Google Confirms: Simple Factors Are Not Ranking Signals

Source: Freepik_Free Photo _ Girl presenting something in her open hand.

On LinkedIn recently, he defined two perceived site quality indicators as not being direct ranking factors — valid HTML and typos. Providing insight to website owners and SEOs alike is definitely helpful.

It was inspired by an examination of the top 200 website homepages. Astonishingly, only 0.5% of these highly ranked sites had completely valid HTML. This was particularly surprising because a common perception in the SEO world was that valid HTML was an important aspect for optimization.

According to Mueller, valid HTML is a nice to have and not a ranking factor. He likened this to requiring professional writers to be typos-free. Typos are generally avoided, but don’t greatly impair a writer’s credibility. Similarly, Google has nothing against typos on websites.

Mueller told me that focusing more on user experience and content quality is crucial. However, he clarified further that valid HTML and typos don’t matter for direct ranking factors, but a well-structured, clean website might help users stay longer and come back more often.

Mueller’s post reminds us that SEO is not only about technical optimization. It’s long overdue to hone in on creating great quality, informative, and engaging content that addresses the needs of your target audience. You will only continue improving your site’s visibility within the pages of SERPs over time if you focus on quality content and excellent user experience rather than superficial tactics.

The Myth of Authoritative Authors

Besides, in his ranking factors, Mueller discussed the myth of “authoritative authors”. Few SEOs really believed attaching articles with highly credible authors can actually boost one’s ranks. But according to Mueller, this is not a direct ranking signal.

It’s not a guaranteed way to get higher ranks, but authoritative authors will give your content credible acknowledgment. What truly matters is the quality of the content itself. If your articles are informative and well-written and provide value to readers, they are going to rank pretty well regardless of the author’s credentials.

Avoiding SEO Pitfalls

In Mueller’s post, he also outlines avoiding common pitfalls when it comes to SEO. Many website owners and SEO waste time and resources chasing after superficial tactics that offer little impact on rankings. On the other hand, it is very important to focus on basic SEO principles such as:

• Creating quality content: Create informative, engaging, and relevant content that will meet the needs of your target audience.
• Keyword optimization: Do keyword research and incorporate relevant keywords naturally in content.
• Backlinks: Get a quality number of backlinks from strong websites to leverage authority for your website
• Page speed: Optimize the loading time of your website for better user experience and search engine ranking.
• Mobile-friendliness: Your website should be fully responsive and set up for mobile.

With these rules and ridding of myths in Search Engine Optimization, your website may gain much more visibility with organic traffic as a result.

How User Experience Is Really the Power in SEO

Google has stated that something as simple as having valid HTML and typos isn’t a ranking signal. Still, the experience of users really becomes a vital component of SEO. A good experience will make all the difference in the SERPs of your website and overall performances.

Understanding User Experience

User experience is how visitors interact with your website. It encompasses a myriad of features, like the following:

• Website design: How good your website looks in terms of designing and aesthetic appeal.
• Site speed: The amount of time it takes to load your website.
• Mobile optimization: If your website is available and usable on mobile devices.
• Content quality: How relevant, accurate, and comprehensive your content is.
• Accessibility: How accessible your website is for any disabled individuals.

Relationship Between User Experience and SEO

There is a direct correlation between a good user experience and many major SEO factors:

• Bounce Rate: It is the percentage of visitors who immediately leave your website after viewing only one page. The high rate of bounce usually implies a bad user experience.
• Time on Site: It refers to the average time spent by visitors on your website. The more time consumers spend on a website, the better is the user experience.
• Pages per session: The average number of pages viewed per visit. A high number is in itself indicative of a good user experience.
• Conversions: The number of visitors that actually take a desired action, such as buying something or subscribing to a newsletter. Increased conversion rates are likely the result of a good user experience.

Search Engines Prioritize User Experience

All of the above search engines, similar to Google, rank more highly those websites which have a good user experience. They use many metrics in measuring user satisfaction, such as:

• Click-through rate: Percentage of users who click through on your SERP (search engine results page) listing. A higher CTR indicates that your website is relevant and engaging.
• User behavior: The search engines track the behavior that users exert on your website, such as scrolling, clicking, and time spent on different pages.
• Mobile-friendliness: The search engine giant has mainly stressed the need for mobile-friendly sites. Mostly, mobile-friendly websites have better ranking positions on mobile devices.

 Improving User Experience for SEO

Here are some ways you can improve user experience and rank your website highly in search results:

• Optimize website speed: Use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to pinpoint the area where your website can be optimized so that it loads quickly.
• Ensure mobile-friendliness: Make a responsive website accessible on multiple devices.
• Content: Your content needs to be of a higher quality, informative, engaging, and exactly what your target audience requires.
• Navigation to the website: Make the website easy to explore by making the navigation menu clear and intuitive.
• Optimize Images: Compress the images to make their file size smaller and thus lighter for viewing.
• Seamless user experience: Your website should be error-free, easy to use, and nicely done.

The Role of User Testing

User testing is a really valuable tool to utilize when determining how your website is doing in regard to user experience. By viewing the interactions that take place with your website from real users, you can find areas to improve and make data-driven decisions.

More than Just SEO: The Long-Term Value of User Experience

More than just a good SEO to a website offering long-term value in user experience. When users have a pleasing experience on your website, it can:

Customers are made happy: While satisfied customers would return to your website and keep promoting it.

Brand reputation is improved: A great user experience can result in the establishment of trust and credibility for the brand.

Conversion rates are increased: A good user experience often results in more conversions, such as buying, signing up on a newsletter, or communication with your business.

User experience is to the fore-front. In this regard, simple things like having valid HTML and typos will not influence your rankings much but a good user experience will increase the probability to increase the site ranking in the search results. Thus you get more organic traffic to your website and thus the success of your business too.

Sources:

• https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-on-why-simple-factors-arent-ranking-signals/527064/
• https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-on-why-simple-factors-arent-ranking-signals/527064/#:~:text=Google’s%20John%20Mueller%20affirmed%20in,quality%20may%20not%20be%20either.
• https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
• https://searchengineland.com/google-ranking-signals-complete-breakdown-391784

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