Google ranking factors and what to look out for in 2024

There are around 200 known ranking factors the Google search algorithm looks at. The weight applied to each varies depending on the nature of a search query.

When a user enters a query, Google machines search the index for matching pages and return the results they believe are the highest quality and most relevant to the user's query.

For example, searching for "bicycle repair shops" would most likely show a local result while on the other hand when searching for a “current news topic” the freshness of the content would play a much greater role.

To give you a better understanding, here is a list of core ranking factors below.

Domain Factors

Domain Age - First Registered
Domain registration length (Years registration is paid for)
Domain History
Keyword within Top Level Domain
Keyword within Subdomain
Exact Match to Domain
Public vs. Private WhoIs
Penalised WhoIs
Country TLD extension (EG: .com.au, .cn, .uk, ..)

Page-Level Factors

Domain Authority
Page’s PageRank
Page Age
URL Length
URL Path
Human Editors
Page Category
Useful Content
User Friendly Layout
Keyword in Title Tag
Title Tag Starts with Keyword
Keyword in Description Tag
Keyword Appears in H1 Tag
Keyword in H2, H3 Tags
Keyword Prominence
Alt Tag (for Image Links)
Content Length
Table of Contents
Grammar and Spelling
Helpful “Supplementary Content”
Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords in Content (LSI)
LSI Keywords in Title and Description Tags
Page Covers Topic In-Depth
Page Loading Speed via HTML
Use of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
HTML errors/W3C validation
Mobile-Friendly Update
Entity Match
Duplicate Content
Rel=Canonical URL
Image Optimisation
Content Recency (Google Shows Date)
Magnitude of Content Updates
Historical Page Updates
Outbound Link Quality
Outbound Link Theme
Number of Outbound Links
Number of Internal Links Pointing to Page
Quality of Internal Links Pointing to Page
Broken Links
Syndicated Content / Original Content
Multimedia: Videos
Reading Level
References and Sources
Bullets and Numbered Lists
Priority of Page in Sitemap

Backlink Factors

Linking Domain Age
Authority of Linking Page
Authority of Linking Domain
Linking Domain Relevancy
Page-Level Relevancy
Homepage Authority
Number of Linking Root Domains
Number of Links from Separate C-Class IP
Number of Linking Pages
Keyword in Title from linking page
Contextual Links
Links from .edu or .gov Domains
Links From Competitors
Links from “Expected” Websites
Country TLD of Referring Domain
Diversity of Link Types
Links from Bad Neighbourhoods (hurting links)
Nofollow Links
Sponsored” or “UGC” Tags
Guest Posts
Links From Ads
Excessive 301 Redirects to Page
Internal Link Anchor Text
Link Title Attribution
Link Location In Content
Link Location on Page
Positive Link Velocity (increasing backlinks)
Negative Link Velocity
Links from “Hub” Pages
Link from Authority Sites
Linked to as Wikipedia Source
Co-Occurrences
Backlink Age
Links from Real Sites vs. “Splogs”
Natural Link Profile
Reciprocal Links
User Generated Content Links
Links from 301
Schema.org Usage
TrustRank of Linking Site
Number of Outbound Links on Page
Forum Links
Word Count of Linking Content
Quality of Linking Content
Sitewide Links

User Interaction

RankBrain (how users interact with the search results)
Organic Click Through Rate for a Keyword
Organic CTR for All Keywords
Bounce Rate
Direct Traffic
Repeat Traffic
Pogo Sticking (clicks on other search results in an attempt to find the answer)
Blocked Sites
Chrome Bookmarks
Number of Comments
Time spent on page / site

Special Google Algorithm Rules

Query Deserves Freshness
Query Deserves Diversity
User Browsing History
User Search History
Featured Snippets
Geo Targeting
Local Searches
Safe Search
“YMYL” Keywords
DMCA Complaints
Domain Diversity
Transactional Searches
Top Stories box
Big Brand Preference
Shopping Results
Image Results
Easter Egg Results
Single Site Results for Brands
Payday Loans Update (clean up spammy queries)

Brand Signals

Brand Name Anchor Text
Branded Searches
Brand + Keyword Searches
Site Has Facebook Page and Likes
Site has Twitter Profile with Followers
Official Linkedin Company Page
Known Authorship
Legitimacy of Social Media Accounts
Brand Mentions on Top Stories
Unlinked Brand Mentions
Brick and Mortar Location

On-Site Webspam Factors

Panda Penalty (Sites with low-quality content)
Links to Bad Neighbourhoods
Sneaky Redirects
Popups or “Distracting Ads”
Interstitial Pop Ups (especially on mobiles)
Site Over-Optimization
Gibberish Content
Doorway Pages
Ads Above the Fold
Hiding Affiliate Links
Fred (targets low-value content sites that put revenue above helping their users)
Affiliate Sites
Auto Generated Content
Excess PageRank Sculpting
IP Address Flagged as Spam
Meta Tag Spamming

Conclusion

Google’s ranking systems are designed to sort through hundreds of billions of web pages and other content to present the most relevant and useful results in a fraction of a second.

Understanding the core Google ranking factors can definitely help you with your online marketing strategy. We recommend getting well versed in the basics and keeping an eye out for updates.

Any questions feel free to contact us.