200 Ranking Factors for Google

Ranking Factors for Google

Do you know there are 200 ranking factors for Google that dictates the search engine result page? Have you ever wondered how Google search algorithm works? We all search Google, right? But why some ten results show on the first page & rest on the other pages?

Yes, there are at least 200 ranking factors for Google behind the search engine that works long before you even think about searching something. These factors work in the background collects necessary data to show results. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

But how you will be sure about these 200 ranking factors for Google (or at least 200 ranking factors for Google)? Google revealed this at Press Day on May 10th, 2006 accidentally(read more at the blog of Matt Cutts). At another occasion, Matt Cutts himself declared that they count on over 200 ranking factors for Google. He also added that each factor might have up to 50 variations.

Not accidentally, I would say Google intentionally showed this to highlight the complex search algorithms of Google Search Engine. Seeing the phrase “over 200 signals for ranking”, it’s safe to assume that there are more than 200 ranking factors for Google. The phrase suggests how complex process works to show a search engine result page.

The search algorithm has evolved a lot from the age-old PageRank system. Google now uses more complex signals & analyze all of their indexed data regarding a query and then apply all their ranking factors to show the result. These 200 ranking factors for Google even have more complex signals like social signals & user interaction.

Why do you need to know about 200 ranking factors for Google?

Yes, you need to know about 200 ranking factors for Google, because these factors determine a website’s visibility in a search result. You can use these as a checklist to improve the SEO of your website. But remember there are a lot of controversies about 200 ranking factors for Google. Even some mainstream bloggers reject the existence of such list & called it the myth of 200 ranking factors for Google.

After understanding a search, Google first retrieves data from the index & then it filters the retrieved data using different algorithms. At the last stage, it uses the ranking factors & ranks different websites for the SERPs. So there are debates on the very existence of these factors. Myth or not we will discuss it in the later part of this post. Understanding and remembering these 200 ranking factors for Google will let you grasp the basic needs for an effective SEO. We all love when our hard work gets the prize & a certain website ranks high in the SERPs. There are ups & downs in SERP like our real life. After any Google update, usually tons of websites change their position with each other. So knowing 200 ranking factors for Google will let you prepared for an SEO process.

A brief insight into 200 ranking factors for google:

I have already said that there is a debate on the exact numbers. Even Google said, “there are over 200 ranking factors for Google”. So below list is not like a Bible & I have gathered them based on several studies, experience & data from different Google updates (if you want to know more about Google algorithm updates read: Google Search Algorithm.

• With several & continuous updates many of these factors introduced, then got emphasized or even understated. See below for the complete list of 200 ranking factors for Google segmented under different criteria,
• Domain related ranking factors.
• Page related ranking factors.
• Site-related ranking factors.
• Backlink ranking factors.
• User interaction.
• Special algorithm rules.
• Social signals.
• Brand signal ranking factors.
• On-site webspam ranking factors.
• Off-page web-spam ranking factors.

Domain Related ranking factors

1. Domain age:

200 ranking factors for Google starts with Domain age. A well-known but not so important ranking factor of Google. There is a popular belief that old domain creates a high value on Google Search. But the same Matt Cutts rejects its high importance by saying that the difference between a domain that is six months old with a domain that is one year old is not a big at all. But it’s also important that he hasn’t rejected this ranking factor.

2. Domain registration length:

Normally a trustworthy domain often registered for several years in advance. A domain name is significant for that individual. On the other hand, a spammer will buy a domain for a shortest possible time for spamming. This thing is not unknown to Google & they encourage to register a domain for at least two years. It’s an important part of 200 ranking factors for Google.

3. Domain History:

Google will reset a website’s history if it finds the website has a rapidly & unpredictable changeable ownership. Several drops will also give a bad signal to Google. You can easily check your website’s ownership or other information at WhoIs.

4. EMD(exact match domain):

Exact match domain or EMD is one of the significant factors after the Google’s EMD update at late 2012. Now if you have an exact match domain name then it will give a negative signal to Google unless it’s quality site. If it’s a low-quality site than Google will possibly remove the site from the SERPs. Avoid putting,

            The Keyword in subdomain name.

            Keyword in the top level domain name.

           The Keyword as the first word of the domain name.

5. Public vs. Private WhoIs:

Keeping the WhoIs private or turning the privacy protection on (owner & other related information) may create an impression that there is something to hide. WhoIs, privacy protection service, can be turned on by default. You can think that it’s not a big deal, but it’s a widespread practice by illegal websites.

6. Penalized WhoIs owner:

Another important part of 200 ranking factors for Google that, if an owner of a single website got penalized or identified as a spammer by Google then there is a possibility that every other website that particular person owns will be marked as a bad or illegal website.

7. Country TLD extension:

If you use a top-level domain with a country code like .uk or .us, then it helps to get better rank at the particular country’s SERP. But if it has a global domain like .com then there is a huge competition for the website to rank higher. Country code top-level domain limits the ability of a website to rank higher globally.

Page related ranking factors:

8. Keyword in title tag:

Keeping the keyword at the title of content is a well known & proven on page SEO practice. Always remember that the title of content is the second most important piece of content next to the content itself.

9. Title tag starts with a keyword:

The focus keyword should be at the beginning of your title of the content. Keeping it at the end or the middle will make it less effective. Moz data showed that title contains the keyword at the beginning performs better in the SERP.

10. Keyword in meta description tag:

Once it was a crucial factor for SERP to keep the keyword at the meta description but now it’s less important. But still keeping the keyword will be a good practice.

11. Keyword at headline 1:

In your content, always try to keep a headline that contains your keyword. When a person searches using a keyword, Google finds the relevancy between the search & your website. The first headline in your content helps Google to find that connection. Consider it as an important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

12. The keyword is the most frequently used phrase in a document:

Another important relevancy signal is using your keyword as the most frequently used word in your content. You should not use other words more often than the keyword.

13. Useful content:

Google now clearly distinguishes between quality & useful contents. So keep your focus on both forms of contents to get the maximum ranking from Google.

14. Content length:

As a part of 200 ranking factors for Google, there is no standard length of content, but Google always prefers broader & informative content. No matter what the subject of your mediocre content is, you are likely to get less importance from the search engine.

15. Keyword density:

With the continuous update of Google search algorithm, keyword density is a less important factor. But still, Google determines a website’s relevancy with the search by using a keyword. It is known that the optimal keyword density is 1% to 1.2%. There are three types of keyword,

• Generic keyword
• Broad match keyword
• Long tail keyword

16. Latent semantic indexing keywords in content:

An important quality of content is to holds the clear meaning of the keyword. Suppose you are using the word “Windows,” that can lead to two different words, windows on the house & the operating system of Microsoft. There should be a clear meaning of the keywords in the content using synonyms.

17. LSI keywords in the title and description tags:

Another relevancy comes from the meta tags of the content as well using the Latent semantic indexing. The Same method can be used here by using synonyms.

18. Page loading speed via HTML:

Loading the page of a website or a website’s speed is an important ranking factor because Google doesn’t want to rank a page if it has a slow and annoying loading speed. Google measure a page’s loading speed by its code & file size. Measure your page speed at Google’s tool.

19. Duplicate content:

Duplicate content is a major ranking factor among 200 ranking factors for Google. It puts a huge negative impact on Google & even slightly identical content will be marked as duplicate contents by Google. How you will check your content’s uniqueness, use Copyscape or siteliner.

20. Rel=canonical:

It’s one kind of HTML element often called as “Canonical link” helps webmaster to prevent duplicate content issues. It shows the Google crawler the preferred version of the web page by a Canonical link.

21. Page loading speed via Chrome:

To get better understand a page’s loading time Google uses Chrome user data as a standard. Because Chrome user data shows, a page’s loading time by understanding server speed, CDN usage & other non-HTML related signals that show site speed.

22. Image optimization:

Pictures of a website as well as content produce strong relevancy signal among 200 ranking factors for Google. You have to keep relevant Alt tag of the image, filename, title, description & caption.

23. Recency of content updates:

Google prefers pages that usually updates regularly. Especially if it’s a time-sensitive page like weather or sports pages, Google keeps a close eye on its updated status. Google even shows the page’s last update date & status.

24. Magnitude of content updates

Continuous changing content gives an impression to Google that your page is fresh. Minor change of words or sections will not work. You need to change an entire section or just the whole content to create the impression & Google will be notified.

25. Historical page update:

A web page should be updated regularly. A continuously changing page suggests its seriousness as well as uniqueness to Google. You need to change it right now if you haven’t changed it for a long time.

26. Keyword prominence:

A keyword appears in the first 100 words of a page’s content gives a strong relevancy signal to Google’s ranking factor & considered as an important ranking factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google. But never overuse the keyword, or your page will be treated as a spamming page.

27. Keyword in H2, H3 Tags:

Keeping the keyword not only at heading 1(H1) but also at heading 2(H2) & heading 3 (H3) is very important. It gives a good relevancy signal.

28. Keyword word order:

Keyword search is very very important for content. But the research also consists the sequence of the keyword phrase. Suppose your keyword of the content is “200 ranking factors for Google”if you write is like “Google 200 ranking factor” than the sequence has been broken. When a search occurs, Google will find the keyword “200 ranking factors for Google” & it will get the preference at ranking.

29. Some outbound links:

Too much outbound links may create a bad impression & thus can destroy your effort for good ranking. Too much to follow OBLs is not good for your content as well as your site/page.

30. Outbound link quality:

An Outbound links are very very important for a good rank at search. Outbound links should suggest quality & authority websites otherwise tons of outbound will not bring any success for your page.

31. Outbound link theme:

When using outbound links at your content, consider using relevant sites as your outbound link. According to Moz, Google uses the linked contents as a relevancy signal for your content.

32. Grammar & spelling:

Page with no grammatical & spelling mistakes gets preference at the ranking. You can use a common & free extension at your browser named Grammarly to check grammatical & spelling mistakes.

33. Syndicated content:

If your contents are not original & copied or scraped from another side that are indexed then your contents will not get any rank & worst thing is they will be marked as the supplement of the original content.

34. Helpful supplementary content:

Some supplementary contents are really helpful. Funny isn’t it? Yes if these contents are helpful & very common suppose currency converter, loan interest calculators, interactive recipes & much more. These contents contribute to the ranking of a website.

35. Multimedia:

Another important factor of 200 ranking factors for Google is adding multimedia, images & videos to your site. It creates a strong influence of ranking.

36. The Number of Internal Links Pointing to Page:

Some internal links pointing to your site shows Google that your page has an importance on the internet. But never use the spamming. For internal links, always prefer quality over quantity.

37. Quality of Internal Links Pointing to Page:

Its already mentioned that quality of internal links is very very important. Internal links from authorized or good ranked website will create a strong impact on ranking.

38. Broken links:

Too much-broken links may bring disaster to your site. It also shows that your site or page is abandoned or not updated regularly. As you are reading this article, you always know how to check links of your website.

39. Basic reading level:

Basic reading level shows a page or website’s popularity among its visitors. There is a debate on the importance of the Basic reading level but since Google provides reading level status so this must have some importance on ranking because it appeals to others.

40. Affiliate links:

Affiliate links are good to a certain level for a website & important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google. If your website contains too much affiliate links, then Google will start looking for other ranking factors to identify your site’s status. Google doesn’t rank sites build for thin affiliating purposes.

41. HTML errors/W3C validation:

Too much HTML error or W3C validation(used to markup HTML or XHTML error in a website) are not good for ranking. Sloppy coding is a sign of a pore sites. Google keeps a constant eye on this area. It is an important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

42. Page host’s domain authority:

Google will rank high if your page is an authoritative domain. The opposite will only reduce your ranking.

43. Page’s PageRank:

Once it was an important factor for ranking but don’t think that it has lost it’s important because still, a page with high PR get a better ranking than the page with less PR.

44. URL length:

If your web page or website contains too large URL, then consider removing it because long URL hurts the ranking of a website.

45. URL path:

It is known that a page linked to the homepage may get a higher authority boost.

46. Human editors:

It was never confirmed nor denied that Google may influence the SERPs by human editors. Google has a patent on this!

47. Page category:

Your page needs to be categorized relevantly. Closer related category gives a relevancy boost at the ranking. If it’s not properly categorized, then don’t hesitate to do it now.

48. WordPress tags:

Relating your one content with other or with a group of contents improves your SEO factors. The better way to do is by Tags with WordPress-specific relevancy signal.

49. Keyword in URL:

Use keywords at your page or website’s URL; it helps to get better at ranking & also important at 200 ranking factors for Google.

50. URL string:

Another easy way to identify your URL for Google is to add categories to your URL string. Google read these categories & gets the thematic signal about the page.

51. References and Sources:

Adding references and sources, such as research papers provides a sign of the quality of your To review a page, sources makes a strong impression & quality sources are very important, though Google has denied that they consider external links as a ranking factor of a site.

52. Bullets and numbered lists:

Bullets & numbers are an important part of the content. It helps a reader to understand the idea or topic easily. Google also prefers bullets & numbering & consider it as a good signal for ranking.

53. Priority of page in sitemap:

Providing a sitemap XML to Google may influence your website’s ranking but be careful before submitting it because a slight problem can make Google mark you as a bad site.

54. Too many outbound links:

If you use too much outbound links, then it will distract your reader from the original content. So Goole never encourages to use too much outbound links. Google loves user-friendly website & if your user leaves your site frequently, then it will bring no good to your website.

55. Number other keywords for page ranks:

Focusing a single or single type of keywords don’t help your site to get a good rank at SERP. Consider using different keywords & type of keywords.

56. Page age

It is known that Google prefers fresh contents as well as a new page that gots fresh content. But preceding pages that regularly updates the content adds value to the ranking factor.

57. User-friendly layout:

As you have already read that, Google always prefers user-friendly websites, but there is another thing. A user-friendly website not only lets the users enjoy your website but also let the good contents get the visibility as well as let the crawlers crawl the website easily.

58. Parked domains:

Once parked domains used to get the same treatment as a hosted domain from Google. But things have been changed because of several spamming sites are used their domain to parked on other hostings. So Google now treats parked domains as a possible spamming sites.

Site-related ranking factors:

59. Content provides value and unique insights:

Contents of your websites are the main elements as we all representatives to Google. Rich content always gets preference from Google. And to Google, they always hunt to remove sites with thin content such as affiliate sites with no valuable content. Google always tries hard to bring the best for the readers.

60. Contact us page:

A contact us page will show your viewers/reader the necessary way to contact you. Google uses these data with the WhoIs information, so both information should be same.

61. Domain trust/trust rank:

Domain trust is one of the most important ranking factors among the 200 ranking factors for Google. It defined by how many links you site got from quality & trusted websites. Learn more about domain trust/TrustRank.

62. Site architecture:

The better your website architecture is, the better the way Google will be able to index your site. Silo structures are preferable for proper indexing.

63. Site updates:

Site updates show how frequently a site gets updated by quality & fresh contents seven considered as an important face of 200 ranking factors for Google.

64. The number of pages:

The number of pages is an important factor to understand about the site. Fewer pages mean it’s a thin affiliate site, lots of pages means it’s a quality website.

65. Well organized of sitemap:

A well-organized sitemap helps the search engine to index your website easily & improves your website’s visibility.

66. Site uptime:

Too much downtime due to maintenance & server downtime will hurt your ranking. If your site is down no matter what the reason is, the crawler will be unable to index your site.

67. Server location:

For geo-specific searches, your server location is crucial. If your server is situated far away from a search is, your ranking will be decreased.

68. SSL certificate:

It’s confirmed from Google that using SSL certificate & HTTPs gives a boost to the ranking.

69. Terms of services & privacy pages:

Terms of services & privacy pages make your website a trustworthy website on the internet. Google also defines a website’s trustworthiness from these two pages.

70. Duplicate meta information on-site:

An important factor from the 200 ranking factors for Google is if your page has duplicate meta information then Google will tag your site as a spamming site & will remove your site from SERPs.

71. Breadcrumb navigation:

Breadcrumb navigation is the most important part of a user-friendly website which helps a user to understand where he is & we all know that Google prefers user-friendly websites for better ranking.

72. Mobile optimized:

Google now prefers websites optimized for different platforms. After the mobile-friendly update of Google, it’s now clear that websites optimized for mobile devices will get a preference at mobile search. Google even add “Mobile-friendly” tag to sites that optimized for mobile devices.

73. YouTube:

Since Google owns youtube, they are now giving special care to your YouTube videos uploaded by websites. After the Google Panda update, they have started giving preference on YouTube channels.

74. Site usability:

If your site is difficult to use or navigate, then site bounce rate will increase automatically. User-friendly site structure, as well as navigation, is always recommended is also an essential part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

75. Use of Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools:

Google Analytics & Google Webmaster are two of the important tools people use to get more information from the site & considered as an important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google. Google also get more data from the site for indexing if you have installed these two programs on your site.

76. User reviews/site reputation:

Adding reviews to your site as well as on other sites gives a quality signal to Google about your sites. Google treats these reviews as a factor for the quality of your site. Thus you will get a preference on the ranking.

Backlink ranking factors:

77. Linking domain age:

If your backlink comes from old websites, then Google treats them as authentic signals about the quality of your site. It’s an important factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google.

78. # of linking root domains:

Another important ranking factor is the number of referring domains linked to your site. But never try spamming for a better result.

79. # of links from separate C-Class IPs:

Backlinks from separate class-c IP addresses suggest a wider breadth of quality sites linking to your site.

80. # of Linking pages:

If your page is ranked with several pages, even from the same domain will count as an important ranking factor.

81. Alt tag (for images):

Google crawler can’t read images from your website. You need to use Alt tag to let the crawler read those images. It’s an important task needed to be done for better ranking.

82. Backlinks from .edu or .gov domains:

If your website has backlinks from .edu or .gov sites, then it will be treated as an important factor for ranking. It’s also considered as an essential part of 200 ranking factors for Google.

83. Authority of linking page:

The authority (PageRank) of a page that referring your page as backlinks is a significant ranking factor.

84. Authority of linking domains:

The authority of linking domain to your website plays an important role in ranking. But remember if the authority level is below your domain’s authority then it will now help your site at all. To learn more about domain authority read this article.

85. Links from competitors:

If you get links from your competitors for a particular keyword, then it will help a lot for ranking. But it is a not an easy task to do.

86. Social shares of referring page:

If you share your page on social sites, then Google considers it as an important one from the 200 ranking factors for Google for that specific page.

87. Links from a bad site:

If you get links from bad sites or pages, then your ranking will decrease surely. I have already mentioned some tools to check your links. Check your links regularly.

88. Guest posts:

Guest post is considered as the White hat SEO technique. If it comes from an author bio area then it’s not considered as spamming, it may not be as valuable as a contextual link on the same page.

89. Links to homepage domain that page sites on:

Links to a referring page’s homepage plays an important role to your ranking. It evaluates a site as well as the weight of the link.

90. Nofollow links:

A website with normal link profile should have some no follow links. If it’s not framed, then these no follow links are very common & Google treats them as the normal status of a website.

91. The diversity of link profile:

Links profile is an important part of 200 ranking factors for Google. If your most of the links come from a single website such as a blog, then your links are may be a result of spamming. So try to get links from different websites. It creates a strong impression on ranking.

92. “Sponsored Links” Or other words around link:

Words like “sponsor’s,” “link partners” and “sponsored links” creates a strong influence on the value of the link. It will decrease if links use these words.

93. Contextual links:

If your links come from content, then it will consider as valuable apart from link comes from the other part of the page such as comments.

94. Excessive 301 redirects to page:

If your links contain unnecessary 301 redirects to your page, then it will decrease the page rank.

95. Backlink anchor text:

Once anchor text was very significant but still it helps Google to understand the page’s description.

96. Internal link anchor text:

It does not work like the backlink anchor text. It provides a strong relevancy signal to Google as a part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

97. Link title attribution:

The text that appears when you hover over a link is known as link title & it also gives a weak relevancy signal.

98. Country TLD or referring domain:

To rank better in a country, you need to generate links from that very country-specific top-level domain extensions such as de, .cn, .co, .uk, etc.

99. Link location in content:

Links at the end of the content is more successful than the link at the beginning of the content.

100. Link location on the page:

You need to add links to the content of a page. It works better than the links added to the header or footer of a page.

101. Linking domain relevancy:

A link from a related site is far more effective than a link from the completely unrelated site. Google even mark links from an unrelated site as spam.

102. Page level relevancy:

Relevancy also works for page level as well. If your page is linked to a page that is related, then it will give a strong signal to Google ranking. If it’s not related, then there is a chance to treat them as spam by Google.

103. Text around link

If your links contain negative review to your site, then Google will treat your site accordingly. Try to get the positive review with the link. It works better.

104. Keyword in title:

You need to get links from pages that have the same keyword in your title. It is an important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

105. Positive link velocity:

Your site will get SERP boost if it contains positive link velocity. Click here to learn more about link velocity.

106. Negative link velocity:

Negative link velocity is a signal of the decreasing popularity of your site. So it will decrease the ability to appear at the SERP.

107. Links from Hubpages:

Your website will get special preference if it gets links from top resource pages on certain topics also known as hub pages.

108. Links from authority sites:

Link from authority page is considered as the most effective link in the SEO field. It will certainly increase the ability to get better ranking.

109. Linked as Wikipedia sources:

If your site gets links from Wikipedia as a source for information, then it will give a significant boost to the SERP.

110. Co-occurrences

Google understand about your page from the words appears around your link as a part of 200 ranking factors for Google.

111. Backlink age:

From a patent from Google, it is clear that older backlinks are considered as more valuable than the newer backlinks. Click to learn more about backlinks.

112. Links from real sites vs. fake blogs:

Brand and user-interaction signals Google gives more attention to links come from the site than blogs because often blogs are created to use as a spamming link site. Even spammers use comment option at blogs as their spamming sector.

113. Natural link profile:

Accordingly, 200 ranking factors for Google, if your site has natural link profile then you will get preference from Google surely

114. Reciprocal links

Reciprocal links mean excessive link exchanges between sites. Google not only discourage it but also consider it as a bad signal.

115. User-generated content links:

Google can identify links generated from UGC vs. the real site owner. For example, they know that a link from the official WordPress.com blog at en.blog.wordpress.com is very different than a link from bestreviews.wordpress.com & they treat them accordingly.

116. Links from 301:

Links from 301 may decrease your ranking than the links comes directly, though Matt Cutts said that a 301 link works like a direct link.

117. Schema.org microformats:

Pages that support microformats may rank above pages that don’t. Pages with micro formatting have a higher SERP CTR.

118. DMOZ listed:

DOMZ sites may get extra trust from Google & it’s an important part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

119. TrustRank of linking site:

The trustworthiness of sites linked to your site determines into the TrustRank of your site.

120. Many outbound links on the page:

If you thought outbound links would increase your PR & added hundreds of links to your page, then you have made a mistake. Few outbound links work better than hundreds.

121. Forum profile links:

Due to industrial level spamming, links coming from forum profile will significantly reduce your PR.

122. Word count on linking content:

According to 200 ranking factors for Google, if you get links from large content will be preferable than links from little content known as the snippet.

123. Quality of linking content:

Not only word count but also the quality of the content itself plays an important role in the ranking. More the quality of the content, more the quality of the link.

124. Sitewide links

Matt Cutts has confirmed in a video post that Site Wide links are “compressed” to count as a single link rather than many links.

User interaction:

125. Organic click-through rate(CTR) for a keyword:

For a particular keyword, if you get organics click-through rate than you will get SERP boost.

126. Organic CTR for all keywords:

A webpage’s or website’s organic CTR for all keywords is rank for may be a human-based, user interaction signal.

127. Bounce rate:

Bounce rate is considered as the most important factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google. Increase bounce rate means the site is not user-friendly. Try everything to keep it at a minimum level. You can learn & measure your site’s bounce rate.

128. Repeat traffic:

200 ranking factors for Google shows that if a site gets repeating visitors directly than Google will tag the website as a trusted website & rank accordingly.

129. Direct traffic:

A visitor that directly comes to your site to visit makes a strong impact on ranking.

130. Blocked sites:

Google Panda update used this feature once as a quality signal, but now Google has removed it.

131. Chrome bookmarks:

Google also use chrome cache data & if your site gets bookmark than Google treats your site as a quality site & ranks accordingly.

132. Google toolbar data:

Search Engine Watch’s Danny Goodwin reports Google finally admits that Google uses toolbar data as a ranking signal. Besides page loading speed and malware, it’s not clear that what kind of data they glean from the toolbar.

133. The number of comments:

If your page contains a good number of comment, then it shows that people interact with your page. It Is also a factor of 200 ranking factors for Google.

134. Dwell time:

Dwell time means how much time people spend on your site when they come from SERP. It sometimes referred as “long lick vs. short click”. Google keeps a close eye on this data & if people spend more time than your site will be marked as a quality site.

Special algorithm rules:

135. Query deserves freshness:

Instead of showing the same result again & again Google sometimes gives space for newer sites to prefer freshness. According to Moz, they named it as freshness update.

136. Query deserves diversity:

Sometimes Google adds diversity on certain searches instead of showing a similar type of results. Such keywords are WWF, ICC, etc.

137. User browsing history:

200 ranking factors for Google show, if you are logged into your Google account then it will show same sites you frequently visit from your user browsing history.

138. Geo-targeting:

Google prefers a site that has local server IP & country specific domain name extension.

139. Safe search:

If you turned on your safe search then search result with curse words or adult content will not appear at SERP no matter how good rank that website has.

140. Google+ circles:

If you have added authors & sites to your Google+ circles, then it will show higher result from them.

141. DMCA complaints:

If your site has too much DMCA complaints, then Google will downrank your site.

142. Domain diversity:

After the Bigfoot update also known as Dr. Pete Goes Crazy, SERP will show a page from different domains instead of showing different pages from the same domain.

143. Transactional searches:

Google sometimes show the different result on the same search. It happens on shopping related words.

144. Local Searches:

In 200 ranking factors for Google, they often show Google+ Local results above the “normal” organic SERPs.

145. Google box:

Some of your search results can lead to you at a box filled with news also known as Google box.

146. Big brand preference:

After the Vince Update, Google has started giving big brands a boost for certain short-tail searches at SERP.

147. Shopping results:

Sometime in organic area of the SERP, Google shows shopping results.

148. Image results

Google shows organic listings for image results for search results at SERP which are commonly used in Google Image Search.

149. Easter Egg results:

There are funny things hidden on the Google search. Suppose if you search “Do a barrel roll” & google browser will give a 360 roll. It’s the most mysterious factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google. It’s not known how much easter eggs have been hidden in the search box. Have you found one by yourself?

150. Single site result for brands:

Domain or brand-oriented keywords can bring up several results from the same site in a SERP.

Social signals:

151. Number of Tweets:

Social signals matters & if you tweet your page, then it will make an effect on ranking. It’s an important factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google.

152. Authority of Twitter user’s accounts:

Tweets from old & authority account with lots of followers will make a significant boost on your ranking rather than a new account with fewer followers.

153. Authority of Facebook user’s account:

Similarly popular or verified Facebook account would boost your ranking if you use it to share your page or site.

154. The total number of Facebook Likes:

Among the 200 ranking factors for Google, Facebook likes are the easiest now to achieve. Google can’t see the Facebook account but uses these likes as a weak ranking signal. But they prefer a site with an Official Facebook account linked with it.

155. Facebook shares:

Facebook shares of your page will act like a backlink & you will get tons of visitors to your site if the content is attractive.

156. Pinterest Pins:

Google consider Pinterest Pins as a good social signal because it’s a popular social media.

157. Votes on social sharing sites:

Links shared on social pages like Reddit, Stumbleupon, and Digg is also considered as a social signal by Google.

158. The total number of Google+1’s:

Google+ is Google’s social site & it’s hard to believe that they ignore the data from there. Strong presence at Google+ may give you boost as your ranking.

159. Authority of Google+ user accounts:

Like Facebook & Twitter, Google also prefers Google+ account with more followers & popularity.

160. Known authorship:

In February 2013, Google CEO Eric Schmidt famously claimed in an instance:

“Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results.”

It is clear that Google uses some form of authorship to boost the ranking, but it’s not known how they get it because Google+ authorship program has been shut down. So don’t ignore it from the 200 ranking factors for Google list.

161. Social signal relevancy:

Google may measure the relevancy information from the account that shares the content and the text that appears with the link.

162. Site level social signals:

The site level social signal increases a site’s overall authority, and it may boost the ranking.

Brand signals:

163. Brand name anchor text:

Branded anchor text provides simple yet powerful brand single and an important factor among the 200 ranking factors for Google.

164. Branded searches:

Google determines a brand by the search trend of people. If people directly search using your brand name, then Google will name as a brand.

165. The site has Facebook page & likes:

Normally Google knows that a brand should have a facebook page attached on their site with lots of like. So don’t forget to add your Facebook page to your site.

166. The site has twitter profile with followers:

Your site should have twitter profile with followers like the Facebook.

167. Official LinkedIn company page:

The official LinkedIn page also considered as an important part of a brand. It also shows that your brand is not a fake one.

168. The employee listed in LinkedIn:

Google consider it as a brand signal if the official LinkedIn page has more connection that state they work in this company.

169. The legitimacy of social media accounts:

The legitimacy of your social media account will act as an important factor for the brand signal. If your site has lots of like with less post, then it will be considered as a fake page.

170. Brand mentions on news site:

Big brands get mentioned on Google News sites regularly. In fact, some brands even have their own Google News feed on SERP.

171. Co-citations:

Popular brands get mentioned without getting linked. Google even looks at non-hyperlinked brand mentions as a brand signal.

172. The total number of RSS subscribers:

Google owns the Feedburner RSS service, so it’s a fact of 200 ranking factors for Google that, they will use the RSS subscribers data as the ranking factor.

173. Google+ local listing:

A real business should have an office & Google may use the location data to determines whether or not a site has a big business.

174. The website is tax paying business:

Google may look at whether or not a site is associated with a tax-paying business & consider the data to evaluate your business size & authenticity.

On-site webspam ranking factors:

175. Panda penalty:

If your site gets hit by Panda Penalty due to low-quality content, then Google will likely give you less importance at ranking.

176. Links to bad neighborhoods:

If your website has links from bad neighborhoods like pharmacy or payday loan sites, then you will get no ranking in SERP.

177. Redirects:

If wrongly & sneakily redirected to private sites than your site will be removed from the index if you get caught.

178. Pop-ups or distracting Ads:

Lots of pop-ups and ads on a site will let Google mark the site as a thin site with no importance. It’s an important factor of 200 ranking factors for Google.

179. Over-optimized site:

This parameter defines On-page factors like keyword stuffing, header tag stuffing or excessive keyword decoration may lead to hitting by panda.

180. Page over-optimization:

Unlike Panda; Google Penguin update targets individual page Includes on-page factors like keyword stuffing, header tag stuffing, excessive keyword decoration.

181. Ads above the fold:

If your site hides ads in different pages, then your site is going to get penalized by Google Panda update. Panda update is an important element of 200 ranking factors for Google.

182. Hiding Affiliate links:

If your website is trying to hide affiliate links differently then, it will get penalized by Panda.

 183. Affiliate sites:

Due to the thin nature of affiliate site, Google keeps a close eye on affiliate sites & continuously check them.

184. Auto-generated content:

Auto Generated contents are the most dangerous part of your site. If you get caught, then your site will be removed from the index.

185. Excess PageRank sculpting:

Don’t distract the system by using PageRank sculpting. You need to go through the prescribed way and use proper backlinks.

186. IP address flagged as spam:

If your IP address gets flagged as spamming IP, then your domain will lose ranking.

187. Meta tag spamming:

Don’t use too many keywords & distract the system. You will get penalized though you obeyed all the ranking factors for Google.

Off-page web-spam ranking factors:

188. An unnatural influx of links:

An unnatural & abnormal influx of links may be a signal to you that your site needs a proper attention ASAP with other 200 ranking factors for Google.

189. The penalty by Penguin updates:

If your website already got a strike by Google Penguin update, then your site will be removed from the SERP. Work accordingly, and your site will be indexed again.

190. Link profile with high % or low-quality links

If you have lots of links from blog comments & forum profiles, then you may have used black hat SEO & your site is at the risk of getting a strike. It’s an important factor of 200 ranking factors for Google.

191. Linking domain relevancy:

If your links are not coming from relevant domains, then you need to remove those links fast to get safe from a strike.

192. Unnatural links warning:

If you get a message from the webmaster that your site has unnatural links, then you are at a risk of getting a penalty. This is why webmaster should be installed on every site.

193. Links from the same class C IP:

An unnatural amount of links from sites on the same server IP is a sign of private network link building. Don’t even think about it because Google knows how to get & punish them.

194.“Poison anchor” text::

Links with same anchor text is commonly known as “poison anchor” text. Avoid it because you are at the risk of getting the penalty.

195. Selling links:

If you are selling links, then your site will make an impact on Toolbar PageRank, and your search visibility will be removed by Google.

196. Google Sandbox:

If your site is new but gets sudden influx links, then your site will be put into Google Sandbox & temporarily your search visibility will be reduced.

197. Disavow tools:

This tool is used to remove a manual or algorithm penalty from a certain site due to negative SEO. It’s a vital part of the 200 ranking factors for Google.

198. Google Dance:

To check the algorithm is working or not, Google may use the Google Dance to shake the ranking. If a site uses proper way, then it will stay on the same rank. If not then it will be revealed as an unnatural site.

199. Review schema tags:

Over-optimized or manipulated Review Schema tag is going to bring penalty on your site.

Last and most important ranking factors for Google

200. You need to gain a DoFollow link by your ‘content quality’ which other bloggers or website naturally linked your site as a source. Its a most important ranking factors for Google. If others mentioned you then Google find your content worthy.

Although these 200 ranking factors for Google are known, there are a lot of other factors are there. In the beginning, I have already said that there are more than 200 ranking factors for Google so don’t consider it as a perfect list. Others can move & put something else. That doesn’t remove the importance of these 200 ranking factors for Google.

If you get a slight help from 200 ranking factors for Google article, then I will be grateful & I will consider this article as a success.