Your Guide to SEO Ranking and Ranking Factors

Rachel Handley

Jan 02, 20258 min read
Contributors: Christine Skopec and Simon Fogg
seo ranking
Share

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What Is an SEO Ranking?

An SEO ranking is a webpage’s organic (unpaid) position for a search engine query. 

In the example below, our webpage holds the #1 SEO ranking for the query “seo kpis”:

Google SERP for the keyword shows Semrush as the first organic listing.

Google uses complex algorithms to rank results automatically. And rankings fluctuate as Google constantly strives to display the best results.

Why Do SEO Rankings Matter?

SEO rankings matter in search engine optimization (SEO) because the higher you rank for a given keyword, the more likely users are to see and click on your result.

On average, the #1 organic result has a 10x higher click-through rate than the #10 organic result.

Average click-through rates correlate to the listings position on the SERP

This means that high search engine ranking positions help you generate organic traffic, brand awareness, and other business results.

That said, your ranking positions aren’t all that matter. You also need to rank for the right queries (often called SEO keywords), because some will deliver better results for your business than others.

For instance, some keywords are more relevant to your business or more popular among searchers.

How Do Search Engines Rank Results?

Search engines rank results by using complex algorithms to understand search intent (what the user wants) and determine which indexed pages will best meet this intent.

Indexed pages are pages that have been added to the search engine’s database of possible search results. 

You publish content, Google crawls your site, Google indexes your pages, then Google shows a page in search results if it meets ranking criteria.

Criteria that search engines use to evaluate your website and determine where to show your pages in search results are called SEO ranking factors

Search engines weight ranking factors differently depending on the meaning and context of the user’s query.

For example, content freshness is more important when the query relates to a trending topic.

Like this:

Top stories SERP feature shows articles published within the past few hours.

Search engines are somewhat secretive about factors that influence SEO because:

  1. They don’t want other search engines to copy their algorithms
  2. They don’t want marketers to be able to manipulate search rankings

That said, Google has confirmed some of its ranking factors. And marketers have made informed guesses about other ranking factors.

Google Ranking Factors That Influence Search Results

Google’s ranking factors are signals about the relevance, quality, and usability of content that can appear in search results.

Below, you’ll learn about the specific SEO ranking factors confirmed by Google. And potential ranking factors identified in our ranking factors study.

Content Relevance

Google prioritizes relevance when determining what to show in search results because it’s key to satisfying user intent.

This fact is supported by our study, which shows that text relevance is the factor most strongly linked with high SEO rankings.

The top 20 factors that correlate with high search engine rankings starts with text relevance.

Google may assess relevance by looking at signals like:

  • How users interact with the page after clicking through
  • Which entities (people, places, and things) are mentioned in the text
  • When the content was published or updated
  • The prevalence and prominence of keywords on the page

The most basic signal that information is relevant is when content contains the same keywords as your search query.

— Google

Google uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand written text.

This means Google can interpret the context, meaning, and relationships between words to better match search queries with relevant results.

Content Quality

Google aims to prioritize quality content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) when ranking search results.

E-E-A-T corresponds to the creator's relevant life experience, knowledge and skills, reliability as a source, and how honest and accurate the content is.

E-E-A-T is particularly important if results could impact the user’s health, finances, or safety. In other words, if the search topic is a Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topic.

While E-E-A-T itself isn’t a confirmed ranking factor, it helps you create content that aligns with Google’s definition of quality. And some of the related elements are confirmed ranking factors.

For example, one way that Google evaluates E-E-A-T is by looking at backlinks (links to the page and domain from other websites).

One of the factors used to determine quality is understanding if other prominent websites link or refer to the content. This is generally a good sign that the information is trustworthy.

— Google

Basically, backlinks from relevant and reputable websites can signal that your website/webpage is trustworthy and useful. So, backlinks can contribute to better rankings.

Of the 20 factors most strongly correlated with high search rankings, eight are backlink-related. According to our study.

Many marketers believe that backlinks are one of the most powerful SEO ranking factors. But Google’s Gary Illyes said that links aren’t as important as people think.

Other signals that Google may use to evaluate content quality include:

  • Originality: Whether the content contains unique ideas or insights
  • Topical authority: The publishing habits and online reputation of the website 
  • Author credentials: The publishing habits and credentials of the content creator
  • Citations and references: The use of credible sources to support the content
  • Accuracy: The perceived correctness of the writing and information
  • Readability: How easy the content is for the target audience to read

Content Usability

Google’s systems also consider content usability—i.e., whether the content is safe and easy to access and interact with.

Google once listed these four user experience signals as SEO ranking factors:

  • Core Web Vitals: Metrics that measure page speed, stability, and interactivity
  • Mobile-friendliness: How well your website performs on mobile devices
  • HTTPS: Whether your website uses the secure HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP
  • Intrusive interstitials: Whether your website uses pop-ups that obscure the main content

Nowadays, Google says: “While not all of these [user experience signals] may be directly used to inform ranking, we do find that all of these aspects of page experience align with success in search ranking, and are worth attention.”

Our study confirms that user experience signals have low or negative correlation with high SEO rankings.

User experience factors that correlate with the position on the SERP as seen in Semrush's Ranking Factors Study.

How to Improve Your Website’s SEO Rankings

Learn four of the most effective ways to improve your website’s SEO rankings:

Target Low-Competition Keywords

Pursue relevant keywords that don’t attract much competition from other websites to maximize your chances of earning high SEO rankings.

You can use a free keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner to find keywords. And then look at the keywords’ search results pages to gauge relevancy and competition levels.

But it’s quicker and easier to use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter a term to base your search around, along with your domain and target country.

Keyword and domain are entered into the tool.

The tool will search our database of over 26 billion keywords to find keyword ideas.

And for each keyword, the tool will calculate a Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) score. Which indicates how hard it’ll be for your website to earn a top-10 SEO ranking.

Personal Keyword Difficulty column shows adjusted difficulty.

We recommend that you filter for keywords in the 0-29 PKD % (very easy to easy) range.

Then, sort the “Pot. Traffic” column from high to low. To see which keywords have potential to drive the most monthly traffic to your website.

Potential Traffic column is highlighted, showing keywords from highest to lowest.

When you find a keyword that you’re interested in targeting, analyze its search intent.

Analyze Search Intent

Analyzing search intent allows you to check if a keyword is relevant and develop an effective content plan.

To analyze search intent, look at the search engine results page (SERP) for your chosen keyword. And see what kinds of results perform well.

Consider aspects like:

  • The types of websites that rank highly
  • The types of content that ranks highly
  • What subtopics the top-ranking pages cover
  • Which SERP features (non-standard results, such as maps results) appear

For example, the SERP for “best laptops” is dominated by comparison articles rather than product pages:

Organic results show listing like the 8 best laptops of 2024, best laptops 2024, and I've tested over 59 laptops.

If the keyword seems like a good fit for your website, you’re ready to create content that satisfies search intent and meets Google’s helpful content guidelines.

Find and Fix Technical Errors on Your Website

Finding and fixing technical errors on your website could be key to improving your SEO rankings.

You can learn about many crucial errors through Google Search Console (GSC).

If you haven’t already, sign up for GSC and create a property for your website.

Then, check these key reports:

  • Page indexing: Check which pages on your website are and aren’t indexed by Google. And take corrective action if there are any mistakes.
  • Sitemaps: Make sure you’ve successfully submitted an up-to-date XML sitemap to Google. To help ensure your chosen pages are indexed.
  • Core Web Vitals: Learn how your URLs score in terms of Core Web Vitals. And get insight into the most important issues.
  • HTTPS: Ensure that all the indexed URLs on your website are HTTPS URLs. This is important for website security.
  • Manual actions: Make sure that you haven’t received a manual action, also known as a Google penalty. Penalties can seriously harm your SEO rankings.
  • Security issues: Find out if Google has detected any important security issues on your website. If so, it’s important to fix them.
Page indexing report in Google Search Console with the sidebar showing other key reports.

If you struggle to manage technical issues, use Semrush’s Site Audit tool. 

The tool crawls your website like a search engine does to check for over 140 issues. And categorizes issues into errors, warnings, and notices to help you prioritize what to fix.

Site Audit makes it easy to create tasks for your team via Zapier, Trello, or the Semrush CRM.

Send to options are highlighted.

Keep track of your progress by scheduling regular audits and monitoring your reports.

Site Audit Overview report shows Site Health, errors, crawled page, and thematic reports.

Building quality backlinks to your website can improve its perceived authoritativeness and lead to higher SEO rankings.

Here are some of the best ways to get backlinks to your website:

  • Email outreach: Actively share your useful content with creators who may be interested in linking to it 
  • Digital PR: Generate newsworthy stories and promote them to reputable publications 
  • Respond to media requests: Answer journalists’ requests for expert commentary and ask for backlinks as attribution
  • Pursue unlinked brand mentions: Find unlinked references to your brand online and encourage creators to add a relevant link to your website
  • Broken link building: Find broken backlinks to your own or competitors’ websites, then convince creators to replace them with working backlinks to your website

You can manage your link building campaigns through Semrush’s Link Building Tool.

It helps you identify link building opportunities, find relevant contacts, send and track outreach emails, and monitor acquired backlinks.

List of domains, their status, and which backlinks were earned.

Start Tracking Your SEO Rankings

Track your SEO rankings to gauge the success of your SEO strategy.

That way, you can invest more in the tactics that work and adapt the tactics that don’t.

You can monitor your average rankings for up to 1,000 top queries (selected by Google) via Google Search Console.

Queries table with top queries and position columns highlighted.

Alternatively, use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to monitor the exact keywords you care about most.

The tool displays your SEO rankings on the dates you’ve selected. And uses AI to calculate your potential ranking positions.

A table of SEO rankings over time as well as potential ranking position.

This means you can spot opportunities for improvement and take action accordingly.

You can also use the Position Tracking tool to monitor your SEO rankings in multiple locations, compare your rankings against competitors’, track your rankings in paid results, and much more.

Share