Nowadays, businesses migrate to the online realm more and more. This, among other things, makes the competition more intense. Search engine rankings is a race where millions of websites from one niche compete with each other to rank higher by means of technical and content optimization, backlinks, etc.
And if you are involved in the digital world in any way – for example, you are in a company, have a blog, or even run a non-profit website to aid people – you’ve probably come across the term “website ranking” and are interested in how to improve your results.
Deep insights into your website performance and its potential will give you some hints on how to optimize pages and reach top positions in Google and other search engines.
We’re here to help you understand what the ranking factors are, whether ranking is universal or whether you have to be the first for your focus query, and how to improve your site performance.
Let’s have a look.
What Is Website Ranking?
The process of ordering websites according to the relevance to a user’s search request and the quality of content is referred to as ranking in SEO. Various ranking factors are used by Google and other engines to determine the place of a page.
Ranking Factors
There are over 200 ranking factors Google uses to rank a website. Some of the most influential are:
- The quality of content and the value of its insights
- Page loading speed
- Mobile friendliness
- Optimization for keywords
- Domain authority of the website
- The number and quality of backlinks from authoritative, relevant sources, and other technical factors
This way, website optimization goes beyond throwing a couple of keywords into your content. To achieve your objectives, it’s necessary to work on on-site, off-site, and technical SEO. This includes keyword and backlink profile research, content development, improving on-site user experience, etc.
Is Ranking Universal?
No, a website’s ranking isn’t universal; in fact, a page’s rank on a Google search results page (SERP) will almost certainly differ from its rank on Bing or Yahoo, and vice versa. However, the best practices employed to increase a page’s ranking on one search engine will typically benefit the page’s rating on other search engines as well.
Do You Have to Be on the Top of the Search Results Page?
It’s better to be there, yes. Statistics say that over 28% of Google searchers click on the first result and 75% of people don’t go further than the first search engine results page.
So, in most cases, you should be in at least the TOP 10 position to start competing for clicks. The higher you are, the more chances of capturing a user’s attention you have. But there is no way to buy an organic TOP position for a keyword. Only constant content improvement and working on a website’s performance can help you succeed in the long term.
How To Analyze Your Website’s Performance?
One of the most convenient solutions is to perform a website audit. A Website Audit tool like the one by SE Ranking will provide you with a comprehensive report on your site’s performance and technical health, including:
- Core Web Vitals
- Mobile optimization
- HTTP status codes
- Internal, external links and redirects
- Titles and meta descriptions
- Content issues and much more
In addition, you’ll get recommendations on where and how to fix those problems.
You can view the summary dashboard or detailed view by clicking on the graphs, compare reports, and download info and share it with colleagues and clients when needed. All the data is presented in an easy-to-understand way, which makes the tool suitable for any level of SEO expertise.
Summary
When it comes to organic traffic, website ranking plays a critical role. To rank higher in search engines, you have to work on the quality of your website. This includes technical optimization, the keywords you optimize for, content quality, the user experience of your site, as well as the number and quality of backlinks you acquire.
By using digital tools you can calculate the overall health of your website and discover issues that require attention. Resolving those issues can multiply your chances to rank #1 for the focus query.
Read more: 7 best Techniques you must consider for SEO Strategy
