4 Important Google Ranking Factors in 2018
Google’s ranking algorithm has more than 200 components or signals. This can seem overwhelming, but fortunately, SEO is not about getting everything right. Rather, it is about prioritizing the factors that make the most impact based on industry research. Read on for the four important Google Ranking factors in 2018:
1. Google Mobile First
Google’s Mobile First signifies that Google will mainly crawl the mobile websites. It is now crucial that your content is responsive on all mobile devices. Your mobile content should also mirror what’s on your desktop site.
What to do:
- Add and verify the mobile version of your website with Google Search Console.
- Optimize page load speed. Your mobile site should load in 2 seconds or less.
- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check for issues and fixes.
- If you plan to build or redesign your website, make sure that both the mobile version and desktop version are ready before you fully launch.
2. Quality Content
Results from a study conducted by Backlinko found that longer content outranked short articles in Google.
The latest Google algorithm, Rankbrain, places importance on the semantic search. Unlike keyword search, semantic search seeks to understand the contextual meaning of the searcher’s intent to generate relevant results.
So, it all boils down to quality content remaining an important Google ranking factor in 2018. Quality means relevant and comprehensive content that answers the search queries of a Google searcher:
What to do:
- Beef up any existing ‘thin’ or short content. Repurpose short blogs into more comprehensive articles or guides.
- Create comprehensive content about rarely-written but relevant topics in your niche. Doing so will improve your ‘authority’ in your area of expertise. Take a different route from your competitors by writing from a unique perspective. Conduct interviews and surveys to come up with your own original content. Stay relevant by producing content about your subject matter and linking them to emerging market issues and technology trends.
- Add LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords and phrases to your blogs and web content. Use Google Keyword Planner to do this.
- Publish content regularly to increase your visibility with the search engines.
3. On Page Factors
On-page factors are the technical elements that Google uses to rank your page: title tags, H1 tags, and meta descriptions. On-page optimization is significant because it plays an important part in your Google ranking and its SERP appearance.
What to do:
- Include essential keywords in your title tag. Place them at the beginning of the tag to increase your page’s chance to rank for that keyword.
- Keep in mind that your tags are meant for your target audience, so they have to make logical sense. Avoid keyword stuffing.
- Don’t duplicate title tags on your website.
- Target keywords should be included in your H1 tag.
- Write your meta description accurately to improve your click-through rate.
4. Off Page Factors
Today, web pages are scored higher not for how many backlinks they contain, but only if the links are from several diverse and authoritative domains.
What to do:
- Produce high-quality content and promote it via social media, email marketing, online forums, and discussion boards.
- Enhance a popular blog with lots of backlinks with a more comprehensive article and share it.
- Use link auditing software to monitor your backlinks and remove spammy and low-quality ones.