Dear SEOs,
Hope you are doing great.
I am writing this article after lots of comments I got for writing over the “Not A Ranking Factor”. You might be shocked after seeing these.
Table of Contents
What is Google Ranking Factor
These are the factors that impact the ranking of any website or web page on Google. It helps the websites to get ranked higher in Search Engines. For every SEOs, it is important to know the Google Ranking Factor which really works.
There are lots of factors available that really impact the position of any website in the search engine. But along with the real one, there are lots of google ranking factors which are considered as ranking factors but they don’t matter at all. Google itself has issued several statements about the same.
Let’s have a look at those Google ranking factors which are not a ranking factor anymore-
Word Count Is Not A Ranking Factor
On Reddit, Google’s John Mueller stated that Google does not use word count as a ranking factor.
John Mueller was replying to a user on Reddit. The question was –
“How to find word count in SERP?”
John Mueller Replied – “Word count is not a ranking factor. Save yourself the trouble”
Source – https://www.reddit.com/r/bigseo/comments/clg1hn/how_to_find_word_count_in_serp/
So any marketers who are just focusing on the number of words in the content; need to go through it and understand what it means.
If someone needs to write a blog on “How to boil an egg?”; how much text should he keep in his content?
100 words, 250 words, 500 words or more than it?
It is very simple…if we can write an answer within 100 words why should we extend it to the 500. Focus on writing well-explained content not just on length of content.
Website Traffic Is Not A Ranking Factor
Have you ever thought about it? Yes, you did. But not something like this.
Being a marketer, I myself was thinking that getting more referral traffic will improve the ranking.
But that is not TRUE.
See what Google has to say about this.
So, now it is clear that getting referral visitors doesn’t mean that it will also get the Organic traffic.
This has been a super popular myth within SEOs and digital marketers.
AMP Is Not A Ranking Factor
This is going to give a little bit of pleasure to the SEOs who are working for small businesses and have some issues in getting an AMP version website.
Google said, “AMP version is not a ranking factor.”
Albeit this statement might be right in terms of ranking factor still every website should have an AMP version in order to open the website on mobile devices speedily.
There are following benefits of having an AMP version website –
- Reduce Load Time
- Open Easily on Any Devices
- Bring Down Bounce Rate
- Mobile Friendly
- No Sitemap Required For AMP Version Pages
I suggest all of you please have the AMP version of the website.
Source – Link
Content Accuracy is Not a Ranking Factor
Google Danny Sullivan clarified on Twitter that Machines can’t tell the “Accuracy of content”. See below his tweet-
Next, he added – Google’s systems cannot verify the accuracy of content but it relies on signals that the company thinks
Google’s systems cannot verify the accuracy of content; instead, it relies on signals that the company thinks aligns with “relevance of topic and authority,” according to Danny Sullivan, Google’s search liaison, in a tweet posted from his personal account on September 9. This attracted attention from SEOs and kicked off a conversation.
Structured Data is Not a Ranking Factor
Replying to a user on Reddit, John Mueller stated – “Just to set expectations, structured data generally wouldn’t be seen as a ranking factor — it’s just the search result that might be shown differently. Sometimes that difference is enough to make it worthwhile though :). Also, think about what it is that you want to achieve with it, don’t just do it because it’s possible.”
Now, it is clear that Structure Data is not a Ranking factor. But yes, we should use it as it impacts the CTR and can help to increase the traffic on the website.
Source – Link
This is really shocking for the SEOs. Is it so? Please let me know in the comment.
Now, I am sure you need to change your SEO strategies and come up with another strategy if you were counting these as a ranking factor.