Positioning a website is not easy in a competitive environment. Hundreds of businesses are looking for the same thing, to appear in the first results of Google for searches related to their subject matter, who will achieve it will depend on several reasons, SEO is one of them.
There are more than 200 SEO factors of positioning in Google, but fortunately not all have the same weight in determining the ranking. Some are more important than others, and we will talk about these below. Discover the most crucial ranking factors you need to know to get to the top of the search results.
The most important on page and off page SEO factors for Google
1. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is one of the pillars of SEO, and is the starting point to ensure a good positioning in search engines. This aspect aims to avoid some technical problems that can negatively affect the user experience and hinder Google’s crawling and indexing.
A good implementation of technical SEO always requires a web audit to detect all errors that can negatively affect page performance.
To ensure a good “health” of the site you can:
- Add title and meta description of the pages
- Create a sitemap
- Fix errors and broken links 4xx
- Avoid redirects
- Use the noindex tag for pages that you are not interested in indexing
- Avoid duplicate content
- Check indexing
- Use the correct heading tags H1 – H2 – H3 – H4
- Use titles and ALT for images
- Install the SSL certificate
- Ensure that the site looks good on computers and mobile devices
2. Structured data – Schema
Structured data, also called Schema, allows you to tag website content, e.g. contact details, prices, stock status, etc., so that Google and other search engines can display the content directly in search results.
Schema Markup is becoming one of the most important things when it comes to SEO optimization because it provides search engines with more detailed information about the site’s contents, making it easier to read, index and obtain advanced search results, such as rich snippets in the results.
3. Page loading speed
Loading speed has a direct impact on the user experience and is a key positioning factor. Visitors do not like having to wait for the page they want to access to load, in fact, the longer the loading time, the higher the page abandonment rate.
Websites with a slow loading speed have more difficulties to rank in the first results, this is because Google prioritizes pages with a high loading speed, as they provide a better user experience.
To optimize to the maximum the loading time of the site you can:
- Compress images, videos or other files
- Remove useless plugins and applications
- Install the W3 Total Cache plugin
- Hire a good server
- Enable GZIP for code compression
- Use a lightweight template
You can check the loading speed of your website here
4. Quality content
If you want to reach the top in organic searches, content will be your greatest ally. Publishing content that provides value, on a regular basis, and with an SEO approach will help you improve your web positioning.
Content optimization using keywords related to your field of activity is key, but it is not necessary to repeat them ad nauseam, as it is not natural. Remember that content must first make your visitors fall in love with you, this is the only way to conquer Google.
Rules for good content:
- Make sure you meet search expectations.
- Write content that brings value to your audience.
- Opt for evergreen content
- Create posts with more than 600 words, well written and without spelling mistakes.
- Update the contents to enrich them
- Use images or videos to support your message
- Update or remove content that does not receive traffic
- Use Google Analytics and Search Console to measure and monitor blog posts
5. Link building
Link building is a powerful SEO technique that consists of getting other websites to link to your site. The analogy most often used to explain the importance of backlinks is that of a “vote”. In a way, each backlink is considered a “vote” of confidence that reinforces the importance of your site.
However, not all “votes” have the same value. Links from high authority media, such as an important digital newspaper, or an old blog with a lot of traffic are worth much more than backlinks from recently created media with few monthly visits.
When it comes to backlinks, quality is much more important than quantity. It is worth more to get 1 backlink in a prominent media than 50 links from spammy or low quality websites. So the key is to get a lot of links, but of quality, and with a lot of naturalness.
A simple way to get good backlinks is through sponsored posts. On BeeLinko you have at your disposal more than 25,000 blogs of different topics where you can publish articles to promote your site and improve your search engine rankings.
Tactics to boost your website’s off page SEO:
- Use social networks to promote your content and generate web traffic.
- Leave comments on forums and blogs with topics related to yours.
- Use social aggregators to keep your audience informed.
- Use content marketing to attract traffic
- Create a newsletter that redirects to your website.
If you want to give your website a boost, review the main on page and off page SEO factors, correct what is necessary and create a good backlink strategy to boost your results.