5 Proven Ways to Increase Your Google Rankings

A great ranking position is critical when it comes to the success of any online venture. Every marketer knows the importance of ranking; however, only a few are willing to do something about it. Out of all those willing marketers, some opt for affordable SEO services while others look for unreliable shortcuts.
Whatever option you opt for, keep in mind that improving Google ranking is a long-term factor that takes time to show results. In this case, quick shortcuts are not going to serve you well.

To help you enhance your Google ranking ethically, here is a list of 5 proven ways that will bring positive results in the long run!

1. Work on having a Mobile-Friendly Website

60% of all the searches are made from a mobile. These stats are enough to compel marketers to take mobile responsiveness seriously. That said, Google ranks those websites better that are optimized to facilitate mobile traffic. So, in order to secure a better ranking position, start working towards having a mobile-friendly website. That said, the mobile optimization of a website follows two steps; the first step is the actual process of making the website mobile-friendly and the latter one includes the testing procedure. Both steps are equally important because uploading a website without conducting any test for mobile-optimization can backfire badly.

There are various testing tools available in the market one of which is Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Simply enter the URL of your website and it will run a handful of test to determine how friendly your website is with mobile devices. All of its findings will be presented to you in the form of a thorough report that will bring your attention towards all the encountered issues. At the end of all, you will have a strong idea of where your website lacks and which areas need further improvements.

When visitors arrive on your website through a mobile, they expect top-notch performance with fast load time. Provide them with a below-average experience and they will never return. This will not only impact your Google ranking but will also play a role in a higher bounce rate. So, always ensure that the users do not experience any performance-related issues when they use your website through mobile devices.

2. Perform Proper Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the influential factors that affect Google’s ranking. Equipped with the proper SEO knowledge, marketers can find the right keywords and incorporate them into their content to rank better for their target audience.

First off, you need to find out how your target audience is reaching to your website. For this purpose, you can utilize the Google Keyword Planner. From there, open the ‘search for new keyword’ and enter your primary keyword.

In the ‘keyword idea’ section, you will get a bunch of potential keywords along with their monthly search stats. This kind of information can come in handy if you are trying to pinpoint your target audience. Once you know what kind of information your target audience wants and how they want it, you can start creating targeted content that ranks better for special keywords.

Keep in mind that you need to target informational as well as commercial keywords in your content if you want to improve your ranking.

3. Produce Valuable Content

Now that you have a list of all the targeted keywords, it is time to produce high-quality content. The secret to improving your Google ranking also lies in well-researched, thoroughly-crafted content with just the right amount of keywords. You also need to ensure that your content has an informational value to it since this is the only way of ensuring that your users keep coming back to your website.

Creating content that converts is not easy. So, here are a few tips to help you create a content strategy that compels the readers to come back. • Do not stick with a certain length of the article and mix it all up. For instance, if one article is around 1000 words, the next should be around 1500+ words and so on. Keep in mind that the long-form content ranks better than short pieces. So, devise a content strategy which focuses more on detailed articles.

• A solid article with informational value will still be boring if it does not contain any striking visual elements. So to keep your readers engaged, furnish your content with attractive graphics. Also, break up solid chunks into smaller pieces and utilize bullets to present the information in an easy-to-understand manner.

• Include both the short-tail and long-tail keywords. Sprinkle them throughout your content in a way that it does not ruin its quality.

4. Increase Your On-Page SEO Efforts

Without focusing on your on-page SEO strategies, there is a good chance that your content will remain hidden from the users as well as from Google. Something that cannot be found on the internet will surely have a hard time securing a better rank in the SERPs.

For this purpose, you need to target small details on your website that could help you optimize the on-page SEO aspect of your website. Small details like: Meta description: It is the small description that appears right next to the search results. It contains information that indicates to the users about the sort of information they will find once the click on the specific search result. So accurately describe each page with an equal amount of keywords.

Title tag: These are the clickable headlines that appear on the SERPs. Being an important on-page SEO factor, it should always contain a keyword for which you are trying to rank for.

Images: Make sure that all the images on your website are optimized for quick loading. Additionally, include one of your target keywords in the image file name.

URL: Shorter URLs are known to rank better in the SERPs. So, keep the URL nice and tidy and always ensure to include a targeted keyword in it to rank better.

Headings: Generally, headings can be divided into H1, H2, and H3. H1 is your main title and the rest of them are your subheadings. That said, always include one of the target keywords in the H1 and H2 heading format to increase your chances of ranking better.

In all of the on-page SEO efforts, keywords play an important role. So focus on improving your targeted keyword strategies to secure a better rank!

5. Focus on Your Links

Internal along with external links play a great role in determining your Google rank. This is why it is necessary that you spend some time focusing on your link strategies and try to find lucrative backlinking opportunities.

You can start by assessing all the links on your website to sniff out any broken links. This will also help you in finding working links that lead to dead pages. For this purpose, you can use site crawling tools to find and fix all the problematic links.

Once you are done with that, you can move onto figuring out link-building opportunities. Whether you opt for internal or external opportunities, make sure that you focus on anchor text (hyperlinked words). You can target specific keywords or phrases for your anchor text.

Whatever you do, always ensure that you find high-quality linking opportunities. Otherwise, weak link-building efforts would not do much to improve your Google ranking.

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of all the ins and outs of improving your Google ranking, it is about time that you start with the implementation process. If the truth is told, all these strategies require time and efforts; however, do not let this dampen your spirits. Also, never opt for cheap shortcuts for quick fixes. Not only do they generate short-termed results, but they also cause Google to slap severe penalties that could ruin your website.

So, take the longer yet appropriate route and improve your ranking while steering away from the penalties.