How Can I Rank Higher on Google?
When it comes to garnering your share of business traffic today, it’s vital to ensure that your digital presence on the web is meeting Google’s standards. Google search accounts for approximately 65% of the total searches on the web. The other 35% are comprised of the other major search engines– Yahoo, Bing, AOL, as well as social media sites and directories. So what exactly does Google consider factors when ranking sites higher than others? According to Jacquie Gonzalez, expert SEO specialist with interactive media company, eNation Worldwide, “There are over 39 different on-page and off-page factors that Google considers to be ranking factors.” So, when business owners ask themselves, “How Can I Rank Higher on Google,” here are a few of the major ranking factors:
On Page Content
It’s vitally important when trying to create and maintain authority on the web, that site owners continuously add fresh, keyword-targeted content to their websites. This can be done by adding pages or articles to your website via a blog or by creating content silos on your website. Google wants to see that each page has a target keyword or key phrase, and that the content is compelling, readable, and relevant.
Site Architecture and HTML
The architecture and code of the site is important. Search engines must be able to easily crawl a site. Sites need to be mobile-friendly or responsive for all devices. Page load time needs to be optimized, and clean code needs to be used at all times.
History of Domain
Trust is an important ranking factor for Google. When a site has a long history of having a domain with web content published on the web, Google considers that to be a positive ranking factor. As Google is looking to deliver the most relevant, trusted results to those searching on the web, it stands to reason, that websites with long-standing and good-standing history would have a better chance of higher rankings.
Social Relevance
Social Media changed the way we market our businesses. Facebook, the most popular social media site, is now one of the most popular search engines as well. It used to be that people checked a business’ reputation and authority if they had a website on the web. Now, in addition to having a website, a business must also be socially relevant. By being an active participant in social media, and having those social sites and content linked to your website, Google’s algorithms can rank your social signals. Google tends to give more authority to businesses with higher levels of social relevance. It’s a way of weeding out some of the old, un-updated sites from the rankings and making sure that the sites creating new, fresh content are getting seen.
Quality Inbound Links
Inbound linking is basically popularity by association. One of Google’s oldest algorithms, PageRank, is a score that determines the quality of a website’s inbound link profile. Are other more popular websites with higher Google PageRank linking to yours? Inbound linking is a relationship-building process that is best done over time. It’s reaching out to associations, affiliations, vendors, and owners of popular websites that have some sort of relationship with your business, and reciprocating links. Often times, a site will have thousands of links, but the quality of those links might not be of high quality or Google PR, and therefore, can actually damage a site’s reputation, as Google algorithms may see these links as spammy or toxic. When it comes to inbound links, quality always trumps quantity.
In a nutshell, there is no magic bullet to getting great search engine rankings. It’s a matter of doing all the right things consistently over time. This means that one must have the thumb on the pulse of Google and the search landscape to know what factors are most important. The importance and weight of certain ranking factors do change from time to time. But, the major factors haven’t changed. Adding fresh content, sharing on social media, creating good quality inbound linking relationships, keeping your site architecture and code clean, having content that is responsive for all devices… these are some of the major ways that you can improve your Google rankings over time. When trying to be #1 on a Google search, a business owner must ask themselves, “If I were Google, would I consider my website the most relevant resource on the web for this particular search?” In most cases, any site owner would honestly have to answer that question with a “no.” Just as there is no such thing as perfection, there will always be more one can do to get to #1 on Google and more importantly, stay there.
