Google’s Top Three Search Ranking Factors
Google has one universal mission as it relates to their search engine:
“To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Google’s mission has long been to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible. Their approach to search has always been very user-centric.
For years, SEOs and digital marketers pondered and debated what the most important ranking factors in Google’s algorithm were.
Then in 2016, they came right out and told everyone.
Links, content, and RankBrain are the primary factors determining how Google ranks web pages in it’s search results.
Search Engine Land published the above pictured article in March of 2016 covering Google’s announcement of the top 3 ranking factors it evaluates when it comes to ranking web pages in organic search. You can watch the full video with the announcement here.
Ranking Factor #1: Links
Links have always been a part of Google’s algorithm from the very beginning. Both the quality and quantity of links still matters today.
In the eyes of Google, each link pointing at a page is like a vote for that piece of content.
In the above illustration, website A has built a link on one of its pages to a page on website B. Google sees this link as a vote for website B provided by website A.
The more unique votes from reputable websites that a page has, the more authoritative it appears to Google, and hence the higher it ranks in search results (all else being equal).
We like to use the following analogy: If you’re trying to win an election, you want to get as many votes as possible. If you’re trying to “win” and be at the top of Google, you want as many high-quality links as possible.
What Makes a High-Quality Link?
Here’s a great explanation by May Soon of Ahrefs:
“There are some common indicators of a backlink being high quality. Please note that no one can tell you for sure how search engines measure the quality of backlinks. The further information is our experience-based recommendation.
- The most valuable backlinks are those editorially placed somewhere within the content (i.e. not in the footer or sidebar). Basically, if website owners refer to your page voluntarily, they give you a valuable vote of confidence.
Note how the hyperlink in this screenshot is placed within the body of the copy on the page. Google places more weight on these links because they are deliberate and prominent on the page.
- Authority of the linking page/site. You can determine how much of “link juice” you’re getting from a given backlink by the authority of a particular page that links to you — its URL Rating (UR). (You can find more information about Ahrefs UR metric here.) As a general rule, a link from a high authority site will be more powerful than a link from a low authority one. We at Ahrefs use the Domain Rating (DR) metric to measure an overall website authority.
In the example above, The Wall Street Journal is an extremely authoritative site. A link from a site like this would carry a lot of weight in the eyes of Google.
- Besides DR and UR metrics, what also matters is a number of outgoing links a website has. A backlink from a website (domain) or from a web page that links to hundreds of other URLs will be less valuable than the one from a website with just a few outgoing links.
In the example above, The Wall Street Journal is an extremely authoritative site. A link from a site like this would carry a lot of weight in the eyes of Google.
- “Do-follow” links are preferable. At the same time, the search engine optimization community hasn’t come to an agreement if no-follow links help you rank or not. Basically, if you have a chance to get a no-follow link from a high-quality website, then go for it.
By default, all links are configured as <span class="inline-code">dofollow</span>. By adding the <span class="inline-code">rel=”nofollow”</span> attribute, Google is instructed to not pass PageRank to the target domain.
- Our research has shown that an anchor text might have an influence on the quality and relevancy of a backlink. (You can find the full research here.) It’s essential for search engines to be able to choose the right keywords to rank your content for, that’s why the anchor text, as well as the text that surrounds it, should be topic-relevant.”
Ranking Factor #2: Content
In order to rank first on the search results, attorneys need to build content that is more than just topically relevant. Data shows that content which is longer and covers a topic more in-depth tends to rank higher overall in Google search results, so it needs to be more authoritative and in-depth than competing pieces of content in the same niche.
What Makes Good SEO Content?
The structure and substance of content are key to making it rank well in Google search.
Here are the most important aspects to consider in your content:
- Topical relevance: A web page or blog post needs to be appropriate for its audience (that is, it should matter to them).
- Target keyword placement: The target keyword phrase the page is meant to rank for needs to be placed in the title, the headings, the body, anchor text of internal and inbound links, and image alt tags of the page. This is one of many law firm SEO tactics that will give your content the opportunity to be found.
- Authoritativeness: The content should be an authoritative resource that provides value to the reader and answers their intent.
- Supporting sources: The content should link out to other supporting resources (e.g., authoritative articles, supporting documents) that users may find valuable.
- Usability: Long-form content should be formatted in a way that makes it easy to consume (i.e., bulleted lists, headings and images that break up content, navigation, etc.)
Ranking Factor #3: RankBrain
What is RankBrain?
RankBrain is a machine learning algorithm used by Google. Based on information gleaned from analyzing search results, it helps weight certain ranking factors in an effort to deliver the most relevant results to searchers.
Through RankBrain, Google is attempting to more accurately predict or interpret searcher intent, rather than organize web pages using signals like the core algorithm does.
The RankBrain algorithm is far more complicated than the above flow chart but this is basically what’s happening behind the scenes.
How Do I Optimize for RankBrain?
Here’s what factors to consider when you optimize for RankBrain:
- Parent topic: Look for parent keyword phrases and then include similar terms throughout the content on the same page, rather than creating a single page for each keyword phrase.
- Click-through rates: Write compelling titles and meta descriptions to capture a click-through.
- Contact info: Avoid using your contact info (phone number, email) in titles and meta descriptions: this can discourage a click-through, as the searcher already has the information that they need without ever visiting your site. If Google sees that searchers don’t click through to a given result, Google may serve it less frequently.
- Dwell time: Don’t neglect dwell time (i.e., the amount of time that a visitor spends on a given page). You can improve dwell time through long-form content, audio and video features, and user-friendly formatting.
