Interior Designers Guide to Understanding Google Rankings

Original article posted at Studio Designer.

Top search engine positions are the prime real estate of the digital world. Design studios with top organic (non-paid) Google search positions get the digital equivalent of the foot traffic that one secures from having a Park Avenue retail space.

The big question for businesses is what can be done to get one of these top positions?

The only way to precisely know what it takes is to be able to look at Google’s well-hidden secret- its search algorithm. This complicated mathematical formula includes over 200 ranking factors and weighs them based on what they deem to be most important.

Google is continuously changing its algorithm, averaging one change every day or two, and thus Search Engine Optimizers are always watching fluctuations in search results and attempting to find correlations. SEO tools help us determine this, as well as surveys shared amongst SEOs.

In addition to finding correlations between specific ranking factors and positions, we also carefully watch the patents that Google files. These public documents often reveal some of their most recent additions to determining the worth of web pages.

Finally, we listen to the words of Google. They have a front-facing team that is active on webinars, Google Hangouts, public speaking, and blogging, and all of these contain clarifying information. They answer our questions and dispel myths that arise from correlative relationships.

Now that we understand how many ranking factors there are in Google’s search algorithm (200+), the frequency of change (almost daily), and how us pro SEOs attempt to track and understand these changes, we can bring our attention to the actual ranking factors.