200 SEO Ranking Factors to Win the SERP in 2024

Google has 200 SEO ranking factors in deciding website ranking on search engines. While Google's algorithms are constantly developing and evolving, it's still crucial to know the metrics that are used as benchmarks so you don't take the wrong step.

Most search engines do not provide exact details about their ranking factors. If you ask us, do these SEO factors really work, well, it depends. Some are proven, contradicted, or speculated. Yet, it’s better to know some of these ranking factors than to have zero ideas about them, right?  

So, to increase your site performance and rankings on search engines, here's a list of 200 SEO ranking factors in 2024 that you can learn from.

Top 8 Ranking Factors in SEO

There are 200+ other Google SEO ranking factors to consider, but these are the eight factors you should definitely focus on:

1. Quality Content

Creating quality, informative, and relevant content for your audience is the most important SEO ranking factor.

2. Backlinks

Backlinks work from other sites to your website. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank.

3. Technical SEO

You have to optimize technical SEO appropriately, such as website speed, mobile friendliness, and crawlability, so that search engines can easily index and understand your content.

4. Keyword Optimization

Using relevant keywords throughout the content helps search engines understand what your website is about.

5. User Experience (UX)

User experience measures how comfortable users access your website. Therefore, Google wants to show a website that provides good UX to users.

6. Schema Markup

The type of structured data you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content better.

7. Social Signals

Social signals are likes, shares, and other social interactions that your website content receives. You need to ensure a website is easy to share and drives social interaction.

8. Brand Signals

The overall perception of your brand online. You need to make sure that your brand is well-recognized and respected.

200 SEO Ranking Factors

Here are 200 SEO ranking factors in 2024 based on the focus of each element, such as domains, sites, content, algorithm, backlinks, users, and brand signals.

SEO Ranking Factors in Domain

Here are some SEO ranking factors in the domain that you can take note of:

1. Domain Age

According to Google, domain age does not matter when ranking in Google search results. A previous Google Webmasters YouTube video provides more context, stating, “The difference between a six-month-old domain and a year-old domain is not that big.”

2. Keyword Appears in Top Level Domain

Having keywords in a domain name doesn't provide the SEO boost it once did. However, keywords still serve as a signal of relevance.

3. Domain Registration Length

Google's patent states, “Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while illegitimate domains are rarely used for more than one year. Therefore, the future expiration date of a domain can be used as a factor to predict the validity of a domain.”

4. Keywords in Subdomains 

Moz's panel of experts agrees that keywords appearing in subdomains can improve rankings.

5. Domain History 

A site with unstable ownership or multiple downturns can ask Google to “reset” the site history, removing links pointing to the domain. Or, in certain cases, a penalized domain can pass the penalty on to a new owner.

6. Exact Match Domains

Exact Match Domains (EMD) may have little to no direct SEO benefit. However, if your EMD is a low-quality site, it is vulnerable to EMD updates.

7. Public WhoIs vs. Private WhoIs

Private WhoIs information can be a sign of “something to hide”. Google Matt Cutts states:

“When I checked who was on it, they all had ‘who is privacy protection service’ on it. That's relatively unusual. Enabling who is privacy isn't automatically bad, but once you get several of these factors together, you're often talking about a very different kind of webmaster than the person who just has one or more sites.”

8. Penalized WhoIs Owners

If Google identifies someone as a spammer, then it makes sense that they would check the other sites owned by that person.

9. Country TLD extensions

Having a Country Code Top Level Domain (.cn, .pt, .ca) can sometimes help a site rank for a specific country but can limit a site's ability to rank globally.

SEO Ranking Factors in Page-Level

If you want your site to appear on SERPs, you must use keywords to be easily found by users. Here are the SEO ranking factors at the page level that you should pay attention to:

10. Keywords in Title Tags

Although they are not as important as they used to be, your title tags still serve as an important on-page SEO signal.

11. Title Tags Start with Keywords

According to Moz, title tags that begin with keywords perform better than title tags where the keywords appear at the end.

12. Keywords in the Description Tag 

Google does not use the meta description tag as a direct ranking signal. However, your description tag can influence the click-through rate, which is one of the key ranking factors.

13. Keywords Appear in the H1 Tag

The H1 tag is the “second title tag.” Along with your title tag, Google uses your H1 tag as a secondary relevance signal, according to the results of a correlation study.

14. TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency)

The more frequently that word appears on a page, the more likely it is that the page is related to that word. Google is likely using an advanced version of TF-IDF.

15. Content-Length 

Longer content can cover more topics and is likely to be favoured in the algorithm compared to shorter, superficial articles. A recent study on industry ranking factors found that the average result on Google's first page is about 1400 words long.

16. Table of Contents 

Using a linked table of contents can help Google better understand the content of your page. It can also generate site links.

17. Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords in Content (LSI) 

LSI keywords help search engines extract meaning from words that have multiple meanings. The presence/absence of LSI may also serve as a signal of content quality.

18. LSI Keywords in Titles and Description Tags 

Just like the content of a web page, LSI keywords in the page's meta tags likely help Google differentiate between words with various meanings. It can also serve as a signal of relevance.

19. Pages Discussing Topics in Depth

There is a clear correlation between the depth of topic discussion and Google rankings. Therefore, pages that cover every possible angle have an advantage over pages that only address the topic partially.

20. Page Load Speed Through HTML

Google and Bing use page speed as a ranking factor. Now, they use actual Chrome user data to assess loading speed.

21. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

While not a direct ranking factor from Google, AMP may be a requirement for ranking in the mobile version of the Google News Carousel.
 

22. Entity Relevance

The page content should aligned with an entity that the user is searching for. This is to make the page rank higher for that keyword.

23. Google Hummingbird 

This algorithm change helps Google go beyond keywords. Thanks to Hummingbird, Google can now better understand the topic of a web page.

24. Duplicate Content

Identical content on the same site (even if slightly modified) can negatively impact the site's visibility in search engines.

25. Rel=Canonical

When used correctly, this tag can prevent Google from penalizing your site for duplicate content.

26. Image Optimization

Images send important relevance signals to search engines through file names, alt text, titles, descriptions, and captions. Optimizing your images for search is very important so that they can be indexed properly.

27. Content Freshness

The Google Caffeine update prioritizes newly published or updated content, especially for time-sensitive searches. Highlighting the importance of this factor, Google displays the last updated date of a page for certain pages.

28. The Extent of Content Renewal

The significance of editing and changes also serves as a factor of novelty. Adding or removing entire sections is far more significant than changing the order of a few words or correcting typos.

29. History Page Updates 

How often is this page updated over time? Daily, weekly, every 5 years? The frequency of page updates also plays a role in freshness.

30. Keyword Prominence

Having keywords that appear in the first 100 words of the page content correlates with ranking on the first page of Google.

31. Keywords for Tag H2, H3

Having your keywords appear as subtitles in H2 or H3 format may be another weak signal of relevance. John Mueller from Google stated, “These heading tags in HTML help us understand the structure of the page.”

32. Quality of Outbound Links

Many SEO experts argue that linking to authoritative sites helps send trust signals to Google. This is supported by a recent industry study.

33. Outbound Link Theme

According to the Hilltop Algorithm, Google may use content from the pages you link to as a relevance signal. For example, if you have a page about cars that links to pages related to the movie, this could inform Google that your page is about the film Cars, not about cars.

34. Grammar and Spelling

Proper grammar and spelling are signals of quality, even though Cutts delivered a mixed message a few years ago about whether this is important or not.

35. Syndicated Content

The content on the page you create must be original work. If it is taken or copied from an indexed page, it will not rank well or may not be indexed at all.

36. Mobile-Friendly Update 

Often referred to as “Mobilegeddon,” this update rewards pages that are well-optimized for mobile devices.

37. Mobile Usability 

Websites that are user-friendly for mobile users may have an advantage in Google's “Mobile-first Index.”

38. Hidden Content on Mobile

Content that is hidden on mobile devices may not be indexed compared to fully visible content. However, a Google employee recently stated that hidden content is allowed. But it also stated that in the same video, “if it is crucial content, it must be visible.”

39. Useful Additional Content

According to the now-published Google Evaluator Guidelines, useful additional content is an indicator of the quality of a page, such as currency converters, loan interest calculators, and interactive recipes.

40. Hidden Content Behind Tabs

Do users need to click on tabs to reveal some of the content on your page? If that's the case, Google has stated that this content “may not be indexed.”

41. Number of Outbound Links

Too many followed OBLs can “leak” PageRank, ruining the page’s ranking.

42. Multimedia

Images, videos, and other multimedia elements can signal content quality.

43. The Number of Internal Links Leading to a Page

The number of internal links is more important compared to other pages on the site.

44. The Quality of Internal Links Refers to Pages

Internal links from pages that have authority within the domain have a stronger influence compared to pages that do not have authority or have low PageRank.

45. Broken Links

Having too many broken links on a page can be a sign of a neglected or abandoned site. The Google Evaluator Guidelines document uses broken links to assess a main page's quality.

46. Reading Level

It is undeniable that Google estimates the reading level of web pages. But what they do with that information is still a matter of debate. Some people say that a basic reading level will help you achieve a better ranking because it will appeal to a wider audience. However, others associate a basic reading level with content sites like Ezine Articles.

47. Affiliate Links

The affiliate links themselves may not negatively impact your ranking. However, if you have too many, Google's algorithm may pay more attention to other quality signals to ensure you are not a “thin affiliate site.”

48. HTML Errors/W3C Validation

Many HTML errors or careless coding can be a sign of a low-quality site. Although controversial, many people in SEO argue that well-coded pages serve as quality signals.

49. Domain Authority

With everything being equal, a page on a domain with higher authority will rank higher than a page on a domain with lower authority.

50. Page Rank of the Page

Not perfectly correlated. However, pages with high authority tend to rank higher compared to pages that do not have much link authority.

51. URL Length

URLs that are too long can harm a page's visibility in search engines. Several industry studies have found that shorter URLs tend to have a slight advantage in Google search results.

52. URL Path

A page that is closer to the homepage may gain a slight boost in authority compared to pages that are buried deep within the site's architecture.

53. Human Editor

Although it has not yet been confirmed, Google has filed a patent for a system that allows human editors to influence SERP.

54. Page Category

The category in which the page appears serves as a signal of relevance. A page that is part of a highly related category may receive a relevance boost compared to a page categorized under an unrelated category.

55. Keywords in the URL

Google recently mentioned that relevance signals are a very small ranking factor, but they still play an important role in determining rankings.

56. URL String

Google reads categories within the URL and uses that information to provide thematic signals about the content page.

57. References and Sources

Citing references and sources, as done by research papers, can be an indicator of quality. Google's Quality Guidelines state “This is a topic where expertise or authoritative sources are important.” Reviewers should pay attention to the source when viewing a particular page. In addition, Google rejects the use of external links to determine rankings.

58. Bullet Points and Numbers

Bullet points and numbers help break down your content for readers, making it easier to use. Google likely agrees and may prefer content that utilizes bullet points and numbers.

59. Page Priority in Sitemap

The priority given to a page through the sitemap.xml file can affect its ranking.

60. Too Many Outbound Links 

Directly from the previously mentioned Quality Assessment document: “Some pages have too many links, cluttering the page and distracting from the Main Content.”

61. UX Signal from Rankings of Other Keywords 

If the page ranks for several other keywords, it may provide an internal signal about its quality to Google. Google's latest report titled “How Search Works” states: “We are looking for a site that seems to be valued by many users for similar questions.”

62. Page Age

Although Google prefers fresh content, an older page that is regularly updated may outperform a newer page.

63. User-Friendly Layout

Google Quality Guidelines state that high-quality pages make the main content immediately visible.

64. Parked Domains

Google's update in December 2011 reduced search visibility for parked domains.

65. Useful Content

As expressed by Jared Carrizales, Google may differentiate between “quality” content and “useful” content.

SEO Ranking Factors in Site-Level

Ranking factors include the elements you have throughout the site. If you want to maintain a strong position in the SERPs, your site must operate well for both search engines and users. Here are some site-level SEO ranking factors:

66. Content Providing Unique Value and Insights 

Google stated that they would be happy to penalize sites that do not bring something new or useful, especially thin affiliate sites.

67. Contact Page

The previously mentioned Google Quality document states that they prefer sites with “appropriate contact information.” Make sure that your contact information matches your who-is information.

68. Domain Trust/TrustRank

Many SEO experts believe that “TrustRank” is a very important ranking factor. A Google patent titled “Ranking search results based on trust” seems to support this.

69. Site Architecture

A well-structured site architecture helps Google organize your content thematically. It can also assist Googlebot in accessing and indexing all pages of your site.

70. Site Updates

Many SEO experts believe that website updates especially when new content is added to the site, act as a freshness factor across the site. Although Google recently denied that they use “publication frequency” in their algorithm.

71. Presence of a Sitemap

A sitemap helps search engines index your pages more easily and thoroughly, enhancing visibility. However, Google recently stated that HTML sitemaps are not “useful” for SEO.

72. Site Uptime

A significant amount of downtime due to site maintenance or server issues can harm your ranking.

73. Server Location

The location of the server affects where your site ranks in various geographical regions. It is very important for specific searches based on location.

74. SSL Certificate 

Google confirmed that the usage of HTTPS is a ranking signal. However, according to them, HTTPS only serves as a “tiebreaker.”

75. E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) 

An abbreviation for “Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness.” Google may give an advantage to sites with high E-A-T levels, especially sites that publish health-related content.

76. Duplicate Meta Information on the Site

Duplicate meta information across your site can reduce the visibility of all your pages.

77. Breadcrumb Navigation

This is a user-friendly site architecture style that helps users and search engines understand where they are on a site. Google Search uses breadcrumb markup in the body of web pages to categorize information from those pages in search results.

78. Optimized for Mobile 

With more than half of all searches conducted from mobile devices, Google wants to see that your site is optimized for mobile users. In fact, Google is now penalizing websites that are not mobile-friendly.

79. YouTube

There is no doubt that YouTube videos receive special treatment in the SERP. Search Engine Land found that traffic to YouTube.com significantly increased after Google Panda.

80. Site Usability

A site that is difficult to use or navigate can indirectly harm rankings by reducing the time spent on the site, the number of pages viewed, and the bounce rate.

81. Google Analytics and Google Search Console

Some people argue that having both of these programs installed on your site can improve your page indexing. They can also directly influence rankings by providing more data for Google to process. Thus, Google has debunked this as a myth.

82. User Reviews or Site reputation 

The reputation of a site on platforms like Yelp.com is likely to play an important role in Google's algorithm. Google even posted a rarely open outline about how they use online reviews after one site was caught deceiving customers in an attempt to gain media attention and links.

83. Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are “more than just a tiebreaker” in terms of their impact on rankings.

SEO Ranking Factors in Backlink

Backlinks are one of the essential elements in successful SEO. Therefore, links from reputable websites will help your linked pages and site rank better in SERPs. Here are some SEO ranking factors on backlinks:

84. Age of Linking Domains

Backlinks from aged domains may be stronger compared to links from new domains.

85. Connecting Root Domains

The number of referring domains is one of the most important ranking factors in Google's algorithm, as evidenced by our industry study of 11.8 million Google search results.

86. Links from Separate Class C IPs 

Links from different IP addresses indicate a variety of sites linking to you, which can help with rankings.

87. Linking Pages

The total number of linking pages can affect rankings even from the same domain.

88. Anchor Text Backlink

As noted in the original description of Google's algorithm, “First, anchor text often provides a more accurate description of a webpage than the page itself.” The anchor text is less important than before. However, rich keyword anchor text still sends strong relevance signals in small doses.

89. Alt Text (for Image Links)

Alt text serves as anchor text for images.

90. Links from .edu or .gov Domains

Matt Cutts has stated that TLD does not affect a site. In addition, Google has also said that they ignore many Edu links. However, that hasn't stopped SEOs from believing that there is a special place in the algorithm for .gov and .edu TLDs.

91. Linking Page Authority

The authority Page Rank of the referring page has been a very important ranking factor since the early days of Google and continues to be.

92. Linking Domain Authority

Domain authority can be referenced by playing an independent role in link value.

93. Links from Competitors

Links from other pages that are on the same SERP may be more valuable for ranking a page for specific keywords.

94. Links from Expected Websites

Some SEO experts believe that Google will not fully trust your website until you obtain links from a range of "expected" authority sites in your industry.

95. Links from a Bad Environment

Links from what is referred to as a bad environment (e.g. low-quality or spammy websites, link farms, or sites with dubious content) can significantly harm your site. 

96. Guest Posts

Although links from guest posts still provide value, they are likely not as strong as actual editorial links.

97. Links from Ads

According to Google, links from ads should be given the nofollow attribute or use rel=sponsored. However, it is highly likely that Google can identify and filter followed links from ads.

98. Homepage Authority

Links to the homepage from referral pages can play a special role in evaluating the weight of a site.

99. Nofollow Links

This is one of the most controversial topics in SEO, having a certain percentage of nofollow links can also indicate a natural versus unnatural link profile.

100. Diversity of Link Types

Having a large percentage of links from a single source, such as forum profiles and blog comments can be a sign of web spam. On the other hand, links from multiple sources are a sign of a natural link profile.

101. “Sponsors” or “UGC” Tag

Links tagged as “rel=sponsored” or “rel=UGC” are treated differently compared to regular “followed” links or rel=nofollow.

102. Contextual Links

Links embedded within content can be stronger than links found on a blank page or elsewhere on the page.

103. Excessive 301 Redirects to Pages

According to the Webmaster Help Video, backlinks coming from 301 redirects will reduce some PageRank.

104. Anchor Text of Internal Links

Anchor text from internal links is another relevant signal. So, internal links tend to have much less weight compared to anchor text from external sites.

105. Link Attribution Title

The link title or text that appears when you move your cursor over the link can also be used as a weak relevance signal.

106. Country TLD from Referral Domain 

Getting links from country-specific top-level domain extensions, such as .de, .cn, and .co.uk can help you achieve better rankings in those countries.

107. Link Location in Content

Links at the beginning of content will likely have a slightly greater weight compared to links placed at the end of the content.

108. Link Location on the Page

In general, links embedded within the page content are stronger than links found in the footer or sidebar areas.

109. Relevance of Link Domains

Links from sites within a similar niche are much stronger than links from completely unrelated sites.

110. Page Relevance

A link from a relevant page also adds more value to your content. It may also boost your SEO rankings.

111. Keywords in the Title

Google pays more attention to links from pages that contain keywords in the title, also known as experts linking to each other.

112. Positive Link Velocity

A site with positive link velocity typically sees an increase in SERP rankings because it indicates that your site is becoming more popular.

113. Negative Link Velocity

Negative link velocity can significantly lower rankings as it is a signal of declining popularity.

114. Links from “Hub” Pages

The Hilltop algorithm indicates that obtaining links from pages considered as primary sources (or hubs) on a topic receives special treatment.

115. Links from Authority Sites

Links from sites considered "authority sites" are likely to provide more benefits compared to links from smaller, relatively unknown sites.

116. Regarding Wikipedia Sources

Many believe that obtaining a link from Wikipedia provides a bit of trust and additional authority in the eyes of search engines, but Google has denied this.

117. Co-Occurrence

Words that tend to appear around your backlinks help inform Google about what the page is about.

118. Age of Backlinks

According to Google's patent, older links have higher ranking power compared to newly created backlinks.

119. Links from Real Sites vs. “Splogs”

Due to the proliferation of blog networks, Google may place more weight on links coming from “real sites” compared to fake blogs. They are likely using brand signals and user interactions to differentiate between the two.

120. Natural Link Profile

A site with a “natural” link profile will rank higher and be more resilient to updates compared to those that clearly use black hat strategies to build links.

121. Reciprocal Links

The Google Link Scheme page lists “Excessive link exchanges” as a link scheme to avoid.

122. User-Generated Content Links

Google can distinguish between user-generated content and content published by the site owner itself. For example, they know that links from the official WordPress.com blog are very different from links from seoagency.wordpress.com.

123. Links from 301

Links from a 301 redirect may lose some strength compared to direct links. However, Matt Cutts stated that 301s are similar to direct links.

124. Schema.org Usage

Pages that support microformats may rank higher than pages that do not use them. This could be a direct boost or the fact that pages with micro formatting have a higher SERP CTR.

125. TrustRank of Linking Sites

The trustworthiness of the sites linking to you determines how much "TrustRank" is passed on to you.

126. The Number of Outbound Links on a Page

Page Rank is limited; a link on a page with hundreds of external links provides less PageRank compared to a page with only a few outbound links.

127. Forum Links

Due to industry-level spam, Google may significantly reduce the value of links from forums.

128. Number of Words in Link Content

A link from a 1000-word post is usually more valuable than a link found in a snippet of 25 words.

129. Quality of Link Content

Links from poorly written or spun content do not provide as much value as links from well-written content.

130. Sitewide Links

Matt Cutts has confirmed that sitewide links are “pushed” to be counted as a single link.

SEO Ranking Factors in User

Google's search engine works on your website based on user intent. Here are some SEO ranking factors in user that you should be aware of:

131. RankBrain

RankBrain is Google's AI algorithm. Many believe that its main purpose is to measure how users interact with search results.

132. Organic Click-Through Rate for a Keyword

According to Google, pages that are clicked more frequently in CTR may receive a boost in SERP for that specific keyword.

133. Organic CTR for All Keywords

The organic CTR of a site for all the keywords it ranks for can serve as a signal of human-based user interaction. In other words, "Quality Score" for organic results.

134. Bounce Rate

Not everyone in SEO agrees that bounce rate is important, but this may be how Google uses its users as quality testers. In addition, a large study by SEMRush found a correlation between bounce rates and Google rankings.

135. Direct Traffic

It is confirmed that Google uses data from Google Chrome to determine how many people visit a site. Sites with a lot of direct traffic tend to be higher quality compared to sites that receive very little direct traffic. The SEMRush study I just mentioned found a significant correlation between direct traffic and Google rankings.

136. Repeat Traffic

Sites with returning visitors may see an increase in their rankings on Google.

137. Pogosticking

Pogosticking is a specific type of bouncing. In this case, users click on other search results in an effort to find answers to their questions. The results obtained by people using Pogostick may experience a significant drop in rankings.

138. Blocked Sites

Google has discontinued this feature in Chrome. However, Panda uses this feature as a quality signal.

139. Chrome Bookmarks

We know that Google collects usage data from the Chrome browser. Bookmarked pages in Chrome may receive a boost.

140. Number of Comments

Pages with a lot of comments may signal user interaction and quality. Actually, a Google employee said that comments can help a lot in rankings.

141. Dwell Time

Google pays attention to how long people spend on your page when coming from a Google search. This is sometimes referred to as “long clicks vs short clicks”. In short, Google measures how long searchers spend on your page. The longer time is spent, the better.

SEO Ranking Factors in Google Algorithm Rules

Algorithms can change a page's ability to rank. So, there are some SEO ranking factors in Google's algorithm that you should consider:

142. Demand Requires Freshness

Google gives a boost to newer pages for certain searches.

143. Demand Requires Diversity 

Google may add diversity to the SERP for ambiguous keywords, such as "Ted," "WWF," or "ruby."

144. User Browsing History

You may have already noticed this yourself: the websites you frequently visit gain improved SERP rankings for your searches.

145. User Search History

The search chain influences the results of subsequent searches. For example, if Google knows a user frequents Site A, it will likely give that website a ranking boost in that user's searches.

146. Featured Snippet

According to a SEMRush study, Google selects Featured Snippet content based on a combination of content length, format, page authority, and the use of HTTPS.

147. Geo-targeting

Google gives preference to sites with local server IPs and country-specific domain extensions.

148. Safe Search

Search results containing profanity or adult content will not appear for individuals who have activated Safe Search.

149. The Keyword “YMYL”

Google has higher content quality standards for the keywords “Your Money or Your Life.”

150. DMCA Complaint

Google “lowers the ranking” of pages that have valid DMCA complaints.

151. Domain Diversity

What is referred to as the “Bigfoot Update” is said to add more domains to each SERP page.

152. Transactional Search

Google sometimes displays different results for keywords related to shopping, such as flight searches.

153. Local Search

For local SEO ranking factors, Google often places local results above normal organic SERPs.

154. Top News Box

Certain keywords trigger the appearance of the Top News Box.

155. Preference for Big Brands

After the Vince Update, Google began to give a boost to big brands for certain keywords.

156. Shopping Results

Google sometimes displays Google Shopping results in organic SERPs, which can lower a site's ranking. However, if your website advertises with Google Shopping, you can take advantage of this search ranking factor.

157. Image Results

Google Images sometimes appear in normal organic search results.

158. Easter Egg Results

Google has about a dozen Easter Egg results. For example, when you search for Atari Breakout in Google Images, the search results turn into a playable game.

159. Single Site Results for Brands

Domain or brand-oriented keywords yield multiple results from the same site.

160. Salary Loan Renewal

This is a specialized algorithm designed to filter out “highly spammy queries.”

SEO Ranking Factors in Brand Signals

Brand signals play an important role in SEO ranking, here are the factors you should pay attention to:

161. Brand Name Anchor Text

Branded anchor text is when your brand name is used as the words that are attached to a web link.

162. Brand Search

People are searching for brands. If people search for your brand on Google, it shows Google that your site is a legitimate brand.

163. Brand Search and Keywords

Google may give you a ranking boost when people search for non-branded keyword versions on Google.

164. Sites Have Facebook Pages and Likes 

Brands tend to have Facebook pages with many likes.

165. A Site has a Twitter Profile with Followers

A Twitter profile with many followers indicates a popular brand.

166. Official Company Page on LinkedIn

Most legitimate businesses have a company page on LinkedIn.

167. Known Ownership

In February 2013, Google CEO Eric Schmidt claimed, “In search results, information related to verified online profiles will be ranked higher compared to content that lacks verification, which will lead most users to naturally click on the top results.”

168. Legitimacy of Social Media Accounts 

A social media account with 10,000 followers and 2 posts may be interpreted very differently compared to another account that also has 10,000 followers but with a lot of interactions. Google has filed a patent to determine whether a social media account is real or fake.

169. Brand Mentions in Major News

Big brands are often mentioned on major news sites. Some brands even have news feeds from their websites on the front page.

170. Unlinked Brand Mentions

Brands are mentioned without receiving a link. Google is likely to view unlinked brand mentions as brand signals.

171. Physical Location

A real business has an office. There is a possibility that Google is looking for location data to determine whether a site is a major brand or not.

SEO Ranking Factors in On-Site Webspam

There are some SEO ranking factors related to on-site webspam that you should consider.

172. Panda Penalty

Sites with low-quality content became less visible in searches after being hit by the Panda penalty.

173. Links to Bad Neighborhoods

Associating with “bad neighborhoods” such as spam pharmacy sites or payday loans can harm your search visibility.

174. Transfer

Fraudulent transfer is something that should never be done. If caught, a site can not only face sanctions but also be removed from the index.

175. Popups or “Disruptive Ads”

The official Google Evaluator Guidelines document states that popups and disruptive ads are indicators of low-quality sites.

176. Interstitial Popup

Google may penalize sites that display full-page "interstitial" popups to mobile users.

177. Over-Optimization of Sites

Google does penalize those who over-optimize their sites. This includes keyword stuffing, filling in header tags, and excessive keyword decoration.

178. Nonsense Content

A Google patent explains how Google can identify "nonsense" content, which is useful for filtering out replayed or automatically generated content from their index.

179. Doorway Pages

Google wants the page you show to them to be the page that users ultimately see. If your page directs people to another page, it is called a "Doorway Page." Needless to say, Google does not favour sites that use Doorway Pages.

180. Ads Above the Fold

Page Layout Algorithm penalizes sites that have a lot of ads (and little content) above the fold.

181. Hiding Affiliate Links

Going too far in trying to conceal affiliate links (especially through disguise) can result in penalties.

182. Fred

A nickname given to a series of Google updates that started in 2017. According to Search Engine Land, Fred “targets low-value content sites that prioritize revenue over helping their users.”

183. Affiliate Sites

There's no secret that Google is not the biggest fan of affiliates. Many believe that sites monetizing through affiliate programs receive extra scrutiny.

184. Automatically Generated Content

Google certainly does not favor content that is generated automatically. If they suspect that your site is producing computer-generated content, it could result in a penalty or removal from the index.

185. Excessive PageRank Sculpting 

Going too far in sculpting Page Rank by applying nofollow to all outbound links can be a sign that someone is trying to manipulate the system.

186. IP Address Marked as Spam

If your server's IP address is marked as spam, it can affect all the sites on that server.

187. Spam Tag Meta

Keyword stuffing can also occur in meta tags. If Google believes you are adding keywords to your title and description tags to manipulate the algorithm, they may penalize your site.

SEO Ranking Factors in Off-Site Webspam

After exploring on-site webspam, here are some SEO ranking factors related to off-site that are also important to consider.

188. Hacked Site

If your site is hacked, it may be removed from search results. Search Engine Land was removed from the index after Google believed the site had been hacked.

189. The Influx of Unnatural Links: A sudden (and unnatural) influx of links is a sure sign of fake links.

190. Penalty Penguin

Sites affected by Google Penguin have become much less visible in search results. Nevertheless, it seems that Penguin is now more focused on filtering out bad links rather than punishing entire websites.

191. High Percentage Link Profile Low-Quality Links

Many links from sources commonly used by black hat SEO (such as blog comments and forum profiles) can indicate that the system is being manipulated.

192. Links from Unrelated Sites

A high percentage of backlinks from sites that are not relevant to the topic can increase the likelihood of facing manual penalties.

193. Unnatural Links Warning

Google has sent thousands of “Google Search Console Notifications about links detected as unnatural.” This is usually preceded by a drop in rankings, although not always 100%.

194. Low-Quality Directory Links

According to Google, backlinks from low-quality directories can result in penalties.

195. Widget Links

Google does not favor links that are automatically generated when users embed widgets on their sites.

196. Links from the Same Class C IP

Obtaining an unusual number of links from sites on the same server can help Google determine that your links come from a blog network.

197. Toxic Anchor Text

Having toxic anchor text, such as pharmaceutical keywords, might be a sign of spam or a hacked site. However, it can negatively impact your site's ranking.

198. Unnatural Link Spikes 

A Google patent from 2013 explains how Google can identify whether a spike in links to a page is legitimate or not. Those unnatural links may lose their value.

199. Links from Article and Press Release Directories

Article and press release directories have been abused to the point where Google now considers both link-building strategies as "link schemes" in many cases.

200. Manual Actions

There are several types of these actions, but most are related to unethical link-building.

201. Selling Links

Being caught selling links can harm your search visibility.

202. Google Sandbox

New sites that experience a sudden surge in backlinks are sometimes placed in the Google Sandbox, which temporarily limits search visibility.

203. Google Dance

Google Dance can temporarily change rankings. According to a Google Patent, this may be a way for them to determine whether a site is trying to manipulate the algorithm.

204. Disavow Tool

The use of the Disavow Tool can remove manual or algorithmic penalties for sites that have fallen victim to negative SEO.
 

205. Petition for Judicial Review

A successful petition for judicial review can eliminate sanctions.
 

206. Temporary Link Scheme

Google has recognized people who create and quickly delete spam links. It is also known as a temporary link scheme.
 

Conclusion

Google uses a complicated algorithm to rank web pages in its search results to prevent spammers or people who aim to manipulate the search result pages. 

Although the details are uncertain, Google has considered more than 200 different ranking factors when determining the quality of a web page.

Improving SEO ranking factors can put your website on the top page of the search. To experience this, consider investing in professional SEO Services by cmlabs and watch your website rank 1 in search engines.