Statistics tell us there are over 200 actual ranking signals. And, here’s a list of the most important ones, you should be focusing
How many times have you tried going on the 2nd or 3rd page while searching for something? I am sure that would be very rare. No one does. Now tell me, what is the use of hosting a website if you cannot bring traffic and people don’t see you there.
According to the statistics 91% of people do not click past the 1st page. It is inevitable to mention that if you can manage to get yourself in Google’s top-ranking, the flow of your business will be boosted dramatically. Let me tell you, as easy as it may sound, getting yourself listed on top isn’t child’s play. But you don’t need to worry, we’ve got your back.
Before, I start with the “How tos”, it is important to understand the way Google works. What are the things that Google looks into while listing your site? And, here’s what GOOGLE says:
Statistics tell us there are over 200 actual ranking signals. And, here’s a list of the most important ones, you should be focusing:
Give high quality content
Google says the most vital of all is to give high quality content on your website, especially your homepage. All those visiting you should get the relevant information they are looking for. If your page contains useful information, it will attract many visitors and increase your ranking. Creating information rich pages that has clear and accurate description of content is inevitable. Think of useful keywords (words that people would type to find you) and use them in your content. As more and more people link and refer your website, the engine would interpret your site as more authoritative and place you better in search results.
From a technical standpoint, there are other things to be taken care of so that Google can easily crawl, understand and index your website. This includes a lot of detailing like improving your site’s speed and navigation menu, creating well-structured site maps, and creating mobile and tablet friendly websites.
Feature rich snippets
For all those, who have not heard of a snippet before, it is the answer that you get from Google when the searched query is a Question. For instance, if you want to know about losing weight and you type in “How to lose weight fast”, this is what you get:
Frequently referred to as ‘zero’ position, a good snippet always appears to the top of search results when you ask a question. As Google is rapidly becoming the world’s most preferred ‘answer’ engine, it makes more sense to feature a few pages of your website as a rich snippet.
In order to optimize your content for a rich snippet, follow these thumb rules:
Summaries the content into smallest possible answers
Answer the question fully
Use headers & bullets
Give away facts /more relevant information
Use pictures to support the content
Invest in Paid Search Campaigns
Pay per click of PPC is a cost effective and instant way to get more sales and leads from your website. If you look into any search result, the first half of the page is full of ads or PPC as we call it.
The picture above makes it very clear that PPC is the top contender, followed by local park and then organic listing. So basically, if you are not investing in paid ads here than you are losing those clicks.
Optimize local SEO
You must have noticed that every time you type any keyword like SEO services, plumbing service, hair salon, etc. Google uses your location data to shortlist the nearest business offerings. The picture given above also shows local park listings. It usually appears between the paid ads and organic listings.
To make yourself visible on the fist page in local park, you need to include your name, address & phone number across your website. This is also known as NAP citation. The more of local citations you can build with consistent NAP information, the better it is. If you are running a local business, local SEO will help you here.
Needless to say – paid listing, local listing and organic listing are the main factors you need to work on for getting your website on the first page of Google but there are some other SEM strategies that can help.
Other strategies include:
Micro sites
Those with multiple businesses often host multiple sites. There’s one primary domain website and one or more supporting sites / micro sites. Micro siting helps you to avail multiple targets and multiple listings in organic search results.
Social Sites
Create your business pages on social networking sites like facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This is not just a tool for promotion but also helps you show up on the first page of Google.
Videos
Having a youtube channel for your business, not just helps you to spread awareness but it also helps you land in the top searches of Google. In order to offer an enhanced user experience to its visitors, Google usually displays a wide variety of media in it’s search results which includes videos. Statistics state that a video is 60% more likely to land in top ranking compared to web page on the same topic.
Images
Optimizing images/picture on your site increases your chances too. When the user is searching for images there are better chances that your website picture lands on the search results and leads to your page.
Google product listing ads
Those running e-commerce site like Amazon, JB Hi-Fi, OzBargain, Kogan etc. opt for Google product listing ads. It’s a great way to get featured on the first page.
News
Posting press releases for your business can also help you score a place. When your news appears in the news section of Google, it helps you fetch visitors.
Grasping so much at a time does sound a little exhaustive. You might even think, getting on the first page of Google is a dream. But it is very much doable. By knowing where and how to make adjustments to your web marketing strategy, you can fetch your business the visibility it deserves. You might consider hiring a professional to do the job for you.
For more information and queries on ranking higher, write in to me.