As the world of SEO is changing and growing, we are seeing more and more ways that we can optimize our pages for higher rankings. In today’s blog post I will be sharing with you some of the most effective techniques to use in order to make sure your page ranks as high as possible on Google.
Nowadays search engines such as Google have become smarter than ever before, which means they need a lot more information from us in order to rank our page correctly. Here are 13 tips that will help you do just that:
Publish high-quality content
If you want your page to rank high, then publishing good content is the first step. Although Google never stated that only original articles will be ranked on their search engine, there are some rules to follow if you don’t want to get penalized by them:
Republishing old works without any improvements will make it hard for Google’s search engine to find your page useful. Try to be unique and original, while still relevant of course!
Never copy others’ work – it is important for us humans not to do this but it is even more crucial when it comes to the internet. Google will know which one is yours and which one isn’t so make sure you are staying on the safe side by never plagiarizing another person’s work.
Make sure your page is easily indexable
If you want to promote your site, there are some things that you should do, in order to make sure Google can find it easily and rank it high. First of all, try to choose a short-form domain name (if possible) and then, follow these simple steps:
Avoid unnecessary redirects – you want your visitors to be able to stay on the same page, so if you are using 301 or 302 HTTP error codes, change them as soon as possible.
Easy indexing
Ensure that every file is easily indexed by search engine robots by adding a file extension htaccess file. Most of the time these will get indexed without you even knowing it, which is very important when talking about SEO.
URLs
URLs with numbers are not good for the search engine bots to crawl properly so if possible try to avoid them. You can also redirect these automatically in order to solve this issue in a safe way.
Make sure your pages have unique titles
If you want your page to rank, then it is vital that the title of every file on your site is unique. You can do this by automatically redirecting or changing them manually.
Optimize page titles and meta descriptions
The title and description of a web page or blog post are the first things that viewers see on Google’s search engine. The more you optimize them, the higher your chances for a better ranking.
Below I will list some of the most important things regarding this topic:
Perform an H1 tag optimization
By manually optimizing every single H1 tag on your site, you can help Google rank it better and not get any errors while indexing it.
Make sure your keywords are in the title
You can also use your keywords as a title if it is done properly, but make sure to test every single variant and see which works best for you. Remember not to cram too many of them at once otherwise, this will make it look like spam.
Make sure the most important keywords are in the beginning of your title
This rule is very simple to follow, but it works perfectly. Try to start every single page with a relevant keyword and you will see how much better Google ranks you afterwards!
Use descriptive meta descriptions
Most people don’t know this but even though meta descriptions are not visible directly on search engine results, they are still very important for SEO. You should make sure that every single one of your pieces of content has a unique meta description because this will influence your CTR (click-through rate) and if Google sees that people like what you’re saying, it may rank you higher as well!
Make sure meta descriptions are 150 characters or more
This is also a very important thing because if your meta description is too short, then Google may think that it’s spam and it will not show up in search engine results.
Optimize page content
Even though meta descriptions and titles are very important, content is still king. You need to make sure that your site gets ranked high because the actual words on the page are interesting enough for people to click on them!
High CTR
By working with CTR you can actually help Google index your web pages faster. Keep in mind that if Google sees that users like your content, it may rank you better. Try to optimize your meta description and title properly and see how much this can help!
Keep the site updated
Google loves fresh content so if you want to make sure that your page gets ranked high, then be sure to update it as often as possible (without overdoing it). You can even automate this process with a simple WP plugin.
Links that point to your content
If you want Google bots to find your page, then make sure that there are other pages on the Internet which link directly to the URL of the piece of content you want them to index! This sometimes can be done manually, but if possible use an automatic tool.
Headings and content formatting
You can use a simple H1 tag or but make sure that the search engines know what your page is about. In order to properly format your content, you should use proper headings.
This will improve the understanding of the text by both users and bots – this means that your pages will rank better in Google and people who read it will find it more interesting and better written as well.
SEO Images and other multimedia elements
Using images and other multimedia elements is also important for your page to rank. And the best thing is, a lot of this can be automated as well!
For example – you can create a “post image” using any type of software and insert it right into the body of your text. This way you don’t have to manually insert an image every time you add a new piece of content to your site.
Include keywords in your alt tags – this is one of the most important things when it comes to on-page SEO for images. You should take advantage of that and do it for each graphic on your page.
Don’t forget about videos! – videos are a great way to both entertain and educate your visitors. You can either upload them directly to YouTube or embed them right on the page of your website. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Just be sure that you use proper keywords in the title and description!
More isn’t always better – this is something that a lot of newbie marketers tend to forget. You can add too many meta tags and images to your website and because of that, Google may think that it’s spammy. Keep this in mind and always stay within reasonable limits.
URL optimization
Make sure that your URL is easy to read, contains no spaces or special characters – if possible use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_). If you’re writing whole sentences in the address bar, try to shorten them as much as possible without changing their meaning.
Internal links
This refers to links that are placed on the page of your website itself. This way you can point Google directly to the most important content on your site without having to be quite so spammy with your external sources of traffic.
When it comes to internal linking, there are two basic approaches:
- place links to your most important pages on the bottom of each post
- use “related post” plugins and link to related content on your site
The first one is generally better, but you should keep in mind that people who read the article won’t be able to find it if they decide later on that they want more info.
In order to make sure that your content ranks as well as possible, try both approaches and see which one works better.
External links
External links are an essential part of your on-page SEO. The more sites that link back to you, the higher your page will rank for Google.
You can use a tool like Open Site Explorer in order to find new websites that might be interested in linking to you. All you have to do is type in your URL and it will show you similar websites that can be found using Google.
Make sure that all of your external links are “no-followed” – this means that even though they will point to your site, search engines won’t consider them when ranking it. This is done in order to avoid any type of accidental link building – always check whether or not a link is followed before you decide where to place it.
Use keyword-rich anchor text – this one is pretty much essential, but many people still don’t know exactly what “anchor text” means. Anchor text is the actual clickable link that appears on your site. Many webmasters choose to use their primary keywords as anchor texts for both internal and external links.
Example: I can’t stress enough how important this is, you MUST use it if you want to rank higher on Google.
Page loading speed
According to a recent study, Internet users take an average of 2 seconds to decide whether or not they’re going to stay on any given website. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, many people will leave it and go somewhere else.
This means that if you want to rank higher on Google (and other search engines), you need to make sure that your loading speed is as fast as possible.
You can use a tool like Pingdom or GTMetrix in order to find out how much time it takes for the most important elements of your website to load.
Mobile-friendliness
Over the past year or so, Google has been updating their mobile search algorithm more frequently than ever before. As of April 21st 2015, they’re also introducing a ranking penalty for websites that are not mobile-friendly.
This means that if you want to make sure your website ranks high on Google, you need to use responsive design in order to make sure that it’s optimized for mobile devices.
Just a word of warning: don’t try to fool Google by manually resizing your web page in order to look like a mobile device – they have already caught on to this and you’ll be penalized as a result.
Core Web Vitals
These are the 4 categories that Search Engine Watch came up with in order to help you optimize your pages for higher rankings:
Usability
Your website should be easy to navigate, load fast and work well on mobile devices.
DOMAIN AUTHORITY
This means how trustworthy your site is when it comes to search engines. The more authoritative your site is, the easier it will be for you to rank on Google.
REPUTATION & AUTHOR INFO
This is another very important factor that can help you rank higher on Google. The more we trust your site as a source of relevant and high-quality content, the better it will perform in search engines.
KEYWORDS
This means that you need to pick the right words and phrases that people search for in order to find your site. You can use a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner in order to do this.
Call To Action (CTA)
A call to action is a button or link on your website that people can click on in order to get something specific.
It’s very important for you to use them because they not only help your readers interact with your posts more easily but also makes it easier for search engines to determine what the main purpose of each page is.
For example, if you have a blog post about “How to lose weight in 5 days” and your readers are able to click on an obvious link called “Click here to read the full article”, this tells Google that this page is all about losing weight in 5 days.
On the other hand, if there’s no obvious CTA present on this page, Google might think that it’s all about healthy diets or simply can’t find the signal that tells it what the main topic is.
To make sure your pages are properly optimized for search engines, you should always have an obvious link or button on them so people can go to the next step they want with ease.
User Engagement
This is an important factor that can help you increase your rankings and trust score in the eyes of search engines.
One of the easiest ways to do it is by using things like polls, quizzes or contests on your website – they tend to generate a lot of interaction between people who visit your site and it can also help you collect data for your use.
This doesn’t mean that you should spam your readers – you can also create quizzes, contests or other interactive elements only once every month or so in order to make sure people don’t get bored of them.
In other words, if you want to rank higher on Google, it’s important for you to make sure that your readers and search engines know that you’re not just a regular website but one that responds to their questions and tries to help them as much as possible.
Conclusion
These are some of the best SEO techniques you can use in order to make sure your pages rank higher on Google.
If you don’t want to write them yourself, I’m willing to pay $30 for this job. And please note that I am not interested in copying or completing work, so be honest and write unique content!
In other words, this process can be done manually or automatically using tools like SEMrush – the important thing is that you choose something and start moving in the right direction.
In order to fix this, you need to change the way your site works and make sure that all content is unique and properly formatted.
In other words, you shouldn’t obsess over your rankings but instead, try to work as much as possible on making sure they improve without being too demanding of yourself.
Very innformative content