100+ Google Ranking Factors – Vital SEO Checklist for 2018 (Updated)

Ranking our page high in Google should be our foremost priority to safeguard the success of our online venture.

Question is:

How many ranking factors does Google use?

 Research discloses that there are over 200+ Google ranking factors.

However, recently a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google reveals that there are top 3 ranking indicators in Google’s search algorithm.

(1) Backlinks

(2) Content

(3) RankBrain

Anyway, if you are interested enough to know how to rank your website in Google, then you are on the right place to find the complete list stacked together.

Read on and get the fulfilled and ample information about the Google’s SEO Ranking Factors.

                        Directed by the Domain

1. Legend of the Aging Domain

Google engineer, Matt Cutts claims that in Google algorithm domain age is an unimportant factor. Good content matters more than the domain age in the long run.

2. Usage of Keywords in Domain

Having keywords in the domain is a relevant signal where the keywords appearing in the content, albeit well incorporated, positively affect the search results.

3. Use Keyword as First Word of Domain

Get the extra edge over others by starting the domain name with the targeted keyword! This is a crucial and an indisputable keyword ranking factor that can boost your site’s ranking on the search engines.

4. Domain Registration Length

Google’s Matt Cutts said, “To the best of my knowledge, no search engine has ever confirmed that they use length of registration as a factor in scoring. If a company is asserting that as a fact, that would be troubling. The primary reason to renew a domain would be if it’s your main domain, you plan to keep it for a while, or you’d prefer the convenience of renewing so that you don’t need to stress about your domain expiring.”

5. Keyword in Sub-domain

One of the important keyword ranking factors is to include keywords in the subdomain. Moz’s 2011 panel agrees that this fact can actually help boost rankings.

6. Importance of Domain History

Google uses a VERY smart algorithm; the domain history decides whether you are “good” or “bad”. It talks about who you are on the World Wide Web, and Google stands by the site with good content and repute from the get-go.

7. EMD (Exact Match Domains)

EMDs still make a difference and are one of the deciding elements for Google SEO ranking factors. However, the Google algorithm reduces the ranking of low-quality “exact-match” domains in search results. EMDs provide the quality site an edge over others.

8. Battle of the Titans – Public vs Private WhoIs

A controversial topic is that, Google has never released a statement claiming either one to be better than the other. However, Matt Cutts, quoted, “…When I checked the whois on them, they all had “whois privacy protection service” on them. That’s relatively unusual. …Having whois privacy turned on isn’t automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors all together, you’re often talking about a very different type of webmaster than the fellow who just has a single site or so.”

Best Suggestion – Always be honest with search engines.

9. Penalty for WhoIs Owner

Once “Google” identifies a person as a spammer, it scrutinizes other sites owned by the same person.

10. Country Code TLD

The country code TLD boosts search engine ranking for the particular country, but limits the site’s ability for global ranking.

                             On-page Optimization

11. Keywords in Title

Keeping the keywords in the title is a smart move, if you are looking to increase your SEO ranking. This can be a strong On Page SEO signal to boost page ranking.

12. Title Tag Starting with Keyword

According to Moz data and Backlinko, title tags having keywords at the beginning perform much better than when the keywords are used at the end of the title tag.

13. Keywords in Description

Using keywords in descriptions is quite relevant and does make a difference, although it isn’t hugely important.

14. Keyword in H1 Tag

H1 tags are the “second title tag” of Google and by incorporating the right keyword in the H1 Tag, the Google SEO rankings get a boost.

15. Frequently Used Keyword in Phrase Document

Using keywords in content frequently can boost up SEO rankings. However, it is advisable not to go overboard, as it may adversely affect the write-up and the ranking may suffer.

16. Length of Content

Longer content is more preferred than the shorter ones. SERPIQ found that the content length correlates with the SERP position.

17. Keyword Density Factor

Keyword density is a factor which Google uses to determine the topic of a web page. Excessive use of keywords can have negative effects on SEO ranking.

18. LSI Keywords in Content

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords in content extract meaning from words with more than one meaning. This enables writers to come up with quality content. LSI keywords help web spiders to understand the topic better.

19. LSI Keywords in Title and Meta Description

Using keywords in Meta descriptions and title helps Google discern between synonyms and this in turn increases SEO rankings.

20. Duplicate Content

Say no to duplicate content, even if it’s slightly modified, as it can negatively influence search results.

21. Page Loading Scheme with HTML

Page code and file size affect the speed of the loading page. The search engines take into account the page loading speed as one of the factors which affects ranking. A page that takes more time to load is not preferred by Google.

22. Page Loading Scheme via Chrome

Google at times uses Chrome user data to handle the page loading time better as it takes into consideration the speed of the account server, CND usage and other signals that are not related to HTML.

23. Canonical = Rel

Using the tag in proper fashion prevents Google from considering pages with similar and duplicate content.

24. Optimization of Images

Optimization of images with file name, ALT text, title, description and caption are crucial for ranking in search engines.

25. Recent Updated Content

Updated content is crucial for time-sensitive searches. Google shows the date of a page’s last update.

Fresh content is appreciated more by search engines!

26. Magnitude of Content Updates

Adding fresh updates and removing insignificant sections are more important than spinning around a few words. Freshness factor depends on the quality of the changes made!

27. Historical and Page Updates

Adding new content to a page adds freshness to your website. Make sure the updates are frequent enough, as and when needed. This is another technique used to boost rankings.

28. Prominence of Keywords

Make the keywords stand out by putting them in the first 100-words of a page’s content. It’s a significant relevancy signal.

29. Keywords in H2 and H3 Tags

Making the keyword appear in the subheadings, in H2 or H3 format, is another relevant factor for SEO rankings.

30. Order of Keywords

Keyword research is really important and keeping the keyword phrase in the same order in the content promises better ranking.

31. Outbound Link Quality

Some SEO experts believe that linking out to authority sites sends trust signals to Google, thus improving ranking.

32. Outbound for Link Theme

Moz says that search engines use the content of the pages you link, as a relevancy signal. If you have a page related to mobile devices that links to movie-pages, then this may tell Google that your page is about movie cars, not the automobile.

33. Grammar and Spelling Check

Proper grammar and correct spelling are a measure of quality, but Matt Cutts never clearly stated if that counts for Google ranking.

34. Syndicated Content

Original content is crucial. Spinning of content will not get good rankings and Google may penalize the blog or website for such low-quality content.

35. Supplementary Content that Helps

As per Google rater guidelines document, helpful supplementary content indicates the quality of the page and its ranking in Google. The supplementary contents are currency converters, loan interest calculators and investment recipes.

36. Multimedia with Content

Images, videos and other forms of multimedia enriches the quality of the content.

37. Number of Outbound Links

Excess do-follow outbound links leak page ranks and negatively affects the ranking.

38. The Number of Internal Links on a Page

The number of internal links to a page tells about its relevancy to other pages on the site. This is a true statement and helps in SEO ranking.

39. Quality of Internal Links of the Page

Getting internal links from authoritative pages on domain have stronger effects and impact than from pages with no or low PR.

40. Broken Links

Broken links can affect SEO ranking and as search engines take into account the usability of a website. If the search engine spider visits the site and comes across a lot of “dead ends” or “broken links”, it can create problems. If it finds too many “404” error pages, it diminishes the value of the website.

The site gets termed as a “neglected and abandoned site”. Broken links are used by Google Rater Guidelines Document to assess the quality of the homepage.

41. Readability Score

Make sure the content is user-friendly. Visitors prefer to read simple language and Google boosts the site that can engage the readers to keep them hooked on the site longer.

42. Links that are affiliated

“Affiliated links” do not affect SEO rankings directly. When there is an excess of affiliated links, Google algorithm looks deeper into other quality signals on the site, to judge whether or not, it’s a “thin affiliated site.”

43. HTML Errors

Sloppy coding and HTML errors are signs of poor quality site and many SEO experts have the opinion that it’s a major sign of weakness.

44. Domain Authority for Page Hosts

All things being equal, a page of an authoritative domain will be much higher on the search results than a page on a domain with lesser authority.

45. Page Rank of the Page

Earlier, higher PR pages rank better than low PR ones. Google has now stopped updating Page Rank, so it does not hold much significance, at present.

46. URL Length

Long URLs adversely affect search visibility. As small URLs are easier to recall than the longer ones, using small and sweet URLS for targeted audience is a better option.

47. URL Path

The page that is closer to the homepage gets a boost in search engine ranking.

48. Human Editing

Google filed a patent for a system that allows human editors to influence the SERPs. However, this thing does not have any confirmation yet.

49. Page Category Matters

The category of the page matters a lot, if you are talking about search engine rankings. The page which is closely related to the searched category gets ranked better than the one that’s unrelated or less related to the searched option.

50. WordPress Tags

WordPress specific tags boost SEO. As per Yoast.com, “The only way it improves your SEO is by relating one piece of content to another, and more specifically a group of posts to each other.”

51. Keyword Usage in URL

Using the keyword in the URL is useful and is one of the most important relevancy signals.

52. URL Strings

Google actually reads the categories in the URL string, providing a thematic signal of what the page is about.

53. Siting References and Source Links

Quality content is judged by the source links and references provided at the end of the article. Google Quality Guidelines adhere to the fact that reviewers need to keep an eye on the sources when looking at certain pages. However, Google denies using such external links to help in SEO ranking.

54. Bulleted Pointers

Bulleted and numbered pointers make the content easier to read and Google prefers such writing.

55. Page Priority in Sitemap

Priority of a page is given via sitemap.xml file that may influence ranking to a certain extent.

56. Excess Outbound Links

Too many outbound links can adversely affect readability.

The aforementioned quality rater document says, “Some pages have way too many links, obscuring the page and distracting from the main content.”

57. Page Age

Fresh content is definitely favored by Google, but an older page with fresh updates on a regular basis outranks a new page by far.

58. Quantity of Other Keywords for Page Ranks

If the page ranks high for some alternative competitive keywords, then Google gets a signal of quality. This is again responsible for a boost in SEO rankings.

59. User Friendly Layouts

The main content is immediately visible if the page layout is user-friendly and navigable. This helps the visitors stay on your website for a longer duration, thus enhancing the ranking of the site.

60. Parked Domains

On December 2011, Google made an update and decreased search visibility of the parked domains.

61. Helpful Content

Google is very sharp and Backlinko reader Jared Carrizales says it can distinguish easily between “quality content” and “useful content”.

                Site Level Factors (Get your site ranking)

62. Quality-rich, Unique Content

Google will ignore the site which lacks value and informative content. Content needs to be unique and bring in a certain degree of freshness and newness.

63. The Most Important Page – Contact Us

The contact information should be well stated if you desire your website to be Google’s favorite child. If the contact information matches whois info it is an added advantage.

64. Domain Trust

Site trust is measured by the number of links your site is away from highly trusted seed sites. This is of immense importance when it comes to SEO ranking.

65. Website Architecture

A pleasing and well put-together site architecture enables Google to thematically organize the content. This in turn helps in Google ranking.

66. Website Updates

Add freshness to your website with the addition of fresh, new content. Updating your website is an added boon.

67. Limiting the Number of Pages

The more pages your website has, it’s navigability decreases and this weakens the site, to a great extent. Reduce the number of pages and increase its navigability.

68. Importance of Sitemap

With a sitemap, the search engines index the pages easily and improves visibility of the website.

69. Site Uptime

If the website takes too long to upload, then site maintenance suffers which in turn affects the SEO ranking negatively.

70. Location of Server

The server location is crucial as it influences the ranking of the site in different locations. Special importance is given to geographical searches.

71. The SSL Certificate

Google confirms that they index SSL certificates and also that the use of HTTPS helps the website to rank better.

72. Service Terms and Privacy Pages

Webpages like service terms and privacy pages indicates Google whether or not a site is trustworthy for the internet.

73. Duplicate On-site Meta Information

If the information of your site is duplicate, then it brings down the visibility of the website.

74. The Breadcrumb Navigation

“Breadcrumb navigation” is a style of user-friendly site-architecture and helps users and search engines to know where they are on the website. This is another ranking factor.

75. Mobile Optimization

Google definitely has a thing for mobile friendly sites!

The websites which are not mobile friendly may get penalized. So, it’s time you opt for the responsive web design!

76. YouTube

Desire to top Google ranking, then go for the YouTube videos and enjoy the preferential treatment. This is because YouTube videos get a preferential treatment in SERP.

77. Site Usability

A website, which can neither be used well or navigated properly enough, is surely going to lower SEO ranking in Google. If site usability is poor with reduced time spent on site and higher bounce rate, then chances are that Google will not prefer it at all.

78. Usage of Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools

Google analytics and webmaster tools are highly recommended for installation to improve SEO page ranking.

79. Reviews and Feedback

If your site is positively reviewed in Yelp.com or RipOffReport.com, then it can most certainly help a great deal in Google ranking.

                     Backlink to Boost SEO Ranking

 80. Backlinks from Aged Domains

Did you know that using backlinks from aged domains are more powerful than links obtained from the newer ones? Yes, this is a tried, tested and proved.

81. Linking Root Domains

The number of referring domains is a crucial factor in Google algorithm. This concept is supported by Moz.

82. Linking from Separate C-Class IPs

Links that are separated from class-c IP addresses suggests that a wider breadth of sites get linked to you. This factor surely has an effect on SEO ranking.

83. Page Links

Linking pages can boost search engine ranking, even if it’s from the same domain.

84. Image Links

Use ALT tag for image links. Alt text is an image version of the anchor text.

85. Use Links from .edu or .gov Domains

Google engineer, Matt Cutts states that although this factor is not so important, but it does count for boosting SEO rankings a notch higher.

86. Page Authority

The higher the page rank with high authority links, the greater are the chances of the webpage ranking well in Google.

87. Domain Authority

Authority of linking domains or in other words, domain authority is an important SEO ranking factor.

88. Get your Competitors’ Links

Links from other pages ranking in the same SERP are considered valuable for ranking a page with that particular keyword.

89. Social Shares for Related Pages

Opt for social media and get your pages linked for having a positive influence in SEO rankings.

90. Links from Bad Neighbors

Stop the black hat SEO tricks, as the links from the bad neighbors can do more harm than good.

91. Guest Posting

Guest posts are a great way to boost rankings in search engine, but contextual links are far more valuable than the ones coming from the author bio area.

92. Linking to a Domain Homepage that Page Sits On

Linking to a referral page’s homepage plays a crucial role in evaluating the site’s and link’s weightage.

93. The List of Don’ts for Link Building

One of the most controversial SEO topics. Google, however claims that they do not generally follow it, but at times they do.

94. Diversity in Link Types

If a large percentage of the links come from a single source, it’s a web spam. However, links from diverse sources is the sign of a natural link profile.

95. Sponsored Links or Other Words Around the Link

Certain words like, “sponsored links”, “link partners” and other words like “sponsors” can decrease the value of a link significantly.

96. The Powerful Contextual Links

Contextual links inside the page content are definitely deemed as more relevant than links found somewhere else.

97. Excessive 301 Redirecting to the Page

According to WebMaster Help Video, links coming from 301 redirects and dilutes some or even all to PR.

98. The Backlink of Anchor Text

Anchor texts are not all that important and more likely a web spam signal, but still backlinks of anchor texts acts as a relevancy signal.

99. “Internal Link Anchor Text”

The internal link anchor text is another relevant thing in SEO. However, in terms of importance it is weighed differently from back link anchor text.

100. Attribution of Link Title

The link title, that is, the text which appears when you linger around a link, is another relevancy signal, although not that effective.

101. The Country TLD for Referring Domain

Links from country specific top-level domain extension help the website rank better in that particular country.

102. Content Link Location

The links used in the beginning of a content is more relevant than the links placed at the end of the content.

103. Page Link Location

The place where the links appear on a page is important. Links which are embedded in a page’s content are more powerful than those placed in the footer or sidebar area.

104. Linking Domain Relevancy

An effective SEO strategy always focuses on obtaining relevant links. So, a link from a similar site is more powerful than the link from a completely unrelated one.

105. Page Level Relevancy

Another factor is that a link from a page that’s closely tied to the content of the page is more powerful than a link from an unrelated page.

Conclusion:

Well, there are plenty more ranking factors but i had stated the main and useful factors through which you can raise your website to the top...Even if you follow half of the things listed down here, then the benefits would be extremely satisfying and site ranking would absolutely improve a lot!

 The above listed Google’s SEO ranking factors are actually effective!!

                      

                      GO FOR ALL OF THEM...