Search engine optimization (SEO) is constantly evolving, and it can be challenging to keep up with the latest ranking factors that Google uses to determine search engine results page (SERP) rankings. In this ultimate guide to ranking factors for 2023, we'll explore the major categories of ranking factors and provide educational tips and strategies for each category that you can use to improve your own SEO strategy.
Be sure to download the free SEO checklist to make this work for your website or digital marketing agency to ensure maximum SEO success.
Technical SEO ranking factors include elements of your website's structure, coding, and performance that affect search engine crawling and indexing. Here are some key technical SEO ranking factors to consider:
Site speed is a critical technical SEO ranking factor that affects user experience, bounce rates, and search engine crawling and indexing. To improve your site speed, consider optimizing your images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and minimizing HTTP requests. Explore website metrics in more depth here.
After all, people are 5x more likely to leave a mobile website that loads slowly and isn’t mobile-friendly. Check the speed of your mobile page with the PageSpeed Insights tool, or run a quick RunningSEO audit which includes PageSpeed and more.
Mobile-friendliness, the precursor to mobile-first, is another important technical SEO ranking factor, as more and more users are accessing the web on mobile devices. To ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, consider using responsive design, optimizing your font sizes and buttons for mobile screens, and avoiding pop-ups or interstitials that can interrupt the user experience.
Looking for more tips and insights on ways to create a stronger mobile experience? Explore tips from Think With Google.
Site architecture refers to the organization and structure of your website's pages and content. A clear and logical site architecture can improve user experience and make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. To improve your site architecture, consider using a clear hierarchy of pages, creating a sitemap, and using internal linking to connect related pages.
Content ranking factors include the quality, relevance, and uniqueness of your website's content. Here are some key content ranking factors to consider:
Quality content is one of the most important content ranking factors. Google's E-A-T guidelines were updated in late 2022 to include emphasis on "experience" turning it into E-E-A-T. Along with experience, the importance of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in creating high-quality content is critical to the searcher journey. To improve your content quality, consider using reliable sources, providing original insights and analysis, and using clear and concise language.
Explore Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines: An Overview here or see the full guidelines here.
Relevance is another important content ranking factor, as search engines strive to provide users with the most relevant and useful results for their queries. To ensure that your content is relevant, consider using target keywords and phrases, creating content that aligns with your audience's interests and needs, and using internal linking to connect related content.
User engagement is a content ranking factor that measures how users interact with your website's content. Metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and click-through rate can indicate whether your content is engaging and valuable to users. To improve user engagement, consider using multimedia elements like images and videos, including calls to action and interactive elements, and analyzing user behavior to identify areas for improvement.
Backlink ranking factors include the quantity, quality, and relevance of external links pointing to your website. Here are some key backlink ranking factors to consider:
The quality and relevance of backlinks are critical backlink ranking factors. Backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites can signal to search engines that your website is a valuable and trustworthy source of information. To improve the quality and relevance of your backlinks, consider reaching out to relevant websites and asking for links, creating high-quality content that other websites will want to link to, and avoiding paid or spammy backlinks.
Anchor text refers to the clickable text that appears in a hyperlink. Anchor text can signal to search engines the relevance and importance of the linked page. To optimize your anchor text, consider using descriptive and relevant phrases, avoiding keyword stuffing or exact-match anchor text, and using a mix of branded and non-branded anchor text.
The diversity of backlinks is another important backlink ranking factor. A diverse range of links from different types of websites can indicate to search engines that your website is a valuable and authoritative source of information. To improve the diversity of your backlinks, consider reaching out to a variety of websites and sources, creating content that appeals to different types of audiences and interests, and avoiding relying on a single source of backlinks.
Local SEO ranking factors are particularly important for businesses that rely on local customers or foot traffic. Here are some key local SEO ranking factors to consider:
Your Google My Business listing is a critical local SEO ranking factor, as it provides key information about your business to potential customers and signals to search engines that your business is relevant and trustworthy. To optimize your Google My Business listing, consider providing accurate and up-to-date information, using relevant categories and keywords, and encouraging customer reviews and feedback.
Local keywords are another important local SEO ranking factor, as they signal to search engines that your website and business are relevant to local searches. To optimize your local keywords, consider using location-specific phrases and keywords, creating content that addresses local interests and needs, and using local events and news to generate backlinks and social media engagement.
Behavioral signals like website traffic, engagement, and social media activity can also influence local SEO rankings. To improve your behavioral signals, consider creating high-quality and engaging content, using social media to connect with your audience and promote your content, and using local events and promotions to drive traffic and engagement.
SEO is complex and constantly evolving, but understanding the major ranking factors and implementing strategies to improve them can help you achieve higher search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website. By optimizing your technical SEO, creating high-quality and relevant content, building high-quality backlinks, and focusing on local SEO, you can position your website for success in 2023 and beyond.
Need help? Find an expert SEO company to do the work for you →
If you thought you saw a rise or drop in your Search ranking you are not just imagining things. There is yet another change to Google’s algorithm. This time impacts the entire Google search journey, including local search rankings.
Google just released an update to its algorithm. Called the Helpful Content Update, this update started being rolled out in August 2022 and businesses have already experienced its effects. And just before the Helpful Content Update, The May 2022 Core Update rollout was confirmed on June 9, 2022 to have been completed. They do Core Updates several times per year and it often takes up to 2 weeks to rollout.
Simply put, it's designed to improve the results of Google Search and make good content more easily accessible. In this article, we'll discuss what this update means for SEO professionals and businesses.
With the Helpful Content Update, the Google algorithm is rewarding people-first content and has been devaluing content solely written for SEO purposes.
In a not-so-surprising move, Google has been iterating on implementing neural matching to its search rankings for years now. With neural matching, the meaning behind queries is considered instead of just the keywords entered. This is significant because it changes the way results will be displayed to users, and is combined with the overarching initiative to provide searchers with quality, helpful content.
When someone searches for your business, the user intent is factored in, along with how helpful the content is to people. It is no longer a matter of searching for a business name and then finding the business. Now, users can type in their query (example: website redesign services) and be matched with, for example, top web design agencies near them that have a 4.8-star review.
Google Search wants to provide helpful information. They released the Helpful Content Update to focus on content written by people for people. Content should meet the expectations of the visitors to rank better. This means better ranking for quality content and more helpful product reviews written by experts.
Examples of non-Helpful content written for Google-first is those written by robots or overseas writers with high keyword density, or re-use of search terms over and over, without adding value to people, hence "people-first" content being deemed as Helpful Content.
Gone are the days of stuffing keywords or writing content for robots like the Googlebot.
As always, updates are always being tweaked with ongoing experiments. Therefore, rankings are not set in stone. While it is too early to tell how businesses are being impacted, the update could make local SEO easier for businesses as the focus shifts from keywords to user intent, and from content written for robots to helpful content and expert reviews, written by people for people.
If your business does not contain a keyword and helpful content that answers important user questions along the search journey, the Helpful Content Update may drop your rankings, making it much harder for both informational and local users to find it. This is particularly useful for devaluing older businesses that were named before SEO was a factor or those that valued branding more than a keyword-heavy name or content written solely for Google.
While the full impact of this update is not yet known, it is possible that practices like keyword stuffing Google My Business listings or setting up multiple keyword-heavy business names under different phone numbers will be penalized.
According to Google’s official word on the Helpful Content Update, businesses do not have to change anything in response to the update.
However, there are ways to take action if you are seeing a decrease in local rankings or a devalued or de-ranked page. Or if you are trying to push ahead of the competition in an ever-increasingly competitive market where it's "winner take all."
Here are a few local SEO tips you can use to work with the algorithm change:
It is possible that efforts to properly optimize your local search will be rewarded (while blackhat techniques result in punishment) with this new update.
Although it might sound like common sense, the Helpful Content Update is not something to worry about. Stick to tried and true SEO techniques and avoid shortcuts.
At Running SEO, we stay informed on the latest changes with Google. You can rely on us to optimize accordingly whenever a new update rolls out. Get in touch for a free SEO quote over at Key Medium (our parent company).
According to Google, 63,000 searches are processed in its search engine (from mobile devices, tablets, laptops, and computers) per second. Up to 50% of mobile inquiries have a local target. So, you can’t afford for your business to fall behind to scam, illegitimate, or duplicate business listings. Here’s the dilemma: you already work a hundred hours a week growing and attending to your business. Plus, you’ve got a family to take care of; and it would be nice to get a few hours of sleep here and there. So, you don’t have free days (or free time for that matter) to research and report fake listings. Furthermore, you’re not even sure where to start. We’ve got great news for you: We perform running SEO procedures for you to ensure your ranking moves where it belongs-the top!
We understand that although you may not have the time to do this, you will find a way to do it yourself anyhow. After all, this is your “baby.” We get it! That’s why we’re sharing our checklist with you on how to combat spam by reporting spam business listings.
1. Search the business you want to rank for and click the “more businesses” link in the local pack to activate local listings.
2. Create a spreadsheet (or modify one already created by a trusted source) that includes the name, phone number, address of your business, and every competitor business that ranks above your business ranking in the Google results pages.
3. Identify obvious spam (aka Google my Business suspensions). The methods to identify spam business listings are to perform a street-view search of every business that is higher ranking than your business; notate any businesses that share the same address or phone number, or that have similar names, and call each higher-ranking business to ensure it has a working number and valid address.
4. Visit various websites ranking in the local listings--as it relates to your business or industry.
5. Highlight spam businesses. This process involves identifying potential businesses that are unethically or irrelevantly listed.
6. Report the spam business by completing the Google Business Redress Complaint form. This form is completed by following these steps: (1) Click “suggest an edit” underneath the business listing; (2) Click “choose to edit or remove” and then provide the details (example selecting name change or other details for a duplicate or incorrect name, or selecting remove this place for an unreachable listing; (3) Note the action undertaken for each spam listing (such as out of service phone number, spam name, or duplicate listing); (4) Send
7. Record your findings.
Don’t feel bad if this seems like a lot. It’s a lot for Google to manage, too! Its support team is extremely backlogged in investigating spam and legitimate business suspensions and reinstatements for innocent, legitimate businesses marked as spam. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating a Google my business wrongful suspension reinstatement; it could take up to one month for your business to get reinstated. That is an extreme loss to your business and the reputation you have worked so hard to build. Delegate to us. Let us protect you so you can protect your business.
Many people struggle with understanding exactly how local SEO works and what Google’s strategy behind top search results is. However, although there’s a science and pattern to it, that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to grasp the concept.
In this blog post, we’re going to break down the algorithm that drives Google’s local ranking so that any of our readers, regardless of their experience with local SEO, can easily understand it. There are three basic things that you should know that will give you a better idea of what goes into local SEO.
However, before we dive into those things, I think it’s best if we quickly cover the basics of local SEO.
Local SEO is an advantage that allows businesses to promote their products and business to prospects and customers in a unique way. Search engines, to provide users with the correct search results, take many factors into accounts, such as links, local content, and more.
Many people don’t take the time to learn about local SEO and see what it can do for their business, and this is usually the biggest mistake they make with their company. Local SEO can be extremely beneficial for companies and be exceedingly useful in helping gain customers and prospects.
People are continually looking for businesses, and, usually, when they need something, they first turn to Google for help with finding it. If you can ensure that your business is the first one that pops up in their list of options, then you will have opened up a new door of opportunities for your business.
Trust me, if you want to get anywhere in the business world, you’ll need to take advantage of local SEO.
Relevance, proximity, and prominence are the three basics that make up local SEO.
Relevance is Google figuring out what businesses are most relevant to the search. It asks if the company is relative to what the searcher is looking for and if it has the attributes or sells what the searcher is looking for. So that means that Google is giving us all the businesses that are local and might be relevant.
This next part tends to be what confuses people: proximity. However, all proximity is ensuring that the business that is shown will be in a specific radius of where the searcher is. This is really what makes up the entire local SEO algorithm. If you search for something near you, Google will favor the businesses closer.
Now for the last factor that goes into local SEO: prominence. Let’s say that you want sushi. So, you pull your computer out and do a quick Google search: sushi near me. Now, if that were the case, Google would use the proximity to give you the closest sushi restaurants near you, based solely on location.
However, let’s say that, instead, you chose to search for sushi and then chose a specific location, maybe a town near you. Then Google would choose to favor the businesses in that particular location, even if they were further away from you.
There are many other variations of this search that can cause the algorithm to differ. If you were to search for the best sushi, you could get all the different restaurants at all different locations.
Local SEO is dependent on many different parts, and these all come into play to give you your search result. Local SEO is not always solely dependent upon location, and it’s essential always to remember this.
It’s always important to keep in mind as well that Key Medium and Running SEO always take into account local SEO factors.
We hope that this blog post has helped you to have a better understanding of not only what local SEO is but also how it works.
