Financial investments are not sufficient to get a high search engine ranking, but with a little time and strategy, you can improve your position on the search engine results page (SERP). Here are 10 free ways to improve your Google search rank.
Optimize your website for search engines and user experience
This means using the right keywords and phrases throughout your website, including in your titles, descriptions, and headings. You should also make sure that your website is well-structured and easy to navigate.
According to a study on ranking factors by SEMrush, the top four ranking factors are website visits, time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate. All four of those are directly related to your website’s content and user experience, which Google recently emphasized with its Page Experience update.
If your website is easy and enjoyable to use and offers valuable information, you’ll get more visitors, who will stay longer on your site and visit more pages, and that will improve your search rank.
Create high-quality content
This is one of the most important factors in improving your Google search ranking. Your content should be relevant to your target audience and should provide valuable information. Google said in a blog post on page experience that having great, relevant content on a page is more important for ranking than page experience.
You should also make sure that your content is well-written, error-free, keyword-rich, mobile-optimized, written to address the specific needs of your target audience, and includes valuable links to additional internal and external content.
Build backlinks to your website
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your Google search ranking will be. Incoming links to your website content from high-authority domains show your site’s authority, bring in traffic, and improve your search ranking.
You can build backlinks by guest blogging, submitting your website to directories, and creating social media profiles for your website.
Improve your page speed
Load time is one of the key measurements in Google’s recent Core Web Vitals upgrade, so it’s a good idea to learn how to improve website speed—both to boost your search rank and provide a good user experience.
Fix broken links
Having quality links on your website is one of the best ways to boost traffic and establish the authority of your site, but links that bring up a 404 error hurt both your user experience and your search rank. Use a tool like BrokenLinkCheck or Dead Link Checker to find any broken links.
Optimize your images
Optimizing your images is crucial to boosting the speed of your site and making it easier for Google to identify the images on your web pages. Make sure all your website images are compressed, have descriptive filenames, and include alt text.
Use H1 and H2 header tags
Not only do headers make your content more readable and easier to understand for humans and search engines alike, but there is also a strong correlation between Google search rank and the use of header tags in the body of your content. Header tags are also a great way to show the structure of your content and emphasize your key points.
Optimize for local search
More and more people are using their smartphones to search for businesses “near me.” To improve local search engine optimization, make sure you claim your Google My Business listing, provide relevant content in Google Posts, get your business listed in local directories, and improve your online reputation with great online reviews.
Use Search Engine Analytics
Search Engine analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you track your website traffic and to see how your website is performing. You can use Google Analytics to identify areas where you can improve your website and to track the results of your SEO efforts.
Aim for position zero
When a user asks a question in Google Search, Google sometimes pulls content from a relevant website and displays it in a special featured snippet or answer box above the #1 search result. Getting content into a featured snippet is a great way to increase traffic (snippets include a link to the page where the content came from), as well as boost the credibility and visibility of your brand. To increase your chances of having your content selected as a featured snippet by Google, think of likely searches related to your business and pepper your site with clear, authoritative answers.
Leverage social media
Social media is a great way to promote your website and build backlinks. You should also use social media to engage with your audience and to get feedback on your content.
For help with services like Digital Marketing and SEO, contact Webcovered today.
