Top 7 SEO ranking factors

SEO is one of the most powerful sources of traffic. Organic traffic is high-quality, but that also requires a high-quality website. We’ve put together 7 insights into ranking factors that will help your website rank higher in Google. 

#1. Keep publishing high-quality content

SEO is all about good content, but what exactly does ‘good’ mean? If your content satisfactorily answers the questions of future customers, then you’re on the right track. Ultimately, your web content should be aimed at people, so it should consist of well-written sentences rather than being overtly optimised for the ‘ideal’ keyword density (the ratio of a keyword to the total text). Don’t be too restrictive on the length of your texts (500 to 5,000 words) and keep the content up to date. 

#2. Make your website mobile-friendly

It seems like a no-brainer, but not all websites are still being launched as mobile-friendly. Experience shows that 65% of most visitors view the website on a smartphone. It’s also a fact that 65% of online shop purchases are made on a desktop, but within the customer journey (the purchasing process), this was almost certainly preceded by a visit on a smartphone. Put yourself in the shoes of an imaginary customer and then take a critical look to see whether you, too, would find the mobile experience enjoyable. If not, there’s work to be done. That’s why Google rewards websites with higher rankings. 

#3. Secure data encryption (https)

Security is paramount. If people can use forms on the website, the data transfer must be encrypted. Safeguarding privacy is of the utmost importance and helps to keep hackers at bay. 

#4. Optimising the user experience

A well-organised website is worth its weight in gold. When designing the website, take into account the needs of different target audiences. Everyone should be able to find an answer within three clicks. Also ensure that elements such as forms function logically. Adhere to web standards so that people don’t have to study your website first to work out how it works. It should be as intuitive as possible, so that everyone understands it straight away. Google’s algorithm calculates what is known as an accessibility score. The higher the score, the better. 

#5. Super-fast charging times

A fast website ensures that people view more pages during their visit and, as a result, take in more information. What’s more, it leaves them with a positive user experience. Google also wants its users to continue having a positive user experience. If Google were constantly redirecting people to unfriendly websites, people would stop using Google. Naturally, they don’t want that, which is why they reward fast websites with higher rankings. The biggest pitfalls on your website are images, style sheets, JavaScript files and hosting. 

#6. On-page optimisation

If you want to be found for specific keywords, those keywords must be included in the navigation, meta tags, image file names, text and internal links. Also ensure you have structured data; this is a search engine feature that enables Google to better understand specific pieces of content and establish relationships between them. This increases the likelihood of rich snippets appearing in Google’s search results, making your website stand out even more.

#7. Link building to boost authority

The more links there are pointing to your website, the greater your authority. A website with high authority achieves higher rankings than a small website. Quantity is important, but quality is better. If you have ten links from high-authority websites, that’s better than a hundred links from low-authority websites. The point is that you need to constantly invest time in finding new links and thus keep working on building your authority. 

SEO is a broad field of expertise, operating at the intersection of technology, content and authority. Your SEO efforts are dependent on the level of online competition. In the travel industry, competition is fierce, whereas for a company in the steel construction sector, it is far less intense. SEO Ninja has extensive experience with both large and small SEO projects and We’d be happy to help you get further up!