There are many components that go into helping you rank organically in search results; and it’s a tough game trying to keep up with the ever-shifting search engine optimization landscape.

So, we have compared our experience with the most current lists on the top search engine blog sites to bring you 5 of the most important google ranking factors this year—2017.  

  1. Mobile User Experience

Google announced in 2015 that mobile-friendliness would be incorporated into the ranking algorithm. Not only will you benefit from a boost in ranking if you are mobile optimized, but you will also drop in rank if your site is misconfigured for smartphones. So, make sure that your site is mobile-responsive or that you have a custom mobile site.

  1. Page Loading Speed

If your site pages don’t load fast enough, you’ll lose visitors and they’ll have a poor experience—a lose-lose. But visitors aren’t the only ones you’re losing, because “a slow page speed means that search engines can crawl fewer pages using their allocated crawl budget, and this could negatively affect your indexation,” according to Moz.

  1. Local

Local results have become prime real estate in Google search engine results pages (SERPs). The key element required to show up in the top 3 local listings is to have your Google My Business account set up. Complete your profile, and make sure your contact information is consistent with every other platform you’re on.

  1. Content

Yes, content is still king. If you can provide the best answers to questions surrounding your subject and present the information clearly and smartly, you’ll rank. Beware, however, as Google will punish you for abusing these techniques.

  1. Links

Link building is still as important as it was 10 years ago, but it has changed. Blog comments and link farm exchanges are out—relationship building is in. How does one do that? By writing and sharing trustworthy and interesting content, conducting interviews, and thinking local.

Want to see what other items help improve your SEO in 2017? Perform a search! See which articles are having them most success and show up in your SERPs.

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