by AlexHow to get to the top of a Google search
We all know the story. You’ve made a fantastic website, you’ve published it expecting big results, and… nothing.
With more than 202 million active websites on the internet, it’s no longer enough to simply put your site out there and hope for the best. You need to take an active role in making sure your website is visible and noticed by the right people.
But how can you improve your ranking in search engines and get your website noticed?
The answer is search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO is the process of optimising your website so that it will appear higher in search engine results. By performing careful and targeted SEO work, you can increase your website’s visibility and get more organic traffic streaming to your site.
Good SEO helps engage customers, builds trust in your brand, increases conversion rates and even boosts sales. It also helps establish you as an authority in your field, making you stand out from the competition by appearing at the top of search engine result pages (SERPs).
However, it is important to note that trying to perform SEO without the relevant knowledge of rules or algorithms can be detrimental to your website’s performance. Search engines are known to flag websites as spam or punish them for violating their guidelines, so it’s important to get help from a professional to make your SEO strategy as effective as it can be.
17 ways to improve page rank
Okay, so now you know that SEO is the key to making your website stand out, but how can you actually use SEO to generate traffic and improve page rankings?
Don’t worry, we’ve created a list of the most essential ways you can improve your website’s visibility.
Our 17 ways to get your website noticed are:
1) Identify relevant keywords
2) Consider longtail keywords
3) Make sure your website is structured for search engines
4) Know your competition
5) Create a business blog
6) Write eye-catching page titles
7) Optimise for mobile
8) Improve page speed
9) Image optimisation
10) Link internally
11) Collaborate with other businesses and influencers
12) Make use of directories
13) Optimise for SERPs
14) Get verified by Google
15) Share content on social media
16) Make content easy to share
17) Continue to optimise the website
18) Consider Google Ad campaigns (but don’t rely on them)
Let’s get into it.
1) Identify relevant keywords
Perhaps the most straightforward and well-known part of an SEO strategy, keyword research is an integral part of improving your website’s visibility.
By identifying relevant keywords related to your business and industry, you can ensure that you are targeting the right audience with the content on your site.
Using these keywords in pages and posts on your site can indicate to search engines that your page is relevant. However, overstuffing keywords will see your website receive a severe penalty.
2) Consider long-tail keywords
Following on from the last point, finding long-tail keywords to use can help you target a more specific audience.
Long-tail keywords are phrases or words that are longer than the usual one or two-word search queries and represent more detailed searches.
Although these searches typically have a lower search volume, they are easier to rank for than shorter, more competitive phrases.
This means that if you optimise for these types of keyword searches, chances are you’ll get highly relevant traffic coming to your website.
3) Make sure your website is structured for search engines
Search engines have bots that will crawl websites, indexing content in order to serve up the most relevant results to users. The easier it is for these bots to go through your website, the more likely you are to appear on SERPs.
Having consistent and easy-to-follow navigation, a sitemap, correct usage of headings and clean URLs are just some of the ways you can better structure your site for Google bots.
4) Know your competition
You may think you know who you’re competing with, but your online competitors are almost always different to those on the high street.
It’s important to take the time to do research into who your online competitors are and what they are doing in terms of SEO.
Knowing what content your competitor is producing, whether it ranks, and what other keywords they’re ranking for is integral to crafting an SEO plan. This way you can identify weaknesses in their strategy and capitalise on them to make sure your website stands out from the crowd.
5) Create a business blog
Using your competitor research, keyword analysis and other tools, you can create a blog that is tailored to your audience and industry.
This should be used in conjunction with SEO tactics, both onsite, offsite and technically if you want to see the best results.
Although topical may see results, creating evergreen content will see the longest-lasting results that you can continue to capitalise on.
However, if you create content that does not match the search intent, is irrelevant to your site, or is duplicated you will see a drop in organic traffic and potentially get penalised.
6) Write eye-catching page titles
Your page titles are another key factor in getting noticed. Headings and titles should be accurate and reflect the content that is on the page, but if they can grab the attention of the reader then you may see more organic traffic.
Using relevant keywords to declare, highlighting offers or including questions can entice clicks from users.
7) Optimise for mobile
Google has recently announced that mobile usability is now a key ranking factor for web pages.
Considering that nearly 60% of all online searches are on mobile, this news isn’t surprising.
To make sure your website is optimised for mobile, you need to ensure that the content loads quickly, images are compressed and that site’s navigation is easy to use in a mobile setting.
8) Improve page speed
Speaking of loading speeds, this is another key SEO ranking factor that widely affects user experience. Luckily, you can measure your website’s speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
If your website takes too long to load, users may become frustrated and leave. In fact, if your site takes 3 or more seconds to load, there’s a 53% chance the user will abandon your page and go somewhere else.
This can lead to increased bounce rates which could see you penalised by search engines.
9) Image optimisation
Good quality images are great for visually enhancing a page, but they can also slow down your website if not optimised correctly.
Using images of the appropriate size and compressing them can make sure that your pages load quickly while still being able to showcase eye-catching photographs.
To go further, you could add relevant alt tags or geo-tagging images to help them perform better on SERPs.
10) Link internally
Linking back to page structure, having a web of internal links can help search engine bots to crawl your website more effectively.
Google crawls websites by following links, so adding internal links throughout your pages will help them to find and index content more quickly and efficiently.
These should be related and relevant to the page they are linking to, though it is wise not to link too many times as this could be perceived as spam.
11) Collaborate with other businesses and influencers
You may have heard the phrase ‘backlinks’ being thrown around in SEO circles, but what does it actually mean?
Backlinks are when another website links to your site’s content, thus giving it what could be considered a vote of confidence. As well as helping to drive organic traffic and improve the visibility of your brand, they also help search engines to recognise you as an authoritative source.
However, Google prioritises one great link over one hundred weak ones.
To get great backlinks, consider reaching out to other businesses or influencers in your industry who may be able to link to your content.
Perhaps you’ve just written a post on a new trend or technology that’s relevant to their audience that they have also covered in their blog – this could be an opportunity for them to link back to your site and help increase your ranking.
12) Make use of directories
Another way of getting great backlinks is by making use of the many, many directories found across the internet.
These can range from local directories to industry-specific ones, such as Yellow Pages and Yelp.
By adding your website to these directories, you are able to build trust in the eyes of search engines and boost your rankings.
Of course, these links have to be relevant and high value for them to be worthwhile – so be careful as to which you choose.
13) Optimise for SERPs
Although it’s not a ranking factor for search engines, knowing how to write a good meta description is key to converting leads and bringing users to your site.
Each page is listed with its own meta description, meta title and sometimes featured image, so it’s important to make sure they all stand out.
Optimising content for featured snippets and People Also Ask segments are also great ways of performing well on SERPs.
14) Get verified by Google
Businesses looking to boost their online visibility should consider verifying themselves through Google My Business.
Not only does it provide a badge of honour and trust for your business, it also helps to ensure that all the data about your company is up-to-date and accurate and that bots can crawl your site even more efficiently.
Verifying with other search engines such as Bing is also worth considering, as this can help to increase your reach.
15) Share content on social media
With more than 4.26 billion people using social media globally, using these platforms to share your content can be a great way to increase traffic, engagement and visibility.
Regularly sharing content across networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook – especially if it is relevant to certain demographics – ensures that your brand stays top of mind and allows you to build relationships with potential customers.
LinkedIn is the perfect place for businesses looking to grow their network of professionals, while Twitter is the go-to place for short and snappy updates.
Facebook is still a giant when it comes to social media, with more than 1.62 billion users visiting the site every day, so make sure you post regularly on there and target the right demographics.
These platforms can also be used to run targeted campaigns and show off new products or services – giving you another avenue for getting your website noticed.
16) Make content easy to share
Keeping on the topic of social media, making your posts easy to share can vastly increase the visibility of your website.
Adding social share buttons to your content is a great way to make sure it can be shared quickly and easily, as well as offering insights into where people are sharing most of your content.
You should also consider implementing open graph tags – which are snippets of HTML code that control how your page appears when shared on social media – to ensure your content looks as good as possible when shared.
17) Continue to optimise the website
Creating and publishing a great website with engaging, original content is only half the battle.
If you’re looking to maintain your website ranking, you will need to continuously optimise it to match the latest results and trends.
Whether it’s looking at the page’s copy, images, metadata, technical SEO or any other aspect, it’s important to regularly audit your website and make the necessary changes.
This will help ensure that your content is always up-to-date, relevant and of a high quality – all of which are key factors when promoting a website with SEO.
18) Consider Google Ad campaigns (but don’t rely on them)
The last point in our blog on how to drive traffic to your website is by considering a targeted Google Ad campaign.
Although ads are a great way to generate more leads with a relatively high conversion rate, it’s important to note that relying solely on them may leave you with a hefty bill at the end of the month.
Before running a campaign you must know your exact demographic and have a page optimised for both that target audience and the ad campign’s intention.
For example, if you’re looking to gain more leads, make sure the landing page places a large emphasis on filling a form.
For best results, combine targeted Google Ads with organic SEO efforts such as creating content and building backlinks in order to get the most out of your website traffic.
How we gained an 850% increase in organic traffic
Getting great SEO results takes time. It’s a labour-intensive task that can take months to show significant results.
This is why we were particularly proud when one of our clients saw an increase of over 850% in organic traffic after less than six months of working with us.
To achieve this success, we used all of the 17 tips above in tandem with carefully crafted content and advanced technical SEO.
At Inc Studio, we work with forward-thinking brands looking to grow and make an impact in an ever-changing market.vWe offered a tailored approach to design and SEO, focusing on the results that matter most.
Contact us today to let us know about your business and we’ll contact you shortly.