These Factors Do Not Actually Help You Rank High On Google!

With millions of websites on the Internet today, it is indeed challenging to stand out from the rest. This is why learning the SEO basics is important so you won’t be left out. If you have a business website, you would need help from an SEO expert to boost traffic and generate leads. 

There are several factors Google considers when it comes to ranking. This includes factors such as meta description, content quality, keywords used, and so on. This article will also tell you other so-called Google ranking factors which, in truth, are not! 

 

These factors do not help in Google ranking 

Just when you think these factors help you rank in Google and other search engine sites, they do not have any bearing at all. A lot of websites indicate the following factors to help you rank higher. Here are those said factors. 

 

Age of website and domain registration 

A lot of articles often include these in ranking factors lists, when in fact Google has stated otherwise. If a website does rank higher than others, it is most likely because it has more content, links, and word of mouth than more recent websites. 

Meanwhile, the length of domain registration does not affect your ranking on Google either. For one thing, you pay for domain registration. This means if you pay for something – for the domain, in this case – Google doesn’t have to use it as a major ranking factor in the first place. At the end of the day, content is king regardless of your website’s age and how much you paid for your domain registration. 

 

Bounce rate 

For starters, bounce rate refers to someone visiting a web page but moves on to another without taking further action to the former. It could be due to an accidental click or purposefully visiting the page and then logging off shortly after. 

 

Word count 

A lot of people often think that the more word count an article or blog post has, the higher it will rank on search results. It depends on the type of content you are looking for. Some users want answers that are straight to the point, hence shorter word count. While others need further elaboration especially if it is a scientific journal or a long-form blog post. 

 

XML Sitemaps 

You guessed it – XML sitemaps do not affect Google rankings. While these are used by Google to get your page discovered, it would be useless if Google has already indexed your pages. Still, you can do an XML sitemap as it also has non-ranking perks such as more data in Search Console. 

 

Social signals

Google does not also recognize follower and friend counts and the number of likes to rank high on Google. Although the number of followers you have can help in word of mouth through content sharing. However, these figures can also be manipulated by using bots. 

 

These are only some known ranking factors that do not help in Google ranking. In this case, you might need help from an SEO expert in Franklin TN for your website needs. Contact one today!