Ranking factors

The ranking factors are the individual characteristics of a web page that are scanned by search engine robots to determine the relevance of a page for a particular search query. Depending on the result of this ranking, the search engine determines the place of the website on the search engine results list.

Definition

An Ranking factor is an element, information or property that a search engine records and uses for ranking on the The place of a webpage in the Google Ranking is determined with the Google Page Rank. Different tools try to determine a similar value and offer key figures with names like Domain Rating, Trust and Citation Flow or Page Authority an.

Such ranking factors can be both content and technical in nature and internal or external. Google ranking knows far more than 100 factors that influence the relevance of a website for a search query. The weighting itself varies depending on the request. The individual ranking factors flow together in the search engine algorithm.

Knowing and being able to assess the different ranking factors is the elementary task of search engine optimization (SEO).

Why are the ranking factors important?

Search engines are the typical path that a user chooses when searching for information on the Internet. They sort the offer of the Internet and make the infinite mass of information accessible to the searcher. In order for search engines to be able to do this work, they must be able to capture the web pages and their information. For this purpose, Google, Bing and Co. use so-called crawlers that scan a page and provide the information to the algorithm. In order for these search robots to know what information to capture, search engine operators program certain ranking factors that they consider to be particularly relevant.

Search engines keep the ranking factors secret

To ensure that webmasters do not program or manipulate their sites solely for optimal search engine results, search engine operators never publish all of their ranking factors or their weighting. The intention behind this is that the user should find a site that is as informative and user-friendly as possible – not one that has been optimized for crawlers.

Commonly known ranking factors that influence the placement of a page on the SERP are for example:

• The Domain Authority
• Number and quality of backlinks
• Keywords in text, ALT tags, URL , etc.
• The number of page views and page impressions
• bounce rate
• click through rate
• The location of the user
• The browsing history of the user
• The encryption
• The loading speed
• The mobile optimization when surfing with the smartphone

In addition to these factors, there are also negative ranking factors. Keyword stuffing, a Bad Neighbourhood or link spamming will cause a devaluation and a lower ranking on the SERP.

The importance for SEO

For an effective search engine optimization it is essential to know the most important factors. Especially in the area of OnPage optimization, there are many low hanging fruits – ranking factors that can be optimized with little work and already significantly improve the result. Technical SEO is another area where you can get good results with little effort. In contrast, OffPage SEO is often more costly, because good link building to gain good backlinks is often laborious.

It’s important that you don’t lose sight of your users when optimizing your website. Google probably values user behavior a lot. So it’s important that you present interesting and varied content to your visitors. If you reach your target audience, you can expect that your users will not only visit your site more often and thus provide a lot of organic traffic and a low bounce rate, but also recommend your site and you will get backlinks this way.

Important means of OnPage optimization are therefore already a good keyword analysis, a WDF*IDF test and a semantic optimization of your content. This way you can create better content for your users and at the same time for the crawlers of the search engines.

Conclusion

Ranking factors are the elements that a search engine looks at when evaluating a website to determine its place on the SERP. Depending on the search query, the individual factors are evaluated differently and ensure a different ranking.

For a good search engine optimization it is essential for you to know the different OnPage and OffPage factors. Most importantly, ensure good domain authority through backlinks and present your users with a unique, engaging and informative site.