Spring Hill webmasters frequently wonder about what factors or attributes on a website impact a site’s performance in the search engines and the site’s position in the search results. The reality is that search engine algorithms feature hundreds of different ranking factors and to complicate matters further, those algorithms and ranking factors are constantly evolving and changing.
Today’s internet is a rapidly evolving environment; one that’s developing at an incredibly fast clip in response to advances in technology, which in turn, have an impact on how people like you use the internet. For example, just a decade ago, comparatively few people used mobile phones to access the internet, so mobile-friendly websites were relatively uncommon. But today, a mobile-friendly website is absolutely essential, with some websites seeing a majority of their traffic from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
So, as technology and browsing habits change, so does the search engine algorithms. This begs the question: what factors impact your site’s performance on search engines? Well that’s precisely what we’ll explore in today’s article.
What Impacts a Site’s Web Optimization?
Spring Hill residents will discover that a broad array of factors affect a website’s optimization level. Some of the key factors include:
- The amount of time spent on-site, the average time spent on-page and the average number of pages viewed per visit.
- The percentage of repeat visitors relative to first-time visitors.
- The bounce rate (a ‘bounce’ is a very brief visit – just enough time to realize the site doesn’t have the information you’re seeking).
- The number and quality of incoming links from other sites and outgoing links to other websites.
- The degree of interlinking between the various web pages.
- The site’s Meta tags and their quality.
- The amount and quality of the content on your website.
- The uniqueness of the content on your website (or the presence of duplicate content, which is content that’s posted elsewhere).
- The key wording, including the location of keywords and the keyword density on your website.
- The quantity and location of advertisements.
These are just some of the many ranking factors that search engines consider. These factors are continually changing and evolving, with Google and other major search engines issuing a handful of major algorithm updates annually, combined with dozens of smaller, more minor ranking algorithm changes each year.