Google uses over 200 ranking factors, but what’s most important for SEO? In this blog post, I’ll show you exactly what you need to focus on. And don’t worry, I won’t bore you with patents or geeky SEO terminology. Instead, I’ll show you the 20% of actions that drive 80% of results in an SEO campaign. So, if you’re excited to start improving your Google rankings, let’s dive right in!

1. Is Your Website Crawlable and Indexable?

This might not be what you expected, but none of the other Google ranking factors matter if Google can’t crawl and index your pages. It is a prerequisite for ranking. The easiest way to check is to download the Detailed Chrome extension and look under the robots tag section. As long as you don’t see “no index,” you’re good to go.

You should also set up your website on Google Search Console because it will notify you if you’re having crawling and indexing issues. It’s the first place you should go to diagnose crawling problems. There are many other factors that dictate how well Google will crawl and index your site, but the good news is that the other factors I’m about to share will help take care of this issue.

2. Is Your Website Structured to Maximize Crawling and Indexing?

There are four core elements you need to focus on:

1. Site-Wide Navigation: This is particularly important for e-commerce, but it applies to every website. Site-wide navigation is the single best tool for improving crawlability. In short, you’re giving Google an entry point on almost every page on your website. In general, your goal should be to have all your pages no more than three clicks deep. For e-commerce sites, it’s best to place category or collection pages in the navigation.
2. Internal Link Coverage: If a page isn’t ranking well, one question you should ask is, “Does this page have enough internal link coverage?” In our SEO campaign process, we classify any page with less than five unique internal links as not having enough internal link coverage. That means you’ll need to find pages to build more internal links or create more content to support those assets.

Here’s how to find these pages with Screaming Frog: run your target website through Screaming Frog. Once the crawl is completed, scroll to the right until you see the “Unique Inlinks” column. Sort to see the pages with less than five unique inlinks. You need to identify these pages and figure out how to drive more internal links to them. This could mean adding internal links from existing assets or creating more content to support these pages. This is one of the best ways to build topical authority, increase internal link coverage, improve crawling and indexing, and ultimately build the authority of your site.

3. Optimizing Internal Link Anchor Texts: Almost all of your internal links should use exact match or partial match anchors to describe what you’re linking to. Keep in mind, this rule does not apply to backlinks. Modifying internal link anchor texts can produce significant gains. For example, we worked with a supplement company that sells protein powder, but their anchor text within the navigation was just “protein.” This sent confusing signals about intent. The search results for “protein” versus “protein powder” are different, with “protein” being more informational and “protein powder” being more specific to the supplement. We simply switched the anchor text to “protein powder” and their rankings improved significantly.

3. Is Your Website Optimized for Core Web Vitals?

Google has confirmed that Core Web Vitals is a ranking factor. Ignore the technical jargon; it simply means how fast your page loads and the overall user experience. There are two primary ways to see how well your site is doing:

1. Lighthouse: You can download it as a Chrome extension and generate a report. You can also right-click on any page, select “Inspect Element,” then go to the Lighthouse tab and generate a report.
2. Google PageSpeed Insights: Use this tool to benchmark your scores and work to improve them. In most cases, you’ll need to work with a developer.

In addition to Core Web Vitals, ensure your website has an SSL certificate because it’s another confirmed ranking factor. Focus on these first and you’ll be ahead of most websites.

4. Is Your Content Different and Better Than What’s Currently Ranking?

While it’s true that longer content tends to rank better, some people have taken this idea the wrong way. The goal shouldn’t be to create a long, regurgitated piece of content. The goal should be to create something new and unique for the keyword while continuing to satisfy the intent of that keyword.

Speaking of intent, it’s the most important ranking factor regarding your content. If you get it wrong, you will not rank. It’s critical to understand the different types of search intent and how it fits within the context of a sales funnel.

• Informational Keywords: At the top of the funnel, you have informational keywords like “how to dribble a basketball.”
• Investigative Keywords: The next stage includes keywords like “best basketball shoes.”
• Comparison Keywords: Further down the funnel, you’ll encounter keywords like “Nike Air Jordans vs. Kobe’s.”
• Transactional Queries: At the bottom, you have queries like “Nike discount code.”

Understanding intent is crucial for developing the target page. For example, if you’re targeting an informational keyword like “how to dribble a basketball,” Google may prioritize video content for this keyword. You’d want to try to rank on both Google and YouTube for this keyword.

For a keyword like “Nike discount code” with transactional intent, a page like RetailMeNot’s is structured to satisfy the intent perfectly by providing the searcher with discount codes. However, they still have content to feed Google’s algorithm. In most cases, no matter the intent, you’ll need copywriting to rank.

I tested this theory with blog content about different colored YouTube subscribe buttons. I created minimal content to see if I could rank for keywords like “yellow subscribe buttons” by satisfying the intent but with little copywriting. The page ranked, but it got stuck at number 26. After adding more copywriting, the pages now rank consistently in the top positions. This shows that while satisfying intent is crucial, Google still values the volume of words on a page.

The only nuance is where the copywriting should live on the page. For informational keywords, it should be at the forefront, above the fold. For transactional keywords, the focus should be on conversions.

5. Are You Creating Unique Content for Category or Lead Generation Pages?

The content on any given page should be 100% based on the intent of the keyword. For example, if someone searches for “St. Louis personal injury lawyer” and lands on your page, the content should emphasize why you are the lawyer they should work with. This content could include testimonials, client case studies, client stories, frequently asked questions, or even hiring guidelines. The goal of content on transactional pages is to drive conversions, not to serve as informational content.

6. Have You Optimized Your Page to Feed Google’s Algorithm?

At a minimum, place your primary keyword in the URL, title, H1 tag, and first sentence, and sprinkle it naturally throughout the page. Use tools like Surfer’s NLP tool to optimize your content further.

Here’s how:

• Surfer’s SERP Analyzer: Input your keyword to see the top-performing pages and the average word count. Make sure to hit the minimum word count before optimizing for NLP.
• Surfer’s Audit Section: Check if you’ve met the word count and look for opportunities to add relevant keywords.

7. Have You Benchmarked Your Organic CTR?

Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR) is critical for maintaining your rankings and moving up in the results. First, benchmark your current CTR. Use tools like Screaming Frog and connect the Google Search Console API. Export the results and filter the position column to show positions less than 10. Filter the pages to show those with a CTR of 3% or less.

Keep in mind, the intent matters. For example, we rank for the keyword “Blogspot,” but the CTR is low because it’s a navigational keyword for a brand that isn’t ours. To improve organic CTR, you need to test variables like the title tag, meta description, site links, and microdata individually with a tool like SEOtesting.com.

8. Have You Built Enough Topical Authority?

Building topical authority is crucial for long-term SEO performance. Create more keyword-driven content to support your existing content. Think in terms of clusters. For example, if you want to rank for the keyword “backlinks,” create supporting content for related keywords like “how to get backlinks,” “buy backlinks,” and “free backlinks.” Avoid creating pages that target the same keyword with the same intent to prevent keyword cannibalization.

9. Do You Have Enough Backlinks and Website Authority?

Your overall website authority is one of the biggest ranking factors. Websites like Forbes, Amazon, and Wikipedia rank for many keywords due to their authority. For most of us, focus on acquiring backlinks to build overall authority and to specific pages you want to rank.

Here’s how:

• Domain Level: Use tools like SEMrush to identify the link and authority gap between you and your competitors. Look at the total authority for the entire domain and work on narrowing the gap by acquiring more links.
• Page Level: Use SEMrush’s keyword overview tool to identify the link gap on the page level for the keyword you’re trying to rank for. Compare your referring domains with those of your competitors and start acquiring backlinks to narrow the gap.

These are the most important Google ranking factors you need to focus on. If you found this blog post helpful, please like and subscribe for more SEO tips. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!