In this guide, you’ll learn:
Your business’s Google ranking is essential.
After all, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine query, and the higher you rank, the more likely customers will find your business.
But with Google constantly changing its algorithm, what do you need to focus on to keep up?
Find out in this article.
An overview
Why are Google ranking factors important?
Top ranking factors that help you rank on the first page of search engine results
High-value, relevant content
High-quality backlinks
Keywords
Site authority
Site structure and UX
Mobile optimization
Site speed
Domain security
Metadata
Featured snippets
Top 3 ranking factors by experts
Short summary
TL;DR
Why are Google ranking factors important?
Just as best practices in design, marketing, and customer service are key to success in any business industry, mastering the art of SEO is essential for anyone looking to succeed online.
Google ranking factors determine where your website appears on Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
Without understanding the ranking factors, optimizing your website for better visibility and higher engagement rates is difficult.
Top ranking factors that help you rank #1
Before we hear what our experts have to say about their top three ranking factors, let’s look at how you can rank higher in Google search engine results.
High-value, relevant content
In 2022, Google launched their Helpful Content update, which rewards websites with higher rankings if they offer helpful, well-written content that answers user queries.
We’re talking about content that goes beyond keyword stuffing and provides real value to the reader.
What doesn’t make the cut? Thin content, duplicate pages, and outdated information.
Google also uses AI-based algorithms to detect low-quality SEO content, such as keyword stuffing, clickbait titles, and duplicate content, so be sure to create original, high-quality content that engages with your audience.
High-quality backlinks
Backlinks are still one of the most important Google ranking factors, and this is likely to stay the same in 2023.
Good backlinks come from authoritative sites and can improve your website visibility in web search results.
Poor-quality links, on the other hand, can harm your rankings and result in penalties.
Having a link-building strategy is invaluable to SEO.
Luckily there are link-building agencies that specialize in building high-quality backlinks for businesses.
For example, getmentioned.today offers a variety of link-building services relating to authority links, editorial links, and HARO links.
Keywords
Often the most synonymous with SEO, keywords are an important Google ranking factor.
Google looks at the keywords used in your content to understand what it is about and how relevant it is to a user’s query.
To get keywords to rank, consider using tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.
They will help you identify high-value search terms that have low competition from other websites.
Site authority
Regarding site authority, it’s all about your EAT rating.
EAT stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.
Google uses this rating to determine your website’s trustworthiness, which affects its rankings in search results.
Increasing your website’s authority can be done through:
- high-quality content,
- building trust signals (customer reviews or case studies),
- sharing authority links from other websites.
You should also ensure that all of the information on your site is accurate and up to date so that you help Google identify you as an authority on the topic.
Especially when it comes to YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, such as those related to health and finance, you need to ensure that all of your website’s information is accurate and verified.
Site structure and UX
Google considers your website’s structure when ranking it in SERPs.
Notably, Google looks for that are easy to navigate and have a clear hierarchy between pages.
User experience is also important, as Google wants to make sure users can easily find what they’re looking for on your site.
Ensuring that all links work properly and there are no broken pages, and having an overall fast-loading website, are all crucial factors that affect your search engine rankings.
Mobile optimization
More and more users are using their phones to search for products or services, which means that mobile optimization is increasingly important.
Google’s algorithm now favors mobile-friendly websites offering a good user experience on desktop and mobile devices with mobile-first indexing.
This means ensuring your website has a responsive design, fast loading times, and easy-to-navigate menus.
You should also consider using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) if you want your content to load quickly on mobile devices.
Site speed
It’s no question that we’re becoming more and more impatient as a digital society.
Just the first 5 seconds of page-load time has massive effects on conversion rates!
Google has made site speed one of its top ranking factors because slow-loading sites are a major turn-off for users.
Improve your website’s speed by optimizing images and using a content delivery network (CDN).
It would help if you also consider using caching plugins or hosting platforms such as WP Engine that offer faster loading times.
Domain security
Hackers are constantly looking for new ways to take advantage of insecure websites, and the Google algorithm takes this seriously.
To make sure your website is secure, you should use an SSL certificate and keep your website updated with the latest security patches.
Security doesn’t just play a role for you; it also plays a role in your user’s trust.
Google doesn’t want to be responsible for sending customers to fraudulent or malicious sites.
A link-building company can also help you to build trust signals in the form of backlinks from authoritative websites.
Meta data
Meta data is wholly linked to clickthrough rate (CTR) – the number of times users click on your site’s link on search engines.
Meta data works with the search algorithm to provide users with a description of the content of the site.
It’s also vital to keep these elements up-to-date, as out-of-date or irrelevant information can harm CTRs on the web.
Featured snippets
Featured snippets are the boxes at the top of search engine result pages (SERPs) that give a quick answer to a query.
You can earn these snippets when you optimize your site’s content for keywords related to questions or answers.
To achieve featured snippet status, keep your content concise and easy to read.
Structuring content into headings and subheadings can also boost your ranking on the Google search engine.
Top 3 ranking factors by SEO-experts
After speaking with 8 experts, we compiled a list of the top three ranking factors that they believe will be important for SEO in 2023.
This table outlines the main ranking factors that our experts pinpointed.
| SEO Expert | Content | UX | SEO | Mobile Optimization |
| Krittin Kalra | x | x | ||
| Matthew Ramirez | x | x | x | |
| Mervin Lance Calabia | x | x | x | |
| Jasmin Diaz | x | x | x | |
| Jamie Irwin | x | x | ||
| Rajesh Namase | x | x | x | |
| Manikandan N. | x | x |
Let’s check out what each of our experts had to say.
Krittin Kalra
Founder of Writecream, an AI content marketing company, Krittin Kalra predicts that “we will see a lot of changes in the Google algorithm.”
She states that the main ranking factors in 2023 will be organic traffic, SEO, and social media – SEO and social media being the two things to bring in more organic traffic.
Matthew Ramirez
Matthew Ramirez, a Forbes 30 under 30 alumni, places mobile-friendly optimization, fresh long-form content, and high domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) in his top three.
While mobile-friendly practices have been essential for many years, he talks about how long-form content has consistently increased in popularity since the pandemic.
“Prospective customers want longer-lasting, in-depth information about products before clicking the buy button.”
Mervin Lance Calabia
SEO consultant Mervin Calabia has over 5 years of experience working and consulting with digital marketing agencies. His top three ranking factors for 2023:
- Thoughtful content
- Relevance
- User experience
He most notably talks about how Google’s information gain patent looks to “provide a more diverse set of answers instead of search results that provide the same thing.”
Jasmin Diaz
CMO of Smoky Mountains, a cabin and condo vacation rental site, Jasmin Diaz recommends SEO professionals focus on these top three ranking factors:
- Mobile optimization
- User experience
- On-page optimization
“Your website should always push for user-first optimization,” she says. “Your number one goal should be to provide the end user with an uninterrupted, consistent experience”
Jamie Irwin
Taking his experience in the field into consideration, Jamie can confidently say three key things will become more significant in 2023:
- Expertise and authorship
- Content matching search intent
- Authority link building
He says, “Without strong links from authoritative sources like news outlets or educational institutions, your website won’t rank very high in SERPs.” Jamie also recommends investing in HARO link building.
Rajesh Namase
Rajesh’s three main ranking factors for 2023 are:
- Content quality
- Mobile responsiveness
- Content relevance
He talks about how “search engines have become incredibly sophisticated in their ability to understand what users are looking for and rank sites accordingly.” This means brands and business owners must create responsive, engaging content relevant to their niche.
Manikandan N.
With 7+ years of experience in SEO in B2B and B2C domains, Manikandan N. is no stranger to SEO. Expert #7 talks about how “SEO isn’t a prediction game.” However, he believes that the fundamentals of SEO will remain the same.
His three ranking factors for 2023:
- Relevance
- Authority
- User experience
He recommends brands read up on Google’s SEO document on Search Quality Raters Guidelines. This trustworthy and official document will help bring in more users and gain organic backlinks.
He also mentions, “Since the rollout of the Helpful Content System, it is all about relevance and freshness” and that the “Page Experience system is another officially known ranking factor for both mobile and desktop (2022) searches in Google.”
Be sure to check those pieces out.
Short summary
While each ranking factor has true importance, the most successful sites are those that take a holistic approach to SEO by optimizing for all of these factors and more.
By building your site’s authority, providing valuable content, improving page speed and UX, investing in link building, and optimizing for mobile devices, you will be well on your way to beating the algorithm for search engine results.
The final top 3 Google ranking factors (2023).
1st place – High-quality content
2nd place – SEO (link-building, high domain authority (DA), on-page SEO)
3rd place – Mobile friendliness and UX
TL;DR
- Google ranking factors are important because they boost your website in Google’s search results.
- While factors such as high-quality backlinks; keywords; site authority; site speed; domain security, metadata, and featured snippets are all important. Our experts’ top ranking factors in 2023 are high-quality content, SEO, and mobile friendliness and UX.
- To achieve higher rankings in search engine results, focus on building your site’s authority, providing valuable content, improving page speed and UX, investing in link building, and optimizing for mobile devices.
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