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What is a ranking factor/ranking signal in SEO? This is a question that has been asked by many business owners and website owners over the years. And it’s a valid question, too – after all, if you’re looking to rank your website as high as possible in search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to know what factors matter most to the engines themselves.
There are countless articles on ranking factors out there, and trying to determine which ones are the most important can be daunting. But don’t worry – we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll outline four of the most important ranking signals/factors for SEO. We’ll explore each one in depth, so that by the time you finish reading this post, you’ll have a much better understanding of what goes into determining how your site ranks in SERPs.
So without further ado, let’s get started!
On-page factors
On-page factors are those that relate directly to the content and structure of your website. This includes things like title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword density.
Title tags are one of the most important on-page factors – they tell search engines what your page is about, and they appear in the SERPs as the clickable link to your site. Make sure your title tags are relevant to your page content, and include keywords that you want to rank for.
Meta descriptions are another important on-page factor. These are the short descriptions that appear under your title tag in the SERPs. Like title tags, meta descriptions should be relevant to your page content and include keywords you want to rank for.
Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are used to structure your content. They help search engines understand the hierarchy of your content, and they also make it easier for users to scan and digest your content. Again, be sure to include relevant keywords in your header tags.
Finally, keyword density is a measure of how often a particular keyword appears on a page, as a percentage of the total number of words on the page. It’s important to strike a balance here – if you stuff your pages with too many keywords, you’ll be penalized by the search engines for keyword stuffing. But if you don’t include enough keywords, the engines won’t know what your page is about and it will be more difficult for you to rank.
Off-page factors
Off-page factors are those that relate to things outside of your website, such as links from other websites and social media signals.
Links from other websites are perhaps the most important off-page factor. When another website links to yours, it’s like a vote of confidence – it tells the search engines that your site is relevant and trustworthy. The more high-quality links you have pointing to your site, the better.
Social media signals are also becoming increasingly important. Search engines look at things like the number of times your content is shared on social media, and they use this as a signal of quality. The more people who are sharing your content, the more likely it is that it is high-quality and relevant.
Technical factors
Technical factors are those that relate to the behind-the-scenes technical aspects of your website. This includes things like site speed, mobile-friendliness, and indexation.
Site speed is important for both users and search engines. Users expect websites to load quickly, and if yours doesn’t, they’re likely to click away. Search engines also take site speed into account when determining rankings.
Mobile-friendliness is another important technical factor. With more and more people using mobile devices to access the internet, it’s important that your site is optimized for mobile. This means having a responsive design that scales to fit any screen size, and making sure your content is easy to read and navigate on a mobile device.
Finally, indexation is the process by which search engines crawl and index your website. If your site isn’t properly indexed, the search engines won’t be able to find and rank it. There are a number of technical factors that can influence indexation, so it’s important to make sure your website is configured correctly.
Conclusion
These are just four of the most important ranking signals/factors for SEO. Of course, there are many other factors that come into play when determining rankings. But if you focus on these four, you’ll be well on your
Jamie Fallon is an SEO expert who lives life to the maximum, redlining every day on a rollercoaster straight to the grave.
In an SEO career of almost ten years, he’s seen it all, he’s done it all, and he’s not impressed: from white text on a white background to today, when you can have robots paint or write for you like some kind of sick science fiction come true.
No matter what life throws at him, Jamie always manages to come out on top. He’s an expert at seeing the silver lining in every cloud and making the best of every situation. His positive attitude and unshakable faith in himself have seen him through tough times. For some people, success goes to their heads; but Jamie never forgets what got him to wherever he thinks he is.
When he’s not busy gaming the system, you can find him writing angry thinkpieces on how Google is ruining everything good about the internet, or hanging out with his wife (pictured).
