Most users don’t even visit the second page of Google. If you’re running a business, you need to be at the top of Google, or else your customers will never get to meet you. How can you secure the top spot?
By incorporating the most important ranking factors.
If you optimize your site according to these, it will be easier to stand out. So keep reading.
What Are Google Ranking Factors?
Google ranking factors refer to elements, variables, or functions that Google notices while ranking web pages for a search query. Simply put, these factors decide how high or low your ranking will be in the SERP.
Search engine optimization is a technique that experts use to optimize a website to get the highest ranking on Google. These search results are referred to as organic only if they are unpaid.
Remember, it’s different from PPC advertising because you don’t focus on any bidding strategy. The search algorithm considers more than 200 Google ranking factors. Moreover, it keeps changing, so adapting quickly to these SEO ranking factors is important.
Types Of Google Ranking Factors
Before learning about Google ranking factors, you should know their major types. That’s how you’ll understand the nitty-gritty of ranking on Google.
So here are the ranking factors you should include in your SEO strategies.
- On-page ranking factors include the quality of your website content, images, keywords, and other visible elements.
- Off-page ranking factors address basic elements outside the page, specifically links from other sites.
- Technical ranking factors refer to your website’s performance, including its crawling and indexing ability and the speed with which users receive search results.
- Local ranking factors include all the factors mentioned above, including reviews, online reputation, and location.
Top 10 Important Ranking Factors in 2025
Now that you know the basics of ranking factors, let’s dive deeper to examine the main part. Here are the ten important ranking factors in 2025.
1. Publish Relevant & Quality Content
(On-page SEO factor)
It’s one of the most important ranking signals. But how can you make your content high-quality and relevant?
Share transparent and accurate, in-depth information with the viewer. Avoid adding spammy links, as this can harm your content quality. Make your content easy to read.
Some people make the grave mistake of adding too many target keywords that don’t match the content’s search intent. This practice is known as keyword stuffing, and it negatively impacts search engine rankings.
This makes the content look disconnected and puts your site at risk of Google penalization. Create original content using keyword research tools to determine keyword density.
Evergreen Content >>> Spammy Content
2. Know Where You Should Add Keywords
(On-page SEO factor)
Make a list of all the relevant keywords you want to rank. From a keyword perspective, here are the pieces you need to focus on.
- Title tag – It is displayed on SERP
- URL – keep it concise, clean, and short
- H1 – on top of page
- H2 – add minimum 2
- Body – it should be at least 100 words
- Meta Description – blurb which appears on Google just below the title tag. Compels viewers to click on the article
Do keyword optimization on your pages and understand the user intent behind it. This allows the ranking algorithm to improve its position in organic search. Thus providing a much-needed ranking boost to the website.
3. Don’t Forget Optimizing All Images
(On-page SEO factor)
Stop adding images to your website without optimizing them. Image SEO can help you reach a wider audience.
Assign ALT text to all of your images. Google can view your images through this short yet descriptive text. So, add relevant images to enhance user experience.
Ensure the image size is 70-100 KB or less. Compress the images using tools like TinyPNG. This will make your website more responsive, reduce the bounce rate, and enhance the click-through rate.
4. Show Your Niche Expertise
(On-page SEO factor)
Thousands or even more websites share the answer to the same solution. What sets you apart from them?
It is niche expertise.
Make sure that every piece of content adds value to the reader. The most effective method to build niche expertise is building pillar pages and cluster content. In this, you create a primary pillar page that targets a broad and high-volume keyword. It will be your main guide to the topic, and for H2s, you can create different articles.
It’s also a great way of increasing your topical authority.
5. Make Your Page Load Like Flash
(Technical SEO factor)
Users don’t want to wait hours just for a few lines of content. Make the browsing experience painless and fast for them. If the page takes forever to load, the bounce rate will increase, and eventually, you’ll start losing your ranking in Google.
Want to check your page loading speed for free?
Then, visit Google PageSpeed Insights.
6. Analyze Scrolling Experience On Mobile
(Technical SEO factor)
In 2019, Google noticed that most searches were mobile, not laptop or PC. That’s why they introduced mobile-first indexing on websites. But what does that mean?
This means that Google will assess a website’s ranking based on its mobile version, not its desktop one. However, in 2020, Google clearly stated that all websites will now be subjected to mobile-first indexing.
So, even if the desktop version of your website is smooth like butter, you might rank lower because you do not have a mobile-friendly website. Most of the blog post’s organic traffic comes from mobile search. So, ensure to focus on user engagement by doing website mobile optimization.
7. Core Web Vitals
(Technical SEO factor)
In 2021, Google announced a new ranking factor that changed the game forever. Core Web Vitals is part of the page experience. It basically analyses the viewer’s experience on your website and how they engage with it.
Here’s how it does that.
- Largest Contentful Paint: The time it takes for elements to load on the page
- First Input Delay: How long does it take for your page to register the first tap
- Cumulative Layout Shift: If there are any random, unexpected movements or annoying pop-ups
8. Check The Structure Of the Website
(Technical SEO factor)
Search engines crawl and index several website pages, so you should do internal linking. Internal linking is a specific hyperlink that directs the reader to another page of the same website.
Organize your internal linking because that’s how search engines can easily navigate your website. It also makes it easy for users to find relevant information quickly.
But be mindful while linking the pages. Whenever you create new content, you might feel tempted to link it. It’s important to internal link only relevant pages and articles.
9. Brand Signals
(Off-page SEO factor)
Google has started incorporating AI into it’s search experience and it will need to source content for its AI generative SERP content. Where does it get this content? From what Google deems reputable brands. Topic authority is becoming incredibly important in the SEO space so ensure you are focusing on omnichannel marketings strategies.
How to increase Brand Signals?
- Use brand name anchor text when doing backlinking
- Create a robust social media strategy that aligns with branding
- Find unlinked brand mentions and ask for a backlink
10. Get Quality Backlinks
(Off-page SEO factor)
A backlink is a link directed to your page from another website or external site. A page with many direct links pointing back to it signals Google that it is adding value. It makes your website credible and gives it a competitive edge.
1 High-Quality Backlink >>> 100 Backlinks From Low Authoritative Sites
You can get backlinks by publishing high-quality content that your audience loves. Here’s a quick method to get backlinks.
Create Content → Do Cold Outreach → Write Guest Post → Add Website Link → Diverse Backlink Profile
Wrapping Up
If you follow these tips, your website ranking can improve exponentially. To make this more effective, you can run paid ads. This increases search visibility, and no matter what business you’re running, having visibility will increase its growth.
Visibility is equivalent to more sales. But remember, SEO isn’t a copy-paste approach. You can’t just stamp any content strategy and expect to see results in 7 days. You can’t magically get first position on Google after a minor tweak.
It’s an ongoing effort that keeps your site relevant to the target audience.
