We promised, and we always follow through on our promises! So, here is the shiny, new second-half of the Calypso SEO Ranking Factors blog.

Remember we talked last time about:

1. Page Speed
2. Domain Authority
3. Title Tags
4. H1 Tags
5. Content Length & Depth
6. Duplicate Content
7. Canonical Tag
8. Secure Website
9. RankBrain
10. Mobile-Friendly Website

But we also talked about how there are over 200 (probable) SEO ranking factors that the Big G uses in order to view, judge, and rank you?

Of course, having over 200 ranking factors jumbled around in your head won’t help your website, business, or mental health. So we broke it down into the top 20 (that’s 1/10th of the total ranking factors, for you non-math individuals) to make it a bit easier to break off and chew.

After all, if you follow the Google-rules in these 20 areas, your site will definitely see jumps in rankings. Because it isn’t #198 that’s tanking your website rankings, it’s most likely one (or more) of these top 20 SEO factors.

For this next installment, here are the main factors we will be zeroing in on:

1. Business Information
2. Image Optimization
3. Fresh Content
4. Outbound Links
5. Inbound Links
6. Anchor Text
7. Internal Links
8. URL
9. Sitemap
10. Domain History

Ready to learn SEO in nice, actionable, and understandable chunks? Let’s dive in!

1. Business Information

This is important because Google wants to see that you are consistent and, therefore, reliable. If you have your business information (name, address, phone) posted on your page (which you should) then you have to make sure it is consistent across all online platforms, sites, and lists.

For example, make sure your Google My Business profile is accurate and matches your website, just like your Yelp, Facebook Business Page, LinkedIn, BBB, etc.

2. Image Optimization

Google cannot see your images, it instead reads them, and this means you have to have ‘Alt text’ for each of your images.

Alt-text is kind of like a caption, but it is only viewable ‘behind’ the picture, or ‘within’ it. This way Google can see it, understand it, and pull it for relevant image searches.

Additionally, alt text can be a great place for keywords, as it all is indexed, or read, by Google and can help boost your rankings. If you have a picture of one of your products on your home page, don’t just name it ‘IMG6782’, instead, set the alt text to be descriptive with keywords.

3. Fresh Content

Ah, fresh content, the bane of many small businesses. Fresh content means that Google wants to see that you didn’t just make a website because you ‘had to’ and then forgot about it, or let it just sit there.

Remember, everything in Google’s algorithm (SEO ranking factors) is meant to find which websites are ‘good’, and ‘good’ means updated and frequently fixed, shined, and used.

4. Outbound Links

Many people don’t understand the importance of outbound links, but we’ll break it down for you in a quick, simple way.

Multiple studies have shown that if you have a single outbound link per page (a link that goes to a different website) then you will be ranked higher than a page with no outbound links.

5. Inbound Links

The opposite of an outbound link is an inbound link – and no, these aren’t the links you have on your website that connect one of your pages to another (that’s point #7). An inbound link is when another website links to you because you have great content.

To continue the previous example, if you are still a Mexican restaurant, and a well-known food blogger links to you, that is an inbound link – and a good one!

6. Anchor Text

When a page links to you, they do so with some kind of text. Meaning if I am going to link to the Calypso Agency Page on Web Design, I’m going to do what I just did and label it so the potential clicker knows where that link will bring them.

That is called anchor text and you want it to be descriptive and hopefully include keywords or your branded name.

Having someone link to you saying ‘here’ is much less helpful from an SEO perspective than having them link to you saying ‘best Mexican restaurant in town’.

7. Internal Links

Internal links are the links you place within your own webpage that bring the user to a different of your own webpages.

Like when we talk about ‘contact us’ we obviously link to our own contact page.

Now, don’t go crazy and link everywhere to everything so no one can click on any word without being whisked away, but make sure to have relevant links that make sense and would enhance the user experience, connecting pages to others that they would likely go to next.

8. URL

Your URLs can actually help your SEO too – but be careful, as Google doesn’t seem to like ‘exact matches’ but instead ‘similar URLs’.

This simply means that having your website URL be: Calypso-agency/website-design is better than having it be Calypso agency/best-website-design-in-Los angeles-California for the keyword ‘best website design in Los Angeles California’.

Sound counterintuitive? Think of it like this, Google wants your URL to be descriptive without being spammy, hence, similar but not exact matches to your keywords.

9. Sitemap

This is something you should have your developer do, as it’s simple, but technical.

Submit a sitemap to Google so it knows what you have, your structure, and something about your purpose. Want to learn how to submit a sitemap to Google? Then check out that link to Yoast’s website where they break it down for you.

10. Domain History

This one is a little like a credit score, as you cannot raise this specific section unless you have history.

Google likes to see that your website isn’t brand new, after all, which seems more trustworthy, a company that has been around for 6 years and has paid for their domain name for another 4, or a company that has a 3 month old website and only has it bought for another 3 months?

After all, what company only expects to be in business for 6 months? A scam, that’s what.

Google takes this idea and runs with it, so they will probably trust a 5-year old website more than a 2, and a 2 more than a brand new one.