SEO 200 Ranking Factors

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Google's search algorithm considers a wide range of factors to determine rankings. While the exact details of Google's algorithm are not publicly disclosed and may be continually changing, there's a popular list of around 200 ranking factors that have been widely discussed and speculated upon in the SEO community. It's important to note that Google does not assign equal importance to all these factors, and the weight of each factor can change over time. Here's a list of the 200 ranking factors as per common industry knowledge: 

 


On-Page Factors:
1 Keyword usage in title tags.
2 Keyword usage in meta descriptions...
3 Keyword usage in header tags (H1, H2, etc.).
4 Keyword usage in the body of the content.
5 Keyword density.
6 Keyword placement.
7 Keyword variations.
8 Keyword synonyms.
9 Keyword proximity.
10 Content quality.
11 Content length.
12 Freshness of content.
13 Use of multimedia (images, videos).
14 Internal linking.
15 External linking.
16 Broken links.
17 Mobile-friendliness.
18 Page load speed.
19 HTTPS/SSL.
20 User experience (UX).
21 Mobile page experience (Core Web Vitals).
22 Site architecture.
23 URL structure.
24 Use of schema markup.
25 Breadcrumbs.
26 Canonical tags.
27 Use of subdomains.
28 Use of breadcrumbs.
29 Alt attributes for images.
30 Use of bullet points and numbered lists.
31 Use of semantic HTML.
32 Readability of content.
33 Voice search optimization.
34 Content formatting.
35 Use of tables and charts.
36 Use of pagination.
37 Hidden content.
38 Orphan pages.
39 Use of expandable content.
40 Excessive ads/pop-ups.
41 Accordion tabs.
42 HTML errors.
43 Duplicate content.
44 Copied content.
45 Thin content.
46 Over-optimized content.

Off-Page Factors:
47     Backlink quality.
48     Backlink quantity.
49     Backlink relevance.
50     Natural backlink growth.
51     Dofollow vs. nofollow links.
52     Anchor text diversity.
53     Social signals (shares, likes, etc.).
54     Brand mentions.
55     Brand authority.
56     Social media presence.
57     Co-citations.
58     Co-occurrence.
59     Link age.
60     Link location on the page.
61     Contextual backlinks.
62     Guest posting.
63     Broken backlinks.
64     Link diversity.
65     Toxic backlinks.
66     Link disavowal.
67     Link outreach.
68     Content marketing.
69     Influencer marketing.
70     Press releases.
71     Blog comments.
72     Forum participation.
73     Directory listings.
74     Resource pages.
75     Wikipedia links.
76     .edu and .gov links.
77     Link velocity.
78     Link relevance.
79     Link authority.
80     TrustRank.
81     Trust flow.
82     Citation flow.



User Signals:


83     Click-through rate (CTR).
84     Bounce rate.
85     Dwell time.
86     Pogo-sticking.
87     User engagement.
88     Mobile app usage.
89     Chrome bookmarks.
90     Google+1s.
91     Reviews and ratings.
92     Click-through rate from search results.
93     Direct traffic.
94     Repeat traffic.



Brand Signals:


95     Brand mentions.
96     Brand searches.
97     Brand authority.
98     Brand anchor text.
99     Brand social presence.
100     Brand trust.



E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):


101     Authorship.
102     Author reputation.
103     Site reputation.
104     About us page.
105     Contact information.
106     Privacy policy.
107     Terms of service.
108     Customer service.
109     Contact information.
110     Contact page.
111     Trust seals.



Technical SEO:


112     Mobile usability.
113     Hreflang tags.
114     HTTP status codes.
115     Canonicalization.
116     XML sitemaps.
117     Robots.txt.
118     Structured data.
119     Rich snippets.
120     Page speed optimization.
121     Server response time.
122     Crawl errors.
123     Site uptime.
124     Image optimization.
125     Mobile page load speed.
126     AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).
127     Mobile usability.
128     HTTP/2.



Security:


129     HTTPS/SSL.
130     Site security.
131     Safe browsing.
132     Malware detection.
133     Hacked content removal.



Local SEO:


135     Google My Business page.
136     NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistency.
137     Local reviews.
138     Local citations.
139     Google Maps optimization.
140     Local link building.
141     Mobile optimization.



User Experience:


142     Navigation.
143     Accessibility.
144     UI/UX design.
145     Mobile-friendliness.
146     Pop-ups and interstitials.
147     CTA (Call to Action) placement.
148     User intent alignment.
149     Content layout.
150     Color scheme.
151     Site speed.
152     Multilingual and international SEO.
153     Geotargeting.
154     Website accessibility.



User Satisfaction:


155     User engagement.
156     Long click vs. short click.
157     Task completion.
158     Low bounce rate.
159     Satisfaction with search results.
160     User-generated content.
161     Reviews and ratings.
162     Comment engagement.
163     Time on site.
164     Return visits.



AI and Machine Learning:


165     RankBrain.
166     BERT.
167     Neural matching.
168     Core algorithm updates.



Algorithmic Factors:


169     Domain age.
170     Domain registration length.
171     Domain history.
172     Exact match domains (EMD).
173     Keyword in subdomain.
174     Keyword in URL.
175     Latent semantic indexing (LSI).
176     Entity salience.
177     Query deserves freshness (QDF).
178     Query deserves diversity (QDD).
179     User search history.
180     User location.
181     User search settings.
182     Personalization.
183     User behavior signals.
184     User device type.
185     User OS and browser.
186     User search history.
187     User social network activity.



Content Signals:


188     Content diversity.
189     Content engagement.
190     Content quality.
191     Content depth.
192     Content comprehensiveness.
193     Content freshness.
194     Content update frequency.
195     Content duplication.



Negative SEO Signals:


196     Negative SEO attacks.
197     Spammy backlinks.
198     Keyword stuffing.
199     Duplicate content.
200     Cloaking.
201     User-generated spam.

Please note that this is an extensive list of factors that may influence search rankings, and not all of them carry equal weight. Google's algorithm is highly sophisticated and takes into account many variables to provide the most relevant results to users. SEO efforts should focus on creating high-quality content, ensuring a great user experience, and building a strong online presence.