Ever wondered how Google ranks websites for SEO?

For marketing directors and small business owners, understanding this process is key to developing an effective SEO strategy. Google uses a variety of factors to determine where your website ranks, and mastering these elements is essential for driving organic traffic.

In this post, we’ll dive into how Google ranks websites for SEO—both through the SEO efforts you implement on your site and through the work of digital marketing agencies. By understanding how Google evaluates and ranks your content, you’ll be in a better position to make strategic decisions that improve your website’s performance in search results.

With over a decade of experience in SEO, we’ve seen firsthand how implementing basic, yet effective SEO fundamentals can drive substantial results for businesses. We’ve helped businesses across industries, from e-commerce to real estate agencies, rank for over 75,000 keyword phrases. For example, one of our e-commerce clients saw a 45% increase in organic traffic within six months by optimizing their on-page content and improving their site speed. We’ve also encountered too many cases where companies fell for short-term hacks, like keyword stuffing or buying backlinks, which ended up hurting their rankings in the long run. Our goal is to help businesses avoid these traps and focus on building long-term, sustainable SEO strategies that will pay off over time. If your website isn’t ranking on Google’s first page, this article will highlight common SEO mistakes and help you identify areas where your SEO strategy may be lacking.

And, if you’re new to SEO or just need a refresher, here are a few resources we love for understanding how Google ranks websites for SEO:

• Google’s Official SEO Guide
• Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO

The Role of SEO in Search Rankings

SEO is all about optimizing your website so it ranks higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant searches. While the idea of “ranking” sounds simple (showing up on Google’s first page), it’s actually a complex process. Google uses a wide range of factors to determine SEO rankings, including keyword optimization, user experience, backlinks, content quality, and much more.

To accurately rank websites, Google needs to understand the content, how relevant it is to a user’s search, and how it compares to other pages. That’s why Google relies on a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and human raters to evaluate and rank websites. Let’s dive into these ranking factors.

Remember these important insights:

• SEO aims to improve search rankings: The goal of SEO is to optimize your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant searches.
   
• Ranking is a complex process: Ranking on Google’s first page involves many factors beyond just keyword optimization, including user experience, backlinks, content quality, and more.
   
• Google evaluates content relevance: Google uses AI, machine learning, and human raters to assess the relevance of your website’s content and how it compares to other pages.
   
• Multiple ranking factors involved: A variety of factors, including keyword optimization, user experience, and backlinks, play a role in determining how well a site ranks on Google.

How Google’s Search Algorithm Works

Google’s algorithm is highly sophisticated, processing billions of web pages and using hundreds of signals to determine which pages should appear at the top of the search results. These signals can be broadly categorized into technical signals and user signals.

Technical Signals: How Google Understands Your Website

Technical SEO refers to all the behind-the-scenes elements that help Google “read” and navigate your website. This includes optimizing your site’s structure, improving page load speeds, using clean code, and implementing proper tagging (like title tags and meta descriptions). Google’s crawlers use this information to index your site in its database.

One of the most significant technical ranking factors is backlinks. Backlinks are an important indicator of your site’s trustworthiness and authority.

An investigative study found a significant correlation between the number of unique domain backlinks a web platform has and its Google ranking. In fact, an astounding 96% of sites in Google’s top 10 spots possess over 1,000 backlinks, in contrast to a mere 0.3% with less than 100 backlinks (Miller, 2024). This data underscores how essential it is to earn quality backlinks to improve your website’s ranking.

User Signals: How Google Understands User Intent

User signals focus on how people engage with your website. Google wants to ensure search results meet the needs of users, so it looks at how people interact with the pages it ranks.

Key user signals include:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): When users click on a search result, it signals to Google that the content is relevant. A higher CTR indicates your content is compelling to users. According to recent data from First Page Sage, the average click-through rate (CTR) for the number one position on Google search results is around 39.8%, with the second position achieving roughly 18.7% and the third position at 10.2%. This highlights how crucial it is for your website to secure a top ranking to capture a significant majority of clicks (First Page Sage, 2024).
   
• Bounce Rate: If visitors leave your page quickly without engaging, Google may interpret this as a sign that the content isn’t useful. A lower bounce rate is key to maintaining good rankings.
   
• Time on Site: The longer users stay on your site, the better it reflects on the value of your content. Google uses this data to gauge if users find your site useful. As Brian Dean from Backlinko states, Google may use time on site as a ranking signal, despite having previously denied it. High-quality content tends to keep users engaged, resulting in a longer time-on-site, which can indirectly influence rankings (Dean, 2024).

What to remember about Google’s Search

• Google’s algorithm uses hundreds of signals: Google processes billions of web pages and evaluates hundreds of factors to determine which pages rank highest in search results.
   
• Technical signals: These signals help Google “read” and navigate your website. Key factors include site structure, page load speed, and backlinks.
   
• User signals: These focus on how users interact with your website, and they help Google determine if your content matches user intent. Key user signals include CTR, Bounce Rate, and Time on Site.

Tracking and Improving Metrics Like CTR and Bounce Rate

Now that we’ve covered the key user signals, let’s dive deeper into how you can track and improve two crucial metrics: Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Bounce Rate.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR is the percentage of users who click on your link after seeing it in the search results. A higher CTR means your title and meta description are compelling enough for users to click. It’s a vital metric for measuring how well your content resonates with your target audience.

How to Track CTR:

To track CTR, you can use Google Search Console, which is a free tool provided by Google to monitor your site’s performance in search results. Here’s how you can check it:

1. Go to Google Search Console.
2. Click on Performance in the left-hand menu.
3. Review the CTR under the “Average CTR” column for different queries, pages, and countries.

How to Improve CTR:

• Craft Compelling Meta Titles and Descriptions: Your meta titles and descriptions are the first thing users see in search results. Make sure they’re clear, concise, and engaging.
   
• Include Keywords in Titles: Include the main keyword naturally in the title to make it more likely that users will click.
   
• Use Rich Snippets: Adding structured data (like ratings, reviews, or FAQs) to your pages can enhance your search result snippet, making it more attractive.
   
• A/B Testing Titles and Descriptions: Use tools like Google Optimize (free version available) to test different titles and meta descriptions to see what resonates best with your audience.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate that users didn’t find the content they were looking for, or that your site didn’t engage them enough to continue browsing.

How to Track Bounce Rate:

Google Analytics is a free tool that helps you monitor bounce rate across your site and individual pages. Here’s how to track it:

1. Log into Google Analytics.
2. Under Behavior, click on Site Content > All Pages.
3. Review the Bounce Rate metric for each page.

How to Improve Bounce Rate:

• Improve Content Quality: Ensure your content directly addresses the user’s query and provides high value. Google rewards content that answers questions comprehensively.
   
• Internal Linking: Guide users to other relevant content within your website to encourage them to explore more pages.
   
• Page Load Speed: A slow-loading page is one of the top causes of high bounce rates. Use Google PageSpeed Insights (free) to check and improve your page load time.
   
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly. Google uses mobile-first indexing, so if your site isn’t optimized for mobile, your bounce rate is likely to increase on mobile devices.

Google’s Use of Click Data and Machine Learning

Google doesn’t just rely on one ranking factor. Instead, it combines machine learning and data analysis to understand what’s relevant for specific searches. Click data plays a vital role in this process.

Click Data: Click data refers to the information gathered by search engines when users click on a search result. This data helps Google assess the relevance of a webpage for specific queries and influences its ranking decisions. The more clicks a page receives for a certain search, the more likely it is to rank higher for that query.

Every time a user clicks on a result, it provides Google with valuable insights. If users consistently click on a particular website for a specific query, it suggests that the page is highly relevant and will likely rank higher for that query.

Machine Learning: In terms of Google’s algorithm and ranking system, machine learning refers to the use of algorithms that enable Google to automatically analyze and learn from vast amounts of data. It helps Google improve its search results by recognizing patterns in user behavior, content relevance, and other ranking factors. As more data is processed, Google’s system can better predict which pages are most likely to satisfy a user’s query and adjust rankings accordingly.

The Balance Between Machine Learning and Human Evaluation

In the ever-evolving world of SEO, understanding how Google evaluates and ranks content is critical. While machine learning (ML) has become central to Google’s ranking system, human input still plays a vital role in refining search results, ensuring that the content served is relevant, accurate, and of high quality. Google has integrated advanced machine learning models that automatically evaluate websites, but they also rely on human raters to assess complex or nuanced queries, especially when algorithms might struggle with interpreting context or subject matter.

Google’s algorithm uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and human evaluation to rank pages. This fusion allows for a more nuanced understanding of content, helping ensure that search results are aligned with user intent and providing answers that are not only relevant but also trustworthy and authoritative.

Machine Learning and Human Evaluation Working Together

Google’s machine learning systems, like RankBrain and BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), are highly effective at understanding user queries, interpreting content context, and recognizing patterns across billions of pages. These algorithms can determine whether content matches a search query based on keywords, semantic relationships, and user behavior patterns, helping provide more accurate results.

However, despite these advancements, human feedback is indispensable, particularly for queries where context, intent, or trustworthiness is paramount. This is especially true in specialized or highly sensitive topics such as health, finance, and legal matters, where errors can have significant consequences. To this end, Google employs a team of human raters who assess the quality of search results manually, helping refine the algorithms by providing additional context and validation.

Human raters assess several important factors when evaluating content, ensuring that Google’s machine-learning models are trained on high-quality data. Let’s take a closer look at the key aspects they consider:

Key Factors Assessed by Human Raters

• Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T): Google places significant emphasis on E-E-A-T when determining content quality, especially for topics that can significantly impact user well-being, such as medical or financial advice. Raters examine whether the content is produced by credible experts or reputable sources, helping ensure that users receive reliable information.
  
  For example, health-related content must come from trusted medical institutions or licensed professionals to be considered authoritative. If Google identifies content from unverified or unreliable sources, it may be demoted in rankings, even if the keyword matches.
  
  E-E-A-T is particularly important in Google’s YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages, which are those that directly affect a person’s safety, financial well-being, or health. For instance, medical websites or financial advice pages are evaluated more rigorously to ensure they are created by experts in their respective fields.
   
• Page Quality (PQ): Human raters assess the overall quality of a page, considering several aspects, such as:
  • Depth and accuracy: Does the page provide thorough and accurate information on the topic, or is it superficial?
     
  • Relevance: How well does the content address the specific query or user intent? Is it directly answering the user’s question?
     
  • Content alignment: Does the content match the expectations set by the search intent and keyword query? This can include examining how well the content addresses complex, multi-faceted queries with nuanced answers.
     
• Pages with high Page Quality (PQ) scores are seen as more valuable and are more likely to rank higher, especially if they demonstrate comprehensive coverage and authoritative insights.

The Role of Click Data and Machine Learning in Ranking

While human evaluation ensures that content quality remains high, Google also leverages click data and user interaction signals to refine its algorithms. Machine learning models, such as RankBrain, analyze patterns from search queries, user click-through rates (CTR), and other engagement metrics, identifying which pages consistently satisfy user queries.

Click Data: Every time a user clicks on a link in search results, Google gathers data on which pages users find most relevant. When a page consistently receives high click-through rates for a particular search term, it signals to Google that the page is highly relevant. This type of behavior helps reinforce ranking signals, boosting the page’s visibility for that query.

The more clicks a page receives for a specific query, the more likely Google will view that page as a high-quality resource for users. This dynamic helps Google refine rankings over time, improving the accuracy and relevance of its results. CTR is, therefore, not just a behavioral signal; it’s a valuable data point for improving rankings and guiding Google’s algorithms.

How Human Feedback Refines Algorithms

Human feedback is essential in fine-tuning Google’s machine-learning algorithms. For instance, raters evaluate content that the algorithms may have trouble categorizing or when the context of a search query is nuanced. Human input helps Google understand:

• Intent behind complex queries: Understanding search intent behind ambiguous or evolving keywords can be challenging for AI. Humans can provide context about which content truly satisfies a query, even when machine models might misinterpret it.
   
• Adjusting for new trends: Google relies on human raters to help adjust for new trends in search behavior or emerging topics, ensuring that content stays relevant and accurately ranked in real-time.

By continually incorporating human feedback, Google ensures that its algorithms evolve to meet the needs of users, enhancing both accuracy and relevance. Human raters also provide feedback on pages that may be new or underperforming in early rankings, enabling Google to optimize results and eliminate spam or low-quality content from high-visibility positions.

Key Takeaways:

• Machine learning and human evaluation work in tandem: Google’s ranking system integrates both machine learning models and human raters to evaluate content.
  
  This combined approach helps ensure content is relevant, accurate, and trustworthy.
   
• Click data is a key signal: User interaction, such as click-through rates and engagement patterns, helps Google assess content relevance and improve its ranking algorithms.
   
• E-E-A-T is essential: For sensitive topics like health and finance, Google prioritizes experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, ensuring that content is produced by reputable sources.
  
  Google’s Guidelines on E-E-A-T can give you even more insight into this crucial ranking factor.
  
  We also love Search Engine Journal’s explanation of writing content with this in mind.
   
• Human raters refine Google’s algorithms: Human evaluators provide critical input, especially for complex queries, ensuring that Google’s machine-learning models can deliver accurate and relevant results.
   
• Page Quality (PQ) is a ranking factor: Google uses human raters to assess the depth, accuracy, and relevance of content to user queries, helping prioritize high-quality content in search results.

By understanding how both machine learning and human feedback shape the way Google ranks content, marketers and business owners can fine-tune their strategies to align with these ranking factors and ultimately drive more traffic to their websites.

How Google Ranks Websites for SEO: Key Factors

Now that we’ve covered how Google understands websites, let’s dive into the key factors that influence how your website ranks.

Content Quality

Google prioritizes high-quality content. The more valuable, relevant, and informative your content is, the better it will rank.

• Originality and Depth: Content that is unique and provides detailed, valuable answers to user questions ranks higher.
   
• User Intent Alignment: If your content matches the intent behind a user’s search, it’s more likely to be deemed relevant by Google.
   
• Engagement Metrics: Google rewards content that keeps users engaged and encourages them to spend more time on your site.

Backlinks

Backlinks continue to be one of the most influential ranking factors for SEO. When authoritative and reputable websites link to your content, it signals to Google that your website is a trustworthy source of information. This not only helps boost your rankings but also enhances your site’s credibility within your industry. Backlinks act as a “vote of confidence” from other websites, and Google uses them to gauge the relevance and trustworthiness of your content.

• Quality Over Quantity: While it might seem tempting to acquire as many backlinks as possible, quality always trumps quantity in Google’s eyes. A single, high-quality backlink from a well-established, relevant website can have far more impact than numerous backlinks from low-authority or irrelevant sources. The key is to focus on earning backlinks from sites that are considered trustworthy and relevant within your industry. Google pays close attention to the domain authority of the site providing the backlink, meaning backlinks from trusted sources can significantly improve your SEO performance.
   
• Relevance Matters: Not all backlinks are created equal. Google places a higher value on backlinks that come from websites within your specific industry or niche. For example, if you run an e-commerce website selling sporting goods, a backlink from a well-known sports blog or a fitness authority will be far more impactful than one from a generic or unrelated site. Relevant backlinks signal to Google that your content is closely connected to the topics and themes that matter most in your field, which can further improve your search rankings.
   
• Dofollow vs. Nofollow: Understanding the difference between dofollow and nofollow backlinks is also important. Dofollow backlinks pass “link juice,” or ranking power, from the linking site to your website. Nofollow links, on the other hand, don’t pass as much SEO benefit but can still help generate traffic and visibility. A healthy backlink profile includes a mix of both, with a strong emphasis on dofollow links from authoritative sources.
   
• Link Diversity: A natural backlink profile isn’t just about high-quality links from a few sources; it’s also about variety. Google values a diverse range of backlinks, including those from blogs, news articles, social media, business directories, and even forums. A varied backlink profile shows Google that your content is broadly recognized and valued by different sectors of the internet.
   
• Avoiding Toxic Backlinks: Not all backlinks are beneficial. In fact, backlinks from low-quality or spammy websites can harm your rankings. Google’s algorithms are designed to identify and penalize sites that engage in unethical link-building practices, such as buying links or participating in link farms. It’s crucial to regularly audit your backlink profile to ensure you’re not being negatively affected by toxic backlinks, which can lead to manual penalties or algorithmic downgrades.

Backlinks are a cornerstone of SEO success, and building a strong, relevant, and high-quality backlink profile can significantly boost your site’s authority and rankings. Focus on earning backlinks from authoritative, relevant sources, and avoid shortcuts like purchasing low-quality links that could harm your long-term SEO goals.

Check out these resources on backlinks: 

• Google Search Essentials 
• Neil Patel’s Advice on Backlinks

Technical SEO

Your website’s technical health matters too. Google evaluates things like:

• Site Structure: A well-organized website is easier for Google’s crawlers to navigate.
   
• Page Speed: Slow-loading pages negatively affect rankings. Ensure your website loads quickly.
   
• Mobile Optimization: With mobile searches growing, a mobile-friendly website is crucial.
   
• Secure Connection (HTTPS): Google favors secure websites that protect user data.

The most important things to remember about how Google ranks websites are:

• Content Quality:
  • High-quality, original content that aligns with user intent ranks best.
  • Engaging content increases time on site, boosting rankings.
     
• Backlinks:
  • Quality backlinks from reputable, relevant sites are crucial for ranking.
     
• Technical SEO:
  • A well-structured, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly website is essential.
  • HTTPS (secure connection) is favored by Google for better rankings.

How to Improve Your SEO Rankings

Understanding Google’s ranking factors is just the beginning. To improve your website’s rankings, here are a few actionable steps:

1. Optimize Your Website Speed and Mobile Experience

Google has increasingly emphasized user experience (UX) as a key ranking factor. A positive user experience not only improves visitor satisfaction but also directly impacts your website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Two critical aspects of UX that Google prioritizes are page speed and mobile optimization. Improving these areas can result in better rankings, increased traffic, and higher conversion rates.

• Mobile Optimization: With mobile traffic accounting for the majority of global internet use, ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly is crucial. A mobile-optimized website should provide a seamless experience across all devices, whether users are browsing on smartphones, tablets, or desktop computers.
  
  Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily looks at the mobile version of your website when determining rankings. To optimize your site for mobile, ensure it is responsive—meaning it automatically adjusts to different screen sizes—loads quickly, and is easy to navigate on small screens. Moreover, focus on optimizing touch interactions (buttons, links, forms) for ease of use on mobile devices.
  
  Websites with a poor mobile experience are likely to experience higher bounce rates and lower user engagement, both of which negatively affect SEO performance.
  
  Here’s a trusted source on mobile-first indexing that may help you: Google Mobile-First Indexing
   
• Page Speed: Google’s Core Web Vitals initiative places significant emphasis on page speed, and for good reason—slow-loading websites frustrate users and lead to higher abandonment rates.
  
  A slow page load time can directly harm your SEO rankings as it signals poor UX to Google.
  
  Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and GTmetrix to identify performance bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
  
  Key factors that affect load times include large image files, unoptimized JavaScript, and excessive server requests. By optimizing these elements, you can significantly reduce page load times.
  
  Additionally, consider implementing lazy loading for images and videos, which helps ensure that only the content currently visible on the screen loads first, thus improving perceived load speed.
  
  Google PagesSpeed Insights can help you dive even deeper into this area.

2. Build Quality Backlinks

Quality backlinks help increase your website’s domain authority and credibility.

• Guest Blogging: Write for industry blogs and include a link back to your site.
   
• Content Marketing: Publish shareable, high-quality content that naturally attracts backlinks.
   
• Collaborations: Work with influencers or reputable companies in your industry to earn backlinks.

You can find more valuable insights for optimizing website SEO here: Website SEO Key Insights & Strategies.

How SEO Strategies Affect Ranking: Direct and Indirect Impacts

It’s important to understand that the work you do for SEO doesn’t directly guarantee higher rankings, but it has a significant indirect impact. The efforts you put into keyword optimization, content creation, and building backlinks influence how Google perceives your site.

The Role of Digital Marketing Agencies

Digital marketing agencies bring expertise to the table by:

• Keyword Research: Identifying high-traffic keywords for your content.
   
• Content Strategy: Aligning content with user intent and SEO best practices.
   
• Backlink Acquisition: Building a robust backlink profile.
   
• Technical Optimization: Ensuring your site is fast, secure, and well-structured.

Overwhelmed by the thought of finding a good agency for you? 

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed when considering bringing in a digital marketing agency. After all, your website and online presence are critical to your business, and it can be hard to trust someone else with that responsibility. However, partnering with the right agency can take your business to the next level, saving you time and helping you avoid the costly trial-and-error of trying to do it all on your own.

A skilled digital marketing agency can help you navigate the complexities of SEO, advertising, and online strategy—allowing you to focus on what you do best: running your business. They bring expert knowledge, advanced tools, and a wealth of experience that will help your business grow faster and more efficiently than you could on your own. Plus, a good agency will provide you with clear strategies, measurable results, and consistent communication to ensure that your efforts are aligned with your business goals.

We understand that the decision to bring in a third party can feel daunting, which is why we’re here to help you make that choice with confidence. To avoid the potential pitfalls of working with the wrong agency, it’s crucial to be aware of the common red flags that signal you may not be getting the value you deserve.

Download our free guide, The 9 Red Flags Your Agency is Screwing You Over, to learn about common agency practices that can leave you frustrated and taken advantage of. In it, you’ll find tips on how to identify a reliable partner, what questions to ask, and how to spot warning signs early on to protect your investment.

Don’t let the decision overwhelm you. Take the next step with a trustworthy agency that has your best interests at heart. Download the free guide now!

Your SEO Efforts Will Pay Off—Let’s Help You Get There Faster

SEO is not an overnight success story, but with consistent effort, it’s one of the most powerful tools to drive traffic, generate leads, and boost sales over time. 

All the SEO strategies discussed here are based on white-hat practices, meaning they follow Google’s guidelines and focus on ethical, sustainable SEO techniques. For example, while keyword stuffing used to be a common tactic, today Google penalizes pages that over-optimize for keywords in favor of high-quality, user-focused content. 

We only use data from trusted sources like Moz, SEMrush, and Google Search Console to inform our strategies. These tools offer actionable insights and have been trusted by SEO professionals for years. 

The strategies we’ve discussed—optimizing your content, improving user signals like CTR and bounce rate, and building quality backlinks—will slowly but surely begin to show results. Remember, SEO is a long-term investment, and every step you take today lays the foundation for tomorrow’s success. Google rewards websites that provide value and continuously optimize to meet the needs of users.

But why wait to see results? You don’t have to navigate the complexities of SEO alone. We’re here to guide you through every step.

Sign up for a free website audit, and in less than 45 minutes, we’ll show you exactly where Google sees problems with your website. We’ll give you a real-time comparison of your online presence, identify the gaps that are keeping you behind your competitors, and help you craft a plan to dominate your marketing in the next 6-12 months.

You’ll leave the audit with a clear strategy to not just improve your SEO, but to bury your competitors and increase your market share and revenue.

Don’t wait—take action today, and let’s unlock the full potential of your website!

Sign up for your free website audit now!

Director of Digital Marketing

With over 12 years of experience in digital marketing, Meagan Price is a seasoned professional dedicated to delivering impactful results. As a lifelong learner and entrepreneur, Meagan has made professional development a top priority throughout her career.