Every day, about 3.5 billion Google searches are done, with 35% of these being new search words. It's no surprise that search engine marketing accounts for more than 40% of advertiser revenue. Given the enormous pressure that website owners are under to rank well, SEO practitioners deal with a plethora of elements influencing website ranking on a daily basis.

You may have a new website or already have high-ranking posts to brag about on search engines. In any case, the need for SEO never goes away, and SEO activities should not either. Given that publishers generate the majority of their money by putting advertisements on their websites, it is critical for them to rank well in search engines.

Factors Influencing Website Ranking at the Site/Page Level

We'll start with some site/page level issues you might wish to address before going on to the others. Prioritizing site/page level modifications makes sense because these are real-time fixes that don't necessitate continuing experimenting (which we'll discuss shortly). 

Inadequate Site Architecture

Contextual sub-domains signify a healthy site structure in the same way as HTTPS symbolizes a good website domain. Having well-defined subdirectories (URL structure/slug) helps your web pages stand out from the crowd. Structured URLs inform search engines about who you are and what topics you want to rank for.

Long Page Load Time

Users prefer frictionless UX, and Google agrees. Websites/pages that load in less than three seconds are considered to have an excellent page load time. 

Page load time is one of the most important elements influencing website ranking for publishers. Why? In addition to the July 2018 Google Search upgrade (which penalize slow sites), more advertisements equal more browser calls, which means a longer load time.

Markdown Schema

Schema essentially adds context to content. It tells search engines what your content is about as well as what it implies. Schema markup is a code snippet that informs both Google and users on the exact context of a webpage. There are hundreds of scenarios in which schema can be used.

Conclusion

Did you know that the first ranking web page in search results has a CTR of around 42.25%? The second result obtains nearly 11.94%, while the third receives about 8.47%. The CTR does not appear to be too bad for all of the top positions. Ranking on Google may not be a simple task. You may not see any benefits for several weeks. That is not to say that publishers should be discouraged. Remember that SEO is a mixed bag, with some aspects working instantaneously and others taking time. The idea is to keep going, working, and getting better.