Chances are you’ve heard that Google considers more than 200 ranking factors when ranking websites…
But what exactly are those factors?
You’re in luck—I’ve compiled a comprehensive list for you. Some factors are well-established.
Others are debated among SEO experts. And a few are educated guesses.
Either way, they’re all included here.
I’ve just updated this list for 2025.
So, let’s jump right in!
The 8 Core Ranking Factors
Here are the top 8 SEO ranking factors you should prioritize. While Google considers over 200 factors, focusing on these will give you the biggest impact:
1. Quality Content: This is the most crucial SEO element. Google favors content that is valuable, relevant, and informative to users.
2. Backlinks: These are links from other websites pointing to yours. They act as endorsements—having more high-quality backlinks boosts your site’s authority and rankings.
3. Technical SEO: This includes website speed, mobile responsiveness, and how easily search engines can crawl and index your site. Ensuring your site is technically optimized helps search engines understand and rank your content better.
4. Keyword Optimization: Strategically placing relevant keywords throughout your content helps search engines know what your pages are about.
5. User Experience (UX): Google rewards websites that offer visitors an easy, smooth, and enjoyable browsing experience.
6. Schema Markup: Adding structured data to your site helps search engines interpret your content and display rich results.
7. Social Signals: Engagement like shares, likes, and comments on social platforms can signal content popularity and relevance. Make your content easy to share and encourage interaction.
8. Brand Signals: The reputation and recognition of your brand online influence trust and authority. Building a strong, respected brand presence is key.
Domain Ranking Factors
1. Domain Age: Many SEO experts think older domains naturally earn Google’s trust. However, Google’s John Mueller has clarified that domain age doesn’t actually impact rankings.
2. Keyword in Top-Level Domain: Including a keyword in your domain name no longer gives you a major SEO advantage, but it can still serve as a relevancy signal.
3. Domain Registration Length: According to a Google patent, domains registered for several years in advance tend to be more legitimate, while short-term registrations often indicate low-quality or doorway sites. This can influence Google’s assessment of domain credibility.
4. Keyword in Subdomain: SEO specialists at Moz agree that having a keyword in your subdomain can positively affect rankings.
5. Domain History: If a domain has changed owners frequently or experienced periods of inactivity, Google might reset its history, which can diminish the value of existing backlinks. Additionally, penalties from previous owners might carry over to new owners in some cases.
6. Exact Match Domains (EMDs): EMDs no longer provide significant SEO benefits on their own. In fact, low-quality EMD sites are more likely to be targeted by Google’s EMD algorithm updates.
7. Public vs. Private Whois: Using private Whois information can sometimes raise red flags, as it may suggest there’s something to hide. Former Googler Matt Cutts hinted at this concern.
8. Penalized Whois Owner: If Google flags a particular individual as a spammer, other websites owned by that person could face increased scrutiny.
9. Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD): Using a country-specific domain extension (like .ca, .pt, or .cn) can help your site rank better within that country, but it might limit your ability to rank globally.
Page-Level Ranking Factors
10. Keyword in Title Tag: While it’s not as crucial as it used to be, including your keyword in the title tag still plays an important role in on-page SEO.
11. Title Tag Starting with Keyword: Research from Moz shows that title tags beginning with the keyword generally perform better than those where the keyword is placed at the end.
12. Keyword in Meta Description: Although Google doesn’t use the meta description directly for rankings, a well-crafted description with relevant keywords can boost your click-through rate, which positively affects your SEO.
Read More : How To Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
13. Keyword in H1 Tag: Think of the H1 tag as a “secondary title.” Alongside your title tag, the H1 helps Google understand your page’s relevance, making it an important ranking factor.
14. TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency): This is a way to measure how often a word appears on a page compared to its use elsewhere. Google likely uses an advanced version of this to determine page relevance for certain keywords.
15. Content Length: Longer content typically covers topics in greater depth, which tends to rank better. Studies show that the average top-ranking page on Google contains about 1,400 words.
16. Table of Contents: Including a linked table of contents helps Google grasp the structure of your page and can even generate helpful sitelinks in search results.
17. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords in Content: LSI keywords help search engines understand the context behind words that have multiple meanings—for example, distinguishing between “Apple” the tech company and “apple” the fruit. Including LSI keywords can also signal higher content quality.
18. LSI Keywords in Title and Description Tags: Just like in the main content, using LSI keywords in your meta tags helps Google better interpret ambiguous words and can improve relevancy signals.
19. Comprehensive Topic Coverage: There’s a strong link between how thoroughly a page covers a subject and its ranking. Pages that explore all aspects of a topic tend to outperform those with only partial information.
20. Page Loading Speed (HTML): Both Google and Bing consider how quickly your page loads when ranking sites. Google even uses real user data from Chrome to assess speed.
21. Use of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): Although AMP itself isn’t a direct ranking factor, it can be necessary to appear in the mobile Google News Carousel.
22. Entity Match: If your page content directly matches the user’s search intent or “entity,” it may receive a ranking boost for that keyword.
23. Google Hummingbird Algorithm: This update enables Google to look beyond individual keywords and better understand the overall topic and meaning of a page.
24. Duplicate Content: Having identical or very similar content within your own site can hurt your search visibility.
25. Rel=Canonical Tag: Proper use of this tag helps prevent duplicate content issues by telling Google which version of a page is the preferred one to index.
26. Image Optimization: Images provide important clues to search engines through their file names, alt text, titles, descriptions, and captions. Properly optimizing your images ensures they’re indexed correctly and contribute to your SEO.
27. Content Freshness: Google’s Caffeine update favors content that’s recently published or updated, especially for searches that depend on timely information. For this reason, Google often displays the last updated date for certain pages.
28. Scale of Content Updates: The impact of updates matters—significant changes like adding or removing large sections carry more weight than minor edits such as fixing typos or reordering a few words.
29. Update Frequency: How often a page is refreshed—whether daily, weekly, or rarely—also influences its freshness and ranking potential.
30. Keyword Prominence: Placing your target keyword within the first 100 words of your page content is linked to higher rankings on Google’s first page.
31. Keywords in Subheadings (H2, H3): Including your keyword in subheadings like H2 or H3 tags can act as a subtle relevancy signal for search engines.
32. Quality of Outbound Links: Many SEO experts believe linking to authoritative websites sends trust signals to Google. This idea is supported by recent industry research.
33. Theme of Outbound Links: According to the Hilltop Algorithm, Google may consider the topic of the sites you link to as a relevancy clue. For example, if your page is about cars but links mainly to movie sites, Google might think your page is about the movie “Cars” rather than automobiles.
34. Grammar and Spelling: Proper grammar and spelling contribute to perceived content quality. Though Google’s stance has been somewhat mixed, good language is generally seen as a positive factor.
35. Originality of Content: Content that’s copied or scraped from other indexed pages won’t rank well—or might not get indexed at all.
36. Mobile-Friendly Update: Known as “Mobilegeddon,” this update favored sites optimized for mobile devices.
37. Mobile Usability: Sites that are easy to use on mobile devices gain an advantage in Google’s mobile-first indexing.
38. Hidden Content on Mobile: Content that’s hidden on mobile may not be indexed or could carry less weight. However, Google has said hidden content is acceptable, but important information should be visible to users.
39. Helpful Supplementary Content: According to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, useful extras like calculators or interactive tools indicate higher page quality.
40. Content Behind Tabs: If users need to click tabs to see some content, Google has suggested this content might not always be indexed.
41. Number of Outbound Links: Too many outbound dofollow links can cause “PageRank leakage,” potentially harming your page’s ranking.
42. Multimedia Elements: Including images, videos, and other media can signal higher content quality.
43. Internal Links to a Page: The more internal links a page has, the more important Google considers it within your site.
44. Quality of Internal Links: Links from high-authority pages within your site carry more SEO value than those from low-authority or no-PageRank pages.
45. Broken Links: Excessive broken links can suggest a neglected site. Google’s quality raters use broken links as a sign of poor homepage quality.
46. Reading Level: Google evaluates the reading level of your content to help match it with the right audience. How Google uses this information is still debated. Some experts believe that writing at a basic reading level can improve rankings because it appeals to a wider audience. On the other hand, some associate simpler reading levels with low-quality content farms like Ezine Articles.
47. Affiliate Links: Having affiliate links alone likely won’t harm your rankings. However, if your site relies heavily on them, Google may scrutinize your overall content quality to ensure you’re not running a “thin affiliate site.”
48. HTML Errors and W3C Validation: A page filled with coding errors or poorly written HTML can signal low quality. While this is somewhat debated, many SEO professionals view clean, error-free code as a positive ranking factor.
49. Domain Authority: Given equal conditions, pages on authoritative domains tend to rank higher than those on less established domains. You can check your site’s authority using tools like our domain authority checker.
50. Page’s PageRank: While not a perfect correlation, pages with higher PageRank generally outperform those with less link authority.
51. URL Length: Very long URLs might negatively impact search visibility. Multiple studies suggest that shorter URLs often enjoy a slight advantage in Google’s rankings.
52. URL Depth: Pages that are closer to your homepage in the site’s structure (e.g., example.com/page vs. example.com/category/subcategory/page) may receive a slight SEO advantage, as they appear more important in the hierarchy.
53. Human Input in Rankings: Although never officially confirmed, Google holds patents for systems where human evaluators could influence search result rankings.
54. Page Category Relevance: The category your content appears in helps Google understand its context. A product page listed under a relevant category may perform better than one placed under an unrelated section.
55. Keywords in URL: Including your target keyword in the URL can provide a minor relevancy signal. While Google says it’s a small factor, it still plays a role.
56. URL Structure and Theme: Google looks at the structure of your URL to understand page context. Well-organized URLs with logical categories can help reinforce your content’s topical relevance.
57. Citing Sources and References: Adding references or citing trustworthy sources (like research, data, or expert opinions) can enhance perceived content quality. While Google denies using external links directly as a ranking factor, its quality guidelines emphasize credibility.
58. Use of Lists and Bullets: Bullet points and numbered lists improve readability, making content more digestible for users—and likely favored by search engines for user experience.
59. Sitemap Priority Setting: The priority assigned to pages in your XML sitemap might influence how search engines prioritize crawling and indexing, although it’s considered a weak signal.
60. Excessive Outbound Links: Overloading a page with too many outbound links can distract from the main content and reduce perceived quality, potentially hurting your rankings.
61. Positive UX Signals from Other Keywords: If a page ranks for multiple related keywords, it may indicate to Google that users find it valuable. Google has noted that strong performance across similar queries can be a sign of quality content.
62. Page Age: While Google favors fresh information, an older page that’s regularly updated can often outperform newer pages, especially when it’s built authority over time.
63. User-Friendly Layout: According to Google’s Quality Guidelines, top-performing pages make the main content easy to find without clutter or distractions.
64. Parked Domains: Google’s 2011 update reduced the visibility of parked domains—those reserved but not actively used—because they typically offer little value to users.
65. Useful vs. Quality Content: Google may distinguish between content that’s well-written (“quality”) and content that’s genuinely helpful or practical (“useful”). A page that solves a problem clearly and efficiently might rank higher than a beautifully written but unhelpful article.
Site-Level Ranking Factors
66. Unique and Valuable Content: Google favors content that brings something new or useful to the table. Pages that simply repeat what’s already out there—or exist just to promote affiliate links—may be penalized.
67. Contact Information Matters: Google’s quality guidelines suggest that trustworthy websites offer clear and accurate contact details. It helps to ensure that the contact info aligns with your domain’s registration data.
68. Trustworthiness of the Domain (TrustRank): While not officially confirmed, many SEOs believe Google uses a kind of trust scoring to assess domain reliability. A patent on ranking based on trust seems to support this theory.
69. Clear Site Structure: Organizing your site with a logical layout (like using silos or topic clusters) helps Google understand and crawl your content more efficiently.
70. Regular Site Updates: Frequently updating your website—especially adding new, relevant content—is often seen as a signal of freshness, even though Google says publishing frequency alone isn’t a direct ranking factor.
71. Use of Sitemaps: A properly configured sitemap helps search engines discover and index your content more effectively. However, Google has noted that HTML sitemaps are not particularly valuable for SEO.
72. Website Uptime: Frequent downtime due to server issues or maintenance can negatively affect rankings. In extreme cases, prolonged outages may even lead to pages being removed from the index.
73. Server Location: The physical location of your server can influence your visibility in region-specific searches. This is especially important for local SEO.
74. SSL/HTTPS Security: Google has confirmed that secure websites using HTTPS receive a small ranking boost, as part of their push for a safer web.
75. E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Google values content written by experts, published on reputable platforms, and backed by trustworthy information—especially in sensitive areas like health, finance, and legal advice.
76. Repeated Meta Descriptions or Titles: Using the same meta titles or descriptions across multiple pages can confuse search engines and dilute your visibility in search results.
77. Breadcrumb Navigation: This navigation style not only improves user experience but also helps Google understand the structure of your site. Proper breadcrumb markup can enhance how your pages appear in search results.
78. Mobile Optimization: With the majority of users now browsing on mobile, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites. A poor mobile experience can lead to lower rankings, especially under mobile-first indexing.
79. YouTube Content: YouTube videos often receive favorable visibility in search results, which isn’t surprising given that Google owns YouTube. Well-optimized video content can boost your page’s reach and engagement.
80. Website Usability: A poorly designed or hard-to-navigate site can hurt your rankings—not directly, but by lowering user engagement. If visitors leave quickly or don’t interact with your pages, Google’s RankBrain may interpret this as a signal that your content isn’t valuable.
81. Use of Google Tools: While there’s no official ranking boost for using Google Analytics or Search Console, these tools help monitor site performance and indexation. They also provide Google with accurate data, which could indirectly support SEO efforts.
82. Online Reputation and Reviews: The way your site is rated on platforms like Yelp or Trustpilot can influence your search visibility. Negative reviews or bad press can harm trust signals, while strong reputations may improve how Google views your brand.
83. Core Web Vitals: Google uses Core Web Vitals—such as page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability—as key ranking signals. These metrics now go beyond being just “tiebreakers” and can directly affect your position in search results.
Backlink Ranking Factors
84. Age of Linking Domains: Backlinks from older, well-established domains often carry more authority than those from brand-new websites, indicating long-term trustworthiness.
85. Number of Referring Domains: The more unique domains that link to your site, the stronger the signal to Google that your content is credible. It’s one of the most powerful ranking factors today.
86. Links from Different IP Addresses: Backlinks from a wide range of IPs (especially separate C-Class IPs) show that your site is getting attention from diverse sources—not just a single network.
87. Total Linking Pages: Even if they’re from the same domain, a high number of unique pages linking to your content can help boost rankings by reinforcing its relevance.
88. Anchor Text in Backlinks: Anchor text gives Google context about the linked page. While keyword-rich anchor text can help rankings, overdoing it may trigger spam filters, so moderation is key.
89. Alt Text for Image Links: When an image is used as a link, its alt text functions similarly to anchor text, offering additional context to search engines.
90. Backlinks from .edu or .gov Domains: While Google has clarified that domain extensions alone don’t give special ranking power, links from reputable educational or government sites often carry authority due to their strict quality standards.
91. Authority of the Linking Page: A link from a high-authority page (not just a high-authority site) sends a strong signal to Google that your content is valuable and trustworthy.
92. Domain Authority of the Link Source: The strength of the website linking to you can impact how much value that backlink passes. Links from trusted, authoritative domains carry more weight than those from lesser-known sites.
93. Backlinks from SERP Competitors: Earning links from pages that already rank for the same keyword may help boost your own rankings—since Google sees those pages as highly relevant to the topic.
94. Industry-Relevant Authority Links: Though speculative, many SEOs believe that links from well-known sites within your niche build trust and act as a kind of “stamp of legitimacy” in Google’s eyes.
95. Links from Spammy Sites: Backlinks from low-quality or shady sites (often referred to as “bad neighborhoods”) can harm your rankings or trigger penalties.
96. Guest Posting Links: Guest post backlinks can still help, but they’re not as powerful as organic editorial links. Also, mass guest posting with the intent of link building can get your site flagged.
97. Paid Link Attribution: Google expects any links from paid placements or ads to be marked as nofollow or sponsored. If they’re not, Google may ignore or devalue them automatically.
98. Homepage Strength of Linking Site: A backlink from a site with a strong homepage (high authority, many backlinks, etc.) can influence how much power that link passes to your page.
99. Nofollow Links and Ranking: Google has stated that they generally don’t follow nofollow links, but evidence suggests they may consider them in some cases. A natural mix of followed and nofollowed links indicates a healthier link profile.
100. Variety in Link Types: Relying on only one type of link (e.g., all blog comments or all profile links) can look unnatural to Google. A diverse backlink profile from various sources suggests authenticity and may help rankings.
101. “Sponsored” and “UGC” Link Attributes: Links marked with rel=”sponsored” (for paid or sponsored content) or rel=”ugc” (for user-generated content) are handled differently by Google compared to standard followed or nofollow links.
102. Contextual Backlinks: Links placed naturally within the main body of a page’s content carry more SEO value than links found in sidebars, footers, or on otherwise empty sections of a webpage.
103. Too Many 301 Redirects to a Page: Backlinks that pass through multiple 301 redirects can lose some of their PageRank value, as explained in a Webmaster Help video.
104. Anchor Text of Internal Links: The anchor text used in your site’s internal links serves as a relevancy signal, although it generally holds less influence compared to anchor text from external backlinks.
105. Link Title Attribute: The title attribute on links—the text shown when you hover over a link—may provide a subtle relevancy cue to search engines.
106. Country-Specific TLDs of Linking Domains: Backlinks from domains with country code extensions (like .de, .cn, or .co.uk) can boost your rankings in those specific geographic regions.
107. Placement of Links Within Content: Links that appear near the beginning of a page’s content tend to carry a bit more SEO weight than those placed towards the end.
108. Link Placement on the Page: The position of a link matters—links embedded within the main content generally carry more weight than those found in footers or sidebars.
109. Relevance of Linking Domain: Links from websites within the same niche are far more valuable than links coming from unrelated sites.
110. Relevancy of the Linking Page: A backlink from a page closely related to your content will pass more authority.
111. Keyword in Linking Page Title: Google favors links from pages that include your target keyword in their title, reflecting “experts linking to experts.”
112. Positive Link Velocity: An increasing rate of new backlinks often signals growing popularity and can improve your rankings.
113. Negative Link Velocity: Conversely, a decline in new backlinks may indicate waning popularity, potentially harming your search rankings.
114. Links from Hub Pages: According to the Hilltop Algorithm, links from pages regarded as key resources or “hubs” in a topic carry additional SEO value.
115. Links from Authority Sites: Backlinks from authoritative, well-established sites generally provide more SEO benefit than links from smaller, lesser-known sources.
116. Being Linked as a Wikipedia Source: Although Wikipedia links are nofollow, some believe that being cited there boosts perceived trust and authority, though Google denies this.
117. Co-Occurrence of Words: The terms surrounding your backlinks help Google understand the context and topic of the linked page.
118. Backlink Age: According to a Google patent, older backlinks tend to carry more ranking weight than newly created ones.
119. Links from Authentic Sites vs. “Splogs”: With the rise of blog networks, Google likely favors links from genuine websites over those from fake or spammy blogs, using brand signals and user engagement to differentiate between them.
120. Natural Link Profile: Websites with a naturally built backlink profile tend to rank better and are more resilient to algorithm updates compared to those relying on black-hat link-building tactics.
121. Reciprocal Links: Google’s guidelines warn against “excessive link exchanges,” considering them part of link schemes to avoid.
122. User-Generated Content Links: Google can distinguish links from user-generated content (UGC) versus content published by the site owner—such as the difference between an official WordPress.com blog link and one from a random WordPress subdomain.
123. Links via 301 Redirects: Backlinks coming through 301 redirects might lose a small amount of value compared to direct links, though Matt Cutts has stated that 301 redirects pass nearly the same link equity as direct links.
124. Use of Schema.org Markup: Pages implementing microformats like Schema.org may rank higher—either due to a direct ranking boost or because enhanced listings improve click-through rates in search results.
125. TrustRank of Linking Site: The trustworthiness of the linking website influences how much “TrustRank” it passes to your site.
126. Number of Outbound Links on Page: Since PageRank is limited, a link from a page with hundreds of outbound links passes less value than a link from a page with only a few external links.
127. Forum Links: Due to widespread spam, Google tends to significantly devalue links originating from forums.
128. Word Count of Linking Content: Links embedded within longer content—such as a 1000-word article—are generally more valuable than those found in short snippets of 25 words or less.
129. Quality of Linking Content: Links from poorly written or spun content carry less weight than those from well-crafted, high-quality material.
130. Sitewide Links: Matt Cutts has confirmed that sitewide links are “compressed,” meaning multiple links sitewide count as just one link for ranking purposes.
User Interaction Ranking Factors
131. RankBrain: RankBrain is Google’s AI-driven algorithm that many believe primarily measures how users interact with search results, adjusting rankings based on user behavior.
132. Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR) for a Keyword: Google suggests that pages with higher CTR for a specific keyword may receive a boost in search rankings for that keyword.
133. Organic CTR Across All Keywords: A site’s overall organic CTR for all its ranked keywords might act as a user interaction signal—essentially a “Quality Score” for organic search results.
134. Bounce Rate: While opinions vary in SEO about bounce rate’s importance, it could serve as a quality indicator for Google. Pages with high bounce rates might signal poor relevance, a view supported by a large SEMrush study showing a correlation between bounce rate and rankings.
135. Direct Traffic: Google uses data from Chrome to track how often people visit a site directly. Sites with high direct traffic are generally seen as higher quality, supported by SEMrush’s findings linking direct traffic with better rankings.
136. Repeat Traffic: Websites that attract repeat visitors may receive a ranking boost from Google.
137. Pogosticking: Pogosticking describes when users quickly bounce from one search result to others to find their answer—a behavior Google may interpret as a sign that the original result wasn’t satisfactory. Results that experience Pogosticking may suffer a significant drop in rankings.
138. Blocked Sites: Although Google has removed the ability to block sites in Chrome, the Panda algorithm once used this data as a quality signal. It’s possible that Google still utilizes a similar form of this feedback.
139. Chrome Bookmarks: Since Google collects Chrome browser usage data, pages that are frequently bookmarked in Chrome might receive a ranking boost.
140. Number of Comments: Pages with a high volume of comments can indicate strong user engagement and quality. In fact, a Google representative mentioned that comments can have a substantial positive impact on rankings.
141. Dwell Time: Google closely monitors “dwell time,” which measures how long users stay on your page after clicking from search results. Also called “long clicks vs. short clicks,” longer time spent on your page generally signals higher quality and can boost rankings.
142. Query Deserves Freshness: For certain searches, Google prioritizes newer content, giving fresh pages a ranking boost.
143. Query Deserves Diversity: For ambiguous or broad keywords like “Ted,” “WWF,” or “ruby,” Google adds a variety of results to provide diverse perspectives.
144. User Browsing History: Sites you visit frequently often get a personalized SERP boost for your searches.
145. User Search History: Your past search behavior influences future results. For example, after searching for “reviews,” a subsequent search for “toasters” is more likely to surface toaster review sites higher in the rankings.
146. Featured Snippets: According to SEMrush research, Google selects featured snippet content based on factors like content length, formatting, page authority, and HTTPS usage.
147. Geo-Targeting: Google favors websites with local server IPs and country-specific domain extensions in local search results.
148. Safe Search: Results containing profanity or adult content are filtered out for users with Safe Search enabled.
149. “YMYL” Keywords: Google applies stricter quality standards to “Your Money or Your Life” topics, which can impact rankings for sensitive or important content.
150. DMCA Complaints: Pages with valid DMCA complaints may be downranked by Google.
151. Domain Diversity: The “Bigfoot Update” aimed to increase the number of unique domains shown on each SERP page to enhance result diversity.
152. Transactional Searches: For shopping-related queries, such as flight bookings, Google often displays specialized or tailored search results.
153. Local Searches: For queries with local intent, Google often prioritizes local listings above the regular organic search results.
154. Top Stories Box: Certain search terms trigger a Top Stories box, showcasing the latest news articles prominently.
155. Big Brand Preference: Since the Vince Update, Google has started giving bigger brands a ranking advantage for specific keywords.
156. Shopping Results: Google sometimes integrates Shopping results directly into the organic search listings.
157. Image Results: Google occasionally displays image results within the standard organic search pages.
158. Easter Egg Results: Google has several fun Easter Eggs—like when you search “Atari Breakout” in Google Images, the results transform into a playable game (thanks to Victor Pan for spotting this one).
159. Single Site Results for Brands: For brand or domain-specific searches, multiple listings from the same website often appear prominently.
160. Payday Loans Update: This special algorithm targets and reduces spammy search results for highly spam-prone queries.
Brand Signals Ranking Factors
161. Brand Name Anchor Text: Using branded anchor text is a straightforward yet powerful indicator of brand strength.
162. Branded Searches: When people search for your brand name on Google, it signals to Google that your site represents a genuine brand.
163. Brand + Keyword Searches: If users often search for your brand combined with specific keywords (e.g., “Backlinko Google ranking factors” or “Backlinko SEO”), Google may boost your rankings for those keywords even when searched without the brand name.
164. Facebook Page and Likes: Brands typically have Facebook pages with significant follower engagement and likes.
165. Twitter Profile with Followers: A Twitter profile with a strong follower base signals brand popularity and influence.
166. Official LinkedIn Company Page: Most legitimate businesses maintain an official LinkedIn company page, adding to their brand credibility.
167. Verified Authorship: Back in February 2013, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated that verified online profiles tied to content can lead to higher rankings, as users tend to click on these trusted, verified results.
168. Authenticity of Social Media Accounts: A social media profile with 10,000 followers but only a couple of posts is likely viewed differently than one with the same follower count and active engagement. In fact, Google has a patent for identifying whether social media accounts are genuine or fake.
169. Brand Mentions in Top Stories: Major brands frequently appear in Top Stories sections. Some even have news feeds from their own sites featured right on the first page of search results.
170. Unlinked Brand Mentions: Brands are often referenced without a direct link. Google likely considers these unlinked mentions as a valuable brand signal.
171. Physical Storefront or Office: Legitimate businesses typically have a physical location. Google may use location data to help verify if a site belongs to a recognized, established brand.
On-Site Webspam Ranking Factors
172. Panda Penalty: Sites with low-quality or thin content—especially content farms—can suffer reduced visibility in search results after receiving a Panda penalty.
173. Links to Toxic Sites: Linking to “bad neighborhoods,” such as spammy payday loan or pharmacy sites, may negatively impact your search rankings.
174. Sneaky Redirects: Using deceptive redirects is a serious violation that can lead not only to penalties but also to complete removal (de-indexing) from Google.
175. Popups and Distracting Ads: According to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, excessive popups and distracting ads are indicators of a low-quality website.
176. Mobile Interstitial Popups: Google may penalize sites that show full-page interstitial popups to mobile users, as these disrupt the user experience.
177. Over-Optimization Penalty: Google can penalize websites that go overboard with SEO tactics, such as keyword stuffing, excessive use of header tags, and unnatural formatting designed solely for ranking.
178. Nonsensical Content Detection: Google has patented methods to detect low-quality, gibberish, or auto-generated content—often created by spinning tools—which helps them remove such pages from search results.
179. Doorway Pages: If a page is designed to funnel users to a different destination, it’s considered a “doorway page”—a tactic that Google actively penalizes for being deceptive.
180. Ads Above the Fold: Google’s “Page Layout Algorithm” targets sites overloaded with ads in the visible portion of a page before scrolling, especially when actual content is buried below the fold.
181. Cloaked Affiliate Links: Attempting to overly disguise affiliate links—especially through cloaking—can trigger penalties from Google, as it may be seen as deceptive behavior.
182. Fred Update: “Fred” refers to a set of Google algorithm updates (starting in 2017) aimed at sites with thin, ad-heavy content that prioritize monetization over user value.
183. Scrutiny of Affiliate Sites: Affiliate-driven websites often face extra algorithmic scrutiny, especially if they lack original, valuable content beyond promotional links.
184. Auto-Generated Content: Content created automatically by software (rather than humans) is heavily penalized, particularly if it adds little or no value.
185. Overuse of PageRank Sculpting: Excessively nofollowing outbound links in an attempt to hoard PageRank can be seen as manipulative and may work against your SEO efforts.
186. Spam-Flagged IP Address: If your website shares a server with others and that IP address has been flagged for spam, your site’s reputation and rankings may also be negatively impacted.
187. Meta Tag Keyword Stuffing: Overloading your meta title or description with keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings can trigger penalties. Google may view this as an attempt to deceive users and search engines alike.
Off-Site Webspam Indicators
188. Hacked Website:
If your website is compromised or hacked, Google may temporarily remove it from search results to protect users. For example, even reputable sites like Search Engine Land were once deindexed due to a hacking issue.
189. Sudden Spike in Backlinks:
An abrupt and unnatural surge in backlinks can signal manipulative link-building practices, raising red flags with Google’s spam filters.
190. Penguin Algorithm Impact:
Websites affected by the Penguin update see reduced visibility due to unnatural links. While the algorithm now devalues spammy links rather than penalizing entire domains, the impact can still be significant.
191. Low-Quality Link Profile:
Having a high number of backlinks from spammy sources (such as blog comments or forum profiles) may indicate black-hat SEO tactics, leading to ranking suppression.
192. Irrelevant Backlink Sources:
Backlinks from topically unrelated websites weaken your site’s relevance and may increase the risk of a manual penalty.
193. Google’s Unnatural Links Warning:
Receiving a warning in Google Search Console about unnatural links often signals upcoming ranking issues, even if penalties are not always immediately applied.
194. Low-Quality Directory Backlinks:
Links from spammy or irrelevant web directories can trigger a Google penalty, as they’re often seen as manipulative rather than earned.
195. Widget-Based Links:
Google discourages links embedded in widgets that auto-generate backlinks when users place the widget on their sites, considering it an unnatural tactic.
196. Same C-Class IP Links:
A large number of backlinks from sites sharing the same C-Class IP address may indicate a private blog network, which can be flagged as manipulative.
197. Toxic Anchor Text:
Anchor text containing spammy or “poison” keywords (e.g., pharma terms) can signal a hacked site or spam attack, both of which negatively affect rankings.
198. Suspicious Link Growth:
A sudden, unnatural spike in backlinks may be algorithmically flagged. Google can detect whether link growth appears organic or manipulated.
199. Article Directory and Press Release Links:
Overuse of article directories and press releases for link building is now considered a link scheme and can result in link devaluation or penalties.
200. Manual Penalties:
Google may apply manual actions for violations like unnatural links, thin content, or user-generated spam. These significantly reduce visibility until resolved.
201. Selling Backlinks:
If you’re caught selling dofollow backlinks, Google may penalize your site by reducing its authority or removing it from rankings entirely.
202. Google Sandbox Effect:
New websites that gain links too quickly may be placed in a temporary “Sandbox,” limiting their visibility until the site proves its legitimacy.
203. Google Dance:
Fluctuations in rankings—often referred to as the “Google Dance”—can occur as Google tests how users respond to your site before finalizing placement.
204. Disavow Tool: Using the Disavow Tool can help remove manual or algorithmic penalties for sites affected by negative SEO.
205. Reconsideration Request: Submitting a successful reconsideration request may result in the removal of a penalty.
206. Temporary Link Schemes: Google is aware of tactics involving creating and quickly removing spammy links, known as temporary link schemes, and penalizes such behavior.
Conclusion
In 2025, Google continues to prioritize delivering the most relevant and helpful content to users. To align with this goal, focusing on creating high-quality, informative, and user-friendly content is essential. While backlinks from reputable sources remain important, they should be earned naturally and not manipulated.
Ensuring your website is technically sound—fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate—directly impacts user experience and search rankings. Additionally, implementing structured data (schema markup) can enhance how your content appears in search results, potentially leading to richer snippets.
Although social media engagement doesn’t directly influence rankings, it can drive traffic and increase brand visibility, indirectly benefiting SEO efforts. Building a strong online brand presence through consistent and trustworthy content further establishes credibility with both users and search engines.
By focusing on these ranking factors, you can improve your website’s performance in search results and provide a better experience for your visitors.