Google's Surprising New Rankings Factor

Google’s Surprising New Rankings Factor

A recent study has found that the #1 factor used by Google to determine where your site ranks isn’t links, content, or anything else that you’d expect. It’s something so simple – and it’s discovery has surprised the SEO industry. Learn more about how you can boost your site by watching this short video!

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Joe: One question we get asked all the time here, is what’s the number one thing that impacts your rankings in Google. The answer might surprise you.
Derek: Content. Good content is definitely what Google looks for.
Greg: Links. Got to have a lot of links.
James: Social media. Posting your content on Google+.
Joe: While having good content, links and the social buzz about your site is important, none of those are the number one thing that impacts your rankings. What is it? Click-Through Rate. That’s right, the more clicks that your results get, the higher your search rankings are going to be. Click-Through Rate accounts for 25% of our overall ranking score, more than any other single factor including links. What does that mean?
What is Click-Through Rate? Each time a visitor does a Google search and your site appears, they obviously have the opportunity to click on your result even if you aren’t ranked number one. The more often that your result gets clicked on, the more that Google believes your site is the best result for that search and it moves it up the rankings.
How can you increase your Click-Through Rate and boost your rankings? It’s easier than you think. You just need to compel Google searchers to click on your result. The only data that shows in the search results is your page title and your meta description so optimizing these is the most important thing you can do for your site. I recommend that you look at your competitors’ results, see how their page titles and meta descriptions are worded. Chances are they have a pretty boring page title so the bar is set pretty low. Just make sure that your page title and meta description have an eye catching call to action to attract more clicks from Google users. The higher you rank, the more clicks you can attract so getting started optimizing your page title and description now can really help you reach your long term SEO goals.
There you have it. Google prefers sites that get a lot of clicks and the way you get more clicks is to make sure that your page title and meta description are as engaging as possible. If you aren’t sure how to edit your page title and description or if you just want help coming up with the best SEO strategy for your site, give us a call. Our managed SEO team is here to help.