SEO has always remained surrounded by myths and allegories and that an authentic search engine optimization is still a mystery for a lot of marketers. For some good backlinking is SEO or for some submitting articles is the right way to get on the first page in search engine ranking pages (SERPs). A number of marketers are still nor aware with how actually Google ranks your pages in SERPs or what factors it considers while ranking the pages.
Though backlinking and article submission are some of the most promising SEO tactics but the top factors that Google takes into account while ranking pages are a few other things that act as the base for all your SEO tactics.
This is why in this article we have come up with top 3 factors that Google considers for ranking web pages in SERPs as revealed by the search giant itself.
Recently Google debuted its series on SEO Myth Busters 101 episode#1 in which Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, Martin Splitt unveiled about the top 3 SEO factors that marketers should pay attention to for good results from their SEO campaigns.
As disclosed by Martin from Google there are more than 200 signals that Google considers while selecting the relevant web pages. They look at things like page title, meta description, content , images, links and so on. So, its not very easy to say what ranks you best but yes there are a bunch of signals they look at while giving results on SERPs that are more relevant to the given users.
Based on the conversation that was broadcasted on YouTube by Google, here are top 3 SEO factors to focus on.
SEO Factor #1 – Good Content
These are not certain frameworks that you can use and get on the first place in Google SERPs. That’s not how it works! According to Google it is content or aptly saying good content -the one that serves the purpose for the users. There is something that searchers need or want. If your content can help the searchers with what they are trying to accomplish, its simply awesome. So ensure that your content talks about where you are, what you do, how can you resolve the seachers’ concern. However if you are simply saying we are an amazing company and we sell a plenty of products. It won’t serve the purpose!
Besides, users might not be unaware with your brand and the product and they might just know about what they need or want for which they have embarked upon the search engine. So speak the language the searchers are speaking while very wisely serving the purpose for the searchers you want to attract to your web pages to interact with your content.
If you will use your company jargons your product might not show for a majority of searches. For instance say a searcher is looking for ice-cream on the web and you sell ice-cream. However if you use specific terms like Smooth Cream 5000 for your ice cream it won’t show on SERPs because the searcher is unaware of your product name as such and that they are simply searching to buy ice-cream online. So, Google will not show your content to such searchers on priority. Rather, an online ice cream seller who is using related keywords to sell ice cream such as ‘ice cream cones’ has higher chances that his page shows up in the top results on Google for such searches. So, speak the language the searchers are using. Please note, a few searchers might search for your product or brand in specific if they have purchased from you in past but the majority won’t. They are simply searching for ice-cream around them and won’t mind if there’s a specific brand as such however that’s not what they are looking for.
The Takeaway:
Create content that serves the purpose for the searchers and speak the language the searchers are speaking!
Try to understand and keep a note of the type of phrases searchers use while making a search and use those in your content. This is how you can make your search results more relevant for a given searcher.
SEO Factor #2 – Unique Meta Data
Well! I am sure you are going to love the second and the third factor, for they technical.
Though good content is the number one priority, the second most important thing is Meta Tags that describes your content for a given page. So have meta descriptions for your web pages. It helps you to have a little snippet in your search results that allows the searchers to get an idea as to which result is more closer to what they are looking for.
Martin also talked about the page titles that there should always be different titles for different pages. Keeping same title for different pages is bad. Its good to have titles that change with content that you have on a given page. Automation works wonder if your page titles and meta descriptions are unique. The best part is you can also get it accomplished through frameworks so consulting the documentation isn’t a bad idea if you want certain frameworks to do it for you.
The Takeaway:
Unique meta data that include unique page titles and unique meta description is one of the very crucial SEO factor that not only helps you rank high on Google SERPs but also attract the searchers and get them interact with your content.
SEO Factor #3 – Optimized Performance
The third most crucial SEO factor according to Google is performance and that optimizing your webpages for performances not only helps your web pages load faster but also increases the chances to get easily discovered by the searchers.
Well! Performance has anyway been a top SEO factor for long.
As revealed by Google the search engine company ensures that the people clicking on the search results get the web page to open quickly, get the content they are looking for quickly. This is what makes your web page performance one of the many signals the search engine looks for.
The Takeaway:
Optimize your web pages for performance as that not only makes your web pages faster to upload but even more visible to others as Google considers it as one of the most crucial factors to show results in SERPs.
Afterword
What we have talked about up till now in the article was just a precise information about the top 3 SEO factors that Google considers for ranking your web pages if you want to know more Watch Myth Busters Episode #1.