According to Lipattsev, the top two factors Google looks at are 1) content and 2) inbound links (order of importance was not specified between these two).  Coming in at number 3 is something called RankBrain, which is the part of Google’s algorithm that interprets searches typed in by users, then matches those searches with pages containing similar words, but not necessarily words that are an exact match.  For instance, a user could search for “Brad Pitt’s wife’s birthday” and get results for Angelina Jolie, without ever using her name.

Of course, Google evaluates more than 200 Ranking Signals, including mobile signals, that contribute to the success (or failure) of your website and its visibility in the search results.  But now we know the top three ranking signals, straight from Google itself.

These ranking factors, content, inbound links, and RankBrain, are each made up of many sub-factors. Google’s overall search algorithm itself is a huge, very complicated algorithm with lots of moving parts. But since Google has directly confirmed the top three ranking signals, it’s a great time to look at your SEO and make sure your efforts (and budget) are aligned with what Google is doing today.

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