Let us talk about the top SEO ranking factors which were upheld by Google. There ranking factors were carefully chosen by the search giant. Earlier ranking factors were scrubbed/modified so as to let the webmasters not get fixated on specific factors. Also, this was done to prevent any manipulation in the search results. In this article let us look at the On-page SEO briefly.
Furthermore, these factors are tough to manipulate. In this article let us look at some SEO ranking factors which are important. Also, let us study in detail each one of them for better understanding. Broadly these ranking factors can be classified into two categories. Most noteworthy on-page factors and off-page factors. I use both of these to optimize my website and videos on my Youtube channel.
On-page SEO ranking factors
- Quality Content: When I write an article on my blog I pay attention to the quality of content. Google looks very closely at the content which is being presented to the user. Good quality content always scores high in the rankings. Furthermore, if you add videos and images to make your content graphical, it adds to the flair. I use a lot of images in my articles as I have noticed that graphical representation is more engaging than plain text. Try not to overcrowd the article with a lot of advertisements. I try to show the user content which they want to look at. Google specifically looks at the design of the page, so if the page is suitable for a user, it’s suitable for Google as well.
- Page Load Time: I don’t even need to stress how important is the page load time. Think if you had to wait for a page to load up. In a fast-moving world like today, everyone is too busy to waste the time on slow-loading web pages. It is important that your page loads quickly. Google considers both the bounce rate and exit rate as a negative thing for your web page. So if an unhappy user bounces off the webpage or exits your website, Google becomes unhappy with your website.
- Internal Links: Internal links help a lot in fully indexing your website by Google. If we talk about sites like Wikipedia, it has a lot of internal links on a single page. If you are browsing content on a site and there is a phrase or word you cannot understand just click on the hyperlinked word and a new page opens up with the information. This helps a lot in building seamless navigation for your users. These should not be mixed with the external links. External links point to different third-party websites. Internal links, however, links to your internal web pages.
- Bounce Rate: Google pays a lot of attention when it comes to user experience. If a user comes to your website and then immediately bounces back to the SERP, this shows that the user did not find the information on your page relevant to his/her search. A high bounce rate has an adverse effect on your SEO. Google wants content creators to show quality content to its users. E.g. suppose if you are looking for cycling hashtags to use for Instagram, and if a search result page on SERP shows something that is not relevant to the user, the user will bounce page to results page. This often degrades the SEO ranking of that particular page.
- Session Duration: I pay special attention to this. I want my visitors to stay on the page and read the complete length of the content that is on my website. If a visitor spends more time on your website, it shows that your content is useful and user engaging. You can check this by going to the Google Analytics tool and take a look at your website’s session duration.
Summing Up
Most of these on-page SEO factors are in control of the webmasters. If you put up quality content on your website the above factors and analytics of these metrics improve over a period of time.
I would be on the record of making the point that the first point which is quality content is the one that is most important. Rich content often leads to improved session duration and lower bounce rates. Page speed and internal links need to be optimized by you. Let me know if you have any questions related to this topic. Leave your comments and I would reply to your questions as soon as possible.
