Every day, you check your page rankings on Google, and every day, you come up a little short of that first page.
You’ve been optimizing keywords, so what gives?
Well, guess what? You’re not the only one who knows the importance of keyword optimization. Your competition does too.
And while keyword optimization can certainly help improve your site’s ranking, it’s only one small piece of the puzzle.
Search engine algorithms also take into account other factors such as bounce rate, inbound links, outbound links, broken links, user experience, and pages viewed, just to name a few.
In order to see a big boost in your ranking, you need to be employing other search engine strategies.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 8 tips for boosting your search ranking.
Tip #1: Create High Quality, Relevant Content
When it comes to boosting your rankings, getting visitors to your site is only half the battle.
You also need to get those visitors to stay on your site and browse. This is known as “dwell time.” The longer the dwell time, the higher the ranking.
So how do you increase dwell time?
While the right keywords may draw a visitor to your site, content is what makes them stay.
Nobody cares about keywords unless those keywords are surrounded by actionable, useful content.
Most of this content will take place in the form of blog posts. Typically, you’ll want your posts to be at least 1,000 words.
Why so long?
Longer posts give you the opportunity to include more keywords, more inbound and outbound links, and provide more valuable content. And of course, longer posts take more time to read, which can increase your site’s dwell time.
Plus, every time someone bookmarks your content to Chrome, it improves your ranking on Google.
Tip #2: Focus on Link Building
Google’s let the cat out of the bag: content and links are the two most important factors when it comes to boosting your site’s ranking.
Your link building strategy should focus on three areas:
- Inbound links- links created on other sites that link back to you
- Outbound links- links you create to other websites
- Broken links- links that don’t work (get rid of them)
However, you need to make sure you choose your links wisely. A link from a highly-trafficked, authoritative site goes a lot further than a bunch of links from small, unknown sites.
In order to get these authoritative links, you can pitch to online magazines or news sources or partner with popular blogs. Usually, these partnerships have an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” mentality. They’ll link to your site only if you’ll link to theirs.
Tip #3: Increase Page Load Speed
In the world of the internet, waiting a few extra seconds for a page to load is like waiting an eternity.
If your site’s taking too long to load, users are going to peace out and move on to someone else’s site.
Not only does this reduce your dwell time, it also increases your bounce rate.
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who come to your site, view the landing page, and then leave without viewing anything else. Average bounce rates are somewhere around 50 percent. But no matter where you fall, you should always be looking to lower that number.
And increasing your page load speed is one of the best ways to do this.
Here are a few ways you can increase your page load speed:
- Optimize image sizes
- Reduce the number of plug-ins
- Minimize redirects
- Enable compression
- Enable browser caching
Tip #4: Optimize Long-tail Keywords
Okay, you probably already know the important role keywords play in search engine strategies.
But, many people are going about their keyword strategy all wrong.
If you’re a new site, you’re going to have a tough time competing for top keywords. That’s why it’s best to go for long-tail keywords- ones that are three words or more.
Long-tail keywords have less competition, and therefore, are easier to rank for. Check out Google’s keyword planner to find the best ones for your industry.
Tip #5: Use Different Multimedia
Visual content is an excellent way to improve user experience and enrich your written content.
Videos, slideshows, infographics, and audio files are all great ways to deliver information to users in a unique and engaging format.
In fact, adding videos to landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80 percent.
Plus, multimedia also signals to search engines that your site contains quality content. Which, as well all know, is key to boosting your rankings.
Tip #6: Optimize for Mobile
Google will penalize your site if it’s not mobile optimized.
More and more people are conducting searches on their mobile devices these days. And if you’re site isn’t optimized, it will negatively affect user experience.
Google is all about providing the best user experience, so make sure your site’s optimized so you don’t receive a penalty.
Tip #7 Update on the Regular
Boosting your search rankings is a marathon, not a sprint.
You can’t expect the quality-content you created last year to help you in your rankings this year.
Google prefers updated, new content over stale, old content. It lets them know that your site is relevant, fresh, and still in the game.
Plus, popular keywords change over time. You want to make sure you’re always creating content that uses the hottest keywords.
Tip #8: User-friendly Formatting
Formatting that is user-friendly can help improve your rankings.
If your site contains huge walls of text, you’re making a huge mistake.
You need to break that stuff up so it’s easy for your readers to scan and digest.
Here are a few other ways to make sure your formatting is user-friendly:
- Use fonts that are easy-to-read
- Use bold types and colors only sparingly to call out useful info
- Use bulleted numbers and lists
- Break up sections with headings and sub-headings
- Use short paragraphs- 2-3 sentences is ideal
Search Engine Strategies Wrap Up
We hope these search engine strategies helped paint a clear picture for what you need to get done in the coming weeks.
But, implementing these search engine strategies on your own can be a tough feat. If you’re looking for some help, contact us today.