Key Takeaways:
- The six factors determining your Google ranking include backlinks, relevance, HTTPS, mobile-friendliness, and page speed.
- The costs of ranking high on Google depend on your market competitiveness and situation, ranging from 0 to a hundred thousand.
- To rank higher on Google, implement effective SEO strategies we share below.
Factors Determine Your Google Search Rankings
Google analyzes numerous factors and signals to provide the most relevant information to each query. The importance of each factor varies based on the specifics of users’ queries. Here are the six common ones:
1. Backlinks
In 2016, Google’s Product Manager Andrey Lipattsev confirmed that backlinks are among the most influential ranking factors for Google in this video:
However, not all backlinks carry the same weight; some have a more significant impact.
While the exact criteria for the ideal backlink remain unknown, Google recommends getting high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites within your niche.
2. Content Relevancy
Google has systems in place to understand what searchers want, and to rank highly, you need to grasp this as well.
- Keyword Matching: Pages containing the queried keywords are deemed more relevant.
- Content Analysis: Google also determines relevance through supplementary content elements such as images, videos, and related topics.
While there’s no guaranteed method, the top-ranking results provide valuable insights about what users seek. For this reason, you must match your content to search intent to rank higher, which we will share thoroughly below.
3. Content Freshness
Freshness is a query-dependent ranking factor, with greater importance for queries that require up-to-date information. For example, the top results for “Netflix new shows” and “Champions League latest results” are frequently updated, while the results for “steps to solve a Rubik” remain unchanged.
4. HTTPS
HTTPS enhances security for your website’s visitors and has been a lightweight Google ranking factor since 2014.
An encrypted connection enabled by HTTPS protects user data and fosters a sense of security for site visitors, which is crucial for the overall page experience ranking algorithm.
No one trusts a website with a “Not Secure” warning in their browser like this:
“Not Secure” warning
5. Mobile-Friendliness
In the past, experts believed mobile-optimized sites had a ranking advantage due to Google’s 2015 mobile-friendly update and the shift to mobile-first indexing.
In recent clarification, Google suggests a reassessment of this belief. The platform now emphasizes a holistic approach, indicating that no “page experience” single factor, including mobile-friendliness, determines rankings alone.
However, Google still emphasizes that content should display well and be easily accessible for mobile devices for a good page experience:
Web owners should display content well for mobile devices.
Also, Google’s Search Liaison claimed that page experience, including mobile-friendliness, remains essential for high search engine ranking optimization. This factor should still be considered alongside other aspects of page experience to succeed in Google’s core ranking systems.
6. Page Speed
Since 2010, page speed has influenced desktop rankings, while its impact on mobile rankings began in 2018. Generally, a website with a faster load speed is more likely to reach higher search engine results page (SERPs) positions than slower-loading sites.
Google solely relies on Core Web Vitals for this purpose. It evaluates a page’s loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability through three key metrics:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
These metrics comprehensively assess a webpage’s user experience, guiding Google’s ranking decisions.
Besides these, hundreds of factors influence your Google rankings, such as structured data, on-page SEO, social signals, etc. Let ROI Digitally‘s team of experts help you climb the search rankings and achieve your digital marketing goals!
How To Rank Higher On Google Search
Higher rankings mean more visitors, visibility, and trust for your brand. But how do I get my Google search results to the top? Let’s follow our guidelines and see how they influence your site’s ranking.
Step #1: Improve Your On-Site SEO
On-site SEO, or on-page SEO, means optimizing your site’s content, titles, meta, etc, to meet search engine requirements for ranking page.
On-page SEO
Here are some simple ways to improve your on-page SEO:
- Use H1–H6 tags: Google recommends organizing your content hierarchically using heading tags.
- Create a Short, Descriptive URL: Google prefers simple URLs that clearly convey the page’s content. Keep your URLs concise and descriptive.
- Use an Engaging Title Tag and Meta Description: They attract more clicks and send positive signals to Google about your relevance and quality.
- Front Load Your Keyword in the Title Tag: Put your main keyword at the beginning of your title tag.
- Optimize Your Images: Google recommends using brief but descriptive filenames & alt text for your images.
- Aim for Longer Content: Research revealed the average first-page result on Google contains 1,447 words, and longer yet higher-quality content tends to rank better.
Following these simple yet effective on-page SEO tactics is how to rank on Google more easily and drive more traffic to your site.
Step #2: Add LSI Keywords To Your Page
What are LSI keywords? LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) are words and phrases semantically related to your page’s main topic. If your main keyword is “fried potato,” relevant LSI keywords might include “how to fry potatoes in oil” , “fried potato slices “, “how long to fry potatoes in oil”
Using LSI keywords is a way to achieve high search engine ranking optimization by notifying Google of the context and relevance of your content. It signals Google about how your content comprehensively covers the topic.
We recommend using LSIGraph, a free SEO tool, to find and effectively use LSI keywords. Here is how to do it:
- Step 1: Access the LSIGraph homepage and input your main keyword.
- Step 2: The tool will generate a list of LSI keywords related to your initial keyword.
- Step 3: Add these LSI keywords naturally into your content.
Find LSI keywords using LSIGraph.
Step #3: Monitor Your Technical SEO
To monitor your technical SEO and improve your ranking in search results, you can follow the guidelines and best practices outlined by Google Developers.
1. Set up Google Search Console (GSC):
- Verify Ownership: Ensure your site is verified in Google Search Console to access all features and reports.
- Monitor Coverage Report: Check for indexing issues and errors in the Coverage report.
2. Enhance site performance:
- Mobile Usability: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly. Use the Mobile Usability report to find and fix issues affecting mobile users.
- Page Experience: Focus on Core Web Vitals, which measure your site’s user experience and optimize for LCP, FID, and CLS.
3. Improve crawlability:
- Robots.txt File: Check your robots.txt file to ensure it does not block search engines from crawling essential pages.
- Sitemap: Submit a sitemap to help search engines understand your site’s structure and discover new pages.
4. Fix indexing issues:
- URL Inspection Tool: Use the URL Inspection tool to check how Google sees a specific URL.
- Resolve Duplicate Content: Ensure your site doesn’t have duplicate content. Use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page.
5. Monitor site security:
- HTTPS: Ensure your site is served over HTTPS to secure data and improve ranking signals.
- Security Issues: Regularly check the Security Issues report in GSC for any malware or hacked content warnings.
6. Optimize site structure and navigation:
- Clear Hierarchical Structure: Your site should have a hierarchical structure to help users and search engines navigate your content.
- Internal Linking: Use internal links to help search engines understand the most critical pages on your site.
7. Regular maintenance and updates
- Monitor Analytics: Review Google Analytics and Search Console data regularly to track performance, identify trends, and spot potential issues.
- Stay Updated: Follow the latest SEO best practices and updates from Google to ensure your site remains optimized.
Step #4: Match Your Content to Search Intent
Search intent is the underlying reason behind a user’s query.
For example, when searching for the keyword “best pillow for sleeping,” the top-ranking results are mostly blog posts rather than sales pages. Google understands that searchers are looking for product information rather than making a purchase immediately. Hence, your page must align with this search intent to rank higher on Google.
To ensure your page matches search intent, analyze the top-ranking pages for the 3Cs:
- Content-Type: Are they primarily blog posts, product pages, category pages, landing pages, or something else?
- Content Format: Are they tutorials, listicles, how-to guides, recipes, free tools, or another format?
- Content Angle: Is there a dominant selling point, such as low prices or ease of use?
Step #5: Reduce Your Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who enter your site and leave without viewing another page.
When users land on your site and quickly return to the search results, known as “pogo-sticking,” it signals to Google that your content may not be satisfying user needs. This can negatively impact your rankings because it indicates users aren’t happy with what they find.
pogo-sticking
To reduce pogo-sticking, aligning your content with search intent is essential. Beyond that, there are several straightforward strategies to improve your bounce rate:
- Optimize the “Above The Fold” section
- Push content to the top
- Enhance page structure
- Add visual content
Step #6: Find More Keywords
How to rank higher on Google search? An indispensable step is finding the right keywords to target. By optimizing your page for additional relevant keywords, you can:
- Easily rank for multiple search terms.
- Attract more traffic from various queries.
- Boost your content’s visibility in SERPs.
Here is how you find and target more keywords:
- Step 1: Find more keywords
Access the “Performance on Search Results” report. Then, scan through the list of queries for which your site ranks. You’ll see keywords you’ve already optimized for and some that you haven’t targeted yet.
GSC’s Performance on Search Results Report
Look for keywords you’re ranking for but haven’t implemented. If you’re ranking for them accidentally, you can rank even higher by optimizing on-page (meta tags, meta description) and off-page (backlinks, guest posts) for them.
- Step 2: Optimize for new keywords
The next step is to add the new keywords to your existing content. Ensure these additions fit naturally and expand on the topic to provide more value.
If possible, create new pages optimized explicitly for these untapped keywords. This step helps you rank for more search terms and cater to varied user intents.
- Step 3: Repeat the process
Continuously monitor your performance and look for new keyword opportunities.
Regularly update your content to ensure it stays optimized and relevant.
Step #7: Publish High-Quality Content
Relevance and freshness are two crucial factors determining your Google ranking. Therefore, you need high-quality content to rank well in Google search results.
High-quality content must resonate with your audience, be valuable, and demonstrate expertise or authority on a given topic. It must also attract backlinks, which Google’s algorithm heavily considers. Pages with more backlinks tend to rank higher in search results:
Pages with more backlinks tend to rank higher in Google.
Step #8: Track Your Results
Rank tracking is the only way you know if your high search engine ranking optimization efforts are paying off.
We recommend using Google Analytics to track organic traffic. While rankings are vital, organic traffic is the ultimate measure of your SEO success. In fact, the top-ranking page only gets the most search traffic 49% of the time.
#1 page does not always get the most total search traffic.
This discrepancy is due to factors like organic click-through rate (CTR). Sometimes, the #2 result in Google garners more clicks than the #1 result. If you can double your organic CTR, you effectively double your traffic from those keywords.
Besides, consider using the Google Search Console to track impressions and clicks.
As expected, higher impressions and clicks from Google indicate better performance.
Use GSC to track impressions and clicks.
Finally, you must determine if the increased traffic contributes to your bottom line. Use the Goals feature in Google Analytics to track this.
Do You Need Thousands of Dollar Budget To Rank On Google?
No, you don’t necessarily need thousands of dollars to achieve high search engine rankings. Then, how much does it cost to rank high on Google? The answer depends on your market and situation.
| Factor | Consideration |
| Market Competitiveness | Some companies spend over $50,000 monthly on SEO in highly competitive markets. Costs may be lower in less competitive niches. |
| Outsourcing Services | Outsourcing SEO tasks is necessary if you’re too busy for other tasks. However, it comes with a higher cost. |
| SEO Tools and Expertise | Tools like Moz Pro help you understand site performance but require a subscription. |
| Paid Ads | Google paid ads can boost visibility and drive traffic but also require a budget. |
| Continuous Optimization | SEO is an ongoing process requiring continuous monitoring and optimization, which can incur costs over time. |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I increase my Google search ranking?
As listed above, follow this process to increase your Google search ranking:
- Step #1: Improve your on-site SEO.
- Step #2: Add LSI keywords to your page.
- Step #3: Monitor your technical SEO.
- Step #4: Match your content to search intent.
- Step #5: Reduce your bounce rate.
- Step #6: Find more keywords.
- Step #7: Publish high-quality content.
- Step #8: Track your results.
- Can you pay Google to rank higher?
No, you cannot pay Google directly to rank higher in organic search results. Google’s search rankings depend on various factors, such as keywords, site performance, and backlinks.
However, you can pay for Google Ads and invest in SEO practices to increase your visibility and drive traffic to your site.
