Give your website the best shot in Google ranking!
# 1. Page Speed
In the past, you could get away with a slow-loading site. When adding photos to
an SEO content page or blog post, make certain that you have resized the image
you are placing on that page to display size. Images shouldn’t exceed 2000 px, in most cases.
# 2. Linking to Other Sites with Relative Content
Linking away SEEMS counter-productive, but it does send a signal to Google that you are trying to be helpful to the visitor to the page and not simply trying to stuff content on a page solely for ranking purposes. In other words, when you post content, do so with the mindset of writing for the visitor and not for the search engines. (Of course that IS what you’re trying to do.)
Link with a link type that will open another window and not leave your website. Also place such links somewhere away from the top of the content.
**Special note: You can ALWAYS notify the people you are linking TO and ask them if they would provide a link BACK to you. That is also an SEO grading signal.
# 3. Write for Humans First, Search Engines Second
We mentioned this above, but it bears repeating. When you are posting a page or blog post, you’ll want to include dedicated keywords in that content. However, don’t focus ONLY on using single keywords in content, but also be willing to use longtail keyword phrases. Humans don’t always think in terms of searching for products and services in ONE WORD, but in SENTENCES.
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So when you are writing content that you and I know is meant to help your website be found on Google, Yahoo and Bing, focus on writing to be helpful to the visitor. Help them come to the decision to choose you.
# 4. Understanding Ranking Factors
Content marketing is all about creating high-quality, engaging content and creating in people the need and urgency to link to you and share your content on social media (or to contact you to do business).
However, if you focus ONLY on the one visitor who finds your content to do business with you, you will lose the other valuable reasons to post good content. When you post a new page or blog for SEO purposes, your goal is certainly to have someone find the HOME page of your website, and if not – at least to get that next click to your home page and do business with you. However, the content that you add should also be written with a focus on the hope that someone else may find your content, like it and link to it.
While SEO is built on content, content, content, in terms of ranking factors it is not THE most influential. It is kind of a chicken or the egg thing…you have to have the content to gain rankings and have people LINK TO you, but the LINK TO you carries even more weight towards rankings than the content itself.
Top Rankings Factors
a. Facebook Shares
b. Number of Backlinks
c. Tweets
d. Content pages
e. Keyword in Backlinks
f. Image count
g. Keyword in domain name
h. Keyword in URL
i. Keyword in Description
j. Keyword in Title
k. Keyword in H1 tags
l. Image ALT Tags
m. Title Character Length
n. Word Count of Content
While ALL of these are factors, you can see that content and LINKS TO that content are the key factors. However, you can’t get LINKS TO without adding content regularly. Then time has to pass; and either some luck has to take place to gain a natural link OR you have to go after people to link to you
# 5. Web Analytics are your friend
Google Analytics is helpful to understand how many people are coming to your website, but knowing what pages they are looking at and where they are leaving your website are even more vital. Use analytics to guide you in your writing and rewriting. Other programs such as SEMRUSH, WooRank and more that are PAID services, but they can be good for gaining deeper intel. However, Google Anaytics and your Google GMAIL logins can provide you with about all you’ll ever need to properly grow a website.
# 6. What Google says is important
Under section 4 above, I shared what most SEO gurus will tell you is important for ranking factors. Here is what “the great oz” says:
a. A secure and Accessible Website
A website created with a well-coded website builder
A robots.txt file that tells Google where it can and can’t look for your site
A sitemap that lists all your pages
HTTPS security setup
b. Page Speed (Including mobile speed)
c. Mobile Friendliness
d. Domain Age, URL and Authority
There isn’t much you can do here except let time pass. Adding content
will increase the Domain Authority over time.
e. Optimized content.
f. Technical SEO
Add keyword phrases in page titles, which is where Google first looks to
determine which content is relevant to which search
Use header tags to show content hierarchy starting with your title at h1 and then use h2 or h3 for subheads.
Create a meta description that both entices readers and includes your keyword
phrase
Keep those meta descriptions short and catchy at around 160 characters
Use keyword phrases in image alt tags to show how those images are relevant to the main content
Include alt tags also help people who are visually impaired enjoy your site with screenreaders
g. User Experience
This is where Google Analytics can help. Look at things like Click through rate,
bounce rate and how long people stay on the website. Every website has a bounce rate in the 25-30% range. The lower, the better.
If you see that you’re running 50% or higher, then that is a signal that you have to tweak the content on that page to be more engaging. Create good
call-to-action. If people are only staying on your website for under a minute,
that to is a sign that work is needed.
The main thing to be aware of here is that Google may actually “test rank”
your website and if they see that people hang around or on site for a bit,
they will allow that ranking to stick. If not, they won’t.
h. Links.
As mentioned before, the web is built on LINKS. So naturally, links are a
crucial ranking factor. Getting people to link to your website is a slow process.
While you can get associations and groups that you are members of to link to
you, the more influential links come more naturally over time.
– Your website can have INBOUND LINKS (those mentioned above) and
also Outbound Links and INTERNAL LINKS – those where YOU link a
page that you posted to another page within your website.
i. Social Signals
Notice that Google rates this factor lower than most SEO firms do. Regardless,
links from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social platforms are valuable. Google downplays this a bit, but getting social shares is very good.
In closing, Content is Still King!
High ranking content refers to in-depth content that covers a broad spectrum of its respective subject. Content must provide real value to the user and should incorporate engaging visual content to complement the written content.
Remember, Quality beats quantity every-time. Focus on value, not word count.
Content Length
There is no clear rule of thumb regarding the optimal word count for an article, as it varies per subject. However, we do notice that relatively longer, more comprehensive content typically achieves higher rankings. A study by Niel Patel reveals a correlation between content length and top Google search positions.
Pro Tip
Use Google’s semantic search to optimize keyword targeting in your articles. Semantic queries can be found by browsing the “related search” results at the bottom of the Google search results page.