Did you know that Google uses more than 200 different ranking factors to determine which websites should be displayed first in search results? This means that there is a lot more to ranking well on Google than simply having keyword-rich content.
With so many elements at play, it can be difficult to know where to start. However, some factors are more important than others. Here are the most important SEO ranking factors:
- Relevance
There are a number of reasons why SEO specialists recommend focussing on topical relevancy. Firstly, it helps to ensure that your content is fresh and up to date. This is important because search engines tend to prefer newer content when determining rankings. Secondly, by writing about topics that are relevant to your target audience, you’re more likely to engage them and keep them coming back for more. Finally, focusing on relevancy also makes it easier to build links back to your site, which can further improve your ranking.
- Keyword density
In the world of SEO, context is everything. If your website is about selling shoes, then it’s important that the content on your site is relevant to that topic. That way, when people search for “shoes” on Google, your site will come up in the search results. And if you can get your site to rank high in the search results, then you’ll get more traffic to your site, and more sales.
But relevancy isn’t just about choosing the right keywords. It’s also about making sure that your content is interesting and useful to your target audience. If you write boring, irrelevant content, then people won’t bother reading it, and they certainly won’t buy anything from you. So if you want to succeed in SEO, you need to focus on creating content that is both relevant and interesting.
- Title tags
Title tags are one of the most important elements of SEO. They are used to tell search engines what your page is about, and they help to determine your page’s position in the search results. A good title tag should be keyword rich, unique, and descriptive.
While there is no perfect formula for creating the perfect title tag, there are a few things you can do to make sure yours is as effective as possible. First, focus on including your target keyword or phrase in the beginning of the title.
This will help to ensure that your page appears in the search results when someone searches for that term. Second, keep your title tags relatively short – around 50-60 characters. Any longer than this and your title may be cut off by Google.
- Meta tags
Meta tags are also important, but they’re not as important as they once were. Meta tags tell the search engines what your website is about. However, if your meta tags are not well written, they will not help your website rank well.
- Alt text
As you probably know, SEO is all about optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages. But did you know that alt text can actually play a role in your SEO efforts?
That’s right – alt text is the text that appears in place of an image if the image can’t be displayed for some reason. It’s also sometimes used by search engines to help them understand what an image is about.
That means that if you’re not using alt text, you could be missing out on an opportunity to improve your SEO. So make sure to add alt text to all of your images from now on!
- Anchor text
Anchor text is one of the most important elements of SEO. It’s the text that appears on a web page that links to another page or website. The words “click here” in blue are an example of anchor text.
When search engines see anchor text, they use it as a clue to help them understand what the linked-to page is about. So if you’re trying to rank for the keyword “dog food,” it would be helpful to have the anchor text “dog food” on a page that links to your website.
If you’re trying to rank for the keyword “cat food,” it would be helpful to have the anchor text “cat food” on a page that links to your website. This is just one example of how anchor text can be used to improve your SEO.
There are many other ways to use anchor text to your advantage, so be sure to do some research and experiment to find what works best for you and your website.
- Sitemaps
Sitemaps are important for SEO because they help search engines understand your website’s structure and content. By submitting a sitemap to a search engine, you’re telling the search engine what pages are on your site and how those pages are related to each other. This helps the search engine index your site more effectively and improves your chances of ranking higher in search results.
If you’re serious about getting your website seen by as many people as possible, then you need to make sure you’re using sitemaps. Otherwise, you’re just making it harder for yourself. So get out there and start building those sitemaps!
- robots.txt
Robots.txt is a file that you can use to tell the search engines which pages on your website you do not want them to index. This can be useful if you have pages with sensitive information that you do not want to appear in the search results.Â
- Site structure
Creating a well-organized website with a clear hierarchy makes it easy for both users and search engines to find the most important pages on your site. A good site structure also helps search engines understand the relationship between different pieces of content on your website, which can impact your ranking in search results.
Think of your website like a book. Just like a book has chapters, sections, and subsections, your website should have a similar hierarchy. The home page would be equivalent to the book
- Page speed
Your website’s page speed is also important for SEO. If your website takes too long to load, people will leave before it even loads. This will hurt your ranking in the search results.
- Mobile friendliness
Mobile friendliness is also important for SEO. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the internet. If your website is not mobile friendly, you will lose traffic and your ranking will suffer.
- Social signals
Social signals are becoming increasingly important for SEO. Search engines take into account the number of likes, shares, and comments that a piece of content gets when they rank it in the search results. The more social signals your content has, the better chance it has of ranking well.
- User experience
User experience is important for SEO because it is one of the main factors that search engines take into account when determining the ranking of a website.
A good user experience means that users are able to easily find the information they are looking for on a website and that they are able to navigate the site in a smooth and efficient manner.
A bad user experience, on the other hand, can lead to users bouncing off of a site before they even have a chance to find what they were looking for. This not only hurts the chances of those users ever returning to the site, but it also signals to search engines that the site is not providing a good experience for its users.
- Links
Links are still one of the most important ranking factors for SEO. The more high-quality links you have pointing to your website, the higher your website will rank in the search results.
- Content quality
Content quality is also important for SEO. Your content must be well written and informative if you want it to rank well in the search results.
Wrapping Up
These are the most important SEO ranking factors. If you are serious about taking your SEO visibility to the next level in 2022, you need to focus on these factors.
