How to Rank on Google
I
f you’d like to know how to rank on Google, you need to understand SEO.
SEO stands for search engine optimization. And it’s a set of practices used to increase a website’s visibility on search engines like Google.
In this guide, we’ll explain what you can do to improve your rankings and grow organic (meaning unpaid) Google traffic.
How Does Google Rank a Page?
Google has shared some ranking factors (more on those below) publicly. And many SEOs have discovered suspected ranking factors via tests and case studies.
But webpages don’t just go from published to appearing in search results. Here’s an overview of how Google ranks a page.
Google discovers and ranks content in three stages:
- Crawling: Google finds pages on the internet with automated programs called crawlers. After a page is found and crawled, Google downloads everything on the page. This includes text, images and videos.
- Indexing: Google analyzes the text, images, and videos on the page. Then, Google may choose to store the information in its index (a database of webpages).
- Serving search results: Google will show results from its index that are relevant to what someone is searching for.
Here’s a visual overview of the process:
Now, let’s get into some more specific Google ranking factors.
What Are Google’s Ranking Factors?
A ranking factor is something that can affect where (or whether) your webpages appear in results for terms users are entering into search engines.
And your SEO rankings are dependent on search engine algorithms.
There are many SEO ranking factors. And Google has confirmed some of them. Here are a few examples:
- Content quality: Quality content is relevant, engaging and useful to your audience. Google uses various signals to help determine content quality.
- Backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your own. Backlinks from other websites can help Google verify that your content is reputable.
- Mobile-friendliness: A mobile-friendly website looks good on mobile devices. Mobile users should be able to easily read text, view images, and navigate the site. Mobile-friendly pages may rank better in Google’s mobile search results.
- Page performance: Google uses a large set of metrics to measure page speed, responsiveness (how a website design adapts to different screen sizes), and visual stability.
Let’s take a look at how you can apply what we know about ranking factors to get ranked on Google.
Let’s take a look at how you can apply what we know about ranking factors to get ranked on Google.