No one’s denying the importance of high authority links, but calling links the sole factor in Google’s rankings is a bit of a stretch. While links are considered one of the top three factors, Google uses a combination of over 200 other ranking factors in displaying results on its SERPs. Some of the most prominent ones include:
- Website security (HTTPS vs HTTP) – protecting users through encryption from hackers and identity thieves
- Mobile friendliness of websites – 90% of users leave websites that have a stiff, mobile, unfriendly navigation
- Page Speed – slower pages have higher bounce rates
- Quality of webpage content – ease of accessibility, understanding, and usefulness
- Schema markup – structured data that makes it easier for a search engine to interpret content on websites
- Length of webpage content – long-based content such as 2,000 words per web page
- Local and social signals – social media pages and shares, as well as verified accounts
- Age of domain – as a rule of thumb, older domains give a site more authority.
As you can see, these are a mere chunk of the mix, and there are still numerous factors that contribute to making your websites rank at the top of search engines. One thing is certain: the first three organic search results often receive 55% of all internet traffic. Google and other search engines are becoming increasingly more advanced with time, deploying AI algorithms to generate results on a more personalized level for each user. Nowadays, many queries are being categorized into four major sections or moments. These are: I want to know moments, I want to go moments, I want to do moments, and finally,e I want to buy moments.