I’ve worked in digital marketing and SEO for over a decade. Five years ago, I committed entirely to SEO. I became really passionate about it and have since shared thousands of posts on LinkedIn about all things SEO.
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It was a steep learning curve to cut through the noise and understand the Google ranking factors that actually matter and those that don’t, and now I’m here to share them with you.
Google’s algorithm is vast. There’s a lot that plays into it, and the truth is, none of us knows how the algorithm works in its entirety (yes, even with the “algorithm leak”).
That said, passionate SEOs are testing the algorithm all the time and sharing their exciting findings. I’ve now got years of experience behind me and a portfolio of websites that are generating millions upon millions of clicks.
In this article, I’ll share the Google ranking factors that actually matter (starting with the top 10, in my opinion). Throughout, I’ll share SEO experiments and screenshots from Google Search Console to provide some evidence of how my understanding of the ranking factors has helped me.
Oh, and I’ve got quotes and opinions from some of the best SEOs I know, too!
In this article:
- What is a ranking factor on Google?
- Did the algorithm leak teach us anything new?
- Top 10 Google Ranking Factors
- All Currently Known Ranking Factors
What is a ranking factor on Google?
Ranking factors are the criteria Google uses when evaluating pages to decide the best order of relevant results to return for a search query.
Understanding ranking factors is necessary for effective SEO. All marketers, content creators, and SEO strategists should be familiar with them.
This is not because they‘re the end-all, be-all of SEO (they’re not), but because they help create a better user experience, which ensures more leads and conversions for your business.
In recent years, Google has started providing more information about ranking factors and how search works.
HubSpot is making it easy to see how your content is performing on Google with our AI Search Grader microapp. This is one of the first tools on the market that can help you track how your content is performing on AI search engines.
How many Google ranking factors are there?
There are over 200 ranking factors that are generally considered correct (but again, it’s debatable). Since 2006, there have been thousands of algorithm updates including an API leak.
With each update, SEOs test to see what’s changed. So, some of these factors are proven, but others are speculation.
Did the algorithm leak teach us anything new?
There are a few really important things to note about the algorithm leak:
- While thousands of documents were released, we don’t know how much of the algorithm we actually got insights into.
- From the API leak, we can infer that factors are ranking factors, but we don’t really know.
- Although the documentation has been analyzed by some of the best in the industry, we’re relying on their interpretation of the documentation.
- We don’t know how much each factor contributes to the algorithm in terms of weighting.
For the most conscientious SEOs, the leak wasn’t a surprise. Throughout this article, I’ll share significant findings and opinions from the leak and how they might support my considerations about ranking factors.
In my opinion, great SEO is conversely less about algorithms and ranking factors and more about brilliant marketing, providing helpful content to those looking for it. Ultimately, if you work to create the best possible website, in time, you’ll rank.
Let’s look at the top 10 ranking factors and how you can use them to improve your SEO.
Top 10 Google Ranking Factors
Let’s start with the 10 most important ranking factors in my opinion. In this section, I’m sharing 10 factors that I believe have had a direct correlation with my site’s rankings.
These factors made the shortlist because I think they’re effective and a valuable consideration for all websites. Anyone reading this should take these factors seriously.
These are the ranking factors that I believe significantly influenced:
- Improved user experience.
- Optimized conversion rates.
- Perceived trustworthiness.
- Promoted customer retention and loyalty.
- Dramatically increased clicks and impressions and helped bring in high amounts of organic monthly traffic.
Let’s dive in.
1. Helpful, Reliable Content
Google has always emphasized helpful, reliable, and quality content. Providing content that provides value and unique insights not found on every other website can improve your ranking.
With the rise of AI, you’ll be surprised how many websites are categorically failing to create quality content.
There’s good news for those who work hard to craft every word and do their due diligence. You’ll be glad to know that as Google algorithms develop and get smarter, the poor, unhelpful, unreliable content will eventually get penalized or even fall out of Google’s index entirely.
The image below demonstrates how a site with less-than-reliable and helpful content lost the majority of its organic traffic along with the March update.
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How to Create Helpful and Reliable Content
Before I jump into these tips, I want to say that AI content is not inherently bad. You can use AI as part of your content production process, but generally, it’s important to edit it and add your unique insights.
To create helpful content, you want to:
- Ensure you are the subject expert in what you are writing about or that you understand that topic in-depth, according to research.
- Hire subject experts to write your content.
- Provide factual information that informs your audience about the questions that are the most important to them.
- Add links to your research and sources.
- Don’t write fluff.
How to Conduct SERP Analysis
If you want to rank on the first page, stop writing thin content. Research has proven time and time again that content that covers all areas, whether long or short form, tends to do better in search results.
You want to conduct SERP analysis, plus:
- Study your competitors’ content and write about what they missed.
- Cover all relevant areas and answer all questions that readers might have.
- Make the text readable by adding elements like images, a clickable table of contents, jump links, and CTAs to relevant information.
How to Hit the Mark on Content Length
Content length is one thing that several people debate about when it comes to SEO. Some believe an upward of 2,000 words should be the standard. However, this isn’t always the case.
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Sure, long-form content seems to get the most backlinks, but it’s crucial that you write long-form only when you need that to cover the entire topic.
You might want to check what ranking articles have covered in terms of word count because that can be an indicator of what Google is prioritizing. If all ranking articles have between 2,000-4,000 words and you write 200 words, you will likely not rank high for that term.
Write your content as long as it needs to be without adding fluff.
2. Content Freshness
If you’re ranking well for a desired keyword, you’ll want to maintain that rank by editing content when the time is right.
For conscientious content creators, when you hit publish, the contents of your article are true and correct. But, as things develop, it may be that your content could benefit from an edit to keep it factually accurate and reliable.
I recommend going back to content when you need to make an adjustment and edit it. Don’t edit content for the sake of it or try to game the system by altering publication dates when nothing has changed.
Just be honest and diligent (remember: helpful and reliable).
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As aforementioned, when it comes to SEO and ranking factors, the best thing you can do is provide helpful content for those looking for it.
Using the publication date above as an example, sharing the data from an article that was published (and modified) is genuinely helpful for your user. They will understand whether or not they’re getting updated information.
It’s important to note that in its documentation, Google says, “Add a user-visible date to the page and feature it prominently. Label your dates appropriately with text like ‘Publish’ or ‘Last updated.’”
Be warned: Google doesn’t want content creators to game the system. They have a section titled “Avoid creating search engine-first content.”
It provides the reader with questions to ask to determine whether or not the content is helpful and reliable, the documentation probes the question, “Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?”
Marco Genaro Palma, Freelance CMO and SEO Consultant at GenaroPalma.com, shares my feelings on content freshness being a ranking factor. He says, “One key takeaway from the Google leak was the importance of content freshness, evaluated through metrics like ‘byline date,’ ‘syntactic date,’ and ‘semantic date.’
“While I‘ve always advised my clients to keep their content updated, I’m now emphasizing this more than ever.
“Keeping material current and relevant has become crucial. I’ve implemented a rigorous update schedule, encouraging clients to revisit articles and guides to add the latest information and improvements.”
How to Create Fresh Content
To keep your content fresh, I recommend these best practices:
- Edit content when it needs it.
- Be diligent and update published or modified dates. At least add the date to the article; if you have some developer support, add schema as recommended by Google, too.
- Keep on top of trending topics within your niche.
3. Author Bylines
I strongly believe that articles should have assigned bylined authors. Author bylines are useful for readers, as they help them see who wrote the article, which can help build trust.
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While authors help people understand that an article was written by a credible source, some evidence suggests that Google also considers authorship a ranking factor.
First, Google Search Central suggests that the authority of the content creator is important. Google Search Content suggests that articles should have:
- Author bylines where users might expect it.
- Evidence of who created content.
- Linkable bylines leading to author pages with further details.
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It’s worth me saying, for balance, that authors are not completely necessary for ranking, and neither is any factor in isolation, to be honest! Author-less pages rank well in many cases. I wrote a bit about that in my piece on E-E-A-T for SEOs.
Second, I have some anecdotal evidence that authors are useful for ranking. On one site, in particular, my client and I were struggling to rank a cluster of content.
We’d written eight to twelve articles on a topic, all written by an industry expert.
Every piece of content was well-researched, cited, and in-depth, and all my best SEO tactics were in place, but nothing was happening.
We decided to add author functionality to the site in the form of a byline and schema.
Days after the schema went live, the articles gained traction in the SERPs. After six months, clicks increased from 94 to 3,250 (+3,357%).
Other SEOs have found author bylines and schema to be effective.
James Oliver, Founder at Oliver.com, says, “Google values and stores information on content creators and website owners, using Boolean ‘isPublisher’ and ‘isAuthor’ features. This suggests Google may use this data to assess expertise and authoritativeness, aligning with E-E-A-T principles.”
Oliver continues, “[It’s implied] that Google‘s ability to identify these entities could significantly impact a site’s credibility, underscoring the importance of clear authorship and publisher information for SEO success.”
How to Add Author Bylines
To add author bylines, follow these steps:
- Simply add an author byline to your articles.
- Understand that crediting “company team” as an author isn’t useful. Instead, use full names.
- Take it a step further and include an author schema if you can.
- Create detailed author pages to link to from the article byline. Here’s mine on HubSpot.
4. Internal Linking
Internal linking is my favorite SEO tactic. I just love how simple but impactful it is.
Internal links are simply inline links like this one: A link that goes from one page on your website to another link on your website.
If you link to a site that isn’t yours (read: a site on another domain), that’s an external link.
Internal links are powerful for SEO. They’re incredibly useful for Google, and most importantly, they’re useful for users.
By linking from one page to another, you’re helping users (and Google bots) discover and move around your website. A click from one page to another is a sign of engagement, and you’re likely taking your reader through a journey of your amazing content.
Rebekah May, SEO and Content Marketing Expert at MarketingAid.io, is paying attention to engagement factors like internal linking.
May says, “I’ll increase my focus on optimizing for on-site user engagement metrics and click-through rates from search. This involves testing titles and descriptions, improving content formatting, internal linking, and incorporating more multimedia to maximize CTR and time on page.”
Internal links help Google discover and index your content. The bots follow from one page on one subject and find other high-quality, related content. You start to look like you know a thing or two about what you say you do, and Google starts to trust and rank your website.
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How to Use Internal Links
Here are some tips on how to incorporate internal linking:
- Use links naturally.
- Link relevant content pages together.
- Add a “you may also like” section to the bottom of articles.
5. Keyword Placements
Google is getting smarter every day, but using your keywords wisely will give you the best chance of ranking.
Before I share where to use your keywords, there’s one thing to note: A natural-reading article is more important than keyword placements.
Most pages on your website should have an assigned focus keyword and supporting keywords.
Generally, you will use your assigned focus keyword in the:
- Page’s H1 (usually the title).
- URL.
- H2s, and maybe H3s, where natural.
- Body text, where natural, and ideally in the first paragraph if it makes sense.
The H1 is an indication of what your content is about. So, include your keyword in your H1. Be careful, though; some SEOs say that using the same sentence in your H1 and meta title is an indication that you are keyword stuffing.
You might want to spice it up a bit while still ensuring that your keyword is present. Do this in combination with all on-page optimization (metadata, URL, other headings).
I like to keep track of my focus keywords in a spreadsheet. Here’s what it looks like:
On the subject of keyword placements, it’s really important that I remind you that writing content just to rank keywords isn’t ideal. Your content should be high-quality and person-focused, not keyword-focused, but of course, keywords are ultimately what people search.
Fellow SEO Praveen Kumar, Founder at Wild Creek Web Studio, said it best: “[good content] satisfies the user-intent queries along with being in-depth and experience-driven rather than just keyword-focused…One well-written piece of content can get the audience to keep coming back for more as it helps to build trust and credibility.”
6. Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are a controversial topic in SEO. Many SEOs believe that they are a ranking factor, while others say they are not.
The confusion is not surprising when you consider the somewhat mixed messages that come from Google.
Sometimes, we hear that links are becoming less important. On a podcast, John Mueller said, “Over time, the weight on the links will drop off a little bit as we can’t figure out a little bit better how the content fits in within the context of the whole web.”