Entrepreneurs know that SEO is everything when it comes to marketing their business. There are so many factors that influence SEO ranking, and so it can be tough to know which areas to focus on. To help you support your marketing strategies, these are some of the most important SEO ranking factors of 2020.

1. HTTPS Sites

Wondering what the difference is between HTTPS sites and HTTP sites? Well, prepare to be enlightened! When you see an ‘s’ on the end of a HTTP URL, this signals that the website is safe. ‘Hypertext transfer protocol secure’ is simply the security safe version of  HTTP. Hypertext transfer protocol transfers data from a web browser to a site. HTTPS uses encryption and authentication to ensure that all data is transmitted safely. If you don’t use HTTPS for your website, web browsers will flag your site as ‘not secure’. If this happens, it will negatively affect your SEO ranking. When a site visitor does not feel safe on your site, they are more likely to bounce!

Any business operating online needs high levels of cybersecurity. According to Fundera, ‘43% of cyber attacks target small businesses.’ They add that ‘60% of small businesses that are victims of a cyber attack go out of business within six months.’ If you are a victim of a cybersecurity attack, you’ll need a computer forensics analyst to get you back up and running. So what does a computer forensic analyst do? Well, they work to investigate cybercrime, including network intrusions, hacking, online scams, and data breaches.

2. Quality Content

Professional marketing company Impact reported that ‘high-quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website for search.’ Quality content leads to a boost in search rankings and improved organic website traffic. 

To define what ‘quality content’ is, Google uses the E-A-T framework (and so should you)! The E-A-T acronym stands for Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness. Let’s consider these quality signals in a little more detail.

Expertise: To rank high on Google, you need to be perceived as an expert within your industry. Your skills need to be represented by your bio, social accounts, and content across the Internet. Pages that present high-quality info have more shares, a longer session duration, and a lower bounce rate.

Authoritativeness: Your website needs to prove it’s authority to Google to rank high. You can show evidence of your authority with reputable backlinks, glowings reviews, quality affiliations, or even awards. Above all, your content must be well written and offer fresh new insights and originality. Biz Prospects suggest that ‘content with proper grammar is more likely to receive 97% additional links.’ Badly written content and typos can negatively impact your search rankings and compromise your professional image.

Trustworthiness: To keep those rankings high, it’s important to show your users that you are trustworthy. As mentioned earlier, security measures are essential to keep users safe on your site. Reviews and testimonials are also effective to prove your trustworthiness.

Providing quality content is one of the best ways to market your business.

3. Mobile Optimization

Marketing company SWEOR discovered that ‘57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.’ When we consider that mobile searches account for at least ‘half of the web traffic globally,’ it’s easy to see why mobile optimization is so important. There are several ways that you can optimize your site for mobile.

Accelerated mobile pages: it’s a wise move to use the AM markup as part of your site. With this method, you can put a lot of content into a single search result, which far extends your reach. When you optimize for AM specifically, you essentially create duplicate content that is mobile optimized.

Web responsive design: ensure that you use responsive HTML, which will adapt depending on the device orientation and the size of the screen.

4. Page Speed

Page speed has been considered one of the most important SEO ranking factors for a long time. Slow loading sites can be penalized and end up ranking lower. What’s more, slow loading times directly affect your bounce rates. According to Trinity One, ‘37% of visitors bounce when your site takes five seconds to load.’ To improve your page speed, you can take the following steps.

Compress files: Ensure that you compress the size of your HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files, these should be no more than 150 bytes. 

Use browser caching: Our browsers cache plenty of info, including JavaScript files, images, and stylesheets. With browser caching, the browser no longer has to reload the whole page when a previous user returns.

Try a content distribution network: Content distribution networks are servers that share the task of delivering content. CDNs store copies of your website at various locations. Data distribution like this results in faster access to your site.

5. Search Intent Focus

Search intent defines the end goal of the person who is conducting the web search. The GoogleRankBrain algorithm functions to figure out the search intent and then show the user the most relevant results. There are four different types of search intent:

Navigational: Navigational search intent occurs when the user is searching for a certain website. For instance, a person might type ‘Facebook’ into the search engine as opposed to typing out the web address. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s pretty impossible to optimize for these (unless you are the site that the user is searching for). Some companies choose to buy the keywords which they rank for organically (to cover all bases).

Information Search Intent: These queries are used when someone is looking for an answer or for information. Generally, these searches include ‘why,’ ‘how,’ or ‘what.’ To optimize these searches, use your blog posts to answer the questions your audience is asking.

Transactional search intent: Searches like these indicate that someone is ready to make a purchase. They might include brand names, for example, ‘buy iPhone SE.’ They might instead be general, such as ‘order phone.’ Words like ‘order’ or ‘buy’ are usually included, and it’s vital to have a clear call to action on each of your product pages.

Commercial investigation search intent: Commercial investigation searches mean that the user is keen to purchase an item at some point in the future. At this stage, they are investigating and weighing up their options.

To boost your SEO rankings, you must create content that responds to every type of search intent.

6. User Experience 

User experience has a powerful impact on SEO rankings. By tracking user engagement, you can understand how people are behaving on your site. Using this data, you can improve the user experience of your website. There are several tools to analyse user experience.

Crazy Egg: Crazy Egg is a web optimization platform that allows you to understand user behavior. Using the heatmap tool, you can see where your users are clicking, and which parts of your site are the most popular.

Hotjar: Hotjar is a top feedback and analytics tool that helps you gain insights about your consumer behavior. With this software, you’ll get surveys, feedback polls, conversion funnels, and heat maps.

For a few general ways to improve your UX, consider using chatbots; ensure that your site is easy to navigate; and don’t forget to use video. Video content is one of the best ways to engage your visitors, boost your branding, and improve your SEO.

7. Link Building

As well as fantastic content, backlinks are one of the key ranking factors, so how exactly do you get yourself good quality links?

Simply ask: When you’re starting out on the road to link building, it doesn’t hurt to ask for backlinks. Perhaps you have a relative, client, or colleague with an active website? Start here, and ask these people to link to your site. Bear in mind, the link must come from a site that is relevant to your industry.

Provide a testimonial: Offering to provide a testimonial for another company is also an easy way to get yourself a backlink. Brands love it when people are prepared to say something great about their company, and won’t mind linking back to your website.

Start a blog: Writing a top-quality blog can help you to get backlinks. If you’re writing amazing content that helps people, you’ll earn yourself backlinks naturally!

Further ranking factors

These are just a few of the SEO factors which affect your search rankings; there are plenty more. While some factors are considered slightly less important than others, it’s still worth educating yourself.

Length of Content: Google prefers longer content as opposed to shorter content. It’s been suggested that this is because Google is looking for in-depth quality info.

Image Optimization: Ensure that you optimize your images too; these send relevancy signals to search engines. Pay close attention to the file names, captions, and descriptions.

Click-Through Rate: Your CTR is relevant for every keyword that you rank for. Using your organic click-through rate, Google decides the quality of your site.

Dwell Time: Google tracks how much time people are spending on your page; if users are plenty of time on your site, this is interpreted as a signal of quality.

Keeping up with the latest SEO trends is a task that’s never complete!