SEO for foundersHow Google works
What does and doesn't affect Google rankings
Every common SEO claim we could check, sorted by how much it matters and linked to its evidence: Google's own documentation first, then named studies.
In this lesson
- Whether Google can index a page decides more than anything else.
- Every rule below is sorted by how much it matters and linked to its evidence.
- Some popular advice has no evidence behind it; the last section lists it.
Whether Google can index a page decides more than anything else on this list. If Google cannot open the page, is told not to read it, or is told to leave it out, nothing else counts. After that, each factor makes a measured but partial difference, and the one with the strongest measured link to ranking is how many other sites link to yours, which no edit to your own pages changes.
This page lists every ranking claim we could check, sorted into three groups by one question: does it decide whether a page can rank at all? Every entry links to its evidence, labelled by how far to trust it:
- from the source: Google's own documentation, or the platform itself.
- study: a named dataset we read directly, such as Ahrefs or Backlinko.
- reported: a figure that reached us through someone else's write-up.
Where AI answers treat a rule differently, the entry says so; the short version is in answer engine optimization. Several entries are what Google groups under E-E-A-T, its word for trust.
It is the same list SupaVisible's site scan checks against, written up for readers. When a rule changes there, this page changes with it.
What decides whether a page can rank at all?
Get one of these wrong and nothing else on the page matters, because Google cannot show it.
The page can be indexed
Google only shows pages it can open without an error, that your robots.txt lets it read, and that do not carry a noindex tag telling it to stay away.
In AI answers: A page has to be in Google's results before Google's AI answers can quote it.
Sources: Google Search technical requirements (from the source); Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Ahrefs: 76% of AI Overview citations ranked top 10 (1.9M citations, 2025) (study); Ahrefs: 38% of AI Overview citations rank top 10 (863K SERPs, 2026) (study)
Snippets are allowed
A nosnippet or max-snippet:0 rule removes the text under your link in Google.
In AI answers: Google's AI answers only use pages allowed to show that text, so the same rule keeps the page out of AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Google: robots meta tag and snippet controls (from the source)
Canonical tags point at real, final pages
A canonical tag tells Google which address is the real one. If it names a redirect, a broken page or a page that names another, Google shows something else instead of this page.
Sources: Google: consolidating duplicate URLs (from the source)
One host serves the site
If your site answers at both http and https, or with and without www, Google sees two copies of every page and splits the credit between them.
Sources: Google: consolidating duplicate URLs (from the source)
Served over HTTPS with a valid certificate
Google prefers secure (HTTPS) pages, and browsers warn visitors away from a site with a bad certificate before they read anything.
Sources: Google: understanding page experience (from the source)
No page duplicates another
When two pages have the same content, Google shows one and drops the other, and it may not pick the one you wanted.
In AI answers: Google's advice for its AI answers says the same thing: cut duplicate content.
Sources: Google: consolidating duplicate URLs (from the source); Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source)
Every page can be reached by a crawler
A page nothing links to is found late or never. A sitemap (the file listing your pages) and a robots.txt are the basics every search bot expects.
Sources: Google Search technical requirements (from the source); Google: sitemaps overview (from the source)
Search and answer-engine crawlers are allowed in
Google's and Bing's bots have to be allowed in your robots.txt for your pages to appear in either.
In AI answers: ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity read pages with their own search bots (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot). Blocking one keeps you out of that tool's answers. Their training bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended) are separate, and blocking those does not change what gets quoted.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Rutgers/Wharton (Dec 2025): blocking AI crawlers cut traffic without cutting citations (reported)
No placeholder text or dead technology on a live page
Lorem ipsum filler and Flash are not content. Google asks whether a page looks professionally made, and neither answers anything.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
What makes a measurable difference?
Each has evidence behind it. None decides a ranking on its own.
Each page has its own descriptive title
The title is the clickable line in Google and the first thing Google reads to know what the page is about. A missing, repeated or unrelated title costs clicks and makes two of your pages compete for the same search.
Sources: Zyppy: Google rewrites 61.6% of titles, 99.9% of those over 70 characters (study); Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
Each page has its own meta description
It does not change your ranking. It is the text under your link in Google, and without one Google picks its own. A description that matches the page wins the click your position has already earned.
In AI answers: AI search tools show it when they sum up a page.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
Pages cover their subject completely
Google asks whether a page covers its subject fully. Word count is not the test: what matters is whether the page completely answers the question.
In AI answers: AI answers quote the page that answers the question. A page that only starts to answer it does not get quoted.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source); Google: word count is not a ranking factor (reported)
One main heading, then descriptive sections
Headings do not change your ranking on their own. Google asks for pages split into sections with headings, so readers and Google can tell what each part covers.
In AI answers: AI answers quote a section, not a whole page. A heading that says what its section answers is what gets that section picked.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Google on H1 tags and rankings (reported)
Sections answer first, then explain
A page that gives its answer in the first few sentences is easier for Google to match to a search, and to quote at the top of results.
In AI answers: Most quoted passages come from the top of a page or section. A short, complete first paragraph is the part an AI answer can quote whole.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Princeton GEO study: statistics, quotations and sources lift visibility 25 to 40% (study)
Claims carry evidence
Google asks for clear sources and signs of expertise. A figure with a source reads as expertise; a claim with nothing behind it does not.
In AI answers: Pages with statistics, quotes and named sources showed up 25 to 40% more in AI answers in a Princeton study.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source); Princeton GEO study: statistics, quotations and sources lift visibility 25 to 40% (study)
Content is kept current and dated honestly
For most searches Google shows little preference for newer pages, and asks you not to change a date without changing the content.
In AI answers: Pages quoted by AI tools are 25.7% newer, by publish date, than normal Google results, and still average 2.9 years old. Update what has changed and show the date; age alone is never the problem.
Sources: Ahrefs: AI-cited content is 25.7% fresher (17M citations) (study); Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
Articles say who wrote them
Google asks who wrote the content and whether their background is visible. A named author, with a page about them, is the plainest answer.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
The site says who it is
Google's reviewers look for an About page, a way to contact the business and clear policies. Google calls trust the most important part of how it judges quality.
In AI answers: An AI tool recommending a business wants to know it is real. These same pages are how it finds out.
Sources: Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
Other sites link to yours
How many different sites link to yours is the strongest single link to ranking in Backlinko's study of 11.8 million results. It is a link, not proof, and no edit to your pages changes it, so we show it for context rather than as a fault.
In AI answers: Google's advice for its AI answers rules out fake mentions. Real links from real sites are what counts.
Sources: Backlinko: referring domains are the strongest ranking correlation (11.8M results) (study); Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source)
Pages load and settle quickly on a phone
Google uses page speed when ranking, though relevance still wins: speed decides between pages that are otherwise as good as each other. Google judges every site by its mobile version.
Sources: Google: understanding page experience (from the source); web.dev: Core Web Vitals thresholds (from the source); Google: mobile-first indexing has landed (from the source)
Internal links go straight to live pages
Links that go through redirects or land on errors waste Google's time and lose the reader. Pages a few clicks from your homepage are read first.
Sources: Google Search technical requirements (from the source)
Related pages link to one another around a subject
One main page on a subject, and several that answer the questions around it, all linking to each other, give Google several routes to the same answer. A lone page has one.
In AI answers: Google's AI answers break a search into related searches and quote across them, so a group of linked pages on one topic gets quoted, not a single page.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Ahrefs: 38% of AI Overview citations rank top 10 (863K SERPs, 2026) (study); Google Search technical requirements (from the source)
One page per search
When two of your pages show up for the same search, they split its clicks and links between them, and Google picks which one to show. Google's own advice is to merge near-duplicates into one page.
Sources: Google: consolidating duplicate URLs (from the source); Google: creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (from the source)
Content is in the HTML, not only in scripts
Google runs a page's scripts, but later and at a cost, so text that only appears after scripts run gets into Google more slowly.
In AI answers: Most AI search bots do not run scripts. A page whose text only appears after its scripts run is an empty page to them.
Sources: Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source)
Structured data matches the visible page
Structured data (code that tells Google what the page is) does not change your ranking. It makes a page eligible for extras in Google results, and it has to match what is visibly on the page. Broken code is ignored.
In AI answers: Google says its AI answers do not need it. Code on your homepage naming your business, and on articles naming the author and date, helps them read who published what, and nothing more.
Sources: Google confirms structured data does not make a site rank better (reported); Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source); Google drops FAQ rich results (7 May 2026) (reported)
The site is indexed by Bing
Bing is the second search engine that matters. Adding your site to Bing Webmaster Tools and sending it your sitemap, or using IndexNow (which tells Bing when a page changes), gets your pages in.
In AI answers: ChatGPT search runs on Bing: 87% of the pages it cites match Bing's top results. A site missing from Bing is missing from ChatGPT's answers.
Sources: Seer Interactive: 87% of ChatGPT search citations match Bing's top results (reported); Bing: IndexNow (from the source)
Write for the reader, not the keyword
Repeating a phrase over and over to rank for it is on Google's spam list, and it reads badly to the person you wanted to reach.
Sources: Google: spam policies (keyword stuffing) (from the source)
What is housekeeping?
Small, real costs to a reader or to Google. Fix them when you are in the file anyway.
Titles fit in a result
Length does not change your ranking. But Google rewrote 99.9% of titles over 70 characters, and the fewest at 51 to 60, so with a long title searchers see Google's headline instead of yours.
Sources: Zyppy: Google rewrites 61.6% of titles, 99.9% of those over 70 characters (study); Search Engine Land: Google changed 76% of titles in Q1 2025 (reported)
Questions readers ask can be headings
It does not change your ranking. But a heading written the way someone types a question, answered right underneath, is the shape Google quotes at the top of results.
In AI answers: AI answers still quote question-and-answer content. The special FAQ code is no longer used: Google stopped showing FAQ extras on 7 May 2026. This is a suggestion for articles, never a requirement, and never for a homepage or product page.
Sources: Google drops FAQ rich results (7 May 2026) (reported); Google: succeeding in AI features on Search (from the source)
Images have alt text
Alt text is the short description of an image that Google Images and screen readers read. Google asks for it in its image advice.
Sources: Google: image SEO best practices (from the source)
Housekeeping
Site icon, page code basics, page size and readability. None of these decides a ranking; each is a small, real cost to a reader or to Google.
Sources: Google Search technical requirements (from the source)
What is missing from this list?
- A target number of words. Google asks for complete answers, not length.
- Repeating the search phrase a set number of times. Repeating a phrase to rank for it is on Google's spam list.
- Meta keywords. Google ignores the tag.
- An llms.txt file. Google's guide to its AI features lists it among the things you do not need.
- A single score for your site. Scores add up unrelated things into one number. The list above is sorted by what matters instead.
How should a new site use this?
Start at the top. Check that Google can index your pages (the Search Console guide shows how), then write pages that answer one search each, completely, with sources. The middle group matters once Google can read the site; the last group can wait.
Quick answers
- What is the most important Google ranking factor?
- There is no single one Google confirms. What decides whether a page can rank at all is whether Google can index it: the page returns without an error, robots.txt lets Google read it, and nothing tells Google to leave it out. After that, the strongest measured correlation with ranking is how many different sites link to yours, in Backlinko's study of 11.8 million results.
- Do longer pages rank higher on Google?
- Not because of their length. Google asks whether a page covers its subject completely, and Google's John Mueller has said word count is not a ranking factor. A short page that fully answers its question can outrank a long one that does not.
- Does structured data improve rankings?
- No. Google has said structured data does not make a site rank better. It makes a page eligible for extras in results, such as review stars, and it must match what is visible on the page. Google also says its AI features do not require it.
Check what you learned
Question 1 of 3
Find the searches your own site almost ranks for.