Are you looking to boost the SEO growth of your website and get it on the first page of Google? Look no further! In this post, we'll cover 20 of the best ways to get your website ranking higher on Google, from conducting keyword research to optimizing your loading speed. Search engine optimization is essential for any website wanting to get traffic. After all, most users don’t go beyond the first page of Google when searching for something. That’s why it’s so important to get your website on that coveted first page.
Keep reading to learn all the tips and tricks you need to know to get your website on the first page with these 20 time-tested and proven ways.
These keywords should be included in your title tags, meta descriptions, and throughout your content to improve your ranking on Google. You may also consider using them if you run Google Ad campaigns, or to conduct competitor and market research. For even more on this, see this guide on keyword research including identifying keyword intent.
These elements should accurately and compellingly describe your content and include the targeted keywords to improve your ranking on Google. It is important to note that Google programmatically pulls in the title and description based on a user's search, so it is crucial to optimize these elements to ensure that your website appears prominently in the search results. By taking the time to carefully craft your title tags and meta descriptions, you can improve your website's visibility and attract more users to your site.
Use these keywords in your headings, subheadings, and body text to signal to search engines the relevance of your content to users' search queries. It is important to be mindful of the keyword density, or the number of times a keyword appears in relation to the total number of words on the page, when incorporating keywords into your content. Keyword stuffing, or the practice of excessively using keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings, is not only ineffective, but it can also harm your website's ranking and user experience. Instead, aim to create helpful, informative, and easy-to-read content that naturally incorporates your targeted keywords. By focusing on creating high-quality content that provides value to users, you can improve your ranking on Google and attract more visitors to your website.
It is important to provide value to users and address their needs and interests through your content to keep them engaged and interested in your site. Good content can also help to improve your ranking on Google. Search engines want to provide the best possible results to users, so they will rank websites with high-quality, relevant content higher in the search results. By consistently producing unique and valuable content, you can establish your website as an authority in your industry and improve your ranking on Google. Additionally, good content can help to attract links and social shares, which can also contribute to your ranking on the search engine. Overall, investing in high-quality, unique, and engaging content is a crucial element of a successful SEO strategy.
By linking related pages on your site, you can improve your ranking on Google. This is because you build "link juice" internally, and point users to even more helpful content that they may be interested in that is relevant.
By linking to reputable sources, you can show search engines the value of your content and improve your ranking on Google. Not just that, but in SEO, "followed" links are considered more valuable because they are the default behavior for links. "No-followed" links were introduced to combat spam, but they can cause problems if used too frequently. To encourage websites to link to other sites, Google rewards websites that use followed links. Pro tip: It is important to carefully manage your use of external links by creating a whitelist or blacklist of trusted or untrusted domains, rather than no-following every external link.
Use descriptive and keyword-rich file names and alt text for your media to signal to search engines the relevance of these elements to your content. Alternative (alt) text is also important for user experience overall, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) mandate using it to help folks who may have temporary or permanent disAbilities.
By actively using social media, you can indirectly improve your ranking on Google. This is because Google has shown to pull in popular Twitter posts in the past. Not just that, but it achieves a social viral coefficient greater than 1, meaning it is leveraging network effects, helping to share and even create user generated content (UGC).
By providing opportunities for users to comment, share, and interact with your content, you can improve the user experience on your website and signal to search engines the value of your content. This can ultimately help to improve your ranking on Google. There are several ways to increase user engagement on your website, including:
These keywords are often more descriptive and contain more than one or two words, making them more closely aligned with the way users typically search for information. By incorporating long-tail keywords into your content, you can increase the chances of ranking for those keywords and improve your overall ranking on Google. By targeting a specific audience with long-tail keywords, you can also attract more qualified traffic to your website and potentially generate more leads or sales. It is important to note that while long-tail keywords may have lower search volume, they can still drive valuable traffic to your website and should be a key part of your overall SEO strategy.
A slow-loading website can be frustrating for users and may lead them to leave your site before they have a chance to engage with your content. According to Google research, "a one-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%." On the other hand, a fast-loading website with a seamless user experience can keep users on your site longer and encourage them to explore more of your content. This can ultimately improve your ranking on Google, as search engines consider loading speed and user experience as ranking factors. There are several ways to optimize your website's loading speed and user experience, including optimizing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript, using a content delivery network (CDN), and reducing the number of redirects and external requests. By taking the time to optimize these elements, you can improve your website's performance and ranking on Google.
By incorporating local keywords and optimizing your website for local search, you can improve your visibility and ranking in the search results. For example, a Pennsylvania-based marketing firm may want to include the regions served, such as "Pennsylvania SEO Agency" on the homepage of your site.
By providing accurate and relevant information about your business, you can improve your ranking on Google. You can see how many views your listing gets, and even post updates and respond to positive or negative reviews for reputation management.
It is a type of code that is added to the HTML of your website and helps search engines understand the meaning and structure of your content. By using schema markup, you can help search engines understand the content on your website and improve your ranking on Google. There are several types of schema markup, including product, event, recipe, and article schema. By using the appropriate schema markup for your content, you can help search engines understand the relevance and context of your content to users' search queries. This can improve the chances of your website appearing in rich results, such as rich snippets or featured snippets, which can increase its visibility and improve its ranking on Google. In addition to improving your ranking, schema markup can also help to increase the click-through rate (CTR) of your website by providing users with more information about your content in the search results.
A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages, posts, and other content on your website, along with their respective URLs. By providing a comprehensive and up-to-date sitemap, you can improve your ranking on Google. When search engines crawl your website, they use the sitemap as a roadmap to discover and index your content. This can help ensure that all of your pages and posts are being properly indexed and considered for ranking. It is important to note that sitemaps are not a ranking factor in and of themselves, but they can help search engines discover and index your content more efficiently, which can ultimately improve your ranking. In addition to creating a sitemap, you should also regularly update it to reflect any changes or additions to your website. This will help ensure that search engines have the most current and accurate information about your website.
These types of issues can create a poor user experience and make it more difficult for search engines to crawl and index your website, which can ultimately harm your ranking. By regularly monitoring and addressing any such issues, you can improve your ranking on the search engine. There are several tools and resources available to help you monitor and address technical errors and issues on your website, including Google Search Console and SEO audit tools. By using these tools to identify and fix issues, you can ensure that your website is running smoothly and performing optimally. In addition to monitoring and addressing technical errors and issues, it is also important to regularly update and maintain your website to prevent such issues from occurring in the first place. By taking proactive measures to maintain your website, you can improve your ranking on Google and provide a better user experience for your visitors.
It is a free service provided by Google that allows you to monitor and maintain your website's presence in search results. By using Search Console, you can identify areas for improvement and optimize your website to improve your ranking on the search engine. Some of the key features and benefits of Search Console include:
By regularly monitoring and responding to these reviews, you can improve your reputation and ranking on the search engine. This is especially true with the latest Google algorithm update released in August 2022 called the Helpful Content Update. With this update, Google is prioritizing websites that provide helpful and relevant information to users, as well as those with high-quality and engaging content. By responding to user reviews and ratings, you can demonstrate to Google that your website is valuable and useful to users. This can help improve your reputation and ranking on the search engine. It is important to note that it is not just the number of reviews and ratings that matters, but also the quality and relevance of those reviews, as well as any response from you. By actively encouraging users to leave reviews and ratings and responding to them in a timely and helpful manner, you can improve your reputation and ranking on Google.
On-page strategies involve optimizing the content and structure of your own website, such as using targeted keywords in your content and optimizing your website's loading speed. Off-page strategies involve building links and citations from external websites, such as by promoting your content on social media or getting mentioned in news articles. By using a combination of both types of strategies, you can improve your overall ranking on Google. On-page and off-page SEO strategies work together to help search engines understand the relevance and value of your website to users. By optimizing both the content and structure of your website and building links and citations from external sources, you can demonstrate to search engines that your website is a valuable and useful resource for users. This can help improve your ranking on Google and increase the visibility and traffic to your website.
Google frequently updates its algorithms to improve the quality and relevance of the search results it delivers to users. By staying informed about these updates and how they may affect your website's ranking, you can make the necessary changes to optimize your website and improve your ranking on Google. There are several resources available to help you stay up-to-date with the latest algorithms and ranking factors, such as industry blogs, newsletters, and webinars. It is also important to regularly update and optimize your website to align with these factors. This may include creating high-quality and engaging content, optimizing your website's structure and navigation, and building links and citations from external sources. By regularly updating and optimizing your website, you can improve your ranking on Google and stay ahead of the competition.
To improve your website's ranking on Google, it is important to follow these proven 20 SEO strategies and tips listed. These strategies will help you increase your website's visibility and attract more users. Some of these strategies mentioned above include conducting keyword research, optimizing your website's title tags and meta descriptions, creating high-quality and engaging content, using internal and external linking, optimizing images and videos, promoting your content on social media, encouraging user engagement, optimizing for local search, claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing, using schema markup, creating and submitting a sitemap, monitoring and addressing technical errors, using Google Search Console, responding to user reviews, using a combination of on-page and off-page SEO strategies, and staying up-to-date with the latest ranking factors.
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YouTube is a great way to expand your business, and many people are making a lot of money off of filming YouTube videos. What not everyone is as aware of is that, as with your website, there are some tips that you can apply to your YouTube videos that will boost your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and get you more views and a higher click-through-rate.
a) Preview what the video is all about. A great way to do this is to go with a short intro that hooks watchers by telling them exactly what to expect in the first 10 seconds.
b) Proof. Tell viewers why they should listen to you. People like to quickly know what they are going to get out of what you are offering. Provide reasons as to why they should continue watching your movie; including accomplishments, experience, and showing proof that you've done your research.
c) Preview-again. Repeat what you are going to cover in your video, but be more specific. Refer to something that you are going to cover later on in the film. This will pique their curiosity and encourage the viewer to continue watching.
Put the keyword in the title, but do not stuff and use it only once, at the beginning. Next, say the keyword in the video. YouTube's algorithm has become super smart and can listen to your words in the video!
To increase user interaction signals, use simple annotations in-video asking people to subscribe, like, and comment. This gets you some feedback, but also keeps your viewers engaged.
In the YouTube video search engine results page, use a custom video thumbnail that includes the current year and stands out from the competition. For the description, have attention-grabbing user copy that appeals to potential watchers. You need to know who you are targeting and make sure that the potential watcher can see the title clearly.
This is one of the ranking signals that YouTube uses. Yes, believe it or not, YouTube is intuitive enough to consider audience-retention, and the longer your video keeps people on YouTube, the higher search ranking you will get!
YouTube is only gaining in popularity and use. In fact, according to the 2018 State of Inbound report, 45% of marketers planned on investing more in YouTube over the course of this year. It is also the #2 search engine in the world, with more than 3 billion searches a month in 2017- amounting to more search volume than Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, and AOL combined, according to Forbes.
Your goal should be to get your video to rank high in Google (meaning preferably on the first page, near the top) so that it gets more traffic and views. The way to do that is to apply the above tips and watch your views rise! Remember, it’s not only about the views; you want to have people subscribe to your channel, so remember tip #4 and don’t forget to ask your watchers to subscribe while they are watching the video! In addition, you can explore the Key Video to improve your video marketing.
Ali Jaffar has been building dazzling websites and creating amazing online experiences for over a decade. His mastery of the latest innovations in web development results in world-class website experiences set apart by show-stopping style and seamless functionality. A Google Mobile Sites and Google Analytics qualified individual and award-winning web development guru, Ali lends his talents to build and bolster digital experiences for a wide array of clients. When Ali’s not helping his clients grow, you can find him doing yoga, walking his dog, and enjoying a nice bike ride around Philly.
Pro Tip: the more love your website needs to be optimized, the more you should consider investing in a website redesign or a whole new website built with SEO in mind from the start. Key Medium can conduct a thorough technical website and SEO audit and walk you through recommendations to develop an action plan customized to your business goals, needs, and budget.
Let’s face it. Every business is presented with unique challenges. And that is never more so than when dealing with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you have an organization or company that markets directly to other companies then when it comes to SEO, there are a few mistakes that you need to be sure not to make.
1. Use the right vocabulary: While there is a lot of behind-the-scenes with SEO, it’s good not to lose sight of common sense. Drop the fancy lingo and think like as the person searching for your product or service. Use search terms that anyone might be typing into their browser.
2. Stop the PPC: One big mistake businesses make is believing that they need to continue to pay for advertising while incorporating SEO. Do you know that 70% of the links clicked on are not paid? Try to stay focused on one thing and don’t spread yourself too thin.
3. Don’t try to be #1: While it’s fantastic to be the top search result, don’t be too concerned about making it there. The top 3 search results get 61% of the clicks. So in the case of SEO, being second or third is every bit as great as being first from a search visibility perspective, especially considering that B2B decision makers make on average 12 searches, according to Google data points.
4. Keep is basic: Google has recently made some adjustments and made things simple. Don’t try and include a ton of keywords. Stick to one good keyword and one related keyword.
5. No broken links: There’s nothing someone hates more than clicking on a broken link. Broken links will earn you a bad rap, fast. Make sure that all your links are working.
6. Avoid duplicate content: Don’t try to increase sales by having the same pages and product linked all over the place. People will easily be annoyed by the repetitiveness. Google is only going to index one of the pages anyway, so it’s going to be gaining you nothing.
7. Use those analytics: Using some form of analytics is a must. It’s how you are to keep track of how you are doing, if your page views are going up or down, where traffic is coming from, and what pages are being viewed the most.
8. Know your goal: Yes, it's to increase sales, but how are you going to get there? With more service or product feature page, high domain authority backlinks and earned media, or creating new content? It’s one thing to rely on your Google results, but there are other aspects, that involve your website, also to consider.
9. Keep it real. Don’t ever, ever copy a competitor. While your customers may not necessarily notice, Google will spot duplicate content, and you may even be penalized for it. Stay unique.
10. Offload: Don’t try to do it all. If you don’t know what you are doing, and aren’t ready to put some hard work into your SEO, then maybe it’s best to consider outsourcing. There are many reliable SEO companies out there prepared to help you, and you just need to find the right one for you and your business.
SEO is an organic, and inexpensive way to increase sales, build pageviews and convert leads into sales. Done correctly, you can see wonderful results for your company. And the great news is that whether you do it yourself, or you hire a company to do it for you, you can use all the above tips to help you avoid common mistakes and get the results you are looking for!
Key Medium are SEO and website experts and can help you come up with a keyword strategy that will work for your business. Get in touch today.
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Ali Jaffar has been building dazzling websites and creating amazing online experiences for over a decade. His mastery of the latest innovations in web development results in world-class website experiences set apart by show-stopping style and seamless functionality. A Google Mobile Sites and Google Analytics qualified individual and award-winning web development guru, Ali lends his talents to build and bolster digital experiences for a wide array of clients. When Ali’s not helping his clients grow, you can find him doing yoga, walking his dog, and enjoying a nice bike ride around Philly.
