Top Google rankings are no less than a pinnacle for a business running digitally. The digital world’s statistics show that the first-page Google results get up to 31.7% clicks, while the second page is likely to receive only .78%.
Forget about the businesses and corporate landing pages; many newbie bloggers are seen struggling with bringing their blog on the top-notch results of Google without being penalized. The truth is, there is no magic button to rank on the top. But there are some magic aspects to consider.
It all begins with persistence, creativity, resourcefulness, and determination in mind. Above all, ensure you keep a hawk’s eye on the ever-changing Google algorithms that may impact your website’s ranking.
Sail through some effective off-page and on-page SEO aspects and steps, giving your website ranking a boost it desires.
Step 1
Know the Google Algorithms – This strategy is highly recommended for long-term success. This keeps you going on without being penalized at any point of online business promotions. Google executives like John Mueller or Gray Lllyes explain how Google changes its algorithms seamlessly.
This is when most people aren’t aware of it. Additionally, Moz estimates that Google changes its algorithms around 500 to 600 times a year. However, Google announces every significant change done, yet some minor algorithm changes remain under the cover.
Some of the most-talked-about Google algorithms are –
- Mobile friendly updates
- Mobile-first updates
- Penguin
- Hummingbird
- Pigeon
Thus, it’s your responsibility to explore the new updates and see how beneficial they are for your business.
Also Read: SEO Trends to Strengthen Your Digital Marketing Strategies
Step 2
It’s time you assess your current Google ranking – Before you make efforts to improve your website’s Google ranking, know where you stand. Thankfully, there are plenty of online tools available to assist you here.
Such tools require logging in and reviewing the ‘traffic overview’ via the detailed dashboard. You can use the same tool or platform to analyze the speed of your website.
If your website speed is slow, chances are you have a high search position. This will leave a negative impression on your conversion rate. Also, it may hamper the customer retention graph as well. Years ago, Walmart experienced the same situation. It’s when their website witnessed a sharp decline in the conversion rate.
It happened because of the poor page loading time, which went from four seconds to one. At this stage, it does not matter how optimized your website meta title and description are; the search engine’s algorithm will punish you anyhow.
Step 3
Analyze the website’s health – This should include everything from keyword research to content optimization. There are several tools available online to inspect the health of your website. However, you can use some manual processes as well. This will expose you to website penalty indicators, domain health reports, and much more.
Step 4
Measure your SEO metrics – Tracking the SEO metrics is an integral part of improving your website’s ranking. There are many ways to get it done. Here’s how –
- Get organic traffic – You should have complete access to how your visitors are reaching you. Every country has its own set of metrics to support a website. For instance – you run a business in Finland. So, your aim should be to focus on the ideal customers from the same region or country on priority. Therefore, your Digital marketing Finland professionals should begin with tracking the local traffic first. This is because it decides the success rate of the online business. The easiest way to get started is by signing up on Google Analytics.
- Know the organic traffic conversions – Analyzing the search traffic should include keeping track of traffic conversion rate. Tools like SERP Scan can help you get detailed website stats. It reads the relevancy of keywords chosen for SEO practices and campaigns to give you more accurate results.
- Set up an SEO dashboard – You can set up a personal SEO dashboard for your website using Google Analytics or SEMRush. Such platforms offer an integrated dashboard giving you richer keyword-related data for the best overview.
Step 5
Your site should be responsive – This will help you dominate the mobile search market. It’s highly recommended when you know that more than half of the website traffic comes from mobile phones.
This made Google shift to ‘Mobile First Indexing’ in 2020 which means Google evaluates your website per a mobile device screen. Luckily, it’s pretty easy and accessible to see where you stand in Google rankings using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test for websites.
Step 6
Fix the Existing Google Penalties – Now, when you have set up a dashboard revealing your website’s stats, it’s time to evaluate the website’s already running penalties.
This is an essential fundamental step of improving your website’s rank on Google as there is no point in promoting your website having several penalties on it. If you do so, it may hurt the website’s ranking and other factors.
Step 7
Pay attention to link building – Earlier spammy links were the only holy grail of running website traffic effectively. Bad links are hurting your website adversely.
But do you know you can use them before Google penalizes you for them? In this context, Matt Cutts, Google’s Executive, says, “The objective is not to make your links appear natural; the objective is that your links are natural.”
Your strategy of analyzing your backlinks should include –
- Examining the unique active backlinks
- Say no to follow links
- Evaluate the industry in detail
- Know the anchor texts used in the backlinks
- Link the influence score
Meanwhile, you do all this; make sure to monitor the backlinks in detail.
Also Read: 5 SEO Content Writing Tips for Your SEO Campaign
Conclusion
Unlocking the secrets to ranking on the top search results of Google is another level of charisma. Here, the biggest challenge is to climb up on the ranking graph without being slapped by penalties. Begin your journey with understanding your target audience and what they look upon.
Compliment this process with researching and identifying the long and short-term keywords. Furthermore, create killer content, and then there is no looking back for sure.
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