SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of optimizing a website (or webpage) to rank high in the organic section Google (or any other search engine) for specific search queries. This process may involve adding content or changing existing content on a site. Keyword implementation and link building is also part of this process.
Although there are over 200 signals Google uses to rank a webpage, Google’s ranking algorithm is primarily based off of 3 main things: Content, links, and RankBrain.
Content
Content is what a website is filled with. Pictures, text, etc. Google’s spider bots will crawl websites regularly checking content to see what a website is all about. Do you have a website about blue widgets? Then make sure you provide a lot of unique, relevant content about blue widgets. Simple, huh?
But, how many different ways do people search for blue widgets in Google though? “widgets that are blue,” “light blue widgets,” “blueish widgets.” What about pictures of widgets? Simple yet time consuming. The more content on a website, the more of a chance it has of being found in Google.
Links
Google uses links from other websites as a metric to gauge any given website’s authority. A website with high quality links pointing to it from other websites (backlinks) has high authority and ranks high in Google’s organic listing section. As you probably guessed, a website with low quality links pointing to it has low authority and ranks low.
A website that is not properly optimized with unique, relevant content and backlinks from other websites will rank poorly in Google.
RankBrain
RankBrain is Google’s name for a machine-learning artificial intelligence system that’s used to help process its search results. As an A.I. it is able to learn from other websites and “read” content at a more sophisticated level. RankBrain is useful for Google because it can easily filter out spam results like spam sites that are filled with malware and adware.
How does RankBrain affect SEO? It ranks quality content by understanding it. In Google’s earlier days “spam sites” with tons of nonsensical text could rank simply because of volume and keyword count. Google couldn’t actually read content, just scan it for keywords. RankBrain has changed all that. As a machine-learning system, RankBrain continues to evolve and understand content on websites indexed in Google’s search engine.
Proper SEO based around these 3 factors will yield high rankings for a website.
Interested in reading more about Google’s algorithm?
Or perhaps you’re ready to get started with SEO.