In part 8 we learned about sitemap, site uptime, server location, SSL Certificate, EAT Signals, Duplicate Meta Data, BreadCrumbs, Videos, and Site Usability.
In this post, we will talk about Google’s own tools and Backlink Factors that affect rankings,
81.Use of Google Analytics and Google Search Console
Some SEOs believe that submitting websites to Google Analytics and Google Search Console helps Google find and index the site effectively.
Surely it shows important data such as visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, exit rate, and much more.
However, to debunk this claim Google has said that it is not a ranking factor.
82.User reviews/Site reputation
Google may use site reputation from sites like Trustpilot and Yelp to determine the authority of a website from the users’ perspective.
In 2010, Google published an article that said how a business was spamming customers in the pursuit of backlinks and press attention. “Being Bad To Your Customers Is Bad For Business”
83.Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals is an important ranking factor. You may check if your site passes the Core Web Vitals test using PageSpeed Insights.
This is what John Mueller from Google said about Core Web Vitals:
“relevance is still by far much more important. So just because your website is faster with regards to Core Web Vitals than some competitors doesn’t necessarily mean that… you will jump to position number one in the search results.”
Backlink Factors
84.Linking Domain Age
We all know backlinks from websites with good domain age are more authoritative than those who are younger. There’s no hard and fast rule for this particular factor. I have seen sites with low Domain Age but links from the relevant content always help.
Here is what Google has to say about Domain Age:
85.No of Linking Root Domains
You may have tens of thousands of backlinks linking to your site but what about the actual referring domains that matter? The number of referring domains matters more than the number of backlinks.
86.No. of Links from Separate C-Class IPs
Backlinks from multiple websites but from the same Ip address may indicate spammy signals. So, backlinks from different IP addresses are better for a good backlink portfolio.
87.No. of Linking Pages
The number of linking pages from within a domain may affect rankings. Even if it is from the same domain it can affect search visibility.
88.Backlink Anchor Text
Anchor text matters a lot these days. Diversification in anchor texts acts as a ranking factor. Overoptimization or exact match anchor texts can destroy a website and sends a webspam signal to Google.
It’s always better to optimize guest posts with contextual backlinks rather than exact match ones.
Here’s what Google has to say about anchor texts:
89.Alt Tag
Alt Tag is an anchor text for images. Many people just ignore this thing and might be harmful as it is a minor ranking factor.
90.Links from .edu or .gov Domains
Although Google has made it clear that the TLD of a domain is not an important factor. But as SEOs, we have seen that .edu and .gov backlinks play an important role in the ranking of web pages. Such backlinks tend to have powerful authority over others.