping out computer-generated content, it could result in a penalty or de-indexing.

Doorway pages, where a site shows a different page at first and then redirects users to another page, are not liked by Google and can lead to penalties.

Excess PageRank sculpting, by nofollowing all outbound links, may be a sign of gaming the system and can get a site penalized.

Using too many hidden affiliate links can cause a Google penalty, so it's essential to be transparent about affiliate links.

If one site on a server is flagged as spam, then all sites on that server will get affected, so it's essential to keep an eye on server reputation.

Keyword optimization is probably the second-most important on-page SEO ranking factor after content. It's essential to have a solid understanding of keyword optimization to improve your Google search rankings.

To optimize your keywords, you should identify one primary or target keyword and a few LSI keywords for every piece of content you create. This will help you focus your content and make it more relevant to your target audience.

Here are the key places to place your keywords: Meta descriptionsTitle tagsH1 tagsH2 and H3 tagsFirst 100 words of contentThroughout the contentURLImage alt text, name, and description

Worth a look: Important Meta Tags

Keyword optimization is a crucial aspect of on-page SEO ranking, second only to content quality.

To optimize your keywords, you need to have a primary or target keyword and a few LSI keywords for every piece of content.

You should place your primary keyword in the meta description, title tag, H1 tag, H2 and H3 tags, and URL.

You might enjoy: Why Are Keywords Important

The first 100 words of your content and throughout the content are also important places to include your primary keyword.

Image alt text, name, and description are also key places to include your primary keyword.

Here's a summary of where to place your primary keyword:

Google uses over 200 signals to determine the final rank of a site.

These signals include relevance, freshness, popularity, and how other people are using a particular keyword.

The company's CEO, Pichai, mentioned these signals as part of the process of providing answers to users' queries.

Google's system immediately answers user queries by summoning crawled and stored copies of billions of web pages in its index.

This process happens in a matter of instants, allowing users to get the information they need quickly.

The number of ranking factors used by Google is over 200, which can be overwhelming to navigate.

However, understanding the basic signals such as relevance and freshness can help improve keyword optimization and placement.

On a similar theme: Google Freshness Algorithm

Authoritativeness and expertise are crucial factors in Google's ranking algorithm. Google uses several ranking factors and trust signals to determine the authoritativeness and expertise of a website.

Domain authority, while not a direct Google ranking factor, is a score created by Moz that uses similar signals to determine a website's authority. The number and quality of backlinks, quality of referring domains, and current keyword rankings are some of the factors that contribute to a website's authoritativeness.

To improve your SEO performance and increase your authority, focus on strengthening your backlink profile. A detailed SEO checklist can help you cover all aspects of SEO.

Expertise is determined by the quality of your content and the frequency of posting high-quality content. Creating topic clusters and covering all important keywords in extreme detail can show your expertise in a particular niche.

Here are some key factors that contribute to expertise:

Internal linking is a powerful tool that can help with rankings. The more internal linking you have among multiple pages with related keywords, the better it shows that you have expertise on a particular topic.

Related reading: Internal Link Building

Google gives a boost to newer pages for certain searches, making freshness a key factor in ranking. This is known as the Query Deserves Freshness rule.

For ambiguous keywords like "Ted" or "ruby", Google may add diversity to the SERP to provide more accurate results. This is part of the Query Deserves Diversity rule.

Websites that you visit frequently get a SERP boost for your searches, thanks to the User Browsing History rule. This means that if you frequently visit a site, it's more likely to appear higher in the search results.

Google also takes into account your search history, which can influence your search results for later searches. For example, if you search for "reviews" then search for "toasters", Google is more likely to rank toaster review sites higher in the SERPs.

On a similar theme: Ranking Results on Google Why Aren't I Showing up

Google's algorithm is a complex system that determines the relevance and ranking of search results. It takes into account a variety of factors, including query deserves freshness, where newer pages get a boost for certain searches.

Fresh content is prioritized for search queries that deserve freshness. This means that if you're searching for something that's likely to change quickly, like the latest news or updates, Google will favor the most recent results.

Your browsing history can also influence your search results. If you frequently visit certain sites, they'll get a ranking boost for your searches. This is because Google wants to show you the most relevant and useful results based on your behavior.

Your search history also affects your search results for future searches. If you've searched for something before, Google will take that into account when showing you results for similar searches. This is why you might see the same sites or results popping up again and again.

To rank in featured snippets, you need to provide succinct answers, good formatting, page authority, and HTTPS. This is because Google wants to show users the most relevant and useful information in a quick and easy-to-read format.

Local server IPs and country-specific TLDs get a preference for local search queries. This means that if you're searching for something specific to your area, Google will favor results from sites that are geographically close to you.

Consider reading: Seo Organic Results

Adult content or content with curse words won't appear in search results for users who have turned on safe search mode. This is a feature that helps users avoid explicit or objectionable content.

Google maintains higher content quality standards for "your money" or "your life" keywords. This means that for searches related to things like finance, health, or education, Google will prioritize sites with high-quality, trustworthy content.

Pages with legitimate DMCA complaints are downranked by Google. This is a way of penalizing sites that engage in copyright infringement or other forms of spammy behavior.

For certain types of transactional keywords, Google shows different search results than normal ones. For example, when you search for flight tickets, you'll see an option to book the flights directly from the search results.

Google's algorithm is a complex machine that evolves every day, constantly improving its ability to rank and find the best results for a given query.

In 2017 alone, Google's CEO reported that they answered over 3 trillion searches, and every day they see 15 percent of queries they've never seen before, which the algorithm tries to answer as best it can.

Google processes nearly 100 thousand searches every single second, and thus over 8.5 billion searches per day and over 3.1 trillion on an annual basis, according to recent statistics from Internet Live Stats.

This means the algorithm is constantly learning and adapting to new queries and search patterns, and its continuous evolutions at the interpretive level leverage advanced Artificial Intelligence systems, neural networks, and Machine Learning applied precisely to Search.

Website security is a must-have for any website that wants to rank well on Google. Google trusts sites with a valid SSL certificate more than those that don’t.

You can get an SSL certificate directly from your web hosting provider or from a Certificate Authority. This simple step can improve your rankings.

Additional reading: Google Analytic Certificate

Structured data, on the other hand, can help you get your pages to appear as rich snippets on the Google search results page. Some of the most popular types of markups are:

Using a free schema markup generator tool can help you generate the code you need in the right format.

Website security is one of the trust factors that directly impacts your SERP rankings. Google trusts sites with a valid SSL certificate more than those that don’t.

Simply getting an SSL certificate can improve your rankings, so you should do that on priority. You can get HTTPS security directly from your web hosting provider or get an SSL/TLS certificate from Certificate Authorities.

Structured data is a powerful tool that can help improve your website's search engine rankings. You can use it to make your search results appear as rich snippets on the Google search results page.

Structured data can also help you rank in the featured snippets, which are the first search result for a search query. This can be a huge advantage, as it can drive more traffic to your website.

To use structured data, you can use a free schema markup generator tool to generate a code for you in the right format. This tool will help you choose which type of rich snippet code you want and generate it for you.

Some of the most popular types of markups are:

Once you have the code, you can copy and paste it into your site's HTML code to make your website eligible for featuring as rich snippets.