Pratik Dholakiya Worked with 45+ SaaS Brands Google’s top 10 ranking factors and tips to optimize for them Dǹ̓Ʉȳ˧˗ƍɄː̶ͣ̓ɴƀǹ˗ʫʇ˗ɪ ǹȧ͔˧̥̓ƍ͔ͣȳΖӪӨӪӭ Can thethe top top 3 ranking factors? Canyou youguess guess 3 ranking factors? 2023 was a whirlwind for content and SEO. 2023 forfor content andand SEO.SEO. 2023 was wasaawhirlwind whirlwind content With the AI wave came tools like ChatGPT and With the Search AI wave Generative came tools like ChatGPT (SGE). and Google’s Experience ˧˧ɪʳɄԾ̓ƍɄǹ̥ȧɴɄ˗Ʉ̥ǹ͔ʇ΄ɄbΑ̛Ʉ̶ʇɄ˗ȧɄԕƍbԖՐ With the AI wave came tools like ChatGPT I am sure you have wondered - Iǹ˗ȳ˧˧ɪʳɄԾ̓ƍɄǹ̥ȧɴɄ˗Ʉ̥ǹ͔ʇ΄ɄbΑ̛Ʉ̶ʇɄ˗ȧɄ am sure you have wondered (SGE). “How does Google rank websites with “How does Google rank AI and SGE in the websites with AI and SGE picture?” in the picture?” I am sure you have wondered - Pratik Dholakiya Thanks to Semrush’s extensive study, we can ƛɴǹ˗ʫ͔̓˧ƍɄː̶ͣ̓ɴԾ̓ɄΑ͔Ʉ˗̓ʇ΄Ʉ͔̓ͣȳΖՏΈɄȧǹ˗ reduce the aguesswork 2023 was whirlwindnow. for content and SEO. reduce the guesswork now. Through this study, they have established that ƛɴ̥˧ͣɪɴ͔ɴʇ͔̓̓ͣȳΖՏ͔ɴɄΖɴǹ΄ɄɄ͔̓ǹȠʳʇ̓ɴɄȳ͔ɴǹ͔ With the AI wave came tools like ChatGPT ǹ˗ȳ˧˧ɪʳɄԾ̓ƍɄǹ̥ȧɴɄ˗Ʉ̥ǹ͔ʇ΄ɄbΑ̛Ʉ̶ʇɄ˗ȧɄ (SGE). “SEO is not just I am sure you have wondered about SGE, and that reverse engineering “How does Google rank what makes a good websites with AI and SGE ranking is still a core in the picture?” part of SEO.” Pratik Dholakiya Google’s Top 10 Ranking Factors Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #1: Text relevance Howrelevant relevant is How is your yourpage pagetotothe thesearch search ̡ͣɄ̶Ζԏ query? Thetop top 10 10 pages pages have ofof 91% The havean anaverage average 91% text relevance text relevance Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for text relevance: Match intentof ofthe theuser user Matchthe the search search intent (reverse engineer this by analyzing ԕ̥Ʉ΄Ʉ̥̓ɄɄ˗ɪʇ˗ɄɄ̥͔ɴʇ̓ȠΖǹ˗ǹʳΖΩʇ˗ɪ top-ranking top-ranking results) results) Makesure sure your your content Make contenthas hasdepth depth Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor Ranking Factor #2: #2: URL’s organic organic traffic URL’s traffic Rankings dependon onyour yourpage’s page’s Rankings directly directly depend organic organic traffic traffic Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for URL’s organic traffic: Though you don’t directly control this, you can still: Create good content & keep updating it Match search intent Build high-quality, relevant backlinks Add contextual internal links Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #3: Domain’s organic traffic Rankings directly onon thethe your Rankings directlydepend depend your domain’s organic domain’s organictraffic traffic Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for the domain’s organic traffic: Again, you don’t directly control this, but you can still: Create and rank for content clusters Build high-quality backlinks for top pages Create and update good content consistently Fix tech SEO issues Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #4: URL’s organic positions in top 20 Rankings dependon onthe theno. no. Rankings depend ofof toptop 2020 spots spots yourhas page for other keywords your page for has other keywords Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for URL’s organic positions in top 20: Only things you can do to grab more top 20 spots Optimize for long-tail keywords Update content consistently Build strategic internal links & backlinks Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #5: Domain occurrences of star ratings Refers to star ratings appear in Refers tohow howfrequently frequently star ratings ͔ɴɄƍbƀŸ̓ΈɴɄ˗Ζ˧̥ͣΈɄȠ̓ʇ͔Ʉʇ̓ȳʇ̛̓ʳǹΖɄȳǹ̓ǹ appear in the SERPs when your website is ̥Ʉ̓ͣʳ͔˧ɥǹ̓Ʉǹ̥ȧɴ̡ͣɄ̶Ζ displayed as a result of a search query Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for domain occurrences of star ratings: Encourage customer reviews and respond to them Leverage review platforms Use schema markup Showcase reviews on your website Update and manage reviews on Google My Business Work on your site’s EEAT Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #6: Domain authority score ¤ʇɪɴɄ̥͔ɴɄȳ˧ːǹʇ˗ǹ͔ͣɴ˧̶ʇ͔ΖՏ͔ɴɄɴʇɪɴɄ̥Έʇʳʳ Higher the domain authority, the higher ȠɄΖ˧̥̥ͣǹ˗ʫʇ˗ɪ̓ will be your rankings ƛɴɄǹ΄Ʉ̥ǹɪɄƍɄː̶ͣ̓ɴW˧ːǹʇ˗͔ͣɴ˧̶ʇ͔Ζ The average Semrush Domain Authority Score of the top #10 results is 67.42 Score of the top #10 results is 67.42 Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for domain authority score: Some things you can do: Monitor your authority score Earn quality backlinks Optimize for EEAT (Experience-Expertise-AuthoritativenessTrustworthiness) Fact-check content and mention authors’ credibility Manage online reputation Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #7: Domain’s organic positions in top 20 Rankings depend depend on spots Rankings on the theno. no.ofoftop top2020 spots youryour pagedomain has for has other keywords that for different pages Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for domain’s organic positions in top 20: Find the right keywords Optimize for long-tail keywords Build high-quality backlinks to top pages Create and update good quality content consistently Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #8: Domain occurrences in images Pages of more images that are Pages ofdomains domainswith with more images that ˧̛͔ʇːʇΩɄȳɥ˧̥͔ɴɄȳ˧ːǹʇ˗˗ǹːɄ͔Ʉ˗ȳ͔˧̥ǹ˗ʫ are optimized for the domain name tend higher to rank higher Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for domain occurrences in images: Add descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your images Use appropriate alt text Implement image sitemaps Monitor when other sites are using your images and request for backlinks Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #9: URL occurrences of star ratings Refers to how howfrequently frequentlystar star ratings appear Refers to ratings appear in in the SERPs when the particular page is ͔ɴɄƍbƀŸ̓ΈɴɄ˗͔ɴɄ̛ǹ̶͔ʇȧͣʳǹ̛̥ǹɪɄʇ̓ȳʇ̛̓ʳǹΖɄȳ ǹ̓ǹ̥Ʉ̓ͣʳ͔˧ɥǹ̓Ʉǹ̥ȧɴ̡ͣɄ̶Ζ displayed as a result of a search query The average average amongst 1010 results is 37 The amongstthe thetop top results is 37 Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for URL occurrences of star ratings: Implement schema markup Encourage users to leave ratings and reviews Using review widgets can help Monitor the reviews and respond to them Leverage 3rd party platforms and ensure consistent information Pratik Dholakiya Ranking Factor #10: Page authority score ¤ʇɪɴɄ̥͔ɴɄ̛ǹɪɄǹ͔ͣɴ˧̶ʇ͔Ζ̓ȧ˧̥ɄՏ͔ɴɄɴʇɪɴɄ̥Έʇʳʳ Higher the page authority score, the higher ȠɄΖ˧̥̥ͣǹ˗ʫʇ˗ɪ̓ will be your rankings ƛɴɄǹ΄Ʉ̥ǹɪɄƍɄː̶ͣ̓ɴŸǹɪɄ͔ͣɴ˧̶ʇ͔Ζƍȧ˧̥Ʉ˧ɥ The average Semrush Page Authority Score the toptop #10#10 results is 20is 20 of the results Pratik Dholakiya Optimize for page authority score: Make sure on-page SEO is on point Remove spammy links Implement internal linking Cover the topic in depth Optimize for user experience signals Pratik Dholakiya Other ranking factors (11 to 20): 11.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥ̥ɄɥɄ̶̶ʇ˗ɪÈŸ̓ԕȳ˧ːǹʇ˗Ԗ 12.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥ̥ɄɥɄ̶̶ʇ˗ɪȳ˧ːǹʇ˗̓ԕȳ˧ːǹʇ˗Ԗ 13.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥ̥ɄɥɄ̶̶ʇ˗ɪÈŸ̓ԕƧƀĚԖ 14.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥ̥ɄɥɄ̶̶ʇ˗ɪȳ˧ːǹʇ˗̓ԕƧƀĚԖ 15. Content quality score 16.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥȠǹȧʫʳʇ˗ʫ̓ԕȳ˧ːǹʇ˗Ԗ 17.ĭͣːȠɄ̥˧ɥȠǹȧʫʳʇ˗ʫ̓ԕƧƀĚԖ 18.W˧ːǹʇ˗˧ȧḁ̶̇ͣɄ˗ȧɄ̓ʇ˗ɥɄǹ͔̥ͣɄȳ̓˗ʇ̛̛Ʉ͔̓ 19.ƧƀĚ˧ȧḁ̶̇ͣɄ˗ȧɄ̓ʇ˗ʇːǹɪɄ̓ 20.W˧ːǹʇ˗Ծ̓ǹɪɄ Pratik Dholakiya And that was the list of the top 10 ranking factors you should optimize for in 2024. Did you get the top #3 ranking factors? Pratik Dholakiya Why do you think Which ranking billions of pages factor is the get 0 traffic from easiest to Google? optimize for? Pratik Dholakiya