{"id":4009,"date":"2023-12-20T19:13:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T19:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/singularity.digital\/?page_id=4009"},"modified":"2025-07-05T14:55:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T14:55:49","slug":"seo-ranking-factors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/singularity.digital\/pt\/seo-ranking-factors\/","title":{"rendered":"Fatores de Classifica\u00e7\u00e3o SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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SEO Ranking Factor Glossary<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Briefly explaining what the heck your SEO is talking about as simply as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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TLDR<\/h3>

Ranking factors in SEO are the criteria Google and other search engines use to determine the order in which web pages appear in search results. These factors can be broadly categorized into content, technical aspects, user experience, and backlinks. Optimizing these factors is crucial for improving a website’s visibility and attracting more organic traffic.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cHidden\u201d Content on Mobile<\/span><\/h3>

Hidden content on mobile refers to text or other elements that are shown in the source code but hidden from users on a mobile device. This violates Google’s guidelines and can harm your rankings.<\/span><\/p>

For example, using CSS to show white text on a white background to include a block of keywords that can be seen by search engines but not users.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cSponsored\u201d or \u201cUGC\u201d Tags<\/span><\/h3>

Both Sponsored and UGC (User Generated Content) tags are used to tell search engines that a section of content was produced by someone else. These tags will change how Google treats that content as it also changes the way users will consider its value. Generally, both tag types will lower the perceived value and ranking ability of that page.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cSponsored\u201d tag example: A website has been paid to give a review of a product. This will be seen and treated differently to an authentic, unbiased review.<\/span><\/p>

UGC tag example: The comment section at the bottom of a blog post. The text in those comments hold a completely different value to the contents of the preceding blog post.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cYMYL\u201d Keywords<\/span><\/h3>

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) keywords surround topics that can potentially impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability or safety. Because these terms can have such an important impact on users lives, search engines hold websites and content to a much higher standard when covering these topics.<\/span><\/p>

Some common examples of YMYL keywords include financial advice, legal advice, health and safety products, and immigration services.<\/span><\/p>

If your website does cover YMYL topics, you’ll need to get familiar with Google E-E-A-T guidelines to boost your perceived authority and value.<\/span><\/p>

# of Linking Pages<\/span><\/h3>

When SEOs talk about the number of linking pages, they’re referring to how many individual web pages have a hyperlink that points back to either your entire website or to a specific page.<\/span><\/p>

Generally, the higher the number of linking pages a website has, the greater its ability to rank. Of course, this is just one factor of many that you can influence.<\/span><\/p>

# of Linking Root Domains<\/span><\/h3>

When SEOs talk about the number of linking root domains (aka \u201creferring domains\u201d), we’re referring to the number of websites that have at least one hyperlink that points back to either your entire website or to a specific page.<\/span><\/p>

This differs from the<\/span> number of linking pages<\/span> metric because we’re looking at the number of websites rather than individual pages. Here’s a simple example to make this easier to differentiate:<\/span><\/p>

You have 3 other websites that link to you. Each of those websites links to you from 5 different pages on their site. That’s a total of 15 linking pages from 3 linking root domains.<\/span><\/p>

Generally, the higher the number of linking root domains a website has, the greater its ability to rank. Of course, this is just one factor of many that you can influence.<\/span><\/p>

# of Links from Separate C-Class IPs<\/span><\/h3>

When you acquire links from different C Class IPs, that means you’re getting links from websites that are stored on different networks. This is important in SEO because search engines look at what networks your links are coming from as a way to find patterns of spam.<\/span><\/p>

As an example, let’s say you buy a package of 100 links from someone who owns a network of backlink websites. There’s a good chance they run all 100 of those low-quality websites on the same server or at least through the same web host.<\/span><\/p>

Since real backlinks come from different sites on different servers, the fact you just gained 100 links from the same place is an obvious red flag that you’re up to no good.<\/span><\/p>

So, to improve the strength of your link profile, you want to build links that hold different C Class IP addresses. You can do that using something like an<\/span> IP checker<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

Alt Tag (for Image Links)<\/span><\/h3>

Alt tags are used to describe images on web pages. They serve as a means of accessibility for visually impaired users and also provide valuable information to search engines for SEO purposes. By using descriptive alt tags, website owners can enhance the visibility and relevance of their images in search engine results.<\/span><\/p>

For example, consider a website selling handmade jewellery. One of the product pages features a necklace made of seashells. Instead of leaving the alt tag empty or using a generic description like “image1234,” a more effective alt tag would be “Handmade seashell necklace with intricate design.” This alt tag provides a concise and accurate description of the image, allowing search engines to associate relevant keywords with the webpage.<\/span><\/p>

Authority of Linking Domain<\/span><\/h3>

The authority of a linking domain in SEO refers to the perceived credibility and trustworthiness of a website that is linking to another website. Search engines consider the authority of linking domains when determining the ranking and visibility of a website in search results.<\/span><\/p>

Search engines view links from authoritative domains as a vote of confidence or endorsement for the linked website. The more authoritative the linking domain is, the more value and credibility it passes on to the linked website. This can positively impact the linked website’s search engine rankings and organic traffic.<\/span><\/p>

For example, let’s say a reputable news website like CNN includes a link to a blog post on a lesser-known website about a specific topic. In this case, the linking domain (CNN) has a high authority due to its established reputation, large audience, and quality content. When search engines crawl the CNN website and discover the link to the blog post, they consider it as a strong endorsement for the linked website. As a result, the blog post may receive a boost in search engine rankings and visibility, leading to increased organic traffic.<\/span><\/p>

Authority of Linking Page<\/span><\/h3>

The authority of a linking page in SEO refers to the perceived credibility and influence that a particular webpage holds in the eyes of search engines. The authority of a linking page is typically measured by the page’s domain authority, page authority, and the number of quality backlinks it has.<\/span><\/p>

For example, let’s say a reputable and well-established website, such as Forbes, includes a link to your website in one of their articles. Since Forbes is considered an authoritative source by search engines, the link from their page carries significant weight and can positively impact your website’s authority and rankings. On the other hand, if a low-quality or spammy website with little credibility links to your site, it can hurt your website’s authority and rankings.<\/span><\/p>

Backlink Age<\/span><\/h3>

Backlink age in SEO refers to the length of time a backlink has been present on a website. It is a metric used to determine the credibility and authority of a backlink.<\/span><\/p>

The age of a backlink is important because search engines like Google consider older backlinks to be more trustworthy and valuable. Older backlinks indicate that the website has been consistently providing valuable content and has gained recognition over time.<\/span><\/p>

For example, let’s consider a scenario where a new blog post is published<\/a> on a website. Initially, the post has no backlinks. However, over time, other websites start linking to this blog post. As the backlinks accumulate, the age of these backlinks increases.<\/span><\/p>

Brand + Keyword Searches<\/span><\/h3>

Brand + Keyword searches are search queries that include both your brand name and a related keyword. For example, \u201cNike running shoes\u201d.<\/span><\/p>

These searches are very high intent as they demonstrate that the user knows both the product and your brand.<\/span><\/p>

To optimize for this, make sure your brand name is closely associated with the right keywords wherever practical. For example, rather than saying \u201cour accounting software\u2026\u201d, change that phrase to \u201cwith ABC’s accounting software\u2026\u201d to draw that closer association.<\/span><\/p>

Brand Mentions on Top Stories<\/span><\/h3>

A brand mention is exactly what it sounds like \u2014 when another website mentions your brand by name. When you’re getting these mentions from influential publications, this can have a major impact on brand recognition and overall authority.<\/span><\/p>

The best way to increase your brand mentions from top stories is to give more opportunities for authors and journalists to come across your brand. This can be done by increasing your social media presence, running paid ad campaigns, press releases, producing new studies or utilities that are helpful to your industry and more. <\/span>Essentially, give others a reason to talk about your brand.<\/span><\/p>

Bullets and Numbered Lists<\/span><\/h3>

Bullets and numbered lists are formatting to present information in a concise and organized manner. These lists help improve the readability and user experience of a webpage, making it easier for both search engines and users to understand the content.<\/span><\/p>

For example, let’s consider a blog post about “Top 10 SEO Techniques for Higher Rankings.” Instead of presenting these techniques in a paragraph format, using a numbered list would make it more visually appealing and easier to read. Each technique can be listed with a number, such as:<\/span><\/p>

  1. Keyword research and optimization<\/span><\/li>
  2. High-quality content creation<\/span><\/li>
  3. On-page optimization<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

    Utilizing bullets and numbered lists in SEO helps improve the readability, user experience, and search engine visibility of a webpage. By presenting information in a structured format, it becomes easier for both users and search engines to comprehend and navigate the content.<\/span><\/p>

    Content Provides Value and Unique Insights<\/span><\/h3>

    These days, every reputable brand has a website and everyone is capable of publishing content. To cut through all the noise that brings, you need to be producing content that’s valuable to your audience.<\/span><\/p>

    Take stock of the content that’s on your website right now \u2014 landing pages<\/a>, blog posts, resources and more. Is it good? Does it really provide value and unique insights or is it just there for keywords and word count?<\/span><\/p>

    If your content is lacklustre, take some time to go back and revise it, making sure you provide more value. This will improve your rankings if you can execute it consistently.<\/span><\/p>

    Content Recency<\/span><\/h3>

    Since Google’s \u2018Caffeine’ update in 2010, they’ve actively favoured new content over older alternatives of the same quality. <\/span>So, pay attention to how recent the content is on your website and consider creating a content calendar for future production. Assuming you can create high-quality content, publishing new pages regularly will improve your rankings.<\/span><\/p>

    Country TLD extension<\/span><\/h3>

    A ccTLD (country code top-level domain) extension is the country code found on the end of a domain name. For example website<\/span>.com.au<\/b>, website<\/span>.co.uk<\/b> or website<\/span>.ca<\/b>. <\/span>Using a local ccTLD for your domain is a helpful signal to both users and search engines that your brand is geographically relevant to your country.<\/span><\/p>

    The ratio of ccTLDs found in your backlink profile is also an important signal. For example, if you’re an Australian brand but all of your backlinks come from .in (India) and .ru (Russia), this is a clear signal that your link profile is fake and should be ignored.<\/span><\/p>

    Diversity of Link Types<\/span><\/h3>

    A natural backlink profile will contain a diverse range of link types. For example, it’s unlikely that a website could get 100% of its backlinks from images or directories alone. <\/span>Diversify your link profile by obtaining different types of links. Some from blog posts, some from directories, some image links etc. This will present a more genuine profile and one that will offer greater ranking strength.<\/span><\/p>

    Domain Trust\/TrustRank<\/span><\/h3>

    Your \u2018Trust’ or \u2018Authority’ rating in SEO refers to how credible your website is considered to be. These are metrics used by popular SEO tools like Ahrefs and Moz, which calculate them in different ways.<\/span><\/p>

    The bottom line is that to improve your trust rating, you should be aiming for backlinks from genuine websites that are relevant to your brand and vertical. Not spam sites and paid directories. <\/span>Although Trust and Authority aren’t direct Google metrics, the more trustworthy your domain, the better your ranking potential.<\/span><\/p>

    Excess PageRank Sculpting<\/span><\/h3>

    Excessive PageRank (PR) sculpting is a dated SEO tactic that involves using internal link strategies and \u2018<\/span>nofollow<\/span><\/a>‘ tags to craft to drive value to just a few specific pages on your website.<\/span><\/p>

    For example, if you only allow the internal links that point to your 3 product pages to be \u2018followed’ links and create an unreasonable number of links to that page, that’s excessive. Instead, you should be following standard internal linking practices which means linking to pages that make sense in context.<\/span><\/p>

    While PR sculpting isn’t inherently bad, excessive use of this tactic can hurt your rankings over time.<\/span><\/p>

    Excessive 301 Redirects to Page<\/span><\/h3>

    Redirects are important in SEO as they help preserve the link equity or ranking power of the old URLs and transfer it to the new destination. They also ensure a smooth user experience by redirecting visitors to the correct page.<\/span><\/p>

    When used excessively, this can have an adverse effect as it’s a clear attempt at manipulating the flow of PageRank while also providing a worse user experience. <\/span>As an example, if you restructure your website, remove 1,000 old blog posts and redirect them all to a single post.<\/span><\/p>

    Fred – Algorithm update<\/span><\/h3>

    The \u201cFred\u201d update was released in 2017 and was a major contributor to the advice you hear around modern SEO content. This update was designed to reward high-quality, well-researched content that genuinely provides value to the user.<\/span><\/p>

    The 5 main things you can be sure your site is \u2018Fred friendly’ are to:<\/span><\/p>

    1. Create unique and engaging content that adds value to the user<\/span><\/li>
    2. Publish content that is well-researched and well-written<\/span><\/li>
    3. Use a clear and concise layout that is easy to navigate<\/span><\/li>
    4. Avoid using clickbait or sensational headlines.<\/span><\/li>
    5. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and has fast load times<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

      While this update is now several years old, Google has continued down this route of rewarding genuinely valuable content. Applying these principles is still relevant and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.<\/span><\/p>

      Helpful \u201cSupplementary Content\u201d<\/span><\/h3>

      The helpful supplementary content update was released in 2018 and was a further mode to identify and reward quality content. <\/span>Optimizing for this update means providing high-quality content that’s well-researched and presented in a way that’s easy to consume. The 10 general guidelines you’ll want to implement for this are below. Note that while this is an old update the advice is still accurate and true for modern SEO.<\/span><\/p>

      1. Focus on providing valuable and informative content that adds context and insights to the user’s search query.<\/span><\/li>
      2. Ensure your content is well-researched, well-written, and easy to understand.<\/span><\/li>
      3. Use subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to make your content scannable and easy to consume.<\/span><\/li>
      4. Use multimedia such as images, videos, and infographics to supplement your content and make it more engaging.<\/span><\/li>
      5. Keep your content up-to-date and relevant to the user’s search query.<\/span><\/li>
      6. Use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content and make it easier for users and search engines to understand the hierarchy of your content.<\/span><\/li>
      7. Use alt text for images and describe the content of your images in the image captions.<\/span><\/li>
      8. Use internal and external linking to provide users with more information on the topic and to help search engines understand the context of your content.<\/span><\/li>
      9. Use a conversational tone and write content that is easy to read and understand.<\/span><\/li>
      10. Use clear and concise language, and avoid using jargon or overly technical terms that might confuse users.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

        Hiding Affiliate Links<\/span><\/h3>

        Google’s guidelines are adamantly against deceptive practices. So, if you’re caught hiding your affiliate links (e.g. with a URL shortener) then this could impact your search ranking ability long term.\u00a0<\/span>Of course, URL shorteners aren’t inherently bad so this is only something to be concerned about if you’ve been doing it excessively.\u00a0<\/span>In general, it’s better to be open about your affiliate links, telling users what they are and leaving the full link for search engines to see.<\/span><\/p>

        Historical Page Updates<\/span><\/h3>

        Historical page updates in SEO involve making regular updates to web pages to improve their visibility, relevance, and user experience. By keeping content fresh and up-to-date, website owners can enhance their organic search rankings, attract more traffic, and stay ahead of the competition.<\/span><\/p>

        It is important to regularly update web pages for several reasons. Firstly, search engines like Google consider fresh and updated content as a positive signal for ranking. Regularly updated pages, demonstrate to search engines that their site is active and providing up-to-date information to users.<\/span><\/p>

        Secondly, historical page updates allow website owners to optimize their content based on changing user needs and search trends. By analyzing user behaviour and search queries, website owners can identify areas for improvement and make necessary updates to enhance the page’s relevance and user experience. This can lead to increased organic traffic and better engagement metrics.<\/span><\/p>

        For example, a blog post about “Top 10 SEO Techniques” published a few years ago over time, may become outdated as new SEO techniques have emerged. To maintain its relevance and visibility, the owner can periodically update the blog post by adding the new techniques, removing outdated information, and optimizing the content based on current search trends. This content update signals to search engines that the website is actively providing valuable and current information and rankings may improve because of it.<\/span><\/p>

        Homepage Authority<\/span><\/h3>

        Homepage Authority refers to the level of trust, credibility, and influence that a website’s homepage holds in the eyes of search engines. It is a measure of how well a homepage is perceived by search engines, which directly impacts its ranking and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Homepage Authority is determined by various factors, including the quality and quantity of backlinks.<\/span><\/p>

        When search engines perceive a homepage as authoritative, they are more likely to rank it higher in SERPs. A strong homepage authority can also positively impact the authority and ranking of other pages within the website.<\/span><\/p>

        To improve Homepage Authority, you should focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable and relevant websites, creating unique and valuable content on the homepage, optimizing on-page elements such as meta tags and headings, and ensuring a seamless user experience.<\/span><\/p>

        HTML errors\/W3C validation<\/span><\/h3>

        W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) validation is about making sure your site’s code is free from errors. This validation doesn’t have a direct impact on your SEO, though it can help indirectly. It also allows you to provide a better user experience for your site visitors.<\/span><\/p>

        For example, by removing errors and inefficiencies, you<\/span> improve the way search engine crawlers can traverse your site<\/span><\/a> and \u2018discover’ your content. The more quality content they can discover, the greater your chance of ranking.<\/span><\/p>

        Keyword in Title<\/span><\/h3>

        Although keyword inclusion and placement is becoming less and less important as time goes on, it’s still a good practice to include your primary keyword in the title of your content.\u00a0<\/span>Not only does this help search engines understand what the page is about, but it also helps users as well.<\/span><\/p>

        For example, if you land on a page with the title “The Best SaaS Accounting Software of 2024”, it’s very apparent what you’re about to read without having to spend any more time on the page.<\/span><\/p>

        The important thing to remember here is that you should never prioritize keyword placement over correct English. In other words, don’t go jamming your keywords where they don’t fit, making it awkward and spammy to read.<\/span><\/p>

        Link from Authority Sites<\/span><\/h3>

        When strong, relevant websites link to yours, search engines consider that to be an important vote for your website. The more legitimate links (known as \u2018backlinks’) your site can get, the stronger it’s considered to be.<\/span><\/p>

        For example, if you operate a SaaS product for recruiters, getting genuine backlinks from recruitment brands will improve the perceived strength of your site. This also has the potential to drive qualified traffic to your site via that link. <\/span>Improving the strength of your backlink profile will have a direct impact on your rankings, both at a page and website level.<\/span><\/p>

        Link Location In Content<\/span><\/h3>

        Although a minor factor, where you place the links within your content matters. As a general rule, the higher on the page a link is placed, the value it’s considered to have.\u00a0<\/span>For example, if you place a link to your product page in the 2nd paragraph of a blog post, that will carry more value than placing that same link in the conclusion at the bottom.<\/span><\/p>

        When placing links within your content, make sure the location makes sense within the text, then consider its location on the page. Getting into this habit will have a cumulative impact over time.<\/span><\/p>

        Link Profile with High % of Low-Quality Links<\/span><\/h3>

        If a high % of the websites that link back to yours appear to be low quality, this a clear signal for search engines that you’re doing something spammy.<\/span><\/p>

        Every website will get some low-quality links and that’s fine, so long as they only make up a small % of your overall link profile. On the other hand, if you have 1,000 links 400 of those are from SEO directories and another 300 are from horrible blog sites, that’s a problem.<\/span><\/p>

        Exactly what a \u2018low quality’ link is can be hard to quantify, so think of it this way: If you’d be embarrassed to send your customers to the sites that link to you, they’re probably low quality. Too many of those and you’re going to hurt your rankings.<\/span><\/p>

        Linking Domain Age<\/span><\/h3>

        An older domain (website address) is generally considered to be more trustworthy than a newer one. So, you should be paying attention to the age of domains in your backlink profile.<\/span><\/p>

        If a high % of domains that link to you were only created 6 months ago, this is a clear red flag that you’re using spam tactics to build links. While domain age alone shouldn’t be used to determine if a link is valuable or not, it is one of the factors you should be considering when building backlinks.<\/span><\/p>

        Linking Domain Relevancy<\/span><\/h3>

        One of the most important factors in determining the quality of a backlink is relevance. If it doesn’t make sense for a website to link to you, that can potentially be a red flag.\u00a0<\/span>Having some irrelevant links is perfectly normal but if a high % of your link profile is from random websites, you’re hurting your ranking potential.<\/span><\/p>

        For example, let’s say you’re an accounting SaaS brand and most of your links come from holiday and home renovation blogs. In this situation, it’s immediately clear to search engines that you’re paying for random links. Instead, you should be looking for links from websites that offer similar products, small business advice or accounting guidance.<\/span><\/p>

        Links from .edu or .gov Domains<\/span><\/h3>

        Search engines put a lot of faith in .gov and .edu domains (e.g. whitehouse.gov) because they’re only available to verified, trustworthy government or education entities. This means it’s virtually guaranteed that the content on one of these domains is trustworthy and has not been financially influenced. So, if one of these domains links out to another website, that site must be high-value, relevant and trustworthy as well.<\/span><\/p>

        What that means for SEOs is<\/a> that getting a backlink from a .gov or .edu domain is incredibly powerful and will help your rankings. Of course, getting a link from one of these will also be challenging, for all the same reasons. Still, if you can develop and execute a strategy that provides your audience with genuine value, it can be achieved.<\/span><\/p>

        Links From Articles and Press Releases<\/span><\/h3>

        Obtaining backlinks from articles and press releases is a somewhat dated tactic but can still be used sparingly. This strategy offers three options:<\/span><\/p>