Ranking Factors curated from the excellent Brian Dean of Backlinko.com

Google keeps implementing its ranking factors, and it’s getting harder and harder (and longer) to rank high. The benefice of it: getting better quality websites out there, and make sure that scams disappear from the internet.

Ranking factors have always been subjects of speculation and uncertainty. But through the years, these ranking factors have become more defined, and closer to Google’s expectations.

As we speak in 2018, there are not less than 200+ ranking factors that we can say are influencing websites ranking on Google.

Brian Dean from Backlinko.com explains that well, with a list of the most certain factors Google is currently using to get websites on top of the searches. Here is a link to his complete list: https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors.

Here is what we have to expect to do or know to make a website ranked well on Google:

1. Domain age: the domain age counts, and the oldest it is, the more chances it has to be known by Google.
2. Domain name contains relevant keywords: make sure that your web site’s domain name contains relevant keywords for your industry.
3. Keyword as the first word in the domain name: provides an advantage to have the keyword put first.
4. Domain registration length: the longer the domain is registered for, the better your site would rank, as Google gets the idea that you are here for a long time. It looks less spammy and more legitimate.
5. The subdomain has relevant keywords: it makes sense to use keywords for the subdomain, as it is helpful for the domain name.
6. Domain history: if a domain has been used by bad owners who have had penalties, there are chances that the new owner of this domain inherits from these bad history records.
7. Exact match domain: if your website is trying to rank for a keyword, then having the exact match for this keyword will help. For example, if you want to rank for “Beautiful classy shoes”, having a domain name as www.beautifulclassyshoes.com would be an exact match domain -> good for your ranking!
8. Having a public WHOIS: having a private WHOIS could be a sign of you hiding something. As Google strives for quality and legitimacy, keeping the WHOIS public is recommended.
9. WHOIS owner has a bad record: if you have had penalties with another domain, there are chances that Google keeps watching you as the new owner of penalized domains.
10. The TLD (Top Level Domain) extension – Country: having an extension matching with the country you want to target is a sign of quality. If you operate in Australia, using .com.au involves more steps (providing an ABN), but it ensures that you will operate a legitimate business.
11. Have keywords in your Title Tag: using keywords for a Title Tag provides quality information for Google about what your page is all about.
12. Title Tag starts with keywords: make sure that your keywords are being put first in the title.
13. Description Tag – Using relevant keywords: the description is a support to the Title Tag. It makes sense to make it good and relevant.
14. Having keywords in the H1 Tag: successively, having the right and relevant keywords in your H1 Tag helps.
15. TF (Term Frequency) – IDF (Inverse Document Frequency): the more a word or keywords is used on a page, the more the content is about that word or keywords.
16. Content length: again, as Google strives for quality over quantity, having long and understandable content is a key requirement to rank high on Google. Because a page has to be unique and about a certain topic, being as descriptive as possible allows to write decent size content.
17. Table of content – summary: makes content more understandable by Google and allows more site links on a page.
18. Keyword density: helps Google in determining the actual topic of the page. Not used like before. Make sure you do not repeat too many times the keywords, as it might look spammy.
19. Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords in content (LSI): it’s a mathematical relationship method used in languages. LSI keywords help Google understanding the meaning of your content if you use words that are the same but mean something different. For example when using Steve “Jobs” and “jobs”, these words do not refer to the same thing.
20. LSI Keyword in Title Tag and Description Tag: same concept as in content. It adds another step to help Google understand your content and the difference between the terms used in your pages.
21. In-depth content: try to make your pages content as detailed as possible. A well organised and in-depth written topic seems to have an edge vs pages that only cover partially this topic.
22. HTML page loading speed: as we speak, it is 100% sure that page loading speed is used as a ranking factor by Google and other search engines. You can check your website speed with the Google PageSpeed Insights.
23. Page loading speed using Chrome: Google uses Chrome to have a better insight on your pages speed. It makes sense as Google Chrome is part of Google.
24. AMP: AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is a way to code pages, so the load faster on mobile devices. As we are going towards a better mobile web experience, AMP is for sure going to be used as a ranking factor anytime soon.
25. Sense Match: your page should match the intent of a user. Let’s see it this way: your page should match what its description is about, so the user can enjoy the content of that page, and eventually convert.
26. Google Hummingbird: this overall algorithm (dated in 2013) integrates 4 sub-algorithms to help Google understand and rank better pages on the web: Google Panda (detects quality or spammy content), Google Penguin (detects quality backlinks), Google PageRank (measures the reputation of a webpage), Google RankBrain (learns human language through Artificial Intelligence).
27. Duplicate content: if your pages show the same content, even slightly modified, it will decrease your Google ranking.
28. Rel=Canonical: this tag is helpful to tell Google that duplicate content is referring to an original page. This allows avoiding penalties.
29. Image optimization: images are not text-based. To help search engines and disable people to understand the content of images, it is highly recommended to use the right: file name, title tag, alt text, description, and caption.
30. Content recency: fresh and new content is a ranking factor. Google Caffeine was an update made in 2009, and it was all about making fresher content ranked better.
31. Quantity of content updates: updating, adding, or deleting content is a sign of freshness for Google. Also, it is better practice to delete a full paragraph rather than switching words here and there.
32. Historical Page Update: even for old articles or blog posts, it is still good practice to update the content or edit it. Google puts importance on freshly updated content.
33. Keyword Prominence: make sure that your most important keyword is added within the first 100 words of the page. There is a strong correlation between a page showing the main keyword in the 100 first words and a high Google ranking.
34. Keywords in H2 and H3 tags: Google needs to understand better pages. Using keywords in subheading tags is a good way to keep the relevancy going.
35. Outbound Link Quality: sending links to authority websites could be a ranking factor. It helps Google with trust and quality.
36. Outbound Link Industry of Theme: Google likes when things make sense. If you are from an industry and you provide links to sites from the same industry, it will help your ranking within your own industry.
37. Grammar and Spelling: it could be affecting your ranking if your content has grammar and spelling mistakes. It is still not 100% sure, but it would make sense.
38. Copied content: if the content on your website is not original and unique, it will struggle to rank as well as content you might have copied.
39. Mobile-Friendly site: as mobile traffic is more than 50% of the global internet traffic, Google is getting strict with websites’ Mobile-Friendliness. A “non-optimized for mobile” website will not rank well.
40. Give a Good User Experience On Mobile: Google makes it clear: your website must be easy to use on Mobile.
41. Content that is not visible on Mobile: content on a Mobile website must show all relevant and important information and content. Hidding content on purpose will have a negative impact on the ranking.
42. Helpful and Extra Content: providing extra information on a website is a sign of quality. Tools like currency converters, location position, or content like terms and conditions are useful pieces of content that will provide all the answers users are looking for.
43. Content Hidden Behind Tabs: lots of websites use CSS or javascript techniques that reveal content once someone clicks on an element. Google wants a clear and transparent web. Hidden content may not be indexed.
44. Quantity Outbounding Links: having too many dofollow can increase the chances of having outbound links with low authority. It’s all about quality, not the quantity.
45. Type of Media used within the content: having different types of media like Videos, Images, embedded elements increase the chances of having a better ranking.
46. Internal Links to a Page: the number of internal links to a page is a sign to Google that this page is important.
47. Quality of Internal Links to a Page: as for Backlinks, having strong Internal Links from authoritative pages of your website’s domain to another Page of the same Domain is helping the authority of the linked page.
48. Broken Links: having a website is a like owning a car: if the services are not done, the vehicle will lose value. Having too many broken links is a sign a negligence for Google and that has a negative effect on ranking.
49. Reading Level: the easiest to read your content is, the better Google will rank it.
50. Affiliate Links: be careful with affiliate links. If too many, Google may not see your website as a “thin affiliate site”.
51. HTML errors and W3C Validation: code quality is ranking factor. Having too many HTML errors can damage the image of your website and decrease your ranking on Google.
52. Domain Authority: Google makes it clear that sites that get lots of visits and engagement will rank higher. A high authority website will rank high.
53. Page’s PageRank: a site’s high authority page will outrank pages with less link authority.
54. URL length: long URLs tend to rank lower compared to pages with short URLs. Keeping your URLs 15 to 25 characters provides the best results.
55. URL Path: a page close to the homepage ranks slightly better than a page deeper in the site’s architecture.
56. Human Editors: it is said that Google ranks pages higher when they are genuinely edited by real Humans.
57. Page category: assigning a category to a page improves the content understanding. Categorized pages rank better than the non categorized ones.
58. WordPress tags: tags improve the relevancy of pages. It is proper to WordPress and links between pages.
59. Keyword in the URL: it is now considered like a small ranking factor. But it still improves the relevancy, so the ranking of a page.
60. URL string: Google read URLs so it can have an fair idea about the Page’s content. It provides thematic informations to Google.
61. Sources and references: it makes sense that citing sources is a sign of quality. Google likes quality. It improves then the quality of your curated pages when mentioning references from external websites.
62. Bullet points and ordered lists: lists increase the readability of content. Google likes when content gets broken down into numbered lists and bullet points.
63. Sitemap and priority Pages: the priority Pages are given in the XML sitemap may have an influence on their ranking.
64. Too many outbound links: a page with too many links will distract the user from the main content of this page.
65. Quantity of other Keywords pages ranks for: if a page ranks for several keywords, it may be a sign of quality for Google.
66. Page age: fresh content is a sign of quality. But old pages with regularly updated content may rank better than new pages.
67. User friendly layout: a good layout will make content visible fastly and efficiently.
68. Parked domain: Google decreased search visibility for parked domain in 2011.
69. Useful content: Google uses artificial intelligence that can distinguish quality content and useful content.
70. Content is unique and provides value: in order to penalize non genuine affiliate websites, Google stated that it will not rank higher sites that don’t bring something valuable and new to users.
71. Contact us page: Google wants contact pages with appropriate and matching information. Having contact information matching with the whois is a sign of quality.
72. Domain Trust/TrustRank: TrustRank is an important ranking factor.
73. Website architecture: a well-organized site helps Google understanding thematics of the site. It helps Googlebot indexing and accessing all wanted pages.
74. Site updates: updating a website with fresh content is a ranking factor.
75. The sitemap: having a sitemap helps search engines to find and crawl your website thoroughly.
76. Site Uptime: make sure you use a solid hosting company with no server downtime. It may result in a deindexing if the downtime was to be too long.
77. Server Location: local Businesses need to rank high locally. Geo-specific searches matter, so make sure that your hosting company uses local servers.
78. SSL Certificate: Google wants a secure and safe Internet. Make sure to use HTTPS (strong encryption and automatic secure connection on Google) for your website.
79. Terms of Service and Privacy Pages: having these 2 pages helps showing Google that your site is genuine and trustworthy.
80. Duplicate Meta Information On-Site: all pages of your site have to be unique. Do not duplicate the meta information from page to page. This will result in penalties from Google.
81. Breadcrumb Navigation: the breadcrumb style allows users to find easily what they’re after using a user-friendly page breakdown.
82. Mobile optimized: since 2014, mobiles searches surpassed desktop’s ones. there is then no doubt that Mobile Optimized websites get a better ranking than non-optimized ones.
83. YouTube for your Business: Google owns YouTube. Using YouTube for business purposes increases drastically the ranking of a website. After Google Panda, YouTube traffic increased largely.
84. Website usability: make websites user-friendly! If the user finds what he wants fastly and easily, the bounce rate and conversion rate will be optimized.
85. Using Google Analytics and Google Search Console: Google tools help to understand and manage websites. By having better control on your website, you increase your chances to be found online.
86. Online reviews/Website reputation: Google helps companies that have good reviews to rank better.
87. Linking domain age: having backlinks from older domains helps ranking better than backlinks from younger domains.
88. The number of Linking Root Domains: one of the most important ranking factor. It is said that Google gives more visibility to websites who have multiple domains linking to it.
89. Number of Links from Separate C-Class IPs: the more the merrier. With a wide range of class-c IP addresses linking to your website, the impact on ranking is high.
90. The number of Linking Pages: the number of linking pages, even from the same domain has an impact on ranking.
91. Backlink Anchor Text: Google’s original algorithm said: “Anchors often provide more accurate descriptions of web pages than the pages themselves”.
92. Alt Tags for images: alt text is like an anchor text for images.
93. Links from .edu or .gov Domains: .gov and .edu TLDs might have different ranking factors for the Google algorithm.
94. Authority of Linking Pages: quality wins over quantity. Having backlinks from authority websites is an important ranking factor for Google since Day 1.
95. Authority of Linking Domains: the referring website’s domain authority has a role in the indexing of your website on Google. In fact, the page linked from that domain will significantly rank better than the pages that do not have any domain linking to them.
96. Links from Competitors: get your website linked to other websites in the same industry and using the same keywords. It will give you more legitimity for a keyword that is common to the industry.
97. Links from expected websites: Google wants to make sure that your website is genuine. So, in consequence, it expects certain links from a type of external websites.
98. Links from penalized or non-genuine websites: it may hurt to be linked by black hat websites. Do not believe whoever would sell you fast and cheap SEO!
99. Guest Post: guest post is a good practice to bring more credit to your website. It also allows you to link with industry related websites.
100. Links from Ads: links from ads should be “nofollowed”. But Google’s technology is now able to recognise these links.
101. Homepage Authority: links to a referring page’s Homepage might add value to that homepage as it adds value to it.
102. Nofollow Links: as pages of a website are created by humans for humans, it is important to make sure that nofollow links are being used. Google almost never follows the nofollow links.
103. Links Types: make sure to use links from different sources, or Google might see numerous links from a single page as spam. Links have to be and look natural.
104. Modifiers around the word link: words like “sponsored”, “partner” and other types of commercial modifiers may decrease the link’s value.
105. Contextual Links: it is good to embed a link in a page that has a fair amount of content compared to an empty page having a link sending to another page.
106. Too many 301 Redirects to a Page: it is said that your ranking can be affected if too many 301 redirects are present on a webpage.
107. Internal Links Anchor Text: Google likes when pages of a website link together. It is a sign of quality. It helps the ranking but not as much as links coming from an external website.
108. Link Title Attribution: the link Title offers a better user experience as it provides an extra level of description, useful for the blind audience and robots.
109. Country TLD of the Referring Domain: having a URL extension matching the location of the website. Having a .com.au can help ranking better in Australia for example.
110. Links Location in a page Content: having a link at the beginning of the content of a page has more weight than a link located at the end of this piece of content.