You don’t have to trick Google into ranking you higher. You can play by the rules and rank higher using these simple steps.
You probably know that if your website consistently appears on the first page results on Google, then chances are that more users will be clicking through to your website, hence more traffic and with more traffic comes more leads and sales. If you have the suitable methods to turn this traffic into business leads, then you’ll enhance your profits.
The problem is how do you get your website to the first page results on Google? The answer is pretty simple, although it’s easy to be lost in translation when it comes to application. I want to show you how Google ranks pages and how to set up your website appropriately, in a short time-frame.
First off, Google employs a number of sophisticated tools and algorithms to establish the order (ranking) by which Web pages are displayed on its search results page. These tools and algorithms are constantly updated to provide more refined results and improve user experience. In addition, the updates may also be aimed at creating a fair playing ground by filtering out opportunistic websites that attempt to ‘trick’ the search engine to rank them higher.
But you don’t have to trick Google into ranking you higher. You can play by the rules and rank higher using these simple steps.
Determine which words that people often use in their search queries when they arrive at your website. You can use tools like the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to get the low down on how users get to your site.
For instance, it will show you the search queries they type, the number of searches performed on a particular search query, and the level of competition for that query. When you grasp these details and understand what importance Google algorithms place on each, you’ll be in better position to set up your Web pages appropriately for search.
When you write your content, include unique phrases that correspond to the search queries that users type to get to your site. Google crawlers search for particular phrases on web pages, not the entire website.
For instance, if you’re a local contractor in your area, ensure that you include information about your area of service, such as ‘roofing contractor Brisbane’. You can include punctuation but the order should be exact.
Pay attention to what you put in the title and meta tags, specifically the meta description. The information you include in these important tags will appear in the search result’s first line. Each page should have a unique meta tags for that page. When it comes to page titles, its best to keep them under 70-characters; for meta descriptions, keep them under 160-characters in length (including spaces).
Every page in your website should have an acceptable URL and should be descriptive as well. Your pages should have names that describe what they entail, rather than generic names. It’s good practice to have your URLs as short as possible, so this way search engines can display them correctly in the SERPs (Search Engine Rank Positions).
Send your sitemap as well as your websites URL to Google as this is what the search engine uses to discover more details about your website’s structure. You can do this from Google Webmaster Tools.
Get other websites to link to yours. Google’s PageRank algorithm assigns a numerical weighting value to web pages based on how many pages link to it, among other factors and conditions. So you should make an effort to locate websites related to your niche and offer reciprocal links.
If you have a physical location where your business is located, include the address on Google Maps, where possible. Your website will rank higher for a regional search query of your location. All you have to do is log into Google and fill out a form to add that listing.
In addition to the above steps, you must ensure that the content you put on your site is relevant, informative, and regularly refreshed. Google’s latest updates to its search algorithms seek to penalise websites with low quality content that somehow find their way high up the ranks on the search results page.
If you stuff your pages with keywords, or use exact-match domains in your URLs, then you may be penalized by the new updates and you certainly won’t rank high. But if you apply these simple steps correctly, your rank will increase greatly.
If you need more tips or have questions regarding your websites SEO, you can contact me via Twitter @seolabaus or at Expert SEO Consultant.
