Google Ranking Factors
That May Surprise You

Google has always kept the details of its ranking algorithms under wraps, causing website owners and SEO gurus to speculate a bit about what to prioritize for optimal SEO results–and the algorithms change over time, to stay relevant, adding to the mystery.

There are some obvious SEO steps that pay dividends when you want to rank high for your focus keywords, like keeping those keywords in your page titles and headers, and maintaining plenty of relevant content surrounding those keywords. Then, there are some less-obvious things about your website that also seem to matter.

Last month, Brian Dean at backlinko.com compiled “the complete list” of Google’s 200 Ranking Factors (proven or…otherwise) that you should consider when optimizing your site. Here are just a few from that list that you may want to know about:

Chrome Bookmarks

We know that Google collects browser usage data…it logically follows that the number of times a page is bookmarked by end users would be a strong indicator of how useful and relevant it is.

Length of time until your domain registration expires

Quite simply, legitimate domains might be pre-paid years in advance, whereas illegitimate domains are typically used and then dumped within the first year of registration. So adding additional years to your registration may indicate to Google that you’re here to stay. (And steady PAST ownership may also help you rank better.)

Inbound Links

When other sites link to yours, the referring site’s age, content quality, and PageRank are all indicators of how important and trustworthy your site is in the grand scheme of things. Choose your friends carefully.

URL length & path

An excessively long domain name may hurt you, and a path that indicates a page is buried deep in your site may also signal to Google that the page isn’t important to your website or its visitors.

SSL Certificates

For more than a year now, Google has been indexing SSL certificates and they have confirmed that they use HTTPS as a ranking signal.

Mobile Optimization

As mentioned in our last post, Google checks all sites for mobile-friendly, responsive design. If your site doesn’t work well for mobile users, you’re at a disadvantage to your mobile-friendly competitors.

For the full list of Google’s 200 Ranking Factors, check out the full article at backlinko.com. Just remember, SEO is a lot like home improvement–no matter how much time you spend on it, you’re never truly done.

If you have questions about this topic, or any other questions/suggestions about website development, brand development, or digital marketing, please send an email to [email protected]. We appreciate your suggestions, and enjoy helping you make the most of your brand and your online presence.

Tags: content marketing, google partner, search engine marketing, search engine optimization