Google Search Ranking Factors: Prioritizing A People-First Mindset Drives Success
Have you ever typed a search into Google and wondered how it seems to know exactly what you’re looking for? Google relies on various automated ranking systems to determine the most relevant and useful results for each search. Google shares some insights into the factors that influence its rankings and has made it increasingly clear that a people-first search engine optimization (SEO) mindset is valued over websites pandering to its algorithm. Our SEO professionals at Blue Compass have years of experience uncovering tactics to positively impact your site’s search visibility and rank.
In this blog, we’ll explore some of the key ranking factors that make up Google’s search algorithm, as well as SEO best practices and why putting your users at the heart of your strategy is the key to long-term ranking success.
How Does Google Search Ranking Work Anyway?
To display useful information in a search engine results page (SERP), Google search algorithms look at many factors and signals, including the keywords searched, the relevance and usability of the pages, the expertise of the sources and your location and browser settings. The weight applied to each factor varies depending on the nature of your search. For example, if you are searching for digital marketing agency services, the location of the business will matter more than if you were searching for news articles about a new Google algorithm feature, which would favor content recency.
The Systems Behind Google’s Search Algorithm
Google’s search algorithm evaluates numerous factors to rank web pages, balancing official signals with insights uncovered by our SEO experts. Our seasoned SEO professionals’ best practices stem from these algorithmic systems. A selection of key systems that inform our SEO expert’s best practices are:
Original Content Systems
These systems prioritize original content in search results, emphasizing people-first content that is helpful, informative and engaging. They favor original material over websites that copy or cite existing content, reinforcing the importance of authenticity and value for users.
PageRank
PageRank helps determine the relevance and authority of a webpage based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to it. While it’s no longer the sole ranking factor, PageRank laid the foundation for modern SEO by emphasizing the value of high-quality backlinks.
RankBrain
RankBrain is an AI system that understands how individual words work together and relate to a concept. This system informs Google search by serving up relevant content in the SERP, even if the results do not contain all the exact words of a user’s search. This system is important as it helps Google understand how content is related to similar words and concepts.
Spam detection systems
Google has several spam detection systems that help identify and derank or remove content and behaviors that violate any spam policies. These systems are important to ranking factors as they help maintain search quality, relevance and user trust by filtering out low-quality, deceptive or manipulative content.
Combining Blue Compass’ SEO Experience With Google Search Ranking Factors
To succeed in SERPs, it is imperative for websites to blend real-world experience with an understanding of Google’s search ranking factors. While Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving, the core principles of relevance, authority and user experience remain constant. Our experts at Blue Compass have identified several foundational tactics to focus on that will help strengthen your website and increase your chances of appearing in top SERP results.
How A People-First Mindset Impacts Ranking
In the evolving landscape of SEO, prioritizing the user has always been an important factor. Google search ranking factors signal that the most important factor in ranking is serving a user’s needs. With the user in mind, Blue Compass’ SEO experts employ a people-first strategy that drives meaningful engagement, improves search visibility and enhances your website’s authority.
Creating original, high-quality content, conducting keyword optimization research, and building authoritative backlinks are the cornerstones of a strong people-first SEO strategy. A strong strategy goes beyond content and backlinks—it also relies on intuitive user experience (UX) and adherence to SEO rules to ensure your site presents a good experience to users and search engines can effectively crawl and rank your site. People-first SEO focuses on optimized site speed, mobile-friendliness, and indexing, while a seamless UX keeps visitors engaged. These elements work together to improve rankings and create a better experience for users and search engines.
We’ll break down how these elements work together to enhance your site’s visibility in search and why a balanced approach is key to long-term SEO success.
Why People-First Content Is Key For Ranking Success
Google’s original content systems signal to our experts that quality people-first content is key to ranking success. People-first content focuses on creating valuable, informative, and engaging content that prioritizes the needs and interests of the user. Content length, helpfulness, and relevance all play into how your site will rank for a specific keyword. Creating longer content pieces full of relevant, original information will help Google figure out what your page is about, which will significantly increase your website’s chances of ranking higher in SERPs.
To succeed in search, our experts at Blue Compass have determined that all web pages should be at least 600 words. Longer content pieces like blogs and articles should be at least 1,000 words or more. Explore our SEO copywriting best practices for more people-first content tips.
Meeting Users Where They Are With Keyword Optimization
Optimizing your content with the right keywords is about understanding your target audience and their needs. Utilizing keyword optimization research to identify and write with the words your users are searching is a great way to influence your Google search ranking. Ensuring your content aligns with your user’s search intent is imperative to show up in SERPs, especially when many search ranking factors, such as Google’s RankBrain, focus on relevancy.
Determining search intent starts with analyzing the goal of your webpage and how users will interact with it. Utilizing a keyword research tool will assist in determining the intent of each keyword when optimizing your webpage copy. Search intent is divided into five categories: informational, navigational, local, commercial, and transactional. Ensuring that your content aligns with your user’s intent is a key component to writing people-first content that will boost the relevancy of your website.
However, keep in mind that using too many keywords to manipulate search results can make your content appear keyword-stuffy, which goes against Google’s spam detection systems. Violating Google’s spam policies could harm your marketing efforts and result in a Google penalty or downranking.
What Is People-First SEO?
People-first SEO focuses on optimizing a website’s infrastructure to increase a user’s experience. SEO is often seen exclusively as a tool to influence search engines; however, reframing your efforts to a people-first mindset puts your users first while positively affecting your results in search rankings.
Google prioritizes websites focusing on the user and providing a seamless, engaging, and helpful experience. Ensuring that your site is optimized for mobile devices, developed with core web vitals in mind, and the site’s robots.txt and sitemap are optimized for search engines for efficient crawling are all factors beneficial to users and thus will impact your website’s success in search. Additionally, user experience signals like page speed and performance, a responsive design, and accessibility help retain users, increase conversions, and build your site’s trust value. Our experts have compiled a comprehensive SEO guide with additional tips on optimizing your website for users.
Boosting Your Authority With Backlinks
Backlinking is one of the more unique factors that can affect your Google search ranking because websites actually benefit one another by using them. Backlinks are created when one website links to another, increasing your authority and boosting the value of other pages on your website. Driven by Google’s PageRank system, a strong backlinking structure between your content and different credible sources of information shows Google that your site is trustworthy, ultimately influencing your website’s overall ranking value.
Achieving Long-Term SEO Success with a People-First Mindset
Creating valuable, engaging content that meets user needs while addressing user experience will position your site to succeed in search. Our SEO experts blend real-world experience informed by Google’s ranking systems with technical SEO best practices to help improve your search visibility. From creating high-quality original content to optimizing user experience and leveraging authoritative backlinks, a well-rounded SEO strategy ensures long-term success.
Through its ranking factors, Google has made it clear that keeping your audience at the heart of your strategy is key to staying ahead in the competitive digital landscape. Partner with Blue Compass to learn more about people-first SEO; we are here to help you build a strong foundation for long-term growth in search visibility.