Search Engine Optimization is a volatile industry because search engines are constantly improving their algorithms. SEO practices improve and change over time to account for these changes.

But it’s almost the mid of 2022, yet most beginners still do not know about the changes that occurred in the SEO game in 2022.

So, instead of discussing the hundreds of ranking factors, let’s talk about the (ten) 10 important SEO ranking factors to consider in 2022 because it’s essential to use the right SEO practice to be effective in this field.

What are Ranking Factors?

Ranking factors are the ranking factors of search engine optimization techniques. So, it means a listicle of points that search engines use to prioritize a website over others.

List of the 10 Important SEO Ranking Factors to Consider in 2022:

Google is the most popular search engine. Therefore, the end goal of most webmasters is to rank on the first page of Google for their relevant keywords.

But people prefer Yandex or other search engines in some parts of the world. Therefore, the following guide will cover the SEO ranking factors from the perspective of all search engines, especially Google.

1. Trust of the website and its domain:

According to Google, HTTPS is a lightweight SEO ranking factor because it affects 1% of global queries. So, suppose any webmaster is still using the unsafe version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, in that case, he should instantly switch to HTTPS because, although using HTTPS doesn’t affect a website’s rankings hugely, it is a quick win that most web admins can implement in under five minutes.

Note: If a website is secure, people will automatically trust that website 

Pro Tip: While buying the domain of a website, make sure it should not have a blacklist or other issues.

2. Quality backlinks:

PageRank (PR) is the foundation of most search engines’ algorithms, especially the Google ranking algorithm. But according to the ‘How Search Work’ page and officials of Google, quality backlinks form the basis of PageRank (PR).

Even independent studies confirm the relationships between backlinks and organic traffic of a website. So, high-quality backlinks are arguably the essential SEO ranking factor for any search engine.

Pro Tip: Several other factors also play a vital role in the backlinks’ ability to push a web page higher in SERPs. But the two essential factors are authority and relevance.

3. The freshness of content:

The third essential SEO ranking factor in this list of ranking signals is the freshness of content. This ranking factor is more critical for some ranking queries than others. So, it depends on the query type.

For example, if the focus of a search query is on the news, then people won’t want out-of-date (four years old) content for that query. Instead, they would like the latest results.

Similarly, if a user types the ‘best laptops,’ he would prefer up-to-date results because technology brings new models every year. But at the same time, for search queries, like ‘how to breakdance’ or ‘how to tie a tie,’ old searches will do a perfect job.

Thus, if a website’s content requires freshness, the owner of that website should keep his content up-to-date. But for other cases, keeping the content up-to-date won’t be a big issue.

4. Topical authority of the website:

The fourth SEO Benefits with Wordpress Website ranking factor in this guide is the topical authority of the website.

Search engines prefer websites from authoritative sources rather than entirely focusing on the websites’ backlinks, referring domain and domain ratings.

So, a website that comprehensively covers every topic on a single niche is more authoritative for search engines than a website targeting multiple sub-niches.

5. The content quality or depth of content:

Content quality is among the top on-page SEO factors for search engine optimization. So, before starting the writing procedure, bloggers and writers should extensively research their topic.

During the research phase, writers should look for the points that others have covered and missed in their published web pages. So, by including those points, they can create in-depth or quality content.

However, this doesn’t mean that writers should duplicate the content of their counterparts because search engines also prefer content originality. So, they should use a plagiarism checker tool to check if the created content is original.

6. Page speed:

Page speed is amongst the top ranking factors for most search engines, especially Google.

People mostly obsess over improving the speed of their websites by fractions of a second. However, it doesn’t matter from an SEO perspective for most websites.

So, bloggers and webmasters should improve the speed of their web pages only if they are super-slow because if a web page doesn’t load, people will bounce.

Note: If visitors can’t wait for the loading of web pages, they won’t even see its content or purchase (something) from the website 

7. User experience:

Search engines prefer content with a positive user experience. So, a website that prioritizes the users’ needs is preferable for search engines to other websites. Thus, bloggers and webmasters should focus on:

• Creating easy-to-read content.
• Developing a well-organized website with a responsive design.
• Going easy on the ads.

Pro Tip: The most basic way of increasing the user experience is to try and keep the visitors on a website as long as possible without any trickery.

8. Mobile responsiveness:

The eighth factor in this “10 important SEO ranking factors to consider in 2022” guide relates to the seventh factor because it also focuses on user experience.

More than half of the global traffic on search engines, especially Google, comes from smartphones. So, if a website is not mobile-friendly or mobile-responsive, the search engine will not prefer that website.

Thus, web designers and developers should focus on creating smartphone and computer-responsive websites.

9. The ratio of content posting:

Search engines prefer websites that frequently publish new and quality content regarding their niche.

So, this guide’s ninth SEO ranking factor relates to the fourth point because frequent content posting doesn’t mean to start covering multiple niches.

Instead, a blogger should find unique and new topics regarding his niche to keep his audience engaged and up-to-date.

10. The number of social signals and unique linking root domains pointing to a website:

Domain authority and a more significant number of social signals indicate the authority of a website in the eyes of search engines.

So, suppose more unique linking root domains are pointing to a website and a website has a higher number of social signals. In that case, search engines will trust that website, which means it is more likely to rank that website than others.

Which Choice is a Ranking Factor? – the Conclusion:

Apart from the (discussed) most important SEO factors, many other SEO ranking factors can help webmasters improve their website’s SEO performance.

But the challenge is knowing which ones to focus on and which ones work best in certain circumstances. That is why this guide contains only ten SEO ranking factors.

Bloggers and web admins can use this article to determine the areas where they need to improve their SEO rankings strategy.

Thus, they can continue experimenting with various SEO techniques and processes until they decide what works well for their business.