By focusing on what the audience is searching for and providing comprehensive, relevant information, you increase the likelihood that search engines will rank your content higher. Instead of using generic file names like IMG1234.jpg, using descriptive names helps search engines understand and rank the image appropriately. Alt text (alternative text) provides a textual description of images, which is essential for search engines to understand the content and context of the image. Image optimization is an important yet often underestimated component of SEO that can significantly enhance a website’s performance and ranking in search engine results.
Actionable Steps to Improve Your Google Rankings
- For many business owners, website optimization is more technical than they have time for.
- Core Web Vitals are metrics Google uses to score a user’s experience with a web page.
- Through practical projects and real-world case studies, acquire job-ready skills with globally recognized certifications.
- Another way to boost user engagement on your site and appeal to search engines is by consistently publishing high-quality content on your site.
In the previous section on crawling, we discussed how search engines discover your web pages. After a crawler finds a page, the search engine renders it just like a browser would. In the process of doing so, the search engine analyzes that page’s contents. Non-text media forms (images, video, GIFs, etc.) should not be used to display text that you wish to be indexed.
Optimizing your site to rank higher in search results will help potential customers find your products and services. If you want your startup to succeed in the highly competitive online world, you must optimize your website for search engines. Compelling media can also push back against one of the biggest concerns SEOs have about AI Overviews — lost traffic. With captivating, user-focused multimedia, it’s possible to pull a user’s attention from the generative results to your website’s listing.
Prominence is also based on information that Google has about a business, from across the web, like links, articles, and directories. Google review count and review score factor into local search ranking. More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’ local ranking.
Google Ranking Factors That Influence Search Results
By focusing on Google ranking factors 2025, businesses can improve SEO performance and dominate search results. There are the key determinants or SEO best practices that you should be implementing to ensure that your content gets the most visibility, organically on the search engines. Not many people are aware of the key SEO ranking factors that they must specifically focus on.
The more important Google believes a ranking factor to be, the more important it is to optimize for that factor. Google Posts appear in your business listing, so posting consistently helps keep your profile fresh and engaging. Include high-quality images, a clear call to action, and relevant local keywords to drum up business for these one-off events. Claiming your GBP makes your business look more credible and professional, ensuring that customers see accurate, up-to-date information.
This means that high search engine ranking positions help you generate organic traffic, brand awareness, and other business results. SEO rankings matter in search engine optimization (SEO) because the higher you rank for a given keyword, the more likely users are to see and click on your result. When people share your content on social networks, that’s another sign that it’s valuable. Cognitive SEO’s study of 23 million shares found a definitive link between social shares and search engine ranking. SEO ranking is a website’s position on search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases.
As this can influence rankings, Google typically takes steps to demote pages with over-optimized keywords. Think of it as additional content that SEO Anomaly search engines can read, that also help it understand what your content is about. A list of social media related factors that can affect your rankings positively or negatively. Pay attention to these factors and you’ll see a boost in your rankings. It gives Google a clear indication of what your content is about and also helps to increase relevance when users are searching for your keyword. Regularly publishing high-quality new content is one of the most surefire ways to improve your search engine ranking.

Betty Wainstock
Sócia-diretora da Ideia Consumer Insights. Pós-doutorado em Comunicação e Cultura pela UFRJ, PHD em Psicologia pela PUC. Temas: Tecnologias, Comunicação e Subjetividade. Graduada em Psicologia pela UFRJ. Especializada em Planejamento de Estudos de Mercado e Geração de Insights de Comunicação.