How Many Search Factors Determine Your Organic SEO RANK?

How Google Serves Search Results: 2024 vs 2013

When a user pops a query into Google, Google’s systems scour the index for pages that match up and dish out the results they reckon are the highest quality and most relevant. Relevance today depends on hundreds of factors, including stuff like the user’s location here in NZ, their language, and whether they’re on a desktop or phone. Searching for “bike repair shops” in Auckland will give different results than searching in Hong Kong, for instance.

Google’s Serving Factors Today (2024)

The features you see on the search results page also change based on what you search for. A search for “bike repair shops” will likely bring up local results but probably not many image results. Search for “modern bicycles,” though, and you’re more likely to see image results instead of local shop listings.

A Look Back: Serving Factors in 2013

Rewind to 2013, and the story was a bit different. When you searched, Google’s machines still searched the index for relevant pages. Back then, Google mentioned “over 200 factors” determining relevance, with PageRank being a key one. PageRank measured a page’s importance based on links coming in from other pages – essentially, links were votes. Not all links were equal, though; Google worked hard even then to spot spam links and other tricks. The best links were (and still are) those earned naturally because of good quality content.

Back then, making sure Google could crawl and index your site correctly was crucial for ranking well, following the Webmaster Guidelines (now Search Essentials) was key.

Features like “Did you mean” and Autocomplete were already helping users by showing related terms and common queries, generated automatically by crawlers and algorithms.

(Original text notes: updated 05/27/2013)

Organic SEO is Alive and Kicking!

So, what exactly is Organic SEO? When you search on Google, you get a results page. You’ll usually see a few ads at the top, then maybe local results or images, followed by the organic search results. These aren’t paid spots; they’re ranked by relevance and quality, taking up the best real estate on the page. The higher your organic ranking, the more clicks you’re likely to get – clicks you don’t pay for directly.

How Do Organic Results Work?

Explaining exactly how organic ranking works would take a book thicker than the phone book used to be! But we can boil it down to some basics:

• Relevance, Relevance, Relevance: It’s all about being the best answer. The page most relevant to the search query usually gets the top spot.
• Brand vs. Generic: Brands often have different rules compared to generic keywords. Building relevance involves things like registering a domain name and adding quality content. For example, if you invented the word “chiklany,” registered www.chiklany.com, and put content there, you could likely rank number one for it pretty quickly.

But it gets tougher with competitive keywords like “hotels,” where millions of pages are fighting for relevance. Even though Google doesn’t share specific organic click data anymore, years of observation show users trust and click on organic results more because they find them more relevant.

Why Users Trust Organic Results

Google’s main goal is to give users accurate results, fast. They use thousands of algorithms and over 200 ranking factors to do this. The results shouldn’t be spam, must offer value, and need to be accurate to satisfy the user quickly.

Forging Relevance: Google’s Algorithms and Filters

The Role of Data and Algorithms

Google collects heaps of data about websites and stores it. This data, combined with its algorithms, decides where a site ranks (if it ranks at all – spam or illegal sites won’t). If your site’s data signals maximum relevance, you could hit the top spot.

Combating Spam: Google’s Filter Zoo (Panda etc.)

Google uses many filters, sometimes known by animal names like the Panda update (which targeted low-quality content farms back in 2011), to fight spam and figure out what’s genuine. This shows Google’s focus on relevance and quality.

The Importance of Google’s Ranking Factors (Over 200!)

The impact of Google’s 200+ ranking factors is huge.

Before updates like Panda, Google had fewer filters. Now, these 200+ factors influence organic ranking, with thousands of algorithmic calculations happening every millisecond. Many factors relate directly to your website.

On-Page vs. Off-Page Factors

This raises a key question: how important is it for website developers to understand how to build a site that ticks the boxes for Google, and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, or China’s Baidu?

Each “factor” covers both on-page (stuff on your site) and off-page (stuff elsewhere on the web related to your site) attributes.

Examples of Ranking Factors

For instance:

• Factor 1: Domain name itself.
• Factor 2: How long the domain has existed (age).
• Factor 3: Age of the brand associated with the domain.
• Factor 4: Reputation of the brand.
• Factor 5: How competitive the space is for new brands.
• Factor 6: Relevance compared to competitors.

And the list goes much deeper, touching on the core parts of your website platform.

RANK’s Journey: Understanding Google’s Factors

Here at RANK, we’ve been working on this for yonks.

Early Days: The SEONATOR

Back in the early 2000s, RANK developed a DOS-based application to simulate Google’s 200-factor algorithm of the time. It ran in a sandbox, analysing thousands of niche sites to figure out which factors mattered most for specific keywords. This program, the SEONATOR, got pretty good, reaching over 75% accuracy by 2011, helping RANK dominate in targeted niches.

Today’s Complex Landscape (2024)

Fast forward to 2024, and Google’s algorithms are way more complex. While the SEONATOR’s accuracy might be around 55%+ in tough niches now, RANK’s human expertise, built over years, still achieves strong results. By understanding how Google’s bots work, RANK has helped heaps of Kiwi businesses succeed online.

Conclusion: Thriving with SEO Expertise

Understanding how Google serves results and what factors influence ranking is crucial for online success. While the landscape constantly evolves, the core principles of relevance, quality, and user experience remain paramount. Leveraging deep SEO knowledge, like RANK’s, can make a significant difference.