Five Ways to Improve Your Google Search Ranking
Everyone with a website wants a high Google search ranking, but no one gets that coveted slot without a little hard work behind the scenes. Small businesses who want to compete and succeed should follow these five tactics when preparing their website because they could make a huge difference not just in rankings, but in traffic, conversions, and eventually dollars!
1. Put In The Meta Tags
There’s a lot going on in the code of your website. One important type of information are the meta tags. These are small bits of text that appear in the code of a page, and they describe what kind of content is on it. They’re similar to the tags at the bottom of blogs or web pages that can collate content for readers, but in the case of meta tags, you won’t see them unless you dig; they’re embedded just for Google’s search algorithms to find and read.
Meta tags can help with SEO, but some are better than others. Title tags, the ones that display at the top of a browser, are incredibly useful and some of the most important meta tags; meta keywords, however, are no longer in fashion.
2.Update Regularly
Readers love new, fresh content, and so does Google. Internet users often find the correct answers to their search queries on websites that provide relevant, unique, up-to-date information that is also interesting. Sometimes they don’t have time to stop and smell the roses, though: they need the correct answer fast.
Google knows this – their whole business model is providing answers – so they prioritize websites that have recently updated with content with keywords relevant to the topic being searched. By updating regularly, you’re signalling to the algorithms that you’re an authority on the subject, and your site will have the answer for which the user is looking. SlyFox monthly clients receive regular SEO optimization updates and a comprehensive content marketing plan.
3. Add Unique, Relevant Content
Did we mention this regularly-updated content should be unique? This includes all content, including articles, photographs, and videos. Google’s algorithms see uniqueness, the quality of your content that isn’t replicated anywhere else, as a huge asset, and prioritized it highly in the rankings. For copying and pasting content from elsewhere on your site, though, you’ll pay a huge penalty.
4. Inbound Links
Inbound links, also known as backlinks or external links, are hyperlinks from other domains that direct users to your website. In the confusing anarchy of the Internet, it’s like a citation (an all-too-rare occurrence these days). If you can be used to back up someone’s article or blog post, you’ll be seen as an authority on that topic, and Google will rank you highly. When they come from a variety of high level domains, your SEO will shoot up!
Getting inbound links isn’t the easiest trick, but you can do it by reaching out to other websites that share the goals and philosophy of your business. It’s worth the effort!
5. Mobile Optimization… For Google
Around the world, mobile traffic accounts for more than half of all online traffic. Google is making way for this percentage to increase in the coming years, and they now prioritize mobile speed and adaptability in their rankings. This means not just having mobile optimization, but making your site accommodating to Google searches coming from smartphones and tablets. Now, speed, accelerated mobile pages, and a responsive design are all necessary to earn a higher ranking.
Luckily, if your site has been built properly, mobile optimization should already be a key feature. The SlyFox team can outfit your site with the right tools to optimize it for Google searches, and a host of other smaller things that make it more user friendly.
