In order to grow your business, you want a high number of legitimate inquiries and leads on your website or landing page. Search Engine Optimization plays a big part in this. Typically, over 71% of your website traffic is coming from the first page of Google’s search results. This is a huge opportunity for businesses to take advantage of.
1. Keyword Optimization
Keyword research and implementation are known to rank your site higher in Google’s search results. Keywords have always been an important part of SEO. And the way keywords are used in SEO practices are always changing and developing. In order to understand how to pick the right keywords, we must think about how we naturally formulate the words and phrases we put into Google’s search bar. Between fragmented words and phrases, users are using both methods equally (50/50). Users also use questions to generate search results such as “How to” or “Why do.” However, 73% of users do not use a question in their search.
2. Onpage SEO
In order to make the most of your optimized keywords, you need to know where and how to implement them. Old SEO tactics include a ridiculous amount of hidden keywords throughout your website in order to rank high. This kind of practice doesn’t work today. Google has adapted to the way users read content and can tell when things are written purely just to add keywords. Keywords must be used naturally throughout your site and on-page elements. On-page elements such as your headings, subheadings, page title, and meta description must all be updated with your optimized keywords while taking into account how users actually read and digest information.
3. Overall User Experience
In July 2020, Google introduced a new algorithm called Core Web Vitals. This algorithm will take user experience into consideration when your site is being crawled. These real-world metrics give Google an understanding of how well users are interacting with your site. Metrics such as page load time, stability of the site, site security, and pop-ups on your site are all taken into consideration. These metrics can impact how well your site ranks and must meet a minimum score if you want your site to reach Top Stories.
4. Expertise, Authority, & Trust
Once users are on your site or landing page, they will start the process of deciding if your service or business is right for them. In order to hook your customer and sell them on your product, you must establish yourself as an expert in your field. You can make this known by publishing high-quality content, addressing any credentials you may have, or linking to any media that may have mentioned you. These tactics will give your brand authority by developing content to share knowledge in your field. Users are also looking to trust your brand. You can establish this with clear and accurate contact information, as well as your website being in good standing. You will want a generally positive sentiment across all mentions and reviews of your product or service.
5. Examine the trends & look to the future
The way Google ranks a page is ever-changing. Because of this, it is important to look at the trends of past SEO best practices to predict what could change in the future. There are hundreds of factors in determining a site’s ranking, so we have to look at what kind of goals Google has when making those factors. There are a few best practices Google has released as to what they are looking for:
- Your website must clearly state what your site is about and how it can meet your users’ needs.
- Google will more likely rank your site if the site is accessible to both its users and the search engines.
- Also, while on the site, there must be a clear hierarchy making it easy for the user to digest information.
Google cares about the user’s experience when going to a site and wants to make sure it provides the most accurate and relevant listings for them. If you can use this mentality while optimizing your site, you can feel confident that users will respond, and Google will take notice.