Your Google ranking says a lot about the health of your business. So it’s always good to assess what you can do to help your website rank better in search engines.
It’s possible to improve your Google ranking with a few small (or not so small) tweaks. And that’s because great SEO is the sum of all its parts.
If you want to really wow Google (and your site visitors!) you usually need more than a single tactic. You need a content marketing strategy with purpose, website design that’s functional and fast, plus the latest SEO best practices and brand strategies to bring it all together.
Let’s look at 9 proven strategies that will help your website rank better and explore why they matter to both Google and your customers.
Technical SEO
SEO is much more than just keyword phrases and link acquisition. In fact, without the right “behind the scenes” technical SEO elements in place, even the most keyword-optimized site might fail to rank.
With bad technical SEO, your website might not be properly indexed or crawled. That means that as far as Google is concerned, your site practically doesn’t exist.
If you have no idea where to start on auditing or fixing your technical SEO, try these basic adjustments first:
– Create and submit a sitemap
– Make sure your site is indexed (Go to Google and type “site:yourdomain.com” into the search bar. If it’s indexed, your site pages should show up in the results.)
– Use the free Google Search Console
– Enable HTTPS on your site
Site UX and Navigation
Google wants its users to have a positive experience online. And if you want to convert your search traffic to customers, then you need to effectively communicate with them via your website content.
Google keeps tabs on how users interact with your site. If users can’t find what they need, then their low engagement and bounces will hurt your Google ranking.
Besides, if your site is hard to navigate, cluttered, or confusing, then users are going to click away and head elsewhere (often to your competitors’ websites!). Remember to give your users a positive navigation experience with logical menus, easily identifiable links and buttons, plus scannable content.
Page Structure
Good page structure makes your website more appealing to users. And as we already know, Google wants what’s best for its users. For logical, optimized page structure, a little planning goes a long way.
Each page on your site should be built with a purpose. When you know exactly who your content is serving and what problem it solves, you can make the most of your content real estate.
Here’s a mini checklist that you can use for page structure:
– H1 that supports the main purpose of the page
– Content that is relevant to your audience’s needs
– Internal links to your other content
– H2 tags, images, and bullets to make your page more scannable
– A specific call to action on each page
Calls to Action (CTAs)
While you’re thinking about each page’s specific purpose, you can also think about the appropriate call to action for each page on your site.
And it’s not just sales pages. Your Home page, blog posts, and even your About page should have smart calls to action.
Strong calls to action are essential for conversions. If your user doesn’t know what to do next, she might just bounce. Instead, tell her exactly what to do (or where to go) next. Need some ideas?
– Land More Clients With This Free Tool
– Download Your Free White Paper
– Join 10,000 Other Members
Your call to action is a valuable piece of real estate. Don’t settle for generic “click here” and “download” CTA copy. Entice users to take the next step with benefit-focused copy in your calls to action.
Target Audience-First Tone (Brand Voice)
When you’re developing your brand voice, you should always keep a specific member of your target audience in mind. The content, visuals, and flow of your website should all be created with this one person in mind.
It’s near impossible to create content that’s for “everyone.” That might sound limiting, but when your site is filled with content that has your ideal client excitedly nodding his head, you’ll have loyal fans and customers for life.
Mentally check in with this target audience member before creating new content and write for just this one person. This will be a way for you to make sure that the content you’re creating is valuable and helpful.
Rich, Valuable, Fresh Content
Maybe you’ve heard that Google loves long-form content. Or maybe you’re convinced that content with visuals is the way to go. What Google really loves is high-quality, valuable content.
Google loves valuable content so much that it rewards sites with high levels of expertise, authority, and trust with better Google ranking.
So how can you make sure that your content remains in Google’s good graces? Make sure that the basis of your content marketing strategy is content that:
– Satisfies search intent (includes appropriate keywords/key phrases)
– Is an appropriate length for the topic
– Is engaging and educates your audience
– Offers users a reason to stick around and keep reading
– Is unique and provides a different perspective on the subject
– Is up-to-date and accurate
Fast Loading and No Lagging
No one enjoys going to a slow-loading website. In fact, most users will lose patience if a site hasn’t fully loaded in 2-3 seconds. Yikes.
Google is aware of how important speed is for its users. That’s why Google now uses page speed as a Google ranking factor for both desktop and mobile searches.
This means that slow mobile load times could be negatively affecting your Google ranking. Make sure that your site is fully optimized for use on both desktop and mobile to get to the top of search results.
Have a sluggish site? Try a few of these adjustments:
– Upgrade your hosting
– Don’t go overboard on plugins
– Reduce image file sizes with compression, cropping, or lowering the resolution
– Enable browser caching
Title Tags and Meta Tags
Could writing an extra 200 characters of content boost your search results? It could if you’re writing the right title and meta tags.
Your title tag is one of the first things that users will notice in search results. It gives them a clue as to what your content is about. And if it’s a smartly written headline then it might just entice them to click.
The meta description also helps users know if your content will be relevant to their needs. An optimized meta description will tell Google and users what your content is all about.
Given the importance of search intent, taking the time to optimize your title and meta tags should be a no brainer.
Mobile First
As a business owner, you may have noticed how many users are accessing your site from mobile devices. This trend has been taking off for years and shows no sign of slowing.
As such, Google has started to implement “mobile first” indexing of sites. That means that Google considers the mobile version of your site to be the primary version. So if your mobile site performs poorly, it could mean a big Google ranking drop.
If your desktop site is clean and modern but your mobile site is hard to read or obstructed by pop-ups, then now is the time to rethink your mobile design.
The Total SEO Package
SEO is no longer just about URLs and links. Now more than ever, it’s important to properly optimize all elements of your website design, UX, content marketing, and mobile experience.
If your SEO strategy is stuck in the past, the experts at National Positions can take you to 2018 and beyond. We take a comprehensive approach to Google rankings that incorporates all aspects of SEO.
