The Business Owners SEO Guide: 5 Tips To Improve Your Google Ranking

Where your website ranks on Google is attributed to several factors, and largely centred on the quality, relevancy and originality of your site, from content to links, images and Meta tags.  Google uses its algorithm to determine where you rank for each website page and lists results from 1 to 10 on each search engine results page, with 10 being the bottom of the page, for the respective page you optimise.   Below are a few easy and simple ways for you to take action and improve the visibility of your website in the Search Engines.  Google sends out is spiders or crawlers regularly to trawl the Internet in search of new information to rank new and current pages in preference of user experience.  When done right SEOis a very effective form of marketing your website to new prospective customers.

Build links the right way

Building links with diversity makes your site natural to Google because your links are not coming from a single source, or type of strategy, which can lead to penalties.  A big mistake very often made by business owners is to link build with quantity in mind, instead of quality.  A handful of quality links from several authority sites or pages will help your ranking much more than purchasing thousands of links from one source.   Consider the type of sites you are linking from – are you including a mix of directories, articles, blogs and social platforms? Other good quality links are edu and gov - these types of links will also help your website appear rich in diversity to Google. 

Concentrate on related topics for your links.  By this I mean get links form other websites associated to your niche. Sometimes the odd unrelated link to your site will creep in, and that is not necessarily a bad thing, and can in fact show some naturalness and diversity to your website link profile.  Certainly the vast majority should keep relevant to your website.    And, don’t just link to your home page either, go deeper and link to internal pages as this helps to strengthen your link profile too. 

Get down to basics on SEO

SEO is changing all the time, and becoming tougher in some respects too as Google pushes for better user experience.  Get some good basic SEO done on your website pages.  As long as people are searching for something – SEO should continue to be part of your online strategy.

Make sure you fill in your Meta tags correctly, most importantly the title and description, and ensure that each tag is completed sensitively to relevancy of that page.  Keep to one topic per page on your website and the trick is keeping your keyword relevant to that page and following with a simple and clearly written description tag.  Good basic writing in your tags means you have a higher chance of being found by the search engine.  Use internal linking on your pages.  In other words link your website pages together to help visitors navigate round your site.  Google likes to see this as it enhances user experience on your site.  Ensure you have alt tags associated to your images on your pages too.

Target the right keywords

Understanding what keywords are best will ultimately drive traffic to your site. This is the very core of SEO and is fundamental in your campaign. Research your keywords and phrases properly – spend time looking at as many phrases, and alternative phrases, as you can.  If possible use software, or the Google Planner tool, which will help you with suggestions and numbers so you can make educated decisions instead of estimating what may or may not work, based on your own bias thoughts. Study the results of your keyword findings – how competitive are they, how many searches are they pulling in – too many or too few?  Consider whether you are only targeting local traffic or if you are a national company seeking a much wider audience.  For more information on keyword selection see this article: https://www.jdrgroup.co.uk/blog?Tag=Keyword+Research

Insert your relevant keyword and phrases on each page of your site – make sure you keep the keywords, title description and content relevant to that page.  Consider your long tail keywords too because many searches are done with more than one word these days, and when you are including this into your content, consider the density and relevancy of your phrases too.  However, be very careful not to spam your website pages with too many keywords or phrases.

The 'Content Is King' mantra

A significant aspect in SEO today is the content on your website.  By content we mean the written text that draws in and sells your product to your prospective client.  Very simply, keep it original and true to the page it is on.  The better the quality content on your site, the bigger the chance of Google finding you and giving you a decent rank for that page. The more informative and interesting your website is, the more likely you are going to attract better customers too.   Write your content clearly and properly, and first time visitors will likely become repeat customers.

Become more social

Social media has become a successful way to improve website visibility and rank and is a great way to communicate and advertise your products to your prospects and current loyal customers.  Not all social networks are ideal for every business, and it is worth spending some time finding out, and testing some of the social platforms to discover which ones will suit your business best.  The most authoritive and popular social sites include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google +.  For some Social Media Marketing inspiration check ut this article: https://www.jdrgroup.co.uk/blog/bid/216576/a-lesson-in-social-media-marketing-from-rihanna-yes-rihanna

If only there was an easy or magical secret way to getting good rankings on search engines. But, as with most things in life, only if you are willing to work hard, will you reap the greater reward.  Start with these 5 simple tips to see some improvement in your Search Engine ranking results.

Article by Natalie Eastaugh

photo credit: MoneyBlogNewz via photopin cc