Ranking Factor

A ranking factor is a signal Google's algorithm weighs when it decides which pages belong at the top for a given keyword. Google has referred to more than 200 factors over the years, but no public list exists, and the algorithm today works as an interplay of systems rather than a scoreboard with fixed weights. Ranking factors are therefore one of the most debated subjects in SEO.

The factors we know count

Some signals Google has confirmed repeatedly:

• Content and relevance. The page has to answer the query and match its search intent, not merely contain the keyword.
• Backlinks. Links from credible sites still function as recommendations, though they weigh less than they once did.
• User experience. Speed and visual stability, measured partly through Core Web Vitals, plus mobile friendliness and HTTPS.
• E-E-A-T. Google's frame for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. E-E-A-T is not itself a ranking factor. Google describes it as the qualities its systems aim to reward through a mix of other signals, and they weigh especially heavily on subjects such as health and money.

Google adjusts the weights continuously, and the correlation studies that periodically crown a new most important factor tend to confuse cause with effect. Pages with many shares do not rank well because of the shares; they get shared because they are good.

AI search brings signals of its own, among them clarity, structure and brand mentions, and they rest on the same foundation: quality that can be cited. The guide to ranking factors takes the most important ones one by one.