Recently , Backlinko(opens in a new tab) , a website specialized in SEO, released an updated list with more than 200 ranking factors from Google. This post was made from a translation of this list and curated by Vishal Meena. Some of the Google ranking factors mentioned are proven, others controversial, and there is still speculation from the SEO crowd. So let's dive into this Complete list of Important Google's Ranking Factors (2020)
Domain Factors
1- Domain age: Domain time is considered, but it is not very relevant. According to Matt Cutts(opens in a new tab) :
"The difference between a domain with six months and a year is not that big". 2- Keywords in domain: Having a keyword on your domain is a relevant signal, but it doesn't give you an SEO boost as before. This is a great Google ranking factor. 3- Keyword at the beginning of the domain: A domain that has a keyword at the beginning is at the top compared to sites that do not have keywords in their domains (or have them in the middle and end). 4- Legal domain registration: According to a Google patent “Valuable (legitimate) domains are usually paid several years in advance, while incoming (illegitimate) domains are rarely used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain. ” 5- Keyword in the subdomain: According to Moz(opens in a new tab) (SEO platform), a keyword in the subdomain can boost the ranking: this is a amazing Google ranking factor for a micro niche blog or website.
6- Domain history: A website with volatile ownership can cause Google to reset the website history, rejecting links that point to the domain. In some cases, the penalized domain can even lead to a new domain . 7- Exact match domain (EMD) : This is when the keyword has an exact match with the domain name. Exact match domains can offer a small advantage. However, if it is a low quality site, EDM(opens in a new tab) is vulnerable.
8- WhoIs public vs. private: WhoIs is a resource that provides information about domain owners on the internet. Private WhoIs information can be a sign of "something to hide". According to Matt Cutts, administrator of the United States Digital Service: “… When I checked Whois, they all had a“ Whois privacy protection service ”. This is relatively unusual. ... Having Who Is privacy enabled isn't automatically bad, but after bringing together several of these factors, you tend to talk about a very different type of webmaster than the guy who has only one website. " 9- WhoIs owner penalized: If Google identifies a particular person as a spammer, it makes sense to look at other sites they own. 10- Country Top-Level Domain Extension: Having a country code top-level domain (.cn, .pt, .ca) can help the site rank in your particular country… but this can limit the capabilities of the ranking website globally.
Page Factors
11- Keyword in the title: It is no longer as important as it once was(opens in a new tab) , but the title is an important sign of on-page SEO(opens in a new tab) :
12- Title with a keyword: According to Moz(opens in a new tab) , titles that start with a keyword tend to perform better than when the keyword is at the end.
13- Keyword in the description : Google does not use the meta tag(opens in a new tab) as a direct classification sign. However, your tag description can impact your clickthrough rate, which is a key ranking factor.
14- Keyword in H1 : H1 is the header, or second page title. Google uses it as a "second sign of relevance" after the title, according to the image:
15- TF-IDF: It's a way of saying “how often does a certain word appear in a document?” According to Google, the more times the word appears on the page, the more likely the page is to be about that word . Google uses a sophisticated version of TF-IDF.
16- Content size: Content that has more words tends to be more in-depth than the shortest ones and earn points with Google. In fact, a recent study found that the size of the content relates to the position of the SERP(opens in a new tab).
17- Index: Using an index to organize subjects can help Google better understand the content of the site and can also result in sitelinks:
18- Keyword Density: Refers to the number of times a keyword appears in the text. It is calculated based on the number of words in the content and the number of times the keyword is mentioned. Although it is not as important as it once was, Google can use it to determine the topic of the webpage. Be careful because excess density can be considered a trick and be punished!
19- Semantic indexing keywords in content (LSI) : Semantic indexing keywords(opens in a new tab) can help search engines extract meaning from words with more than one meaning (for example: computer company Apple vs. Apple fruit). The presence or absence of keywords with semantics can also be a sign of content quality.
20- Semantic indexing keywords in title or description (LSI) : Just like on a content webpage, semantic indexing keywords in meta tags probably help Google to discern between words with several possible meanings. It can also be a sign of relevance.
21- The page covers the detailed topic: There is a known correlation between the depth of topic coverage and Google's rankings. Therefore, pages that cover all angles probably have an advantage vs. pages that only cover a topic partially.
22- Page loading speed via HTML: Both Google and Bing use the loading speed as a ranking(opens in a new tab) factor. Search engine spiders can estimate the speed of the website quite accurately, based on the page's HTML code.
Here's Some 8 Best Wordpress Caching Plugins to Speed Up Your Website.
23- Speed of page loading via Chrome : Google also uses data from the Chrome(opens in a new tab) user to better understand the loading time of a page. That way, they can measure how quickly the page loads for users.
24- Use of accelerated mobile pages (AMP) : Although it is not a direct ranking factor from Google(opens in a new tab) , the use of AMP may be a ranking requirement in the mobile version of Google News(opens in a new tab) .
25- Entity Match: Does the content of the page match the “entity” the user is looking for? If it matches, the page can receive a boost in ranking for that keyword.
26- Google Hummingbird: It is the name of a code attributed to a significant change in the Google search algorithm. This change in algorithm(opens in a new tab) helps Google to go beyond keywords. Thanks to Hummingbird, Google can now better understand the topic of a webpage.
27- Duplicate content: Identical content on the same site (even slightly modified) can negatively influence(opens in a new tab) visibility on a site's search engine.
28- Canonical Tag : When used properly(opens in a new tab) , this tag can prevent Google from penalizing the page for duplicate content(opens in a new tab) .
29- Image optimization : Images send important(opens in a new tab) search signals(opens in a new tab) to search engines through the file name, alt text, title, description and caption.
30- Content recency : The Google Caffeine(opens in a new tab) update favors recently published or updated content, especially for urgent searches. Highlighting the importance of this factor, Google shows the date when a page was last updated for certain pages:
31- Magnitude of content updates: The meaning of edits and changes also serves as a ranking factor. Adding or removing entire sections is more significant than changing the order of a few words or correcting a typo.
32- Page update history : How often has the page been updated over time? Daily, weekly, or every five years? The frequency of page updates also plays a role in ranking.
33- Prominence of Keyword: Having a keyword in the first 100 words of the content of a page is correlated to the page's rankings in the Google ranking.
34- Keywords in H2 and H3 tags: Known as heading tags, they are generally used as subtitles. Having your keyword appear as a subheading in h2 and h3 formats can be another small sign of relevance. According to John Mueller(opens in a new tab) , Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google:
“These HTML heading tags help us understand the structure of the page”.
35- Outbound link quality: Many SEO's think that linking authority sites helps to gain Google trust. And this is clearer in the SEJ (Search Engine Journal) study.(opens in a new tab)
36- Outbound link theme: According to the Hilltop algorithm , Google can use the content of the linked pages as a sign of relevance. For example, if you have a page about cars that links to a page related to movies, this can tell Google that your page is about car movies, not about motorsport.
37- Grammar and spelling: Proper grammar and spelling are a sign of quality. Although Cutts confused information a few years ago about whether or not it matters.
38- Syndicated Content: Is the content from the original page? If it is cut or copied from an indexed page it will not be ranked ... or it may not be indexed.
39- Mobile friendly update : This update rewards pages that have been properly adapted for mobile devices.
40- Usability on mobile: Sites that mobile users can easily use can have an advantage in mobile first indexing.
41- Hidden content on mobile : Content hidden on mobile devices may not be indexed (or may not have a considerable weight) vs. completely visible content. However, a recent Google statement(opens in a new tab) states that hiding content is ok, however, in the same video it says that "if it is critical content, it must be visible ...".
42- Useful complementary content: According to the Google guidelines document(opens in a new tab) that is now public, useful complementary content are indicators of page quality (and therefore, ranked by Google). Examples include currency converters, payday loan interest calculators(opens in a new tab) and interactive income.
43- Content hidden behind tabs : Do users need to click on a tab to reveal part of the content on your page? If so, Google says(opens in a new tab) that this content may not be indexed.
44- Number of outbound links: Many external links can “negatively impact” the Pagerank(opens in a new tab) , affecting the ranking of the page.
45- Multimedia: Images, videos and other multimedia elements can act as a sign of quality content. For example, one study(opens in a new tab) found a correlation between multimedia and rankings:
46- Number of internal links pointing to the page: The number of internal links(opens in a new tab) pointed to the page indicates its importance in relation to other pages of the website (more internal links = more important).
47- Quality of internal links pointing to the page: Internal links of pages with authority domains have a strong effect(opens in a new tab) compared to pages with or without low ranking.
48- Broken links: Having many broken links on a page can be a sign of neglect or abandonment of the site. The Google guidelines document(opens in a new tab) uses broken links to assess the quality of the homepage.
49- Reading level: There is no doubt that Google estimates the reading level of web pages. In fact, Google usually gives reading level statistics:
But what they do with that information is up for debate. Some say that a basic reading level will help you rank better, as it appeals to the masses. But others associate a basic reading level with content "factories".
50- Affiliate Links : Affiliate links are unlikely to impact your ranking. However, if there are many, Google's algorithm can pay attention to other quality signals to make sure you are not a “thin affiliate site“ .
51- HTML / W3C errors Validation : Many HTML errors or sloppy conditions can be a sign of poor website quality. Although controversial, many SEO professionals believe that a well-coded page is a sign of quality.
52- Authority domain: If everything is the same, a page with authority domain will rank better than a page with less authority. For example, I have a new site called "AnmolZindagi(opens in a new tab)" so it's DA PA is very low even can be 0 (ZERO).
53- PageRank of the page: It is not perfectly correlated, but pages with a lot of authority can surpass pages(opens in a new tab) without a lot of link authority.
54- URL size: Excessively long URLs can hurt the visibility of the page's search engine. In fact, several studies have found that short URLs tend to have a slight advantage in Google's search results.
55- URL address : The page "closest" to the homepage can receive a slight boost of authority compared to the pages more distant in the architecture of the site.
56- Human editors: Although never confirmed, Google has registered a patent(opens in a new tab) for a system that allows human editors to influence SERP's.
57- Page category : The category in which the page appears is a sign of relevance. The page that has a close relationship with a category can gain a boost in relevance compared to a page that is archived to an unrelated category.
58- WordPress tags: Tags are a sign and specific relevance of WordPress. According to Yoast(opens in a new tab) :
"The only way to improve your SEO is to relate one piece of content to another and, more specifically, a group of posts to each other".
59- Keyword in the URL: Another sign of relevance. Google recently called this "a small Google ranking factor"(opens in a new tab) .
60- URL breadcrumb: The URL crumb categories are read by Google and can give a signal about the page's subject:
61- References and sources: Citing references and sources, such as research, can be a sign of quality. Google's quality guidelines state that reviewers should keep an eye on sources when accessing certain pages: "This is a topic where knowledge and / or authorized sources are important ...". In any case, Google has denied(opens in a new tab) using internal links as a ranking signal.
62- Bullets and numbered lists: Bullets and numbered lists help to break the presentation of content to readers, making them more friendly. Google prefers content with bullets and numbered lists.
63- Priority of the page in the Sitemap: The priority that the page(opens in a new tab) receives by the Sitemap(opens in a new tab) can influence the ranking.
64- Many external links: Directly from the quality assessment document mentioned above:
"Some pages have a lot of links, hiding the page and distracting the Main Content".
65- UX Signals From Other Keywords Page Ranks For : If the page ranks for several other keywords, this can give Google an internal quality signal. In fact, the recent Google article(opens in a new tab) decrees:
"We look for sites that many users seem to value for similar queries."
66- Page age : Although Google prefers new content, an old page that is regularly updated can outperform a new page.
67- Friendly layout : Quoting the Google guidelines document again:
"The page layout on the highest quality pages makes the main content immediately visible".
68- Stagnant domains: A Google update(opens in a new tab) in December 2011 lowers visibility in the search for stagnant domains.
69- Useful content: Google can distinguish between quality and usefulness of the content.(opens in a new tab)
Site Level Factors
70- The content provides value and unique insights: The Google said(opens in a new tab) that they are happy penalizing sites that do not have new or anything useful, especially affiliate sites.(opens in a new tab)
71- Contact page : According to the Google guidelines document, they prefer sites with an “appropriate amount and contact information”. Make sure your contact information matches your WhoIs information.
72- Domain reliability: Many SEO professionals believe that “TrustRank” is an extremely important ranking factor. And a Google patent entitled “Ranking search results based on trust” seems to agree with this:
73- Website architecture : A well-designed website architecture helps Google to organize their content thematically(opens in a new tab) . It can also help access Googlebot and index all pages on the site.
74- Website updates: Many SEO professionals believe that website updates - especially when new content is added to the website - act as an update factor for the entire website. Although Google has recently denied(opens in a new tab) that they use publication frequency in its algorithm.
75- Presence on the Sitemap: The Sitemap helps search engines easily index your pages and more reliably, providing visibility. However, Google(opens in a new tab) recently declared(opens in a new tab) that the Sitemap HTML code is not useful for SEO.
76- Website uptime: Too much downtime due to website maintenance or server problems can impair your ranking (and may even result in deindexation(opens in a new tab) if not corrected).
77- Server location: The server location influences the site's ranking in different geographic regions. Especially important for specific geographic searches.
78- SSL certificate: Google has confirmed that it uses HTTPS(opens in a new tab) as a ranking signal. SSL certificate is very important Google ranking factor.
According to Google, however, HTTPS only acts as a "tiebreaker".
79- Page terms of service and privacy: These two pages help to tell Google that the site is a trusted member of the internet. They can also help improve the website's EAT(opens in a new tab) .
80- Meta informations on site : Duplicate meta information on your site can reduce all the visibility of your page.
81- Bread crumbs within the site: This is a friendly architecture mode of the site that helps users (and search engines) to know where they are on the site:
The Google states(opens in a new tab) that "Google Search uses the navigation dial on page body to categorize the information in the search results."
82- Mobile optimization : With more than half of all searches(opens in a new tab) done on mobile devices, Google wants to see that your site is optimized for mobile users(opens in a new tab) . In fact, Google now penalizes sites(opens in a new tab) that are not mobile friendly.
83- Youtube: There is no doubt that videos on Youtube receive special treatment in SERPs (probably because Google owns it):
In fact, Search Engine Land(opens in a new tab) found that YouTube.com traffic increased significantly after Google Panda.
84- Usability of the site: A site that is difficult to use or navigate can adversely affect rankings, reducing time on the site, pages viewed and bounce rate (in other words, RankBrain ranking factors(opens in a new tab) )
85- Use of Google Analytics and Google Search Console : Some think that having these two programs installed on their website can improve the indexing of your page. They can also directly influence rankings, providing Google with more data to work with (i.e., more accurate bounce rate, whether or not you receive referral traffic from your backlinks(opens in a new tab) , etc.). That said, Google denied it(opens in a new tab) as a myth.
86- User reviews / Site reputation : The site 's reputation on sites like www.reclameaqui.com.br(opens in a new tab) probably plays an important role in Google's algorithm.
Backlinks Factors
87- Age of domain link : Backlinks from old domains can be more powerful than new domains.
88- # referral domains: The number of referral domains is one of the most important ranking factors in the Google algorithm, as you can see in this study(opens in a new tab) with results from 1 million searches on Google:
89- Number of separate Class C IP links: The links of separate Class C IP addresses suggest a greater variety of sites linked to you, which can help with ranking(opens in a new tab) .
90- Number of linked pages: Total number of linked pages - even from the same domain - has an impact on ranking(opens in a new tab) .
91- Backlink anchor text: As noted in this description(opens in a new tab) of the original Google algorithm:
"First, anchors often provide more accurate descriptions of the web pages than the pages themselves."
Obviously, anchor text is less important than before (and, when super optimized, it works as a sign of spam on the web(opens in a new tab) ). But keyword-rich anchor text still sends a strong signal of relevance in small doses.
92- Alternative texts for image links (Alt tag / Alt texts): Alt tag and Alt texts act as anchor text for images.
93- .edu or .gov domain links: Matt Cutts stated(opens in a new tab) that the TLD (top-level domain) does not affect the importance of a website. And Google said it " ignores(opens in a new tab) " many .edu links. However, this does not prevent SEO professionals from thinking that there is a special place in the algorithm for .gov and .edu TLDs.
94- Authority of the linked page: The authority (PageRank) of the reference page has been an extremely important ranking factor since the early days of Google(opens in a new tab) and still is.
95- Reference domain authority: The reference domain authority can play an independent role(opens in a new tab) in the value of a link.
96- Competitor links : Links from other pages ranked on the same SERP can be more valuable for ranking a page for that specific keyword.
97- "Expected" site links : Although speculative, some SEOs believe that Google will not fully trust your site until you are linked to a set of "expected" sites in your industry.
98- “Bad Neighborhoods” links : Links from so-called Bad Neighborhoods can harm your site.(opens in a new tab)
99- Guest posts: While "third-party" post links are still valuable, they are probably not as powerful as real editorial links (in addition, "large-scale"(opens in a new tab) "third-party" posting can cause problems for your site ).
100- Ad links: According to Google, ad links should not be followed. However, it is likely that Google will be able to identify and filter links followed by ads.
101- Homepage Authority : Links on the homepage may be of particular importance when evaluating a website.
102- Links NoFollow : This is one of the most controversial topics in SEO. Google's official word(opens in a new tab) on the matter is:
"In general, we don't follow them."
This suggests that they follow ... at least in some cases. Having a certain percentage of nofollow links(opens in a new tab) can also indicate a natural vs. link profile. unnatural.
103- Diversity of link types: Having an unusually large percentage of links coming from a single source (for example, forum profiles, blog comments) can be a sign of spam. On the other hand, links from different sources is a sign of a natural link profile.
104- “Sponsored” or UCG (user-generated content) tags: Links marked as sponsored or UCG are treated differently than normal “followed” or “nofollow” links.
105- Contextual links : Links embedded in the page's content are considered more powerful than links on an empty page or found elsewhere on the page:
106- Excessive 301 redirects to the page: Backlinks from 301 redirects dilute the PageRank, according to the Webmaster's help video(opens in a new tab) .
107- Internal anchor text link: It is another sign of relevance. Internal links have much less weight than anchor texts coming from external sites.
108- Link title assignment: The link title (the text that appears when you go through the link) can be used as a weak sign of relevance.
109- Top-level Domain (TLD) of the country of reference domain: Obtaining links from country-specific top-level domain extensions (for example, .in, .br, .uk) can help you rank better in this country.
110- Links in content: Links at the beginning of a piece of content can be slightly more weighted(opens in a new tab) than links at the end of the piece of content:
111- Links on the page: Where the link appears on the page is important. Generally, links embedded in the content page are more powerful than links in the footer or sidebar.
112- Relevance of the linked domain: A link coming from a niche site similar to yours is significantly more powerful(opens in a new tab) than a link coming from an unrelated site.
113- Relevance of the page level: The link of a relevant page can also have more value.
114- Keyword in the title: Google gives extra value to links from pages that contain the keyword of your page in the title (specialists linking specialists).
115- Positive link speed: A site with a positive link speed usually gets a boost in SERP’s(opens in a new tab) because it shows that your site is increasing in popularity.
116- Negative link speed: On the other hand, negative link speed can mean a reduction in ranking as a sign of low popularity.
117- Links from “Hubs” pages : The Hilltop Algorithm(opens in a new tab) suggests that using links from pages considered hubs in some topic receives special treatment.
118- Links from Relevant Sites: A link from a site considered to be of great authority is more special than links from unknown sites.
Here's 300+ DoFollow Backlinks - Instant Approval Blog Commenting Sites List
119- Links from Wikipedia: Although the links are nofollow, many think that having a link from Wikipedia represents an increase in trust and authority in the eyes of search engines.
120- Co-occurrences: Words that tend to appear next to the backlink help to tell Google what this page is about(opens in a new tab) :
121- Backlink age: According to Google's patent(opens in a new tab) , old links have more ranking power than recent backlinks.
122- Links from real sites vs. "Splogs" (blogs used to promote affiliate sites): Due to the proliferation of blogs, Google gives more weight to links coming from "real sites" than to blogs.
123- Natural link profile: A website with a natural link profile will rank higher and will be more durable for updates than those who obviously used black hat strategies to create links.
124- Reciprocal links: Google link schemes(opens in a new tab) list excessive link exchange as a link scheme to be avoided.
125- User generated content link (UGC): Google can identify(opens in a new tab) UGCs vs. content published by the current site owner. For example, they know that a link from the WordPress.com blog is very different than a link from besttoasterreviews.wordpress.com.
126- 301 links : 301 redirect links may lose points compared to a direct link. However, Matt Cutts(opens in a new tab) says that 301 links are similar to deep links.
127- Use of Shema.org: Pages that support microformats can rank better than those that do not. This can be a direct boost or the fact that pages that support microformats have a higher SERP click rate:
128- TrustRank of the linked site: The reliability of the site that is linking to yours determines how much "trustrank" it passes on to you.
129- Number of outbound links on the page: Pagerank is finite. A link on a page with hundreds of external links passes less Pagerank than the page with a handful of outbound links.
130- Forum Links: Because of spam on an industrial level, Google(opens in a new tab) considerably devalues links that come from forums. You Should know about Advanced Link Building Tactics to Create Forum or other types of Powerful Backlinks.
131- Word count of linked / linked content: A link from a 1000-word post is generally more valuable than a link from a 25-word excerpt.
132- Quality of link content: Links from poor writings are not as valuable as links with well-written content.
133- Sitewide Links: Matt Cutts confirmed(opens in a new tab) that all links coming from a website are "compressed" to count as a single link.
User Interaction
134- RankBrain: RankBrain(opens in a new tab) is a Google AI algorithm. Its main objective is to measure how users interact with search results. You need to learn about this Google ranking factor.
135- Organic clickthrough rate (CTR) for a keyword: According to Google, pages that have a higher CTR (clickthrough rate) can receive a SERP boost for a particular keyword:
136- Organic click-through rate (CTR) for all keywords: A website's organic CTR(opens in a new tab) for all ranked keywords can be a sign of human-based user interaction (in other words, a "Quality Score" for organic results(opens in a new tab) ).
137- Bounce rate: Not all SEO professionals agree that bounce rate matters, but this may be a way for Google to use its users as qualified testers (after all, pages with a high bounce rate are probably not good) results for that keyword). In addition, a recent study by SemRush(opens in a new tab) found a relationship between bounce rate and ranking on Google:
138- Direct Traffic: The Google Chrome uses Google data(opens in a new tab) to determine how many people visit the site (and how often). Sites with a lot of direct traffic are usually higher quality sites than sites with little direct traffic.
139- Repeated traffic: Sites with repeat visitors can boost Google's ranking. If you are facing struggle for get traffic to your website, then refer to this article: 18 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
140- “Pogosticking”: Pogosticking(opens in a new tab) is a special type of rejection, it is when the user enters your website through the SERP and then leaves and returns to the search engine entering a different website:
141- Blocked sites: Google has discontinued this front in Chrome. However, Panda(opens in a new tab) uses this front as a sign of quality, so Google should continue to use a variation of this.
142- Chrome Favorites: We know that Google collects usage data from the Chrome browser. Pages that are favored in Chrome receive a boost.
143- Number of comments: Page with many comments and user interactions refer to quality. In fact, a “Googler” said(opens in a new tab) that comments can help a lot with rankings:
144- Standby time: The Google pays a lot of attention(opens in a new tab) on wait time(opens in a new tab) : time people spend on your website when they come from a Google search. This is also sometimes called “long clicks vs. short clicks. ” In short: Google measures how much time users who search on Google spend on your page. The more time spent, the better.
Special Google Algorithm Rules
145- Query Deserves Freshness: Google drives more recent pages on certain searches(opens in a new tab) .
146- Query Deserves Diversity: Google can add diversity to the SERP(opens in a new tab) for ambiguous keywords, such as "about" or "manga".
147- User browsing history: You probably already noticed this: sites that you visit frequently get a boost in SERP in their searches.
148- User search history: The search history influences the search results for later searches(opens in a new tab) . For example, if you searched for "reviews" and then for "blender", Google is more likely to rank the highest blender rating sites in the SERPs.
149- Featured excerpts : According to a study by SemRush(opens in a new tab) , Google chooses the content of the featured topics based on a combination of size, formatting, page authority and use of HTTPS.
150- Geographic segmentation: Google gives preference to sites with a local server IP and a country-specific domain extension.
151- Safe search: Search results with “bad words” or adult content will not be displayed to people with safe search(opens in a new tab) enabled.
152- Google+ Circles: Even though Google+ is about to die(opens in a new tab) , Google continues to show many results for authors and sites that you added to your Google Plus Circles.
153- “YMYL” Keywords: YMYL is an acronym for “your money your life” and is attributed to pages that contain content about money, health, safety, happiness or financial stability. Google has higher content quality standards(opens in a new tab) for YMYL keywords.
154- DMCA Complaints: DMCA is a United States law on copyright. Google "downgrades" pages with legitimate DMCA complaints(opens in a new tab) .
155- Domain diversity: The so-called “ big foot update”(opens in a new tab) supposedly added more domains to each SERP page.
156- Transactional searches: Google sometimes displays different results for keywords related to purchases, such as flight searches:
157- Local searches: For local searches, Google generally places local results above normal organic SERPs:
158- Main news box: Some keywords trigger the main news box:
159- Preference for big brands: After the Vince update(opens in a new tab) , Google started giving big brands a boost for certain keywords.
160- Purchase results: Sometimes Google makes Google Shopping results available on organic SERPs:
161- Image results: Google images sometimes appear in organic search results.
162- Easter Egg Results: Google has a dozen Easter egg(opens in a new tab) results . They are "secrets" hidden in programs, websites or games.
163- Unique results of sites for brands: Domain or keyword oriented to the brand bring many results from the same site(opens in a new tab) .
**164- Payday Loans UpP20-08-09
Brand Signs
165- Brand anchor text : Anchor text is something simple, but a very important ranking factor for the brand:
166- Brand research : People search for brands. If people search for your brand on Google, it shows Google that your site is a real brand.
167- Brand + keyword searches: Do people search for a specific keyword along with your brand? In that case, Google can boost your ranking when people search for the unbranded version of that keyword on Google.
168- The website has a Facebook page and likes: Brands tend to have Facebook pages with a lot of likes.
169- The website has a Twitter profile and followers: Twitter profiles with many followers signal a popular brand.
170- Official company page on Linkedin: Most real businesses have a page on Linkedin.
171- Known authorship: In February 2013, Google CEO Eric Schmidt claimed:
"In the search results, the information linked to the verified online profiles will be ranked higher than the content without this verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results."
172- Legitimacy of social media profiles: An account on the social network with 10k followers and 2 posts is probably interpreted very differently from another account with 10k followers and many user interactions. In fact, Google has filed a patent(opens in a new tab) to determine whether accounts on social networks were in fact true or false.
173- Brand mentions in the main news : Really big companies are mentioned in the main Google news all the time. In fact, some brands even have a news feed on their own website, on the front pages:
174- Mentions of unlinked / linked brands: Brands are mentioned without being linked. Google considers brand mentions without a hyperlink(opens in a new tab) to be less important than those with a hyperlink.
175- Location of “traditional” companies: Real businesses have offices. It is possible for Google to search for location data to find out whether a website is a major brand or not.
Spam Factors on the Site
176- Panda(opens in a new tab) penalty(opens in a new tab) : Sites with low quality content (mainly “ content farms(opens in a new tab) ”) are less visible in searches after being hit by a Panda penalty .
177- Links to Bad Neighborhoods: Linking to bad pages can hurt your visibility in search.
178- Redirects: Sneaky redirects are a big no-no(opens in a new tab) . If caught, they may receive not only a penalty, but also deindexation.
179- Popups or distracting ads: The official Google guidelines(opens in a new tab) document states that Popups or distracting ads are a sign of low quality on the site.
180- Interstitial Popups Google may penalize sites that display full-page "interstitial" pop-ups for mobile users.
181- Excessive website optimization : Yes, Google penalizes(opens in a new tab) people who over-optimize their website. This includes: filling in the keyword(opens in a new tab) , filling in the header tags and over-decorating the keywords.
182- Nonsense content: A Google patent(opens in a new tab) describes how Google can identify nonsense content, which is useful for filtering automatically generated content from its index.
183- Landing pages: Google wants the page you show them to be the page the user sees. If your page redirects people to another page, this is an entry page. It is practically useless to say that Google does not like(opens in a new tab) sites that use different landing pages than those shown in search results.
184- Excessive ads: The page layout algorithm(opens in a new tab) penalizes sites with a lot of ads (and not a lot of content).
185- Hiding affiliate links : Hiding affiliate links ( especially with cloaking(opens in a new tab) ) can result in a penalty.
186- Fred : A nickname given to a series of updates on Google that started in 2017. According to Search Engine Land(opens in a new tab) , Fred considers the sites that put the revenue above helping their users worthless.
187- Affiliate sites : It is no secret that Google is not a big fan of affiliate sites(opens in a new tab) . Many sites that monetize with affiliate sites are subject to an “extra exam”.
188- Automatically generated content: Google understandably hates automatically generated content. If they suspect that your site is bombarded with computer-generated content, it could result in a penalty or deindex.
189- Excess PageRank Sculpting: Going too far with PageRank sculpture(opens in a new tab) - by following all outbound links - can be a sign of bluffing with the system.
190- IP address flagged as spam: If your IP address is flagged as spam, it can affect all sites on the server(opens in a new tab) .
191- Meta Tag Spam : Keyword filling can also happen in meta tags. If Google thinks you are adding keywords to your title and description tags, in an effort to cheat something, it can penalize you.
Spam Factors Outside the Site
192- Hacked website: If your website is hacked, it can be removed from the search results. In fact, Search Engine Land was completely deindexed(opens in a new tab) after Google thought it had been hacked.
193- Unnatural Influx of Links A sudden (and unnatural) influx of links is an infallible sign of false links.
194- Penguin Penalty: Sites that have been caught by Google Penguin(opens in a new tab) are significantly less visible in searches.
195- Link profile with high percentage of low quality links : Many links from sources commonly used by black hat SEOs (such as blog comments and forum profiles) can be a sign of bluffing with the system.
196- Links from unrelated sites: A large percentage of backlinks from unrelated sites can increase the chances of a manual penalty.
197- Warning of unnatural links: Google sent thousands of "Google Search Console warning about unnatural links detected" messages. This usually precedes a drop in the ranking, although it is not 100% of the time(opens in a new tab) .
198- Low quality directory links: According to Google(opens in a new tab) , low quality directory backlinks can carry a penalty.
199- Widget links: Google disapproves of(opens in a new tab) the automatically generated links when the user incorporates a "widget" on his website.
200- Links from the same class C IP: Obtaining an unnatural number of links from sites on the same IP as the server can help Google determine that your links came from a network of blogs(opens in a new tab) .
201- “Poisoned” anchor text : Having a “poisoned” anchor text (especially keywords) pointing to your site can be a sign of spam or hacked site. Either way, it can hurt your website's ranking. WOW!! 😮 It's Unbelievable Ranking Factor.
202- Unnatural link spike: A Google patent from 2013 describes how Google can identify whether an influx of links to a page is legitimate. Unnatural links can be devalued.
203- Links from articles or releases : The directories of articles and releases have been abused to the point that Google now considers these two strategies of creating links as a "link scheme" in many cases.
204- Manual actions: There are several types(opens in a new tab) , but most are related to the construction of black hat links.
205- Selling links: Getting caught selling links can hurt your visibility in searches.(opens in a new tab)
206- Google Sandbox(opens in a new tab) : Sometimes, new sites that receive a sudden flow of links are placed in the Google Sandbox, which temporarily limits their visibility in search.
207- Google Dance(opens in a new tab) : Google Dance can temporarily change the ranking. According to the Google Patent, this can be a way to determine when a website is trying or not to bluff with the algorithm:
208- disavow tool(opens in a new tab) : Use the disavow tool can remove a manual or algorithmic penalty for sites that have been victims of negative SEO.
209- Reconsideration request : A successful reconsideration request can increase a penalty.
210- Temporary link scheme: Google caught the people who create - and quickly remove - spammy links. Also known as a temporary link scheme.
Conclusion
That’s quite a list. Uff!! 😉 This is very huge list of Google's Ranking Factors. To summarize, here are the most important Google ranking factors in 2020:
- Referring domains
- Organic click-through-rate (CTR)
- Domain authority (DA)
- Mobile usability
- Number of backlinks
- Content quality
- On-page SEO If I miss any important Google ranking factor, then Now I’d like to hear from you: Which SEO ranking factor from this list was new to you? Or maybe I missed something. And of you you have any questions or suggestion, then feel free to comment us. Also Read: MailChimp Alternatives for Effective Email Marketing : 2020 30 Best Backlink Checker Tools (Free and Paid) - 2020 140 Best SEO Tools for Bloggers and Marketer - 2020
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