According to Google, there are 200 factors that Google uses to rank your webpages against the competitors. Most of other search engines like Bing and Yahoo Search also have these common factors. You cannot assume your website to rank on the first page of search results if it is new, doesn’t have good fresh content, does not follow SEO guidelines and incorporates Black Hat SEO techniques.

Let’s see some of the top ranking factors according to my research and data collected from the internet. Note: I am not explicitly mentioning Social Networking Factors since it is a very interesting factor and deserves for a separate article which I will be writing soon.

For more Viral Marketing Tricks and Free Consultation for Optimising your website so that we can rank it higher in Google Search, please come to our Free SEO site regularly http://www.howgoogleranks.com

1. Age of Domain: If your domain is newly registered and is just a few weeks or even months old, then be patience. Patience is the key. You have a long road ahead of you. A domain is like a property, the older it gets, the more value. The age of your website helps build trust. If your website has been online for several years, chances are you have an established business, you have a very good network and a constant flow of visitors.

2. Domain Hosting: Where is your site hosted? Find out through your hosting company what continent or country your site is hosted in. This can often times play a large role in search rankings. Always use a reputable hosting company. If your company is US based then use a hosting company in the United States. Also, I always recommend a dedicated IP when you can. There are virtual dedicated and cloud hosting solutions that are more affordable. Never use the cheapest hosting. The reality is, if you cannot afford hosting you should re-consider the business…I know this is harsh but very true.

3. Your Neighbors: If you have a virtual server, which sites like Godaddy usually are have been known to house hundreds of websites on one server. Make sure that your neighbors on your server are not classified as spam.

4. URL Structure: Make sure your URL structures are very clean. There should not be any random strings of characters at the end of your URL’s. This is part of the onsite search engine optimization process as well.

5. Content: Content is very important. To start make sure you have text on all your important pages, then make sure it is good text consisting of your targeted keywords spread throughout naturally. Simply put, ALWAYS write your content for humans, your website visitors first and NEVER write content for the solo purpose to achieve Google search engine rankings. Chances are the content will not be user focused or provide value to your visitors.

6. Internal Link Structure: Make sure your inner pages are linked correctly. Visitors should have easy made pathways connecting to your other pages from every page of your website. Make sure the code of your website is verified and keep flash and JavaScript to a minimum, if you can. Essentially make sure the site is clean, easy to use and interlinked to help the user experience.

7. Trust: Do you at least have a mailing address listed on your website? You should if you don’t. Google likes to see trust factors on websites so anything you can add that could help build trust for your audience will benefit your rankings. I always recommend having a phone number on each page of your website. Make it easy for people to do business with you, it all starts with establishing trust and that starts with contact information on your website.

8. Keywords: Make sure your website is optimized using your keywords. This means any alt tags for images, meta page information and existing content at the very least of things. Remember to naturally optimize your website based on the content of each page of your website.

9. Bounce Rate: Although bounce rate might not seem important if Google sees that nobody hangs out on your website for more than a few seconds before they leave this could be a ranking problem over time. Make changes to get visitors engaged with your website. Simple things, like video, newsletter sign up, call to actions, etc will help improve your bounce rate over time. Make sure you have proper tracking on your website, such as Google analytics.

10. Outbound links: Make sure the websites that you link to are 100% relevant to your business and industry. If you sell animals toys but you are linking to a site that sells shoes that is not very relevant and over time could really impact your rankings. Bottom line is if it makes sense to link to another site, then do so, but remember you could be sending your visitors away from your site.

11. Inbound Links: I know this was a list of my top 10, but I felt I had to mention inbound links. The key here (speaking as a white hat SEO person), don’t buy or exchange links. Market and promote your business online to build visitors to your website over time. If you do, then the relevant links will follow! **Note: As the Google (and yes there are 2 other major search engines!) algorithm changes there are always new ranking factors that come into play, such as the page load time and many others. I am sure when I re-do this list a year from now, there may be another one or two additional factors. As I told you earlier, Google looks into 200 factors when assigning a rank number to your website. Stay tuned to HowGoogleRanks.com, read all the articles and tips. It is also very important to use the tips and optimizations in a good manner without breaking any rules of the big Gaint search engines. Make Google happy and Google will keep you happy.

Stay tuned to http://www.howgoogleranks.com for new SEO tips and articles to improve your Google rank.
Any thoughts or comments would be highly appreciated. Thanks!

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