Whether you are an e-commerce business or a small business trying to build an online presence, ranking on search engines is imperative to generate leads. It won’t be dramatic to say that search engine rankings significantly impact your online success. This is substantiated by the fact that 75% of users won’t go past the first page. And that is a striking number you cannot ignore.
Even if your website is ranking on the second or third page, it is not good enough. From neglecting best SEO practices to implementing wrong strategies, you may be making certain mistakes that are keeping you from securing a higher ranking.
In this post, we’re summarizing actionable tips to give your rankings a much-needed boost. Let’s dive in.
1. Loading Speed Matters
You cannot afford to have a website that takes longer than 10 seconds to load. Google is dedicated to prioritizing the user experience. And your website won’t deliver a great user experience if it takes too long to load.
Too much flash content, overlooking caching, and poor hosting service are some common reasons for slow loading speed. Since Google shows a preference for faster loading websites, you need to fix such issues immediately. Moreover, slower loading times lead to a greater bounce rate, which also hurts your SERP rankings.
2. Don’t Dismiss Google My Business
If you are trying to please the Google algorithm, then you cannot underestimate the potential of Google My Business. Setting up GMB is an easy and free way to get in the good graces of the search engine.
When you are creating a GMB account, make sure you carefully complete every section. You should clearly mention the contact information. Also, ensure that you select relevant attributes and include photos. Furthermore, we recommend answering any questions asked by users.
It would also be helpful to get positive customer reviews on your GMB page. However, refrain from incentivizing or fabricating reviews, which can be counterproductive.
3. Remove Duplicate Content
Though it may not matter as much as it used to, search engines still like unique content. Intentional or unintentional duplicate content can adversely impact your webpage rankings. If you keep repeating the same content over and over again throughout your website, Google may penalize you for it.
To avoid that from happening, make sure your website is free from duplicate content. Firstly, if you have several blogs on a similar topic, combining the content into one page would be better.
It’s also possible that your website has more than one version of the same page. You can use a canonical URL to inform Google which version of the webpage you want to rank.
4. Create High-Quality Content
Gone are the days when you could stuff every possible keyword and make your website rank. All the money you’ve spent on designing a beautiful, functional website will go to waste without high-quality content.
Well-curated content is crucial to prove your website is valuable and reliable. Not just the quality but also the frequency of posting content matters. You can’t create content once in a blue moon and call it a day. Publishing well-researched and relevant content consistently will generate more traffic and improve ranking.
5. Diversify Your Content
There is no doubt that long-form content is great for your website. However, you need to diversify your content to further strengthen search and user experience. Not every user has the time or patience to go through detailed written content. Adding multiple formats makes your content accessible to different users and also the opportunity to rank for various searches.
Specifically, infographics do wonders for SEO. Attention-grabbing visuals along with long-form content can make infographics a powerful tool for your online presence.
6. Utilize Social Media
A website is just a thread in the fabric of your online presence. Therefore, a lonesome website is not enough to make your website secure a high rank on search engines. You also need to make the most of various social media platforms. And that doesn’t mean creating an account and calling it a day.
Your social media presence influences Google rankings, so it’s high time to start posting regularly. Understandably, running a business and social media accounts can be challenging. But who said you have to create brand new content every time? You can repurpose old blogs to create social media content.
7. Make It Mobile-Friendly
Smartphone internet users are quickly surpassing desktop users. And that is something you must consider when designing your website. A website that is not optimized for different-sized screens will frustrate users, eventually impacting your website rank. Therefore, make sure you are designing a responsive website from the get-go.
8. Pay Attention to Your URLs
URLs are another important facet of your website that should be optimized. You can use the keyword research you have already conducted for focused and optimized website URLs.
9. Optimize Meta Tags
Meta tags help the search engines understand what your website is about. You need to optimize the title tags as well as meta descriptions by including relevant keywords and following the character limit. Using emotive words in your title tag encourages users to click. In case managing technical aspects of SEO is not your strong suit, you will be better off handing it over to a specialist for SEO in Frederick.
10. Get High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks help establish your website as trustworthy and credible. However, the sheer volume of backlinks from low-quality websites won’t greatly benefit your website. Instead, you should work on getting high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. Creating quality content is a reliable way to earn valuable backlinks.
Final Words
It’s no secret that Google’s algorithm is difficult to crack, especially because it updates roughly 500 times a year. But change is the only constant when it comes to SEO. Hopefully, the tips as mentioned above help you navigate the world of SEO and improve your SERP rankings. If managing SEO is beyond your skill set, it would be best to let an expert take over. Get in touch with Apollo Marketing today.
