Here Are 9 Proven Methods By Semalt SEO Experts To Improve Your Google Search Ranking



Welcome to this blog where we share about the effective ways and appropriate tools to use to get the top ranking in any search engine.

Today, I am going to present proven ways to improve website visibility in the Google search engine. Please note that each of these ways can be used for any website, including an online store or a business card.

Let's start with the first one!

1. Keyword research

In order to successfully search engine optimize your website, it is important to find the keywords that best describe your business and your topic. Keywords are essentially the words that search engine users use to search for your industry. If you want to be found, you need to show the search engine that you are relevant.

Worth knowing:
  • Make a list of about 10 to 15 keywords relevant to your business or topic that you would like to be found under on the Internet.
  • Remember to limit your search to local monthly searches using the advanced options and filters.
  • Search for the key terms of your list in a search engine.
  • Review the search results and note the number of results. You will find the number of search results just below the input field.
  • Divide the sum of the monthly local search queries by the number of search results per keyword and note this result.
My advice:

To succeed in keyword research, you need to make targeted use of your website's keywords with an appropriate keyword generator tool. To achieve this I advise you to use the Dedicated SEO Dashboard as a keyword generator.

 

The Dedicated SEO Dashboard provides very comprehensive information for quick keyword research. The tool not only provides possible long-tail keywords, but also the estimated monthly search volume including fluctuations over time, CPC, AdWords competition and a ranking difficulty assessment for that term. In addition, the tool also lists data from the previous top 10 in search results. It allows you to make an evaluation of the SEO competition as well as the estimated traffic to the respective domain for this keyword.

After doing the keyword research, it is time to think about the quality of the content.

2. Unique and useful content

There is a lot of talk about it, but how is it really? Indeed, content uniqueness is one of the most important factors that can determine which page will be shown higher in organic results. Internal (i.e. between pages on the website) or external duplicates (between the website and another website) may harm the position of the page in the Google search engine, both if it is an online store and a page describing the services provided by your company. Remember that even if the website is properly optimized and has a link from external pages, it may not achieve a satisfactory position if the content it contains is duplicated. Useful content is not only content rich in additional elements, such as: graphics, tables, bulleted lists, etc., but devoted to a specific topic, responding to the recipient's needs - examples of such content may be, for example, product reviews, assembly instructions, methods of application. We should create texts for the user and this may result in higher positions in the Google search engine. 

Worth knowing:
  • Content should be created with the user and his needs in mind.
  • Users are more likely to share content that is helpful, interesting, up-to-date or exhaustive. This can be an additional way to get links or activity on social networking sites.
  • Google can significantly reduce the number of results from sites with duplicate content.
My advice:
  • Avoid copying content from other sites.
  • Block pages that create internal duplicates on your site, e.g. sort pages, tags, wildcards.
  • If possible, enter unique descriptions of products in online stores (even short) or add fragments that are not duplicated.
  • Create user-friendly content, highlight or present the most important information in a legible way. 

3. Optimization of title and meta description (SEO) tags

There are many aspects of SEO optimization that you should pay attention to in order to rank higher. One of the most important - after the content - is the head section tags, i.e. title and description (title and meta description).

These elements are visible in organic results, so it is worth including information about what the user will find under a given result. If possible, we can encourage him to click by entering into a call to action, for example: "Contact us!". The presence of your most important keywords in the title and meta description can help you rank better. Listing keywords after a decimal is not a very good idea, as it may be considered by search engine algorithms as keyword stuffing. Some CMS and e-commerce engines have schemes for building the above-mentioned tags, and their edition is done from the administration panel. It is worth verifying whether the pages on your website have the title and description tags completed. 

Worth knowing:
  • If the words in the query are included in the website address or meta description, they are additionally highlighted in bold.
  • The appearance of the results and their content can affect the number of clicks by users.
  • Google can automatically add a domain or business name for short page titles.
  • If the query does not match the content of the meta description, fragments of the content on the page will be displayed instead.
My advice:
  • Try to include your most important keyword in your title.
  • In the meta description, describe the content of the page. You can distinguish yourself by special characters, e.g. HTML entities interpreted as emoji.

4. Structured data

Structured data is additional information made available to robots, which allows e.g. on interpreting the content of the page or the structure of the website. They can also affect the appearance of the results in the search engine by displaying extended snippets. For a recipe, these include artwork, star rating, and feedback, among others. Websites that have implemented structured data can score better in organic results. 

Worth knowing:
  • There are several options for implementing structured data on the page (microdata, RDF, JSON).
  • Structured data can positively affect positions, CTR, and thus traffic on your website.
My advice:
  • Verify the correctness of the implementation each time using the Structured Data Testing Tool provided by Google.

5. Responsive template (RWD)

A responsive template is a website template that adapts to the screen resolution. Such support is very useful for users of mobile devices. Browsing websites that are not responsive or do not have a dedicated mobile version is burdensome for the user. Additionally, as of April 21, 2015, Google officially considers mobile support as a ranking factor, the lack of a mobile website or RWD template may harm the positions in the organic results. 

Worth knowing:
  • Positions in mobile results may differ from those on desktop devices.
  • If your website does not have such support - hurry up. The implementation of this facility may translate into additional traffic from mobile devices, especially since another change regarding the mobile index is being execution since 2017 - it will put even more emphasis on adapting pages to the smallest devices.
  • In November 2016, traffic from mobile devices was higher than desktop traffic.
My advice:
  • Content on the mobile or RWD version should not differ from the desktop version.
  • You can check the current adaptation of the website for mobile devices using the features of the Dedicated SEO Dashboard.

6. Page loading speed, AMP



Page loading speed is another element that can significantly affect the position in the results, also in the mobile ones. The more so as smartphone users do not always have access to a broadband network. You can easily check how your website is rated by Google in terms of page loading using the Dedicated SEO Dashboard tool. Thanks to it, you will also receive hints and additional information on possible changes that should be made to shorten the page loading time.

CMS or e-commerce systems have additional modules or settings that allow you to shorten the page loading time. It is worth checking in the admission panel whether our system also has such capabilities. Loading pages you can speed up by minimizing HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Worth knowing:
  • Page load speed is one of the many factors that determine page ranking.
  • It can affect user engagement and bounce rate.
  • Many CMS and e-commerce platforms have dedicated modules and settings to speed up the website.
  • Shortening the query handling time and using the HTTP 2.0 protocol can speed up the loading of the website.
My advice:
  • Use the Dedicated SEO Dashboard tool, which will suggest what elements should be optimized for page loading.
  • Check if there is a ready AMP module for your website.
  • Enable the cache in the administration panel or - in the case of Apache servers - optimize the .htaccess file accordingly.
  • Minimize HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
  • Optimize the graphics for size.

7. SSL

SSL plays a key role in stores or websites where we share data (such as bank account numbers or payment card numbers) because it protects user data. Already in 2014, Google announced that the safety of users on the web is a priority and therefore included SSL as a ranking factor. Thus, the use of the HTTPS protocol may have a positive impact on the position of our website. 

Worth knowing:
  • SSL is one of the factors in determining the ranking of a website.
  • From January 2017, an additional message about the lack of SSL appears in the Chrome browser (version 56).
My advice:

If we run an online store, SSL should appear at least on the login, registration and order fulfilment pages.

After implementing SSL, it is a good idea to verify that there is no problem with the resources available over the HTTP protocol.

Remember to redirect users from the non-SSL version.

8. Acquiring References

This is a very important element of positioning, which translates into the position of our website on Google. Before customers start recommending your website on other websites, it is worth trying to get links that will lead to our website. Place your links on websites that are known and trusted by users. Ideally, they should be moderated by the administrator or the users themselves. You can also obtain links from partner websites or companies you work with. Internet forums, discussion groups - you can share your knowledge with them, indicating your website as a source of additional information, a solution to a problem or a place where they will be able to purchase the product or service they are looking for. Expert or how-to articles are valuable information for users and the possibility of obtaining a link to the author's website. 

Worth knowing:
  • Links from paid articles and other forms of advertising should be marked with the rel = "noffolow" attribute so that they are not considered an attempt to manipulate search engine results.
My advice:
  • Try to get links from websites where, in addition to the link, you can get user transitions.
  • Avoid unnatural (i.e. keyword-based) anchor texts.

9. Social media



Websites that have good visibility on the web have a lot of social media activity. It is difficult to clearly assess whether creating profiles and sharing content from our website on social media translates into visibility in the Google search engine. Matt Cutts, head of Google's spam department, denied that it was so, but… in our opinion; it's worth getting interested in social media anyway. If this does not translate directly into the visibility of our website, we will gain the trust of users and even the transition of potential customers from social networking sites. Remember that after entering the company name, we will usually receive results from social media, which may be a good proof for our company. 

However, the opinions about our company displayed in the Google My Business listing may come from, among others, Facebook. 

Worth knowing:
  • Social profiles indexed by Google on a query containing the company name are very often displayed in the TOP10 results.
  • Google My Business presents ratings from social networking sites.
My advice:
  • It is worth creating profiles on the most famous social networks, such as: G +, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.
  • Each profile should have the same data - company name, registered office address, website address.
  • Shared information must be valuable from the point of view of the user and the customer, e.g. promotions, new products in the offer.

Summary

Thanks to the above-mentioned methods, you can improve your position and thus get even better visibility of the website in organic results. Remember that these are just a few of the many methods for your website to be in the top positions in Google results - but it is worth considering them first when you want to promote your website in the search engine.

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