Summary of Top Google SEO Ranking Factors [Exclusive]

This may be the most comprehensive analysis of the top Google ranking factors on the entire web. As we all know, with the constant updating of the Google algorithm, the factors related to Google rankings are becoming more and more complex.
Especially for beginners, if you want to get a preliminary understanding of all the ranking factors, it will take at least a few years even if you are talented, so this article will list the top Google SEO ranking factors in 2019.
I will divide it into seven parts:
The content of the article:
- 1. Internal aspects of the website
- 2. Website general aspects
- 3. User engagement aspects
- 4. Building an external network
- 5. Domain names
- 6. Social factors
- 7. Brand connection, etc.
A total of 138 key factors. To facilitate readers a better understanding of their work, all subsequent factors will be
1. Things to note and 2. What to avoid.
For those new to SEO, this summary can be a clear guide to getting started with Google SEO, and for seasoned SEO veterans, this article can be a clear overview and update of your Google SEO. Ranking factors, some of which are official, but many of which are summaries of many years of practice and experience in Google's search engine optimization:
This summary is mainly based on these four aspects of the data as a reference:
- Official data;
- Cases that have been held for many years;
- Experience;
- Experiments with algorithms that have been carried out.
Google algorithms are often updated in real time, the content of this article may also be updated in the future. Let's move on to the topic.
The internal aspect of the website
It should be noted:
1. Embedding keywords in the URL
If you are often involved in international SEO, you should be very familiar with John Mueller, who is a Senior Webmaster Analyst at Google. He clearly stated that embedding a keyword in a URL is a reference factor for Google's organic rankings.
2. Embed keywords in the page title
Embedding keywords in the title of the page will give Google a clear signal of what your page is about.
3. The meta description of the page should contain keywords.
Just like having a keyword embedded in your title, you should have a keyword embedded in your meta description.
4. H1 should have keywords
H1 on a page is also a ranking factor that Google values a lot and shouldn't be forgotten.
5. Other subheadings (similar to H2, H3) should have keywords
The same reasonable setting as H1, H2, H3 is also a bonus item. Of course, if there is an embed in the subhead that matches the LSI keyword, this is the best choice.
6. The main content of the page should have keywords
Target keywords should be mentioned in the main content, which will significantly increase the relevancy of the entire page.
7. Keyword Location
The order of the keywords also has some effect.
8. LSI keywords
LSI keywords actually help Google find accurate content, so setting LSI keywords properly will help your site rank better.
9. Website opening speed
As we all know, the speed at which a website opens has a direct impact on rankings. Of course, a faster opening speed also means a better user experience.
10. Unique content
Original, unique content represents the quality of a website.
11. Content Length
Longer content leads to higher rankings. The top 10 sites on Google have an average word count of 2,000 words.
12. Unique photos or videos
Unique images and videos reflect the quality of the website content. It is recommended to have a graphic designer team that creates original images. Or use your own snapshots or created images with the help of graphical tools.
13. Image optimization
Make sure the image filename and alt text have the keywords embedded in them, this will help the site rank.
14. Fresh content
In 2010, Google updated Caffeine. The main goal of this update is to give weight to fresh content.
15. Content update
Updating old content has a very positive effect on Google rankings.
16. Station internal and external circuit
Most people believe that inbound links are a very important factor in website rankings, but we're not going to discuss that topic now, but the fact that the placement of inbound links in our own web content will have a positive effect on rankings. The link itself does not provide any weighted weight.
17. Internal site links
Just like external links, the placement of internal links within the content is just as important. Transfer and distribution of page properties to third-party pages of the website.
18. Sync Shared Content
Many people think that synchronous content sharing will lead to an increase in duplicate content, in fact, it is only necessary to add the address of the original content to the shared content. This will be enough for search engines to understand where the original source with the publication date (different from the duplicate) is located.
19. Additional Content
Additional content is a very important ranking factor for Google.
20. Reading Difficulty Level
Google classifies reading difficulty into three levels:
- A basic level of.
- Average level.
- Complex sentences.
A site on Google may not rank directly on reading difficulty, but they have enough data in that regard as a ranking benchmark.
21. Keyword frequency
There is no doubt that the keyword you want to rank for should have the highest frequency of occurrence compared to the frequency of other words.
22. Canonical link
Google recommends using Canonical tags to solve the issue of duplicate content on certain pages. The Canonical tag is also a tag that is often overlooked.
23. Degree of content update
The share of updated content will also affect rankings. Google mainly looks at the degree of renewal in three aspects:
- Text content.
- Graphic content.
- Links.
So don't just change the grammar when updating the content, it won't have any effect.
What to avoid:
1. Avoid repeating the meta description
Google Senior Analyst John Mueller once said that a meta description would not affect Google's rankings, but thanks to yoast's research, it was discovered that the reality is that Google often determines the content of a page through the first sentence of the meta description.
Therefore, it is very important to ensure that the description is not repeated.
2. Avoid Duplicate Page Title
As with meta descriptions, make sure each page's title is unique.
3. Avoid underlining in the title
Matt Katt made it clear to avoid using underscores to separate keywords.
4. Keyword Stuffing
If a large number of keywords are embedded in the title tag and description meta tag, this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on optimization.
5. Meta keywords
The meta keyword is not necessarily a factor to avoid, it was created to help with rankings, but the reality is that Google has never included meta keywords as a ranking factor.
6. High keyword density
When doing previous Google SEO, the keyword density at 3% is the most ideal. But since Google's algorithm has been updated, it has been able to understand the topic and content of the site very well. Therefore, too high keyword embedding density will undoubtedly negatively affect the optimization of the entire website.
7. Site opens slowly
This well-known problem of slow web page opening speed will surely seriously affect the user experience.
8. Duplicate Content
Following Google's warning about duplicate content, John Mueller details how Google handles duplicate content. The presence of duplicate content can lead to negative consequences some time after detection. The first symptom is a shift in positions in the search.
9. Hidden Content
In the old Google algorithm, increasing the number of words or keywords on a page would directly penalize you if you were specifically manipulating search with hidden content.
But now, John Mueller said that with the introduction of mobile algorithms, webmasters can choose whether to show or hide content for the convenience of users, which will not affect rankings.
10. Irrelevant alt tags for images
For a long time, we used ALT tags to tell Google what our images are. Typically, we use image alt tags to include relevant keywords.
But now Google's powerful image recognition algorithm can understand images, so if you have an image of a monkey but the alt tag says "best movie theater" on it, you'll see the consequences.
11. Outgoing link
Even one bad outbound link for your entire site can hurt your site's rankings.
12. Bad chain
According to Google's ranking rules, having too many broken links is a sign of poor website quality.
13. Too many affiliate links
Having affiliate links is not a problem, but if your affiliate link quality is too low or you have too many spam affiliate links embedded in your website content, you will be in big trouble.
14. HTML code error
W3C code review and HTML errors are not ranking factors unless they prevent Google's crawlers from indexing the page. So feel free to watch out for HTML errors and fix them as reported by Google Webmaster Tools.
15. URL is too long
It is widely believed that URLs that are too long have a negative impact on rankings.
It has now been virtually confirmed that Google has no preference for URL length. Please note, however, that if your URL contains this "#" symbol, it will not be indexed by Google.
16. Spelling and grammatical errors in words
John Mueller was once asked this question, and he replied, “Not necessarily,” because Google has never released such a targeted algorithm. But, your users they will be! If your content is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, you will inevitably lose the trust of your audience.
17. Pop-up Ads
Pop-up ads that force users to view ads before they see the content. They can appear before the page is loaded, when the page is loaded, or when the user scrolls the page. Google really hates pop-up ads because they greatly affect the user experience, so it can negatively impact SEO.
18. True business information
Making sure your business information is up to date will be critical for your local SEO.
Website General Aspects
It should be noted:
1. Domain Name Trust
Trusted sites get more attention and rank higher. Trust is measured using a range of signals, including links from highly trusted sites.
2. Contact information
Google's ranking guidelines state that websites must have real contact information to help users get in touch with them.
3. Privacy policy and terms of use
Having a page with a privacy policy and terms of use is also a sign of high trust. For example, if you use Google Adsense, you need these pages.
4. About us page
Like the "Contact Us" and "Privacy Policy" pages, both help build trust in Google. Therefore, having a detailed about us page is crucial.
5. Site structure
Adapting your website to the structure of the bunker will be helpful. Many people use flat structure to create website structure, in fact, Silo would be the best choice.
6. General site freshness
The freshness of a website directly affects the credibility of the page and the entire site, so be sure to update your website frequently.
7. Number of site pages
The number of pages on a site does not directly affect rankings, but the more indexed pages, the more opportunities to rank for different keywords.
8. XML Sitemap
Having an XML sitemap helps Google crawl your site easily. But this does not guarantee that Google will index all the pages mentioned in the sitemap, but it helps Google crawl your site better, this is not a negative factor.
9. HTML Sitemap
Like XML sitemaps, this is another way to help Google crawl your site better.
10. Server location
If you can load the nearest server according to the user's location, which is what we call CDN acceleration, then the server location is not an issue.
11. SSL security certificate
Google has officially released HTTPS as a ranking signal. Although this is a very small signal at the moment. It's more like a tie-break in a situation where everyone has the same sites. When setting up, be sure to redirect all http addresses to https addresses and remove 301 redirects.
12. Structure of breadcrumbs
The chain navigation on your website will help with the overall architecture of your website. But it would be better to implement the breadcrumb structure with Rich Snippet markup.
13. Mobile adaptive
If your website is mobile responsive and renders well on mobile devices, it will rank well.
14. hreflang tags
While Hreflang tags won't directly affect your SEO ranking if your site is international, it's important that your visitors land on a page in the correct language.
What to avoid:
1. The site has been unavailable for too long
A day or two of site downtime won't hurt your rankings in and of itself. But it can be dangerous for a week or more, Google will probably take your site down completely. The good news is that if you back up your site, Google will re-index it when it comes back online.
2. Duplicate meta content
We discussed the importance of having a unique title and meta description. So try not to duplicate meta content on your site.
3. Not suitable for mobile devices
First of all, while not having a responsive design for mobile won't hurt your rankings in desktop search, having a responsive design for mobile is very important for your presence in mobile search.
4. Poor user engagement
Whether or not a website has Google Analytics installed, Google knows how many pages people visit and how much time they spend on each page. Google also knows if the user is abandoning or continuing to read.
The main reasons for poor user engagement are:
- High Speed Pogo;
- High bounce rate;
- Low access time;
- Very slow loading time.
All of these factors can lower your ranking.
5. Negative feedback
If your website has a bad reputation on the internet, it will also directly affect your ranking. Therefore, it is very important to do a good job of managing reputation on a daily basis.
6. Too many ads
Too many ads will directly affect the user experience.
7. Over-optimization of operations
For example, Nofollow for all external and internal links on your site is a manifestation of over-optimization.
8. Panda Algorithm
For low-quality websites, Google has specifically launched the panda algorithm, so if you encounter this algorithm, you will see a significant drop in rankings.
Aspects of user interaction
It should be noted:
1. Page Rank CTR Rank
A high CTR for your site on Google results pages can improve your rankings. Compared to getting a lot of high quality backlinks, a high CTR on the search results page is the most effective method currently.
2. CTR of a domain name
Similarly, a high CTR for your domain name on Google's general results pages can improve your site's ranking.
3. Holding Time/Pogo Sticking
First, what is lag/stick time?
Google tracks how long users stay on your page after visiting your page through Google search. Unlike time on page, it captures the time from your page to returning to the search results page. If a user visits your site but does not return to the search results page, this is a sign that the quality of your page is very good.
4. Low bounce rate
Whether or not you have Google Analytics installed on your website, Google knows exactly which pages you visit and how much time you spend on them. No matter which browser you use, a lower bounce rate will result in higher visibility in search results.
5. Page Access Data
Page visits are time consuming and may encourage users to visit several different pages in order to make the site more visible. So both the quality of the content and the internal link structure are critical.
6. Number of direct visits
Sites that get a lot of direct traffic are considered higher quality than sites that don't.
7. Number of visits by old users
A website with a high percentage of repeat users is considered to be of higher quality than a website with a low percentage of repeat users.
8. Comments
It's also a smart strategy to get users to interact with the page, usually in the form of comments.
What to avoid:
1. Low CTR for page rank
If your website has a very low click-through rate on Google result pages, it will be quickly removed from the homepage. Usually, high quality backlinks can help you rank well, but what really keeps you in the rankings is the number of clicks.
2. Low CTR for Domain Ranking
Similarly, your domain's low CTR on Google's overall results pages will result in a lower ranking.
3. Holding Time/Pogo Sticking
If users return to the search results page shortly after visiting your page, this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on your site's ranking.
4. High bounce rate
Google is making it clear that sites with a high bounce rate will undoubtedly negatively impact their rankings.
Design with external circuits
It should be noted:
1. Number of external links
The number of backlinks is one of the important ranking factors, but the number here has more to do with the number of domains than just the sum of the number of links to the same site.
2. Anchor text
Backlink anchor text helps Google understand the topic and content of the linked page.
3. Link title
The title of the page to which the external link refers will also help Google understand the topic and content of the page, although it has less weight than the anchor text, it still needs to be set correctly.
4. Website and Page Relevance
Backlinks from linked sites and/or pages are more valuable than backlinks from unrelated sites or pages.
5. Mood Links
The content of the text surrounding the backlink will affect the relevancy of the content, so this is also a ranking factor to look out for.
6. Embedding the keyword in the title
Chains of pages with the same or related keywords in the title are more valuable than those without them.
7. Domain Authority
Getting backlinks from highly trusted websites will increase your website rankings.
8. Page Authority
Links from high trust domains as well as high trust pages will help you rank high.
9. Age of external link
Age and quality of backlinks also matter. In short: old backlinks are stronger than newly created ones.
Class 10.C IP address - Only domain names from different class C IP addresses will be considered different domain names.
11. Differentiation
You need backlinks from different sources, for example: if all your backlinks are from a guest post, then your backlinks will be very single.
12. Social weight
If you can get backlinks from highly retweeted social media pages, you will become more visible.
13. Guest posting
Getting backlinks to related blogs will also help boost your page rank.
14. Home Link
Backlinks from the home page of a website are very important because Google crawls links from the home page faster.
15. Links to main content pages
As above, external links from main content pages can carry higher weights, with the exception of links to the home page.
16. Links to User Content
Google can clearly distinguish between external links created by users and external links published by the website itself. There is no doubt that external links in content published by the website itself are more likely to rank higher.
17. 301 redirect
Backlinks that reach your site through 301 redirects are just as effective as regular links.
18. Wikipedia
While links from Wikipedia are Nofollow, their backlinks are still very authoritative.
19. High link building efficiency
Maintaining a state of continuous and efficient inbound link acquisition will help your site rank.
20. Nofollow links
John Mueller explained that the algorithm does not have any settings for the number of Nofollow links on your site, so it will not affect your site's ranking, so please use your Nofollow links to good use.
21. Number of words in content
There is no doubt that backlinks from pages with 2,000 words are more valuable than pages with only 100 words. .
22. Number of outbound landing page links
This is the opposite of word count, and links from sites with few backlinks are more valuable than links from sites with hundreds of backlinks.
What to avoid:
1. Bad neighbor
If you get a backlink from a spam site, it will negatively impact your site's ranking.
2. Same C class
Getting a large number of links from the same site with class C ip will be suspected of fraud.
3. Guest posting
Guest posting used to be a very good way to get inbound links, but if there is too much spam, guest posting inbound links can easily get penalized by Google's algorithm.
4. Buy external links
If you are caught buying a link, you will be penalized by the Google algorithm. The official rule is that you have to go and pay for a NoFollow link, but trust me, no one will.
5. External sales chain
Just as buying links can result in a fine, so can selling links. There are too many examples of well-known sites selling links and getting fined.
6. Poor Link Gaining Efficiency
Compared to high link building efficiency, very low link building efficiency will have a negative impact on a website's ranking.
7. Links from partners
Affiliate links have been a very effective way to get inbound links in the past, but should be avoided now.
8. Forum Profile
Similar to friendly links, this has also been an effective form of inbound links in the past, but now if you get such inbound links through bulk posting, it will be very easy for Google's algorithm to penalize you.
9. Irrelevant Link Height
A high percentage of links from irrelevant sites directly reduces the ranking of your site. Therefore, make sure that any backlinks pointing to your website are relevant to the theme or content of your website.
10. Penguin Algorithm Penalty
The Penguin algorithm tends to focus on the status of your overall backlinks, which directly affects your rankings at the page or domain level.
Domain names
It should be noted:
1. EMD (Exact Match Domain Name)
As we all know, directly registering the keyword you want to rank as a domain name can make it easier to rank for the keyword. However, after Google updated the algorithm associated with EMD, this benefit was very small. In a domain name, you can still get a slight advantage in rankings.
2. Domain name with an embedded keyword
Embedding keywords in your domain name will help your website rank better. On the other hand, embedding keywords in your domain name can make it easier for users to understand what your site does.
3. History of domain names
The history of a domain name will also affect the ranking of a website, especially some older domain names. If a domain name has been penalized by Google's algorithm when the domain name is linked to a new website, it will be difficult for the website to rank well.
4. Domain name age
John Mueller once made it clear on twitter that whether it's a new registered domain name or an old domain name, it won't affect Google's rankings, but the fact is that the old domain name has more inbound links that can really help. website to work. And get ranked faster.
5. When updating a domain name
In order to distinguish eligible domain names from infringing domain names, the most reliable evidence is the duration of the domain name renewal. Usually expensive domain names rarely continue to renew registrations for more than one year.
6. Additional domain name country suffix
The additional country suffix in the domain name is .http: //com.ru.top.cn. The Chinese domain name is representative, which contributes to the ranking of the region to a certain extent, but does not mean that such a domain name will necessarily receive a higher ranking.
What to avoid:
1. Protecting Domain Name Privacy Information
Enabling domain privacy protection is not a problem. But Matt Katt has shown that domain privacy protection combined with other ranking factors can be seen as a negative ranking factor.
But John Mueller recently said that opening domain name privacy protection is not a problem, especially for Europe, it is necessary to open domain name privacy protection.
2. Domain name of the fined domain owner
I didn't find the official description of Google here, but I have an example: specialists specialize in black hat search engine optimization because they have a lot of websites under their own names. Unfortunately, some websites have been attacked by the Google algorithm, and at the same time, the ranking of sites that do not violate the rules on their own behalf has also been removed.
3. Additional domain name country suffix
If the site uses a link from .http: //com.ru.top.cn. If a domain name in Russia has to rank in France, it is highly likely that it will be difficult to get a good ranking.
4. Domain name is pending renewal
If your domain name continues to be renewed, there is a high chance that it will be cleared and included by Google.
5. Same URL on the same server
If two domain names are on the same server but use the same URL, Google will determine that they are the same website and will try to use different URLs as much as possible.
6. Frequent change of server vendor
Frequently changing server providers may not be a factor to avoid, but it should be noted that if you change server providers, Google will reduce the zero hour crawl of the website.
7. Error 503
If your domain name still contains a 503 error, Google will assume that there are no temporary pages on the website, which will also reduce the crawl rate of the crawler.
Social ranking factors
It should be noted:
1. Tweets
The number of tweets directly affects Google ranking, so a good tweet strategy is very important.
2. Share on Facebook
It is widely believed that Google does not have access to Facebook data. But this is not the case, the number of times you share your page on Facebook affects your ranking. This is the most valuable ranking factor on Facebook.
3. Facebook comments
Facebook comments can affect your rankings, but it's not as important as sharing them.
4. Likes on Facebook
Facebook Likes has the weakest weight in reposts and comments, but still has a positive effect on rankings.
5. Pins on Pinterest
While the platform may not have much to do with the content of the website, Pinterest Pins will give Google a strong social signal.
6. Link to YouTube
External links given by original YouTube video content will influence the ranking.
7. Correlation
The same applies to your social significance.
8. High efficiency of obtaining social links
Just like inbound linking performance, social media linking performance will positively impact your rankings.
What to avoid:
1. Low efficiency of obtaining social links
Poor performance in getting social links can lower your site's ranking, for example: if you bought 500 tweets today and 400 of them were deleted after 3 days, it will hurt your ranking.
Brand related ranking factors
It should be noted:
1. Brand Anchor Text
Branded text in the anchor text of a keyword directly increases the corresponding weight.
2. Brand Search Extension Data
Similar to branded anchor text, when people search for your brand along with your target keyword, it can lead to a huge boost in rankings.
3. Brand mentions
If your brand word is frequently quoted by some popular websites, it will increase the website's visibility.
4. Brand mentions on social media
Many strong brands drive traffic directly through social platforms and websites, which also gives Google a positive ranking signal.
5. Linkedin home page
Popular brands often have their own pages on LinkedIn.
6. Social activity of the brand
Brands that are more active/interactive on social media are more popular, but this requires more effort.
7. Has a physical location
Physical placement on Google Merchant will be the value delivery factor.
What to avoid:
1. Negative brand reviews
If your brand has too many negative reviews, it will have a direct negative impact on your rankings.
2. Low brand CTR
If users search for your brand or related keywords but don't click on your website. All this sends a negative signal to the Google brand.
I hope this material was useful to you. Leave your questions and wishes in the comments. Thank you for your activity.
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Awesome article, thank you so much for such informative content. It didn't know - An additional country suffix in the domain name is .http: //com.ru.top.cn. The Chinese domain name is representative, which contributes to the ranking of the region to a certain extent, but does not mean that such a domain name will necessarily receive a higher ranking