What are the main ranking factors that influence Google’s search results today?
1. Content Quality & Relevance
- Helpful, original content that satisfies search intent.
- Strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
- Proper keyword usage in titles, headings, and contextually throughout the content.
- Clear topical coverage — depth matters more than word count.
- Semantic relevance (using entities and related topics that Google associates with the query).
2. Technical SEO
- Crawlability: No blocked pages or broken links; optimized robots.txt and sitemap.
- Indexability: Correct canonical tags and meta directives.
- Core Web Vitals: Fast load time, interactivity, and visual stability.
- Mobile-first indexing: Fully responsive design.
- Structured data: Schema markup for better context and rich snippets.
3. Backlinks & Authority
- High-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative domains.
- A natural anchor text profile — not over-optimized.
- Internal linking that distributes authority effectively.
- Mentions (implied links) and digital PR also contribute to trust signals.
4. User Engagement Signals
- Click-through rate (CTR) from SERPs.
- Dwell time / engagement — users spending time on your content.
- Low bounce rate and strong on-site navigation.
- Positive brand searches and repeat visits.
5. Local & Entity Signals (if applicable)
- Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) info for local businesses.
- Verified Google Business Profile.
- Entity relationships via structured data and consistent mentions across the web.
What Are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals (CWV) are Google’s user-experience metrics that measure page speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.
They directly influence page experience signals, which in turn affect rankings, crawl efficiency, and user retention.
- The three metrics are:
- How They Affect Rankings
- Direct impact: CWV are part of Google’s Page Experience ranking signals. If two pages have similar relevance, the faster and more stable one ranks higher.
- Indirect impact: Better CWV → lower bounce rate, higher engagement and conversion → positive behavioral signals → stronger SEO over time.
- Crawl efficiency: Fast, stable pages allow Googlebot to crawl more URLs — important for large documentation sites like Stripe’s.
- How to Improve Them
A. Improve LCP (Loading Speed)
- Optimize hero images and SVGs; use WebP/AVIF formats.
- Use server-side rendering (SSR) or static generation for docs pages.
- Implement lazy-loading for below-the-fold assets.
- Use CDNs (Stripe already does globally) to serve content near the user.
- Preload key assets: fonts, CSS, hero images.
B. Improve INP (Interactivity)
- Minimize heavy JavaScript bundles; split code and defer non-critical scripts.
- Use HTTP/2 and caching to reduce latency.
- Audit third-party scripts (analytics, chat widgets) that block input.
C. Improve CLS (Visual Stability)
- Always set width/height attributes for images and embeds.
- Reserve space for dynamic elements (ads, banners, cookie notices).
- Load fonts using font-display: swap to avoid text shifts.
