Engineer wrote:
My theory is that each page is ranked based on a variety of factors, and each factor earns “points” toward the overall ranking value.
Yep!!!
And google makes is almost impossible for you to identify all the factors. And they change them. And they purposefully confuse you.
Why?
Because search engines don’t like SEO. They want to keep you guessing. When too many people figure something out, be sure that it will change.