Google utilizes web crawlers to scan and index pages to rank websites. Every page is rated based on Google’s assessment of its authority and relevance to the end user. Google then orders them on a search result page using an algorithm with over 210 known factors.
As a result, appearing higher on the search result page for a given search query directly indicates you’re Google’s most relevant and authoritative result for it.
These search result pages respond to specific search queries composed of keywords and phrases. Google’s AI can also understand the meaning of each query and thus processes them as concepts rather than individual words. This algorithm works in the same way that humans understand and process language.
What Factors Does Google Consider When Ranking Websites?
In summary, the main factors that determine website rankings in search result pages are how effective your content is, how technically well-rounded your website is, and how authoritative your website is based upon links from other websites.
First, look at some of the factors that influence website rankings.
On-Page Content
To begin, let us clarify that “On-Page Content” means the overall appearance of your pages, not just the text featured in the main body of a blog post or page. As a result, Google takes several measurements into account when analyzing your website content. The most significant are:
How helpful your content is
Based on user input. Do users read for an extended period? Or do they quickly return to the results page? Do they read your content and scroll down? Do they navigate to other pages? Do they follow your internal links and visit other pages? Is your content beneficial, or are you just stuffing keywords?
How distinctive your content is
Based on an examination of other websites in your industry. Is your content original, or have you used someone else’s? Are you bringing anything new to the subject or simply restating what others have mentioned?
How in-depth your content is
Based on the length of the content and the topical relevance. Google’s NLP algorithms are most likely also measuring this. Writing extensively increases the likelihood of including more related words, which could be a good ranking signal.
Off-Page Factors
So far, we’ve focused on factors you can directly control on your website. On the other hand, off-page factors are concerned with what happens on other websites. Google specifically considers:
How credible your website is
How many websites reference you? Are they in charge of themselves? Are they also pertinent to your subject and industry?
How authoritative your page is
Similar to the previous point. Do you have any inbound links to that particular page? Are your pages contextually linked from relevant websites with clear and descriptive anchor texts?
How credible your competitor’s websites are
How many other sites link to them, how strong are those links, and are the links appropriate or posting spam?
These factors (and more) indicate to Google how worthy your website is of ranking high in search results.