How does Google rank your website?

The truth is only Google know the various factors that form the ranking matrix for your site. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a "Google Optimisation Handbook" and this holy grail of trade secrets continues to be the hot topic of conversation for webmasters.

Although the rules seem to change constantly, based on our experience, the following gives a fairly accurate representation of some of the more important factors used by Google to determine a web sites ranking.

Keyword Usage:
This includes keyword usage in your meta tags, in particular your Title and Keywords Tag, the keyword density of body text, use of keywords in both your internal and external linking, and URL construction.

Domain Strength:
Domain strength refers to the age of your domain and its registration history. Older domains with a strong stable history are viewed more favorably by Google.

Inbound Link Score:
It is an established fact that good quality inbound links will help to improve your Google rankings. When assessing inbound links, Google looks at factors like link age, quality of web page source, use of keywords in link text, and relevance of the content on the source website, to determine your link score.

User Data:
This is based on Google behavioural data from their users. The number of times your URL is clicked on, search requests for the domain, and other historical usage factors all contribute towards your User Data score.

Quality Score:
This is probably determined by Google manually, either by using human scoring, or specialised algorithms that determine page content quality, independent of the core algorithm. Updating the content of your website will help to improve your quality score.

Size of Website:
The size of your website measured by the number of pages will influence your rankings. The bigger your site the better chance you will have of achieving higher rankings.

Robert has over 5 years experience in online marketing and search engine optimisation. He is the owner of Get On Fast, based in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
Get On Fast is a specialist online marketing agency. Their range of services includes Search Engine Optimisation, Website Promotion and Online Advertising,
Link Popularity Services and Online PR.