If you still think that Google rankings are based entirely on keywords, then you might be missing the point in your SEO strategy.
Zyppy's Google Ranking Factors Survey 2026 surveyed 131 SEO experts on over 100 ranking factors.
In total, the survey gathered 13,665 data points, which allowed them to provide a fascinating glimpse into what matters most to experienced SEO professionals in Google Search today.
Relevance Ranked First
The top-ranking factor was relevance, with 57.1% of respondents ranking it in their top three ranking factors.
Search is no longer simply about matching the words someone types with the words on a webpage. Google knows much better what people are searching for and whether the page is relevant to the search query.
For instance, if someone is looking for the “best running shoes for beginners,” is probably looking for recommendations, comparisons, and useful buying information. If you have a page that just contains the keyword over and over in the content, it's probably not going to be as helpful as a page that really addresses those needs.
Backlinks are the Second Most Important Ranking Factor
The second most popular ranking factor was backlinks, with 54.8% of respondents saying it was one of the top three.
It's not just about creating hundreds of links, though.
The quality and relevance of those links matter. A link from a trusted website in your industry can have much more worth than a pile of unrelated or poor links.
Therefore, rather than building links in bulk, businesses need to concentrate on building the links that are related to the kind of business they are in and their target customers.
Quality Content
Content quality was the third most important factor, with 47.6% of experts indicating it was among the top three factors.
One part of the survey that stood out to me was the importance given to original research and first-party data.
That is becoming increasingly important because the internet is already full of content covering the same topics.
AI can generate more content about the same topic in a matter of seconds. It can't deliver original data, customer insights, unique examples, or research.
This does not mean businesses should avoid using AI. It means AI should not become a reason to publish more generic content.
Brand Reputation
36.5% indicated authority and trust, and 27% cited brand signals.
This shows that SEO is not happening entirely within a website. While a website can be optimized, it is important to have a well-represented online reputation.
Recommendations, reviews, AI platforms, and more are increasingly used to find businesses, beyond the traditional search results.
User Behavior
User behavior and clicks were in fifth place with 29.4% of responses.
If somebody comes to one of the webpages and was looking for a particular answer but finds another, the traffic is not really worth much. So a good SEO strategy should focus on more than just rankings and clicks.
The true magic lies in the visitor finding that the information proved to be helpful, they fulfilled their purpose, and departed with the problem resolved.
Technical SEO is the Base
17.5% of the respondents chose Technical SEO as one of their top factors.
The number may seem small compared to other factors such as relevance, backlinks, and content quality. It does not imply that technical SEO is not important.
There are still things a website should be able to do which has to be crawlable, indexable, and technically accessible so that search engines can serve and understand it correctly.
Internal Links
Internal linking was selected by 11.1% of respondents among their top factors.
Although it's not as well-known as backlinks, businesses have a direct influence on internal links.
A good internal link structure helps search engines find pages and understand the relationship between topics.
This becomes even more useful for larger websites with hundreds or thousands of pages.
This Survey Tells Us About the Future of SEO
The most interesting thing about this survey for me isn't any one factor. It is the overall direction.
The strongest factors all point towards a similar idea: create something truly useful and make Google understand.
And with Google continuing to expand AI Overviews and AI Mode, that broader approach is likely to become even more important.
Zyppy has already revealed that its upcoming report will focus on Google's AI ranking factors, which include what is effective for getting websites noticed and cited in Google's AI-generated responses. That would help us to see the future trend of search visibility even clearer.