The Top 15 Most Important SEO Ranking Factors Updated

A key component to optimize your local SEO rankings is effectively leveraging your Google Business Profile. It’s not just a listing of your business; this profile is the cornerstone of your online presence and plays a pivotal role in how Google perceives your business relevance. Organize your selected keywords into themed groups or clusters and map them to specific pages or sections of your website.

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If your keyword is missing from those areas, you’ll be prompted to add it. Lastly, ensure your shopping cart checkout has minimal steps and is easy to use. Make sure all sign-up forms and interactive elements work, on both desktop and mobile. Site owners can use Google PageSpeed Insights to assess their site speed and performance and compare it to competitors. Popular content management systems (CMS), like WordPress, provide a blank space for you to add alt text.

• In fact, you’re better learning about the small set of ranking factors that have the biggest impact.
• Assume Google ignores 50% of your links, and only 50% of your links are good.
• Of all the data we captured, the TTFB metric had the strongest correlation effect, implying a high likelihood of some level of influence on search ranking.
• Although not listed by Google as a local ranking factor, the role of engagement is only going to increase as time goes on.
• The map pack (aka local pack) is a Google SERP feature that shows the top local business listings and a map.

SEO is a dynamic field that demands extensive knowledge of algorithms, user behavior, and industry best practices. Gain valuable insights to increase your website’s visibility, engagement, and revenue. Once you’ve ensured your site is optimized for crawlability, the next order of business is to make sure it can be indexed.

Navigational Search Intent

Sites with a high bounce rate BHS Links will see a negative effect on their rankings across the board. This is a clear sign to Google that your site is not giving value to it’s visitors. This is the fastest way to destroy your search rankings and traffic. A link from a page that has a high number of social shares is worth more so include this as part of your research when prospecting sites for link building outreach. More indexed pages does mean you have more chances to rank for different keywords. You are more likely to attract incoming links which does have an impact.

Google’s 170-Page Search Quality Rater Guidelines for 2025

The presence or absence of business information is one of the most crucial local SEO ranking factors. Video gets read, shared, and linked, providing plenty of signals to amplify your search ranking. There’s little you can do to affect user behavior – paying people to click your listings all day is not a good SEO strategy. Instead, spend your time optimizing your titles, meta descriptions, and GMB details to be as enticing as possible for searchers. And, of course, getting your site in the top rankings to begin with.

Your website should be always up and running to keep serving the content to visitors and search engine bots. Create relevant content about the local area and share on your social channels, email lists and GBP. Also reach out to relevant local website owners and encourage them to link to your content.