A lot has been said about the importance of improving online visibility. But higher chances are that you feel there’s a lot you should do to ensure that your online marketing investment bears fruit. The best way to boost your visibility is to appear in the first few pages of search engines, specifically Google, which is the most used the world over. But even with the best SEO practices, more needs to be done to ensure that you maintain your spot in the Google rankings. Now, do you know how often Google updates its algorithms and do you know why?
In the year 2018 alone, it’s reported that Google made over 3000+ improvements. On average, this is about 8.86 improvements per day. The main reason this is done is to improve the quality of the search index. While some updates may be small, others can affect your ranking on Google. So, it’s important to be aware of such updates and how to go about updating your site if you’re being affected by the updates. In this piece, however, we’ll be looking at various hacks on how to improve your Google rankings and while at it, maintain the top spot.
1. It’s All About Utilizing The Best SEO Practices
While it’s clear that SEO is the best-known way to improve rankings on the big G, the first thing you’ll want to do is to make sure you’re using the best SEO practices. This is an SEO bible of sorts, which covers sets of SEO tasks, steps, and measures to take in optimizing your site for higher ranks on Google. They may include on-site page optimization, content optimization, link building, keyword placement, and so forth. It may take some time, effort, and may put a dent in your wallet, but the rewards are worth it in the long run. As the article from Bear Fox entitled How Long Does SEO Take? A Complete Overview of Your SEO Timeline explains, there are many factors that determine how quickly a site can reach page one of Google. These may include your site’s age, web design, domain authority, content, keywords, and web spam factors, among others. All the same, the key to boosting your ranks on Google is using the best SEO practices and keeping up with the demands of search engines.
2. Create Relevant and Good Quality Content
To improve your site rank on Google, it’s important to ensure that your posts contain high-quality and relevant content. Why do you need relevant content? First and foremost, the idea behind creating high-quality content is to educate your audience about your products and services. It can also be made with the objective of entertaining your target audience. Relevant content will help to keep users glued to your site. The dwell time or the amount of time users spend on your site will impact your SEO rankings either positively or negatively. Have you ever wondered why some sites contain lengthy content? It’s all to engage the users and to keep them fixated on the site. In addition to this, lengthy, informative, high-quality content adds value to each page. While on the same note, you also want to include high-ranking keywords if you’re to improve your site’s rankings, which brings us to the next important point.
3. Research the Right Keywords To Use
This can never be overemphasized! Quality content alone may not be enough to improve your Google rankings. SEO keywords can range from simple words of long phrases. Keywords help to improve user search intent. These are words you think the target audience will most probably use when performing a search on Google. They are a critical factor in determining your rankings in Google. To ensure that you’ve utilized the right keywords, you’ll want to use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner before writing any content. This tool provides you with insights on the best keywords to include in your content. The benefits of utilizing Google Keyword Planner include:
- You can spy on your competitor’s keywords
- It’s the best tool to use in blog posts
- Fast access to the best keywords within your niche
- It’s an easier option when creating AdWords campaigns
Recently, Google updated the Keyword Planner. It’s now easily accessible and users can now see the metric measurements that are vital in predicting the right keywords for their marketing campaigns.
4. Boost Your Site’s Loading Speed
The site loading speed will continue to be a ranking factor in Google. One thing to also note is that your site can load faster on a PC but fail on mobile devices. Now, did you know that the majority of searches are carried out using mobile devices? Recently, Google announced that they’ll now be using the mobile site loading speed as a metric to determine ranks. With this in mind, you’ll need to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and not just mobile-friendly, but also fast. Fortunately, it will not require rocket science to boost your site’s loading speed. Below are easy ways to improve the speed of your site:
- Choose a reliable hosting provider
- Utilize CDN (content delivery network) to boost download speeds
- Compress the images in your site
- Consult a professional web designer
5. Include Social Media in Your Marketing Campaigns
Did you know that Google views all social media platforms as authority brands? Well, now you know. This means that any links shared from these sites can help to improve your rankings. But this will depend on how often people will like and share your content on social media platforms. In the long run, this will help to boost and sustain your Google rankings. To improve your visibility on social media platforms, consider the following tips:
- Use social media-oriented CTAs
- Include social media share buttons in your site
- Encourage your audience to share your content in social media by offering them freebies
6. Improve the Quality of Your Links
As opposed to concentrating your efforts on lengthy links, it’s time you focused more on quality rather than quantity. In addition to this, there’s a potential risk of including excessive backlinks in your pages. This could easily get your site penalized by Google and/or cause your site rankings to drop. To maintain your rankings, spread inbound links on your website pages. This is a great strategy to increase your website’s overall authority.
Ranking higher on Google isn’t as hard as they’ll make you think. But then again, it’s easier said than done. With the right SEO strategy and implementing the above strategies, improving your site’s Google ranks could be easier than you ever thought before.
Allen Brown is a keen writer covering topics such as Internet Marketing, SEO, Travel, Beauty and the such. He enjoys spending time with his two kids on his past time.
