If you boil down Google’s Ranking Factors, it’s just math.
What makes one site rank above another is simply based on a (complex) weighted calculation.
And, while link building has always been the bell of the ball when it comes to ranking, it is NOT the most correlated factor for ranking in Google.
No, the most correlated ranking factor is that you have diversification among all the other top factors.
The more of the Google ranking factors listed here you add to a given web page, the more tuned your page will be for your target keyword and the better able you will be to:
- Outrank big competitors in Google search and
- Survive the onslaught of never-ending Google updates with less massive rankings drops
The list below (which we first released as a simple infographic in 2015) contains the top 200 statistically significant Spearman correlated Google ranking factors, including the technical on-page SEO you will need to perform to rank higher.
These factors aren’t just guesSEO hearsay. They’re based on real, statistical data.
But, SEO beware! Over-optimization is definitely a thing, especially if you’re just building links.
DISCLAIMER: When considering these Top 200 Google Ranking Factors, please keep in mind this list only includes factors where the data is available as an outside observer.
Google itself has other data NOT included here (e.g. click-through rates, user search history, on-page dwell time, bounce rates and returning visitor data) that would help provide a more complete picture.
The 200 factors included here represent the absolute best measure of observable statistical correlation.
Ready to dive in?
Table of Contents
How to Read This Guide to Google Ranking Factors
Before we dig into the most important Google ranking factors to acknowledge, let’s talk about how to read this guide.
Declaring a “ranking factor “
Remember, Google doesn’t give us full transparency. We don’t know the exact mechanics of how Google search rankings or Google’s algorithm works. However, by observing and analyzing the structure of web sites and how they perform in Google Search results, we can mostly reverse engineer how the algorithm works. We declare something to be a ranking factor when it’s sufficiently measurable and apparently capable of influencing rankings in SERPs.
Ranking factor correlation vs. causation
Because there are so many variables in play, it’s hard to demonstrate causation, but correlation studies have shown what areas actually contribute to higher rankings and which do not.
As such, we are heavily interested in and reliant on strongly correlated items when evaluating different Google ranking factors.
While Google Analytics may show engagement data, most third party tools ignore these factors when calculating rankings weights because they don’t have them. But, they are critical. Be sure dwell time and bounce rates for your pages are in-check.
Correlation alone can’t prove that one specific change or one specific variable is responsible for an observed result.
Spearman correlations
Throughout this guide, we’ll be including Spearman correlations associated with all Google ranking factors.
Put simply, this is a statistical assessment of variable correlation; when the ranking factor is present, rankings tend to increase.
There are actually thousands of Google ranking factors that Google measures, but these are those that are statistically significant enough to make the cut.
And, quite frankly, if you choose to focus on more than 200 Google ranking factors, you’re going to become overwhelmed by the data (which is actually available, by the way).
Validating findings
We use a combination of different research approaches, different types of software, and different external sources to assemble and rank are most important ranking factors.
We encourage you to attempt to validate or invalidate our findings, by doing your own research.
But, much of the data here has been gleaned through the use of both Cora from SEOToolLabs and SurferSEO.
Cora is the original, technical SEO tool. Surfer is the copycat. Both are great, but Surfer has a better user interface.
Surfer analyzes over 500 factors, Cora boasts some 2,000+ and you can see them in detail from their exported, separate reports.
It’s interesting to note that a strong correlation between social signals and rankings ceases to exist.
So, let the data do the talking!
Ranking Factor Categories
Our list of Google ranking factors isn’t going to be segmented by category but rather listed in order of relevance and importance.
The dozens of ranking factors at the top of the list are either more influential or more directly observable as influential factors.
Overlap and similarities
Many of the rank factors on this list are similar to other factors. For example, “backlinks,” “dofollow backlinks,” and “nofollow backlinks” are counted separately, and there are separate factors for the presence/absence of a feature and the occurrence frequency of that feature.
Though repetitious at times, there are usually important nuances and subtle distinctions to note.
Top 200 Most Statistically Significant Factors for Ranking on Google
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 200 top Google ranking factors that influence your positions in Google search results.
Ranking Factors 1-47: Statistical Spearman Correlation -0.35 to -0.20
As of this writing, the following are the most statistically significant ranking factors for ranking #1 for your most competitive keywords.
The correlations and weights will change as the algorithm is updated, but of over 2,000 scanned factors across the entire web, these are those that are the MOST significant.
1. Is Inner Page
Is the page an “inner” page?
Put even more simply, is it not a homepage? Interior web pages like your Product page, Contact page, and all your blog posts are going to rank easier than homepages.
This is only one of the reasons performing SEO on your homepage is often more difficult and extraordinarily complicated.
2. Number of Top 50 Shared Factors Used
This gets a bit meta, as this Google ranking factor consolidates the top 50 shared factors represented by a given page.
Optimizing for many different ranking factors is correlated with higher rankings.
Just like link diversity and anchor text diversity, it is even more important to have factor diversity when building content for your web pages.
3. Number of Top 100 Shared Ranking Factors Used
This is similar to the above, but it consolidates 100 factors. It’s important to note that the top 50 have a higher correlation than the top 100, as you might expect; in other words, it reinforces the idea that higher-correlation ranking factors are more important than lower-correlation ranking factors.
4. Number of Yake or Entity Keywords Used
What is an SEO “entity?” We’ll be seeing this term several times on this list. An entity is essentially an iteration of a keyword with proper context, matching what the user intent with search results.
Similar to an LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords, entity keywords disambiguate what a particular page or paragraph is about.
They’re words that make it very clear to both users and bots that a page that includes words like “Big Apple” aren’t talking about New York, but an award winning apple pie recipe.
For example, if a user performs a Google search for “Cleveland dentist,” an entity could be “Cleveland dentist,” or “dentist in Cleveland” or “Cleveland dental professional.”
The total number is what counts here.
In other words, the density of all disambiguating, relevant keywords, NOT just your target keyword(s).
Before thinking you might be keyword stuffing, first let the data do the talking!
That’s why it’s important do your own in-depth keyword research, focusing on the LSI and entity keywords, before making assumptions.
5. Search Result Has Publish Date
Google prefers recent content to dated content, though even old content can end up in search results. What’s most important for this factor is that you have a publish date attached.
6. Number of Ranking Factors Used
This represents the total number of nonzero factors used throughout the URL.
Note that this is somewhat lower than the top 50 and top 100 factors chosen.
7. Number of Top 200 Shared Ranking Factors Used
This falls in line with other, similar meta ranking factors on this list.
8. Keywords in the HTML Tag
For a given query, how many keywords are located in the HTML tag?
9. Keywords in Body Tag
Similarly, how many keywords are located in the body tag of your website?
10. Ahrefs Referring Domains
Ahrefs is a popular brand in the SEO world, offering dozens of free tools and resources to help you plan, execute, and monitor your campaign.
This factor calculates the number of “referring domains” you have; in other words, this represents the number of different domains pointing to a page of your site. More is better for higher rankings.
There remains a strong correlation between Google Rankings and total backlinks to a page. Source: Ahrefs.
11. Ahrefs Referring Class C Addresses
This refers to the number of referring class C networks (as determined by Ahrefs) linking to the target page.
12. Ahrefs Referring IP Addresses
Google ranking factors must also take into account IP addresses associated with different domains.
This way, it’s difficult to build authority and search engine rankings by capitalizing on dozens of domains owned and managed by the same person.
13. Ahrefs Rank
Ahrefs Rank (AR) is a concise measurement of backlink profile quality. The better your backlink profile quality (mostly meaning the quality and number of your referring domains), the higher your AR will be – and the higher your search engine rankings will be.
14. Ahrefs Referring Pages
We also take into consideration the number of referring pages to the target, as determined by Ahrefs.
15. Ahrefs NoFollow Backlinks
This factor refers to the number of nofollow backlinks pointing to the target. This may be surprising, considering nofollow backlinks are effectively ignored by Google bots.
In spite of the fact that Google claims nofollow backlinks do nothing, here the data is disputing and telling a story quite the opposite.
16. Ahrefs Text Backlinks
This ranking factor refers to the number of backlinks pointing to the target that include relevant anchor text.
17. Ahrefs Backlinks
Often mistakenly referenced as the most important and correlated of the Google ranking factors, this refers to the number of dofollow backlinks pointing to the target as measured by Ahrefs.
18. Keywords in Div Tags
The Div tag is used as a container for HTML elements, defining a specific section in an HTML document. This factor counts the number of keywords found in Div tags.
The total number of div tags used as a percentage of overall body text is also a separate ranking factor tied here.
19. Keywords in H1-H6 Tags
Header tags in your HTML document are represented by “H,” with subsequent numbers referring to headings deeper in the document. This ranking factor counts the number of relevant keywords found in H1-H6 tags in total.
20. Keywords in H1, H2, and H3 Tags
Similarly, this ranking factor counts the keywords found in your H1-H3 tags.
21. Keywords in P Tags
P tags in an HTML document represent paragraphs
This factorial counts the number of keywords found in P tags in a given target.
22. Entities in H2 Tags
How many entity iterations are found in your H2 tags? Having more is typically better, but again, you’ll need to be careful not to stuff your H2 tags.
23. Ahrefs Dofollow Backlinks
Here we have dofollow links, as measured by Ahrefs, as a factor for ranking. Note that dofollow backlinks, nofollow backlinks, total backlinks, and text backlinks are all in the same category of importance.
24. Entities in H3 Tags
How many entity iterations are found in your H3 tags?
25. Keywords in LI Tags
LI tags are used for list items in an HTML document. This weighted factor counts the number of keywords found in all your LI tags in the target page.
26. Keywords in Sentences
How many of your keywords are found in natural sentences in the body copy of your target page?
27. Keywords in H1 and H2 Tags
How many keywords, in total, are found in your H1 and H2 tags? These are arguably the most important headers to focus on.
28. Keywords in A Tags
Your A tags, in an HTML document, refer to hyperlinks. How many keywords are found in the A tags throughout your document?
29. Entities in Sentences
How many entity iterations are found in natural sentences in the body copy of your target page?
30. Entities in Title Tag
The title tag of your page is what appears as the page title in SERPs. Accordingly, it bears heavy importance. The number of entities in your title tag will be correlated with your rankings in Google search results.
31. Entities in HTML Tag
Your HTML tag, the root of your HTML document, is also important. The number of entities found here will help predict where you end up ranking.
32. Keywords in H2 Tags
What about H2 tags? If you’re focused on optimizing all your header tags, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that keywords found in H2 tags are also an important factor.
33. Number of Distinct LSI Words in Sentences
Latent semantic indexing (LSI) refers to a system used by Google to acknowledge and understand synonyms and context in user queries. Practically speaking, that means Google is really good at figuring out user intent, rather than studying keywords exactly. LSI words in sentences refers to the number of LSI keywords (often common words, synonyms, and extended phrases) found in your sentences.
34. Term Frequency
How many iterations of a given term appear on the target page?
35. Clean Keyword Density in the HTML Tag
Once you eliminate the head block, script, styles, comments, and HTML tags, you’re left with a “clean” measurement. What is the keyword density here?
36. Body Tag Size Kilobytes
This ranking factor refers to the body tag size of your target in kilobytes.
37. Leading Keywords in H1-H6 Tags
Leading keywords are simply keywords that appear first in a given section. In H1-H6 tags, how many leading keywords appear?
38. Keywords in A Tag HREFs
How many keywords are found in anchor text in the target? HREF is used to identify sections within a document, but it also functions as an attribute of the anchor tag.
39. Search Result Display URL Matches
How many keyword matches are found in the URL displayed within SERPs? Choosing the right domain and naming your pages appropriately can help you here.
40. Search Result Link Text Matches
Like other Google ranking factors, this focuses on Google search engine results pages (SERPs); here, we’re looking for matches found in link anchor text, or the first text a user sees when perusing entries.
41. Keywords in Script Tags
How many keywords are found in your script tags?
42. Keywords in Unique A Tag HREFs
This is highly similar to #38 above, but it only counts unique A tag HREFs.
43. Search Terms in the HTML Tag
How many Google search terms are found in the HTML tag at the root of your HTML document?
44. Search Terms in Body Tag
How many search engine terms are found in the body tag of your HTML document?
45. Leading Keywords in H1, H2, and H3 Tags
How many leading keywords are found in your H1, H2, and H3 tags?
46. Google Variation Density
Looking only at the top 30 KB of a target page, what is the variation density of the target?
47. Keywords in pages top 10 most used phrases
How many keywords are in the top 10 most used phrases in a target page?
Ranking Factors 48-146: Statistical Spearman Correlation -0.19 to -0.15
These Google ranking factors, while still important, tend to have the lowest Spearman correlation. They should remain the lowest priority when focusing on your search engine optimization.
48. Keywords in Alt Attributes
Alt attributes, or alt tags, provide descriptive context for certain types of images. How many keywords appear in these alt tags?
49. DomDetailer Moz PA
As reported by DomDetailer, what is the Moz Page Authority (PA) of this target? Authority is a relative measure of trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines.
50. Ahrefs Has DoFollow Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does this website have any dofollow links? It’s hard to improve your search engine ranking without them.
51. Page Size Kilobytes
What is the total size of your target page in kilobytes? Smaller pages have several advantages, such as loading faster, which improves your page speed and enhances your Core Web Vitals.
52. Ahrefs Has Text Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does the target page have text backlinks?
In other words, are there backlinks with optimized anchor text?
53. Ahrefs Has NoFollow Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does the target page have nofollow backlinks?
54. Ahrefs Has Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does this website have any backlinks at all?
55. Unabridged Word Count
Once the HTML has been cleared, how many total words appear in the target page?
56. Clean Text Kilobytes
How many kilobytes is this page, once you’re left with only clean text?
57. Number of Sentences
What is the number of sentences on this page? Online, frequent, short sentences tend to work better than infrequent, long ones – assuming the same word count and equality across other variables.
58. Search Result Path Matches
How many matches are found in the search results path?
59. Keywords in Title Tag
Your title tag is important for both user experience and search optimization. How many keywords are found in it?
60. Keywords in H3 Tags
How many keywords are found in the H3 tags of the target page?
61. Entities in H4 Tags
How many entities are found in the H4 tags of the target page?
62. DomDetailer Majestic Referring Subnets
As reported by DomDetailer, how many referring subnets are there?
63. DomDetailer Majestic CF (Citation Flow)
As reported by DomDetailer, what is the citation flow (CF) of the target page? In other words, how much link juice is there to give to other sites? This is usually reflective of the total number of links pointing to a page.
64. Number of HTML Tags
How many HTML tags are you using?
65. Keywords in pages top 5 most used phrases
How many keywords are in the top 5 most used phrases in a target page?
66. DomDetailer Moz DA
As reported by DomDetailer, what is the Moz Domain Authority (DA) of this target? Authority is a relative measure of trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines.
67. Keywords in Span Tags
The Span HTML element is used for phrasing content on your website. How many keywords appear in your Span tags in your target page?
68. Search Result URL Matches
How many keyword matches are found in the URL displayed in search results?
69. DomDetailer Majestic IPs
As reported by DomDetailer, how many IPs are referring to this target page?
70. Entities in Meta Description Tag
How many entities are found in your meta description tag?
Your meta description is seen by users in SERPs, so it’s important for more than just SEO itself.
71. DomDetailer Majestic Referring Domains
As reported by DomDetailer, how many domains are referring to this target page?
72. Total Word Count
What is the word count of this page? Shorter content can perform adequately in SEO, but longer content generally performs better.
73. Keywords in the Canonical URL
Looking only at the canonical URL of this page, how many keywords are found?
74. Keywords in the First 100 Words
How many keywords (including exact match keywords) are found in the first 100 words of your target page?
75. Ahrefs Image Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, how many backlinks are pointing to the images on this page?
Don’t forget, Google image search can drive a lot of traffic, especially if your images have backlinks.
More importantly, a good image SEO strategy can have a major impact on the quantity and quality of inbound links pointing to your domain.
76. DomDetailer Majestic TF (Trust Flow)
As reported by DomDetailer, what is the trust flow (TF) of this target? This is an assessment of the quality of domains referring to a site.
77. Keywords in Absolute URLs
Look at the pure URL of your target. How many keywords are found there? This may or may not be the same as your canonical URL.
78. Number of P Tags
How many P tags are you using throughout the HTML document of this target?
79. Search Result Document Matches
How many matches are present in the name of your file path (if relevant)?
80. Keywords in Meta Descriptions
Looking at your target page meta description, how many keywords are present?
81. DomDetailer Majestic Links
As reported by DomDetailer, how many links are pointing to your target page?
82. Keywords in pages top 3 most used phrases
How many keywords are in the top 3 most used phrases in a target page?
83. Search Terms in H1-H6 Tags
How many search terms are present in all your header tags, from H1-H6.
84. Keywords in Main Tags
In the main tags of your site, how many keywords are present?
85. Keywords in Nav Tags
In the nav tags of your site, how many keywords are present?
86. Entities in H1 Tags
How many entities are found in the H1 tags of the target page?
87. Keywords in H1 Tags
How many keywords are found in the H1 tags of the target page?
88. Number of Heading Tags
How many heading tags (H) are you using throughout the target page?
89. Ahrefs Internal Link Building
As reported by Ahrefs, how many internal backlinks are you using? This is useful not just for optimization, but also for helping users navigate.
Also, consider your internal link anchor text (and preferably make it exact match) when adding links.
90. Ahrefs Domain Rating
As reported by Ahrefs, what is the current rating of your domain? Higher rated domains have a much easier time getting internal pages to rank.
91. Ahrefs Has Image Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does this target page have any image backlinks?
92. Number of Questions
How many questions are found within your target page? Questions are often useful for catering to specific user intent.
This is one of the reasons many of our most important pages include a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section, including our homepage.
93. Ahrefs Pages
As reported by Ahrefs, how many pages are found? Having more pages ranking in Google will increase the likelihood of pages on the same domain ranking.
94. Has Entity Keywords in H2 Tags
Are there any entities to be found in the H2 tags of the target page?
95. Google Density Exact Matches
How many exact matches for Google Keyword Density (GKD) are found?
96. Ahrefs External Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, how many external backlinks are present?
97. Number of HTTPS Links
How many HTTPS links are found? HTTPS websites are inherently more secure, and are therefore prioritized by Google and other search engines.
98. Leading Keywords in H2 Tags
How many leading keywords (keywords at the beginning of a string of text) are found in the H2 tags of the target page?
99 . DomDetailer Facebook Shares
As reported by DomDetailer, how many Facebook shares has this page gotten?
100. Number of Images with Alt Text
How many images, complete with alt text, are found on this target page?
101. Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Content
When looking at the Open Graph content of the target page, how many keywords are found?
102. Number of Internal Links
How many total internal links are found on this target page?
103. Number of Links
How many total links are found on this target page?
104. Keywords in Footer Tags
How many keywords are found in the footer tags of this webpage?
105. DomDetailer Moz Rank
As reported by DomDetailer, what is your Moz rank? This is a consolidated measurement and predictor of SEO performance.
106. Keywords making whole LI Tags
Among your LI tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
107. DomDetailer Moz Links
As reported by DomDetailer, how many “Moz links” are present?
108. Number of DoFollow Links
What is the number of dofollow links on your target page?
109. Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Description
When looking at the Open Graph meta description of the target page, how many keywords are found?
110. Number of Images
How many total images can be found in the target page?
111. LSI Words in Title Tag
How many latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords are found in the title tag of your target page?
112. TF/IDF
Frequency-inverse document frequency is essentially a measurement to determine the quality of content found on a target page. Is your page high enough quality to improve your search engine ranking?
113. Keywords making whole A Tags
Among your A tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
114. Search Result Summary Text Matches
In the summary text of search results, how many matches are found?
115. Search Terms in Sentences
How many user search terms are found in the sentences of the body copy in your target page?
116. Number of H3 Tags
How many H3 tags are present in your target page?
117. Has Entities in H1 Tags
Are there any entities to be found in the H1 tags of the target page?
118. LSI Words in H2 Tags
How many LSI words are found across your H2 tags?
119. Leading Keywords in Title Tag
How many leading keywords are found in the title tag of your target page?
120. Has Entities in H3 Tags
Are there any entities to be found in the H3 tags of the target page?
121. LSI Words in H3 Tags
How many LSI words are found across your H3 tags?
122. Ahrefs Redirects
As reported by Ahrefs, the total number of 301 redirects associated with your site.
123. Number Of JSON-LD Types
How many JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) types are present in your target page?
124. Search Result Summary Length
What is the content length of your search result summary text?
125. Ahrefs Word Count
As reported by Ahrefs, how many words are on this page? Or in other words, what is the content length?
126. Ahrefs Has Redirects
As reported by Ahrefs, are there any redirects pointing to this page?
127. Google Density Variations
This is based on the variation count that Google appears to be using for keyword density.
128. Keywords making whole H1-H6 Tags
Among your H1-H6 tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
129. Keywords making whole Span Tags
Among your Span tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
130. Search Terms in the Title Tag
How many search terms are found in the title tag of the target page?
131. Number of Questions In Headings
How many questions are present in the headings of your target page?
132. Keywords in Strong Tags
How many keywords are present in the strong tags throughout your document?
133. Number of Absolute URLs
How many absolute URLs are found for your target page?
134. Keywords in H4-H6 Tags
How many keywords are found across all your H4, H5, and H6 tags of the target page?
135. Search Terms in A Tags
How many keywords are present in the A tags throughout your document?
136. Has Entities in H4 Tags
Are there any entities to be found in the H4 tags of the target page?
137. Leading Keywords in H1 Tags
How many leading keywords are found in your H1 tags?
138. Keywords in H4 Tags
How many keywords are found in the H4 tags of the target page?
139. Ahrefs Edu Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, how many .edu backlinks are pointing to your website? .edu domains tend to be more trustworthy and more powerful, due to their academic nature.
140. Keywords in the last 100 words
How many keywords are found in the last 100 words of your written content?
141. Ahrefs Linked Root Domains
As reported by Ahrefs, how many linked root domains are there for the target?
142. Inline Javascript Kilobytes
Using the Script tag inside the body of the HTML, how many kilobytes is this page?
143. Number of H2 Tags
How many H2 tags are present in your target page?
144. Keywords making whole H1, H2, and H3 Tags
Among your H1-H3 tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
145. Title Tag Has Entities
Does your title tag match any entities?
146. Number of Questions In H2 Tags
How many questions are present in the H2 tags of your target page?
Ranking Factors 147-200: Statistical Spearman Correlation -0.14 to -0.12
While the correlation is lower for the following terms, they still have an impact on rankings and are still included in the diversity of Google ranking factors you might be shooting for.
147. Keywords in Section Tags
How many keywords are present in the section tags of your target page.
148. Headings Has Question
Are there questions found in your headings?
149. Keywords in Title Attributes
How many keywords are found in the title attributes of your page?
150. Ahrefs Has EDU Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does your target page have any backlinks from .edu sources?
151. Keywords in pages most used phrase
How many keywords are in the used phrase in your target pages?
152. Leading Keywords in H3 Tags
How many leading keywords are found in your H3 tags?
153. Search Terms in H1 Tags
How many search terms are found in the H1 tags of your target page?
154. DomDetailer Majestic Referring .gov Links
As reported by DomDetailer, how many .gov links are pointing to your target page?
Again, .gov and .edu backlinks are still correlated, even if Google says they are not.
The data doesn’t lie.
155. Meta Description Tag Has Entities
Are there entity keywords present in your meta description?
156. Keywords in Article Tags
How many keywords are found in the tags you use for your onsite articles?
157. Search Terms in H2 Tags
How many search terms are found in the H2 tags of your target page?
158. Has JSON-LD Answer
Does your target page have a JSON-LD answer?
159. Has JSON-LD Question
Does your target page have a JSON-LD question?
160. Number of Questions In H3 Tags
How many questions are found throughout your target page’s H3 tags?
161. Head Size Kilobytes
How large is the size of your page head, in kilobytes?
162. Ahrefs Has Internal Links
As reported by Ahrefs, does this target page feature internal on-site links with relevant anchor text?
163. Title Has Sales Words
Sales words are words like “free, best, top, ultimate, fine, cheap, cheapest, high end, and quality.” Do any of these words appear in the title of your page?
164. Number of H4 Tags
How many H4 tags are present in your target page?
165. Title Has Sentiment Words
Sentiment words are words like “unique, most, useful, coolest, cool, amazing, awesome, definitive, and ultimate.” Do any of these words appear in the title of your page?
166. Keywords in ID Attributes
Looking at the ID attributes throughout your target page, how many keywords are present?
167. Inline CSS Kilobytes
How many kilobytes are associated with your inline CSS?
168. Number of Prices
How many prices are found on your target page?
169. Has JSON-LD AggregateRating
AggregateRating is a Schema type; is it featured on your target page?
170. LSI Words in Meta Description Tag
How many LSI words are found in your page’s meta description tag?
171. Ahrefs Has External Links
As reported by Ahrefs, are there external links for this target page?
172. Keywords in Class Attributes
How many keywords are present in the class attributes of your target page?
173. Load Time Milliseconds
How quickly does your website load (in milliseconds).
Google has been pushing core web vitals for over a year.
Site speed and individual page speed are now listed among the measurable Google ranking factors.
The faster your website is, the better – for both SEO and general user experience.
However, in some cases, slower load time CAN indicate more authority as a page might have a much larger amount of content.
But treat such cases as the exception, rather than the rule.
It just depends on the search term and what is ranking for a particular term.
As a general rule, optimize for page speed and Core Web Vitals, but don’t let it be a sticking point.
For instance, we have had a client who was obsessed with page speed as a ranking factor.
He was constantly monitoring Core Web Vitals results.
We optimized both mobile usability speed and desktop page speed load to the 90th percentile and he continued to think that THIS was he reason he was experiencing fall-off in keywords.
Take a look above. This is ranked #173 out of 200. It’s a factor, but don’t get hung up on it.
174. Ahrefs Has Linked Root Domains
As reported by Ahrefs, does your target page have any linked root domains?
175. Number of External Backlinks
How many external backlinks are present in your target page?
176. Number of US Phone Numbers
How many US phone numbers are present in your target page?
177. Ahrefs Gov Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, how many .gov backlinks are pointing to this target page?
178. Leading Keywords in H4-H6 Tags
How many leading keywords are found in your H4, H5, and H6 tags?
179. Leading Keywords in H4 Tags
How many leading keywords are found in your H4 tags?
180. Number Of Claimed Brands
How many claimed brands (as in, claimed through your Business Profile on Google) are present in your target page?
181. Percentage of DoFollow Internal Links
What percentage of your internal links pointing to your target page are dofollow links?
182. LSI Words in H1 Tags
How many LSI words are found across your H1 tags?
183. Entities in H5 Tags
How many entities are found throughout your H5 tags?
184. Ahrefs Has Gov Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, does your target page have any .gov backlinks?
185. Keywords in I Tags
How many keywords are found in your target page’s I tags?
186. Ahrefs Page Size
As reported by Ahrefs, how large is this page, in total?
187. Keywords making whole H1 Tags
Among your H1 tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
188. Keywords in Meta Twitter Description
In the Twitter description of your target page, how many keywords are found?
189. Ahrefs Images
As reported by Ahrefs, how many images are found on your target page?
190. Has US Phone Number
Is there at least one US phone number to find on this page? Google likes contact information to be available.
191. Has JSON-LD Product
Is there any JSON-LD product available on this page?
192. Keywords making whole Strong Tags
Among your Strong tags on the target page, how many are exclusively made up of keywords (with no other content present)?
193. Ahrefs RSS Backlinks
As reported by Ahrefs, how many RSS backlinks are found for this target page?
194. LSI Words in H4 Tags
How many LSI words are found across your H4 tags?
195. Has JSON-LD HomeAndConstructionBusiness
Is this target page categorized as a home and construction business? Some industries have a naturally higher propensity to rank than others.
196. Search Terms in Meta Descriptions
How many search terms are found in the meta descriptions of your target page?
197. Keywords in Meta OpenGraph Site Name
In your Meta Open Graph site name, how many keywords are present?
198. Search Result Number of Dirs in Path
How many directories are in your search result URL path?
199. Word Count in Meta Description Tag
How many words are found in the meta description tag of your target page? Concise meta descriptions generally perform better.
200. Number of DoFollow External Links
How many dofollow external links are present in your target page?
Get Your SEO Audit
How confident do you feel about these Google ranking factors?
Is your site is experiencing issues or any drops in the search engines?
Then you may need an SEO audit.
Have you taken a look at Google Analytics, Google Search Console (GSC) and/or Core Web Vitals (CWV) to see if there are any errors present?
Have you considered Google E-E-A-T?
Is your SEO strategy in full alignment with all the variables listed above?
And the biggest question of all, are you receiving the organic traffic you feel you deserve and need?
Are you sure you’re doing everything in your power to get your pages to rank one (or even the first page) in search engines?
If not, don’t worry.
Search engine optimization is often extraordinarily complicated, and attempting it alone can be overwhelming.
That’s why we’re here.
If you’re ready to get help with your SEO strategy, or if you just need a consultation or SEO audit to help you figure things out, we’re here for you. Contact us for a free consultation today!
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