Grumpy SEO Guy – Episode 127

"SEO Ranking Factors"

Date: September 24, 2025
Host: Grumpy SEO Guy

Overview

In this candid, straight-shooting episode, Grumpy SEO Guy tackles the fundamentals behind SEO ranking factors, stripping away industry confusion and calling out misconceptions that cost practitioners and businesses both time and money. Drawing from 14 years of agency experience, he explains what truly impacts your search rankings versus commonly peddled myths—and, in his trademark grumpy tone, lays out practical priorities to maximize SEO results.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining a Ranking Factor

• A ranking factor is anything that search engines use to determine where your site appears in their results. Changing these elements changes your site's position.
  • "If something is a ranking factor, then changing that thing will change your position." (02:15)
• The purpose of SEO is single-minded:
  • Get websites to the top of search engines.
  • “The purpose of SEO is to get websites to the top of the search engines, okay? That is the purpose of SEO... So if something has an effect on whether you go up or down, that is a ranking factor.” (02:40)

2. The Myths: What Aren't Ranking Factors?

• E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):
  • Despite widespread industry claims, E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor.
    • “EEAT does not make a difference at all in where you rank... it is not a ranking factor.” (11:03)
    • Refers to Google's documentation: "Thinking E-E-A-T is a ranking factor? No, it’s not. E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor." (12:03)
• Site Loading Speed:
  • Only affects ranking if incredibly slow (e.g., homepage takes 30 seconds).
    • "If your website takes 3 seconds to load and you spend a lot of time getting it down to two seconds, it's probably not gonna do anything." (13:55)
• Dwell Time:
  • Not a ranking factor; can be misleading as good content could have either low or high dwell time.
    • “If your website is so well written that people find what they want immediately and leave, is that bad? No. Low dwell time can mean great content.” (15:04)
• Website Design & User Experience:
  • Layout and subjective user experience don’t directly factor into rankings.
    • “Are you telling me that if you put your content on the left and menu on the right, it ranks higher than the opposite?... No.” (16:52)

3. What Are Ranking Factors? – The “Big 4”

• After dispelling myths, Grumpy SEO Guy identifies the primary factors that, in his extensive agency experience, reliably affect rankings:
  • Avoid penalties: Don’t get penalized by search engines.
  • Have content: Doesn’t need to be “good,” but needs to exist.
  • Have relevancy: Your content must be relevant to your desired keywords/industry.
  • Have authority: Mainly achieved through backlinks.
    • “Avoiding penalties, having content, having relevancy, and having authority are giant ranking factors... those are the four things that work.” (21:08)
    • “Authority comes from backlinks, in case you were uncertain.” (22:35)

4. Practical Examples & Analogies

• Uses relatable analogies to reinforce the difference between ranking factors and distractions:
  • Running Coach Analogy: “If you’re a running coach and your job is to help people run faster, you focus on nutrition, training, recovery—not what color socks they wear. Same for SEO: focus on what makes you rank.” (18:32–19:54)

5. The Critical Importance of SERP Tracking

• Monitor your search engine result pages (SERPs):
  • "If you're not tracking your SERPs, you can't tell anything about anything because you don't know if you're being successful... you're literally doing SEO wrong." (09:46)
  • Recommends tools like Serpfox for this essential task.

6. Understanding Impressions, Traffic, and Their Relation to Rank

• Clarifies the difference between impressions and clicks, and how declines in impressions or traffic can stem from:
  • Rank drops
  • Decrease in overall search volume (not an SEO problem)
• "Traffic is a function of two things: your position, and monthly search volume.” (07:37)
• “If your traffic falls, it means one of two things: monthly searches decreased, or your rank dropped.” (08:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Industry Confusion:

  • “People are confused about even the concept of a ranking factor... A lot of what people do isn’t even SEO, because it has no effect on your position.” (01:10)

• On Industry Scams & E-E-A-T:

  • “EEAT is not a ranking factor. So people making you pay for an EEAT audit are scamming you.” (12:15)

• On the Importance of SERP Tracking:

  • “If you’re not tracking your SERPs, you’re literally clueless about what you’re doing with SEO.” (09:47)

• On Penalties:

  • “Don’t get a penalty, highest priority. Have content... have relevancy... have authority... in that order.” (22:08)

• Summary Mindset:

  • “If you’re doing SEO, focus on ranking factors. Does this thing have an effect on rank? If yes—focus on it. If not—don’t.” (20:39)

• Industry Critique:

  • “A large percentage of what people talk about aren’t even ranking factors, and honestly have no place on an SEO forum except to say, ‘don’t focus on these.’” (20:52)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:15 | Core definition of 'ranking factor' | | 04:47–07:36 | Impressions, traffic, and how rank affects both | | 09:46–09:47 | Why tracking SERPs is fundamental | | 11:03–12:15 | E-E-A-T myth debunked, with Google's own words | | 13:54–14:56 | Site speed & dwell time as non-ranking factors explained | | 16:52 | Website design & UX are not ranking factors | | 17:35–21:08 | The “Big 4” real ranking factors: penalties, content, relevance, authority | | 18:32–19:54 | Running coach analogy | | 20:39–20:52 | Mindset for evaluating ranking factors | | 22:08–22:35 | Authority and backlinks |

Summary & Action Points

• Be Skeptical: Don’t be distracted by buzzwords (EEAT, dwell time, etc.) that don’t impact rankings.
• Track the Right Things: SERP position is your core metric; make sure you monitor it.
• Prioritize for Results:
  1. Avoid penalties
  2. Have content
  3. Build relevance
  4. Grow authority (via backlinks)
• Ignore the Noise: Grumpy SEO Guy urges listeners to laser-focus on actual ranking factors and stop wasting resources on what doesn’t move the needle.

For questions or further discussion:

• Reddit: /r/grumpyseoguy
• Email: hello@grumpyseoguy.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/grumpyseoguy

This summary captures the episode's essential insights, direct language, and memorable analogies, providing a practical reference for anyone seeking clarity about what really pushes websites to the top of search engines.