Factors that affect SEO positioning

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It is known that a search engine first collects the list of pages found on the web and then sorts it according to its algorithm.

But what makes these pages appear first on Google?

There are over 200 ranking factors that, just as the name suggests, make our page appear in one position or another on Google's results pages.

These factors undergo continuous change and are divided into two types: internal factors (on-site) and external factors (off-site) .

External factors

External factors ( SEO Off-site ) are those that we cannot directly control. They report to search engines the authority that a website has, that is, whether it is trustworthy or not. No one knows exactly how a website's authority is established, although there are likely numerous factors that define it as well. User behavior, the quality of external links and social sharing are some of the most important factors.

• The quality of external links . This works like in real life: imagine that you have a long-awaited dinner tonight and that you need to bring good wine. Who would you go to buy it from? At the shop recommended by 5 expert Sommeliers or in the one that 10 random people on the street recommend to you? If you chose the first option, you made the correct choice. In fact, the same thing happens with Google, instead of taking into account the number of external links leading to a website, it places more importance on the quality of the websites that have included that link.
• User Behavior. For example, the various search engines show different results based on the pages a user has previously visited and based on how often. The user's geographic location also influences the result. The results displayed for the same keywords will differ, depending on the location from which the search is performed. We can optimize files in Google My Business, but we can never control where users are looking for us.
• Shares in social networks. In search engines, various mentions on social networks affect the authority of a domain. Both links shared on Twitter and pages shared on Facebook can decide whether a page appears higher or lower in search results.

Internal factors

Internal factors ( SEO On-site ) are those that affect a website, that is, those that we can directly control. Their main goal is to make it easier for search engines to work when they access our pages. The quality of the content, the web architecture and the HTML code are the most relevant factors of a website.

• The content. The content of our website is the most important factor for ranking on Google . If we offer original and interesting content to users, appearing in the top positions will be a piece of cake. Google Panda determines whether a content is original or not. In addition, it has been noted that texts whose length is between 1000 or 1200 words rank more easily. Before generating content, it is important to do a preliminary keyword research and choose which keyword we want to focus on, then we need to include that word in the text in a natural way and offer updated information on that particular term.
• Once Google's bots access our website, they send all the information they track to their servers. That's why it's important to make tracking as easy as possible. Having a good URL structure not only favors this, but also aids usability and aids in user navigation. The reload time of a web page is also essential; in fact, we must keep in mind that the "loading time" factor, if excessive, not only worsens the user experience, but also affects the ability of search engines to index all the pages of your website.
• The HTML code. Bots that access a website mainly read their HTML code, so it is essential to have it well structured and optimized. Search engines use certain HTML tags to display content information in their search results. We explain what some of these tags are that affect SEO ranking. Title tag : visible only in the HTML code of the page. It is the blue title that Google shows in its results. Search engines use it to more easily identify the topic of the page. Meta-description tag :like the title, it is only visible in search results. Search engines do not take this into account when ranking. However, a good meta description can make your page get more or fewer clicks. Header tags : are the tags <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc., they show in a hierarchical way the different titles that can be found in a content. It is recommended that there be a single <h1> defining the main title of the text. Structured data:these are becoming more and more important in search results, to which they offer more detailed information about the content of a website and show additional information that is not shown in the title or meta-description, such as the average user rating in the form of stars or the number of opinions of an article.

 And what happens with the user experience?

User experience ( UX) plays a very important role in the SEO ranking of a page. While Google has confirmed that it does not affect results rankings, at least for desktop searches, they continually mention it in their guide to assess the quality of a website.

However, on mobile devices it is different, since the user experience is the basis of the latest search engine update , the results offered on mobile devices take into account the experience that the user has on a page.

A design that displays fake content (cloacking), suspicious links, malicious downloads, a huge amount of content (posts or comments), or low-quality content will make Google consider a page's experience ratio less than optimal.

Conclusion

Although there are numerous factors that influence the SEO ranking of our website, the fact that the technical aspects are well optimized will help search engines to identify one result before or after the others.

However, having unique and original content is a key factor for SEO positioning.

Ultimately, it will be the content that will decide whether a page will appear in some results or in others.