We all know that anybody who searches for a keyword on Google hardly ever bothers to visit the following pages. Many questions here arise over the fact that Google’s algorithm has become smart enough to decipher the intent behind a web search. It accordingly displays relevant results. Over time, AI has become more advanced by undergoing innovation and competitive research. Anyone doing a web search tends to locate the information they are searching for on the search engine’s first page. Hence a majority of visitors never bother to visit the results that follow after the first page. Six Tips to Build a High-Ranking Website.
It is why bloggers and websites aggressively compete through SEO techniques to make their web pages rank on the first page. Pages that get ranked on the first page derive the bulk of web traffic. The websites that secure the desired position on SERP get decided by Google’s AI.
As the online business and reach are expanding with time, marketers are reluctant to sit behind older customer engagement methodologies. For those who wish to learn more about the modern strategies to make a website rank higher, these six tips will come in handy.
- Understand How Google’s Ranking Algorithm Works
Before one participates in a competition, they have to understand the rules of the game. Similarly, SEO is a competition where websites are competing for visitor attention and web traffic. The search engine algorithm acts as a judge and determines the pages that should rank and those that shouldn’t. Therefore, understanding the system of ranking is highly crucial. Google’s AI indeed changes its algorithm from time to time. However, the general principles remain the same.
Keyword stuffing, link farms, and other black-hat SEO practices have become outdated. Instead, Google rewards quality of content instead of relying purely on relevance. It is a primary reason why Google now penalizes strategies that used to generate high rankings previously. While determining your website’s standing, consider getting a website audit to obtain a comprehensive performance report.
- Figure Out How Your Competition Stays Ahead of the Curve
There can be several undetermined reasons why specific web pages continue to outrank others. However, this should not come as a discouragement. Instead, this is an opportunity in disguise for SEO professionals. When they come across web pages that consistently outrank others on a particular topic or niche, it is best to analyze them carefully.
Three factors generally determine the causes behind one website out-performing the other. It includes the number of domains that refer back to the ranked website, the authority of that webpage on the topic, and the publishing website’s authority on a particular niche. Through careful analysis of these factors, SEO professionals can determine areas that need improvement in their website to par with the leaders.
- Proper Keyword Research Equals Higher Rankings
Proper keyword research is the bread and butter for generating high rankings. But how can one employ the perfect keyword research techniques? Determining which particular keywords rank better compared to others is an excellent place to start. There are several tools online which can also assist in keyword research. They also reveal the likelihood of specific keywords ranking higher than other similar ones. However, not all keywords are the same.
Some keywords would attract higher traffic, but that will not be enough. It is critical to also focus on those keywords that retain a high search volume. It simply means that more people are searching for that keyword. Moreover, keyword relevance is equally important. Websites providing a product or service should include keywords that contain a business proposition instead of relying on generic keywords. That way, they can improve their chances of getting ranked higher, especially when potential customers search for it.
- Being Slow Will Make You Lose
Slow and steady wins the race may hold in certain situations. However, this would be the worst possible outcome in the digital world. Speed and performance are everything. With new technologies and improved internet speeds rolling out, a visitor’s patience level has drastically reduced. If a visitor has to wait for the website to load endlessly, they will instantly bounce off to another webpage. And why shouldn’t they?
In the era of 5G technology, slow webpages are not going to stand in the game. Moreover, Google has also started to give weightage to website loading speeds. It means that if a website loads slower than others, Google’s AI will take it as a cue and push down the rankings of that site. Therefore, a new website that loads content instantly will always maintain better chances of being ranked higher than others.
- Don’t Neglect the Mobile Version of Your Website
User experience is everything. If one analyzes websites that tend to rank the highest in their niches, they will find one thing common to all of them. All top-ranked websites have optimized their webpages to fit nicely on the screen of a smartphone. Why is that important? Because in today’s era, the majority portion of web traffic comes from smartphone users. Historically, the web traffic was largely dependent on desktop computers for web searches.
However, that has changed with the advent of the smartphone. Mobile phones provide convenience to users and have become the primary devices for content consumption. Websites that don’t get optimized for a smaller screen potentially lose out on a significant chunk of web traffic. Moreover, by not catering to the smartphone consumer, they are also signaling search engines to rank them lower in favor of websites with a better user experience.
- Stop Visitors From Bouncing Off Your Website
Throughout the article, there has been a significant emphasis on reducing one’s website’s bounce rate. Website bouncing is when a user accesses the landing page but decides to bounce back to the search results page quickly. Why should websites be concerned about their bounce rate? Simply because it sends a signal to search engines that visitors are not happy with the content. Or that the visitor did not deem the content they came across as relevant to their web search.
Under both circumstances, AI decides to lower the rankings of that webpage. Therefore, content should get optimized with search intent. In layman’s terms, search intent is the questions in a visitor’s mind for which they are seeking answers. If a visitor finds what they are looking for, it eliminates the need for them to bounce off.
Final Words
While aiming for a well-ranked position, a website needs to meet Google’s three principles: Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Be an expert in the content they publish, get acknowledged by other expert websites through backlinks, and enjoy a relationship of trust with one’s visitors. SEO plays a significant role in ensuring that a website fulfills all these search engine requirements.
Getting ranked on the first page of search results is difficult but certainly not impossible. It requires patience and consistency. However, the tips mentioned above will help set the right direction for achieving the desired results.
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