The 10 Questions Most Business Owners Like You Have About SEO: Question Number 3

Question 3: What are the Most Important Factors that Influence SEO Rankings?

Answering this question in detail will likely need an encyclopaedia. So, here is a 3-word summary: Quite a few.

Some of the more important factors that influence your search optimisation include the quality of your website content, the relevance of your keywords, the number and quality of backlinks to your site, the structure of your site, the overall user experience, page load speed, the number of visitors you have, the internal linking within your site and so on.

Content, Quality Content

Search engines prioritise high quality, relevant content that provides value to users. Websites that consistently produce high-quality content are more likely to rank well in search engine results pages than those that do not. Google, for instance, has an acronym — EAT — that summarises what its robots look for in website content. EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.

Another factor that ranks you for content is how frequently you update your content. Other Moz research shows that websites that have 11 or more blog posts per month outrank their competitors by a considerable margin.

We will write more about this in the next question.

Relevant Keywords

Keywords are another important factor that can influence SEO rankings. Keywords are the phrases and terms that people use to search for information online, and they should be included in your site content for it to rank better in search engine results. It is essential to use keywords in a natural and organic way, rather than stuffing them into your content. The latter was what passed for SEO 2 decades back but not any more. Search engines have gotten smarter about delivering relevant content to your customers.

Backlinks

Another important factor that impacts SEO rankings is the number and quality of backlinks pointing to a website. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. They serve as a vote of confidence from other sites. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results pages.

Google’s original algorithm was based on this concept and even after 25 years, backlinks remain a very important criterion for you to rank on search engines.

Website Structure and Design

Websites that are well-organised and easy to navigate are more likely to rank well in search engine results pages than those that are cluttered and confusing. Moreover, websites that are optimised for mobile devices are more likely to rank well in search engine results pages than those that are not.

Page Load Speed

Websites that load quickly are more likely to rank better in search engine results pages than those that are slow to load. Research has shown that pages that load in 2 seconds or less have the best chance of ranking well in search engine results pages.

Visitor Numbers

The more visitors your website has, the better are its chances of ranking higher. If more people visit your website, then that is taken as a signal by search engine algorithms that you are providing your visitors the information they need. This in turn boosts your site rankings.

Another key factor that we are including here is the Bounce Rate. This refers to the percentage of visitors who move away from your website after viewing only one page. The lower the rate the better. And this is why you need to focus on internal links.

Internal Links

This is usually a part of website structure but we have covered it separately because it is not something most website owners focus on but definitely should. Internal linking within your website helps search engine robots to crawl to other relevant pages within your site and thereby helping you to rank more pages on search rankings for the same or related keywords. This linking also makes it easier for site visitors to move from page to page without too much problem.

Article was originally published on LinkedIn

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