You know, every year Google changes its algorithm and as a result of Google Ranking Signals Relevant changes every year as well
For example, in 2014, the HTTPS that means Hypertext Transfer Protocol secure became the ranking signal. In 2015, the usability for mobile became the main ranking signal. In 2016, when rank brain came onto the market, the content quality had become a great ranking factor. And in 2017, Google emphasizes more on HTTPS. Eventually, in 2018, page speed along with the previous factors became the main ranking signal. Google is updating these signals so that users get a better result. Now the question is what are the Google Ranking Signals Relevant in 2018? Well, let me tell you. Maybe you know that now Google has over 200 ranking signals in its algorithm. And the crazy backlinko guys mention and break down all the signals one by one. But implementing all those signals is not possible at all for anyone.
However, you need to focus on some must doing signals in order to rank your site. What are those signals? These are:
High-quality content
Mobile friendly page
HTTPS
Better user experience
Page speed
Backlinks
On page SEO
Internal Linking
Let’s discuss all the factors in depth and after reading the entire article you will know what you should do in order to rank your site. So without further talk, let’s get started.
High-quality content
We all know that the content is the king. But do you know; only quality content is the king? No one in the industry ever said that he does not need any quality content to rank. So, what does quality content mean? Well, in one-word quality content means your audience will get all the information for what he comes to your page. To create a good quality content you need to know the search intention of your user. You can use auto suggestions of Google or AdWords to know the user search intention. Then do a keyword research and according to this, design your content. Nowadays, voice search is a trending matter. So keep that in your mind and design your content in such a way that if anyone searches on your topic he will find your result. Optimize your site such a way people think or ask to google.
Mobile friendly page
As I previously mentioned above, from 2015, mobile friendliness has been thinking a ranking factor to google. The reason is that now more than 60% of traffic comes from the mobile search. The desktop-based website has so many pictures, big page so many javascript and blah blahblah. When you load that page in your mobile, it takes too much time to load and the content the page has does not look good. You need to zoom the page in order to read or check the content. On the other hand, when your site designed for mobile it will not look good on the desktop. That is why a mobile-first indexing, as well as responsive web design, is recommended for any website owner. Though there is no official declaration that Google prefers mobile friendly page to rank, it is proven that mobile-friendly website performing better when it comes to ranking on google search list.
HTTPS
Though not being HTTPS means your site is not secure, but google announce in 2014 that HTTPS is an SEO ranking signal. In addition, the browser that Google own I mean google chrome browser show HTTP site not secure. What does that mean? Google cares, especially for the HTTPS site. And when we are talking about the ranking factors of Google algorithm, we should choose what google likes. Though there is no such big impact on ranking due to this HTTPS, it is easily assumable that since Google tells us to switch to HTTPS from HTTP, there must be some issue regarding this.
Better user experience
If I ask you what have you understood after reading the article till this, why is Google doing this? Why has Google been changing its algorithm and ranking factors? What answer will you give? I am sure you have understood that Google is doing this just to improve the user experience. Now tell me what will happen if your user clicks your site and don’t like your content? He just leaves your site after a few seconds. Yes. You have guessed right. The Google rank brain will think that your page is not good to read and people do not like your page. Google will rank your site down from the list. Google rank brain is now enough intelligence to understand the user interaction with your page and based on the dwell time as well as other interaction it ranks your site. So, the user experience is one of the major google ranking factors nowadays. What should you do then? You need to design your website attractively so that it keeps your audience attached to your site for a few moments. Add some relevant videos or infographic that increases the dwell time and most importantly provide as much value as you can to your user. Only then google rank brain will think your site good for the user and rank your web page higher.
Page speed
Let me give you a real example. You are searching for something in google, you type the thing you are searching for and then you have searched it. After that, you have clicked the first or 2nd result and found out that it is taking too much time to load. What will you do? Of course, you will come back to the search result and click another result right? And what have we talked about in the previous paragraph? Google is trying to improve the user experience. That means the slower your website is, the less you will get the visitor. And the fewer visitors you get the lower rank you will achieve. Faster loading web page improves user experience and that is why it is at the top of the list of google 200 ranking factors.
Backlinks
Many google ranking signals come and go, but backlinks remain useful. It has been one of the major ranking factors for many years. Though nowadays Google is not amused by the backlinks as it did previously, there is a significant impact of backlinks still now. Now google likes quality over quantity. That means you need not a lot of backlinks from a lot of low-quality sites. Rather you need backlinks from authority as well as well branded sites. Only then it will work for you and add some juice to your ranking.
On page SEO
Actually, this is related to the user experience. How? Let me explain. When you search for something on google, what link will you click always? Of course, the one that has a better title as well as metadata that makes you click the link right? After clicking the link, if you find out that the page is well optimized and has enough information then you will definitely stay some time there for sure. And that is what you need. When your dwell time is high, Google thinks that this is good content and this should be ranked higher. Another important thing is that when your site is well optimized with keywords as well as related terms, Google can easily understand what this content all about is. Thus google rank it higher on that keyword.
Internal Linking
Internal linking is another ranking factor of 2018. It has so many benefits. But in order to get the benefits, you need to use those links correctly. You should not link chaotically, rather use link where necessary. This will help your user to understand the content. In addition, this will increase dwell time, enhance conversion as well and most importantly impact significantly to rank your site.
Final thoughts
Google Ranking Signals Relevant in 2018 is a mix of some new updates and old factors. All those changes are made just to improve the user experience. so do whatever you need to do to make the Google think that your content is good. Make your content good, create a mobile-friendly page, use HTTPS, improve Page speed, use Backlinks, Do On page SEO, use Internal linking and overall improve the user experience. Thanks a lot to read the whole article. I hope this will help you to understand the google ranking signals.
