Organic traffic through Google searches can bring in the highest amount of visitors to any website. Getting traffic on your website through different mediums such as social shares, redirecting from other websites, etc. is great. But getting organic traffic on your website is the most important.
To bring in visitors through organic Google searches on your website, your SEO must be on point. You should do SEO for your website which is pitch-perfect and show you results. In terms of SEO, there are so many factors to keep a look at.
One cannot be sure that they are all done with SEO on their website. SEO is an ongoing process and one must keep a check on the website performance and all the SEO factors if they are working fine or need any updates.
For getting the most number of visitors you will want your website to rank on the first page of Google searches. As a matter of fact, 75% of the people won’t even go to the second page of a Google search. If you are on the first page then it is the most chance that you will gain more visitors.
Steps to improve your SEO ranking
There are many factors on which the success of SEO depends. You must optimize your website as per SEO requirements. Then there are many factors around SEO that you need to take care of on your website. When you keep your website top-notch in all aspects then you reap the best results through SEO on your website.
I have organized the list of optimizations you need to make on your website to improve your SEO ranking.
1. Improve Page Loading Speed
Page loading speed is one of the ranking factors of Google. If your website loads too slow then Google will recognize this and it will harm your ranks on the search engine.
Page loading not only affects your ranking on the search engine but also the user engagement hampers if the loading speed is too slow. Everyone wants that a webpage should load in the blink of an eye. There is no patience left in people. Also, a slow website is less likely to be reliable to its visitors.
When any visitors come across your website and click on it then they expect to find the answers to the query they have searched for. After clicking on your website, if the page will take too much time to load then the visitor will surely jump back and visit any other website. If the user is not satisfied with the experience on your website they will never return.
According to research, 40% of the visitors will abandon your website if the loading time exceeds 3 sec.
This is a large number of visitors to lose. Page loading speed not only is the first chance to make a great impression on the visitor but also it increases your chances to retain the visitor or make a sale or any other purpose that your website serves.
Another study reveals a shocking fact that around 80% of the visitors never return to the website that they abandoned due to slow loading speed.
This makes it an extremely important factor for your SEO rankings. Page loading speed is a major aspect that one must take a look at and it is expected that the loading speed of a website doesn’t exceed 3 sec.
There is a whole article written on how to improve the page loading speed of your website. Getting this right will increase the SEO ranking of your website on the search engine result pages.
2. Create quality content
Once Bill Gates said, Content is King.
Every website owner, content creator, video creator, and anyone who is creating any form of content for the web must know this and follow it always. Quality content is the best way to beat your competitors.
You can rank higher, get more revisits, create backlinks without even reaching out to others. This is how much impact quality content has on the web ranking factor.
When any visitor reaches your website and they find the relevant answer to the query they made on the search engine, it is a known fact that they will spend more time on your website. One more factor that results in a higher rank on Google is the so-called dwell time.
Dwell time refers to the average time any visitor spends on your website on every visit.
The higher the average time spent on your website is, the higher will be your ranks. Only if the visitor has got the answers to the query they are looking for, then they will be spending more time.
So the quality of content will not only make people spend more time on your website, it will make people revisit your website.
Here are a few tips to increase your SEO ranking through quality content:
Start Blogging
Blogging is a great way to reach out to your potential customers and engage with the visitors.
Through blogging, you can share information with your visitors about your business. You can write about products or services that you provide and how this can benefit the users.
You can use relevant images and use infographics to make the content more relevant and engage with the users. This will have a positive impact on the web ranking of your website.
Use more than just a headline
You want your visitors to engage with your content. Add some sub-headings to break your content and make it more readable. The better form of content is ranked higher and is preferred by the search engine.
If your website has just a wall of texts then the user will not find it interesting to read. Make it more readable by breaking it into different sections.
This will engage your user and make the content rank higher in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
Do Keyword Research
Before writing on any topic on your website conduct keyword research on the desired topic. As you know that the web is vast and there are thousands of websites competing in the same niche. You must be a step ahead to beat your competitors.
Do thorough keyword research on the topic and get the relevant keywords noted. Do a competition analysis and search for the keyword that ranks higher in SEO and has a larger search volume.
After doing the analysis step into content creation. This will increase your chances to win at the SERPs.
Content will always be the most important factor for your SEO rankings. Creating high-quality SEO content will make your website rank higher.
3. Make your website Mobile Friendly
Mobile site optimization is a necessity for any website. If we see in the last few years the number of website users from mobile has started to surpass the number of website users on desktop.
According to the stats we can see more than half of the web is browsed using a mobile device.
Your website must be optimized for a mobile device otherwise it will be losing a ton of traffic. Mobile compatibility is now among the ranking factors of any web browser. If your website is not optimized for a mobile device then your rankings will be affected.
Your website not only should be mobile friendly but also should load fast on any mobile device. WordPress web development platform has a separate optimization option available for both mobile and tablet devices due to the importance of mobile optimization.
You can run tests through Google PageSpeed Insights to check your website performance on a mobile device. This will let you know if it is up to the mark or needs improvements. You must keep in mind that you can optimize the image sizes and dimensions separately for mobile devices for better results.
Having a website that responds great to both desktop and mobile devices always has a better SEO rank.
4. Fix any broken links
There are small chances that the page will be hosted on your domain but the URL path does not exist. This may happen due to your custom URL structure or any other reasons.
You must make sure that all the pages are accessible to the users. The path must not be broken. A broken link can affect the authority of your website with the search engine and also with the trust of the visitor.
You can run tests through Google Search Console to find any errors with the linking structure of your website. You must make sure that any such issue does not arise for any of the visitors to your website.
Having a great linking structure all over your website makes the navigation smooth. This makes your website easy to access and browse for all its users.
There is also another tool named Dead Link Checker that will let you know about any links with errors on your website.
If any link on your website is dead and any other source is using that as an outbound link. You must notify them after fixing the link to replace the broken link with the new one.
This will build trust and gaining quality outbound links always helps you rank up in the SEO search results.
5. Focus on Outbound Link Building
Generating outbound links from related high-quality websites should be your top priority for getting success in SEO results. Outbound links tell the search engine that your website is credible.
Quality outbound links mean having links from websites with higher domain authority with Google. Higher domain authority outbound links will help you climb up the ranks on the search engine.
Diverse outbound links to your website will tell Google that your website is trusted by others and the content of the website is relevant for the users. When you publish any content which can be helpful to the users for visitors searching for similar content on other websites, they will link your content as a reference for their user. This will give you an outbound link which will add up to the website credibility.
There are two types of backlinks that you will get to your websites. One is No-follow links and the other is do-follow links.
The do-follow links add up more value and authority to your website. This doesn’t mean that the no-follow links are useless. They diversify the outbound links to your website together and tell the search engine that the links are generated in natural ways rather than following any spammy methods.
Create shareable content for getting outbound links:
When you create content that can be relatable for the vast majority of your people working similar to your niche, then they will link back to your website. This will give your website quality backlinks.
Create Infographics:
Infographics are a great way to get backlinks. You cannot only rely on the content. The content should be supported by related images and in the present times, infographic representation always helps. Having a great infographic representation of any information or data can surely compel any website owner to link back to your website.
Guest blogging:
Guest blogging is the best way to initiate the backlinking process for your website. You can do guest blogging for some websites with high domain authority and if they publish your content then you will get a backlink in the form of author.
Outbound links are important for your website. You will need to work on this to get results. This will increase your authority with the search engine and also build the credibility of your website. As a result, helping you improve the SEO ranking of your website.
6. Make your website Easy to Navigate
Your website design is an important factor in providing a great user experience. You want your users to navigate through the website without any trouble. All the pages should be easy to access.
The search engine rewards the website which provides a positive user experience(UX). Having easy to navigate website is an integral part of providing a user experience.
While designing the structure of your website you must keep it simple, clean, and uncluttered.
When your website is properly structured, then it makes it easier for the user to find whatever they are looking for. This creates a great first impression of your website and can also result in users revisiting your website.
A poor structure leaves the user with a negative perception and they do not tend to come back or recommend your website.
The menu that you will create should be in such a manner that the deepest of the pages can also be accessible within three clicks.
For example, there will be a header page, there will be sub-categories for that page, and under the sub-categories products or services will be listed. It should not take more than three clicks for the user to reach the most inside page of your website. This is what easy navigation means.
One more important thing you must do is submit the website sitemap to the search engine.
You must upload the XML sitemap to the Google search console. This lets the search engine navigate your website easily. The sitemap tells your website structure to the search engine.
When the search engine will be able to find all your pages, this will let them crawl and index the pages which are not yet done. Crawling and indexing are integral parts for any webpage to be known by the search engine. After they are indexed then only they can win in search ranking from their competitors.
Sitemap benefits both the search engine and the end-user. This helps your website SEO ranks to improve. For the search engines to rank your pages they must know where they are located on the web. The sitemap will provide the search engine with this information.
7. Use Keywords Efficiently
The use of keywords in your content is vital. Look at the graphical representation below.
Keywords presence in your content plays a major role in the ranking factor. You must use keywords efficiently in your content.
Keywords must be researched for your targeted topic and should be used in your content. The content should be created targeting those particular keywords.
Keywords are the terms that people can use while making a query on the search engine. You should fit those keywords in your sentences naturally. There should not be any unnecessary stuffing of the keywords.
The unnecessary stuffing of the keywords is known as the Black Hat SEO practice. This is not at all advised practicing any black hat SEO methods as the search engine tracks the black hat practices and then it can blacklist your webpage which is not at all good.
Do thorough keyword research on the topic and make a list of all the keywords that you find. Then you will want to look for keywords with higher search volume.
For example, if there is a keyword that you can easily fit in your content but the search volume is only around 50. This will not add much value to your content. You will want that your content should be searched and ranked.
Make a list of keywords with higher search volume. Look for long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are less competitive and can be ranked with good content.
After doing your keyword research jump into content creation. This will help you create content that can rank on the search engine.
This will help you improve your SEO rankings. When the search engine finds keywords that match exactly or are similar to the search query made by the user then those contents are more likely to rank better.
8. Write Click-Worthy Titles and Meta Description
When your page appears on the search result the first thing any user sees is your title and the meta description of the page. You must make sure that this is giving a glimpse of the information that the user will get after clicking on the link.
The title should be similar to the keyword which is being searched and the meta description should support some related information.
The title and meta description not only is helpful in getting the user hooked but it helps the search engine decipher what your webpage is about.
To get better SEO ranks on the search engine you want the search engine to have a clear idea of what your webpage is about. With this information, the search engine can rank your page for the related search queries made.
If your headline and meta description has a keyword included then there are more chances for it to hook the visitors and also make it easier for the search engine to rank your webpage for a similar keyword.
Some tips for writing a good title:
Make them predictable: The title should be easy and predictable. Predictable in the sense that users may search for the exact or similar phrase. Think of a user who is making a query on the search engine.
Keep it short and clear: Keep your title within 65 characters as this is the maximum character that appears on the search result. The complete title should appear on the search page. Keep the title clear and to the point.
Some tips to write the Meta description:
Make it unique: The description should be unique and informative. This should give a glimpse about what the user can get inside the page. Something which can hook the readers and make them click on the webpage.
Try to use keywords: You should try to use keywords in the meta description giving exact details of the target and intent of the webpage.
Keep it short: The character limit which appears on the search result page is 165. You must keep this under the character limit.
Writing click-worthy titles and meta descriptions will help you hook the users as well as make the search engine know about your webpage. This will help search engines to rank your page better. And as a result, this will improve your SEO rankings.
9. Optimize images
Image optimization can benefit your website ranking. This will add up to your SEO benefits.
Your website should not only have a wall of text on it. There should be images to support the information. There should be infographics that can add value to your content.
Images will not only make your content better but this will help your pages to rank better on the search engine.
You must make sure that the images are original. Do not use copyright images of others. This will rank your images in the image search results of Google.
Add a description of the image. If you are using any graphs data from another website, give the link to your source.
Images should be optimized for both desktop and mobile.
The image size and dimension should be optimized for all the devices separately. In WordPress, you can easily do optimizations for all the devices.
Mobile optimization of the image will benefit your website in two ways. First, this will help you rank better for mobile devices. Second mobile-optimized sites are preferred above the other website which is not optimized for mobile devices.
Do not forget to add Alt text for the images. Alt text gives the description of what the image is about. This will let the search engine rank the image for similar keywords in the image search section of google.
10. Focus on user search intent
Use search intent is the first factor on which any content, product, or service is ranked. The search engine wants to solve the query of the user. Whatever the user is searching for, the search engine wants to give the most suitable answer possible.
So while producing any content, infographic, data, statics, information, service, or product, you must think about what the user will be looking for. User intent is the factor on which every search result will be based.
You must think as a user or a customer while creating a product or solution for the query. The search result that google will find most suitable to the search query will be ranking on top of the page.
Getting better SEO ranking will be based on the similarity of the search query and your webpages answer to it. Focus on this factor and plan your website around the same and you will be amazed by the results.
User search intent proves to be a major factor on which any business is driven. Following this will make your website gain a better SEO ranking.
11. Conduct SEO Audit
SEO is a vast topic to cover. It is also difficult to rank on the first page of a search engine without proper SEO research and information around the same.
You must conduct an SEO audit of your website and your web pages. This will let you know what is the factor you are lacking. This will also tell you which web pages you are winning from your competitors.
Apart from doing SEO audits, you should also keep a track of your progress using Google Analytics. Using an SEO tool for your information and research and keeping a track of your website process using analytics will help you find the solution better to your problems.
There are numerous tools available for conducting your SEO audit. You can run your website through any one of them.
The SEO audit will not only help you get a better understanding of the website performance but this will also be crucial doing your research. You can do a keyword search, competitor analysis, check the search volume of targeted keywords, and many more.
When you research and get all the information then only you can plan and create your webpage which can win. Without proper information, you cannot win on the search result pages.
Do the SEO audit thoroughly and then apply your learning on your website. This will help you climb up the ranks on the search engine faster.
Conclusion
Search Engine Optimization is a process. You cannot expect to see results in just a day. You need to apply all the best practices and continuously work on them to keep up with the search engine updates.
Keep a track of your progress and apply all the steps to your website. The search engine is trying to rank the most relevant pages out of the billions of content being published on the web. So the process to get on the top will take some time.
Use an SEO tool to research and plan the process. Get the process right. Apply all the strategies you know and keep learning. When you win on SEO then the website automatically will be ranking above the competitors.
With the process right who knows you might also be able to rank on the number one spot for many keywords.