What Are the 4 SEO Rank Factors?

What are the most important Google ranking factors in SEO? You’ve probably heard about on-page and off-page SEO, but even the backend of your website plays a huge role in how your site ranks. And if you want to get eyes on your website, that means implementing an SEO strategy that actually works. So what are some simple SEO tips for better rankings? Let’s explore what the important factors for SEO are and how they impact your rankings.

What Is SEO Ranking?

SEO ranking refers to the position of your website on search engine result pages (SERPs). Your SEO ranking has a huge influence on how and when you connect with your target audience.

Why is it so important? It’s pretty simple: higher rankings mean more eyes on your site. And the more people who see your content listed on Google, the more likely you’ll see an increase in organic traffic. Did you know that when your website isn’t on the first page—or in the top 10 positions—on Google, you’ll be missing out on 95% of all search traffic? That’s huge! And it’s part of the reason why focusing on your SEO rankings will help you see incredible results if you’re able to reach page one.

But how do you do it? Are there secrets to increasing your odds of landing on page one? There are definitely a few ranking factors in SEO that influence how high your site shows on search engines. Let’s look at what those factors are and how they impact your ranking.

What Are the 4 Main SEO Rank Factors?

There are four factors that impact your SEO rankings: on-page, off-page, technical, and local SEO. Each of these components have a different purpose in proving that your website is not only helpful, but easy to navigate. But how do they actually impact your rank on SERPs?

• On-page SEO includes all of the components used on a website to make it more accessible to readers. With title tags, internal links, and images—plus so much more—on-page SEO helps readers navigate your website and content. It’s also important to include valuable content that your answers your readers questions. When Google “crawls” your website, you want to optimize how it sees your content as a whole. Is your site using keywords that match the content? Do images contain alt-text? Are other pages on similar topics linked together? Each piece of on-page SEO works together to create a picture of how relevant your site is to any given search.
• Off-page SEO is all of the components of SEO that are located off of your website. For example, off-page SEO can be reviews of your product or social media posts. If more people are interacting with and sharing your site, Google will recognize it as an important piece of content that will help audiences. Here’s a hot take: A lot of people say that backlinks and guest blogs are an essential part of off-page SEO. While they can be helpful, we find that they’re no match for high-quality content on your own site. And boosting that content online will get you more traffic.
• Technical SEO is what keeps your site running smoothly—it includes things like speed optimization, eliminating duplicate content, and site maps. Optimizing your site for all devices, including desktop and mobile, is an essential component of technical SEO. Because the way your site is set up determines how people can use it—like is it too slow? Having it optimized for search engines and readers means Google ranks it higher.
• Local SEO is how customers find businesses and products in their area. By using organic searches, your your target audience is looking for products and services they can get locally—hence local SEO. But Google does the work for most users! Like business owners who search “office space” and get results of local properties for rent. What’s really important for local SEO is your Google Business Profile, which is where you can manage how your business shows up on Google. Maintaining up-to-date information will help you reach more customers.

While each of these SEO ranking factors has a different purpose, a delicate balance will help you reach higher rankings on SERPs.

As a bonus, you should consider focusing on high-value content! It is the cornerstone of SEO ranking, because it contains all of the necessary ingredients to give audiences the answers to what they’re searching for. The goal is to create helpful content that answers your audience’s questions. Valuable content is about providing useful information. Plus, it proves you’re an authority on the topic—a.k.a. you know what you’re talking about. Sounds pretty simple, right? You might be surprised how many sites create content that circles around answers without ever getting to the point. That won’t get you anywhere on SEO rankings.

You want to make A+ content for your readers. Why? We know content is one of the most important factors to SEO because Google rewards websites that provide helpful content. The final verdict? Make content for people not Google. And we can help! DemandJump gives you the ability to create the best content for your target audience with insight reports and our Pillar-Based Marketing strategy.

Does Traffic Affect SEO Ranking?

Yes, the more traffic you get to your website, the more likely you are to rank higher on SERPs. That’s because Google sees your site as an authority on a topic if a lot of people are reading your content. But clicks aren’t the only thing that factor into SEO. The longer people are on your site, the more likely it is they find your content helpful, which means others will too! Search engines take this into consideration while ranking sites, and that means you’ll reach page one in no time.

How Do I Get SEO Ranking?

At DemandJump, we’ve seen that high-quality content helps websites climb SERPs—even to spot #1! By using our platform, you’ll be able to see the keywords your audience is actually searching for. Rather than taking hours or even days to do keyword research, our insights will help you find what is most important to your audience, which means you can give them content that’s relevant to their needs. And as you now know, better content means better rankings on SERPs! Plus, you’ll be able to implement our revolutionary approach to content marketing called Pillar-Based Marketing.

If you’d like to see how DemandJump can help you reach a wider audience and top the SERPs, you can try our platform for free!