7 Crucial Tips That You Need To Rank Your Website

Search engine optimization or SEO refers to the process of increasing the visibility of web pages to appear higher in the search engine result pages or SERPs. There are numerous factors responsible for ranking the site and it is important to appear higher which helps in driving the massive traffic to the site. Nowadays, Google shows the best result that matches up with the search queries. So it is equally important to optimize the content for search engines as well as for the users.

Here are the seven crucial SEO tips to rank your website higher in the search engines.

Research Keywords Properly

The way of performing keyword research has changed after the release of Google Algorithm updates. It is now important to research the keywords based on the topic user may type in the search engines. Utilize the keywords that appear in the instant results and related keywords displayed at the end of search results. Now check the latest trends to know if the keyword is trending in the particular industry or not. Trending keywords yield better results by driving the massive traffic to the site. After picking the keywords, check the search volume and keyword difficulty, select the keywords and place them naturally in the content to improve SEO. Ensure that you maintain the keyword density and keyword proximity in the optimization process.

Perform Competitor Research

Identify your competitors by using tools such as Serpstat. Make a list of five competitors and analyze them based on metrics such as PA, DA, a number of pages indexed, Citation flow and Trust flow. Type the selected keywords and check if your competitor is appearing on the first page of Google. Note the rank of each one of them and analyze them what SEO strategies are working for them and what aren't. It also recommended analyzing their backlinks to know the sites on which you can perform the link building activities. You can also explore the content opportunities by looking the service pages and blog content they are targeting for the users. These all activities help to rank higher in the SERPs.

Create a Dense Content

It is important to create the user generated content, relevant, unique and long form content in order to rank higher in search engine result pages. Search engines give preference to original and long form content so it is important to hire content marketing services that have the knowledge about the particular industry. User generated content helps in driving the massive traffic to the site. Relevancy is needed to add the value to the content which influences the users to make the decision of purchasing the products or services from your brand.  It is important to create the content, understanding the exact stage of a buyer in the buyer’s journey and targeting them accordingly. Follow the best practices for content writing to improve the rankings and maximize the conversions.

Build Quality Backlinks

Backlink as the name suggests a link back to your site. It is one of the most important SEO tips as backlinks can affect badly as well as improve the online reputation of the site. Build the quality backlinks on the authoritative sites to improve the search engine rankings. Analyze the backlinks of competitors and find the opportunities to build the links on the sites where they have got the benefits for link building. But remember to check the domain and page authority and traffic to the site before building the links.

After post Penguin 4, link building strategies have changed a lot. Now it is important to build the links for the corresponding web pages rather than the home page. Monitor the rankings of keyword regularly and if you see a sudden drop in the rankings, then check if the web page is penalized. You can check this by the spam scores on the tool such as open site explorer. Spam scores range from 1-17 where 1 is the lowest and 17 is the highest score. If your site’s spam score is less than 5 then no need to worry but if it is greater than 5 then it is the matter of attention. Make a file of bad links and disavow those inbound links in the Google Search console disavow tool. These help to improve the spam score of your site.

Adopt link earning techniques rather than traditional link building. Link earning techniques include infographic submission, widget/gadgets development, link baiting and roundups, guest posting. Build the accurate citations including name, address phone number and website which are popularly called as NAP+W on the authoritative sites. Optimize the Google business listing by adding all the necessary details and keep the profile active. Try to get as many online reviews as possible on Google local listing. These all will help to rank your site on the first position in the local 3 pack results.

Optimize the Site

Place the main keyword in the Title, Meta Description, URL, image ALT text, heading tag. Don’t stuff the keywords and try to use it once only in the Meta tags and URL. This will help to rank your page when a set of queries matches with your main keyword. You can also use long tail keywords to appear on the first page of Google. Long tail queries are increasing day by day and it is easy to rank for them. Optimize the content well by using white hat SEO techniques and maintaining the keyword density by 1-2 %. If you’re using WordPress CMS then install Yoast plugin and try to get the two green dots for your posts or pages. These two green dots indicate that your content is properly optimized for search engines.

Internal and External Linking

Bounce rate and average time spent on the site are the factors Google considers for ranking. It is important to perform internal linking optimization to increase the traffic and overall time on the site. Link the keywords or related keywords as anchor text to the relevant target page. Remember to avoid linking the main keyword because it can lead to the keyword cannibalization which results in poor linking. Internal linking optimization also helps in linking the keywords naturally and thus chances to click on them are more. It reduces the bounce rate of the site. You can also add the authoritative external links wherever necessary and insert the nofollow tag on them. Adding external links will add the credibility for your site.

Consider the RankBrain’s Algorithm

Rank Brain Algorithm including machine learning has changed the way search results appear in the search engines. It is based on the fact of providing the best results to the user for the set of queries. According to Google, it is the third most important factor in determining the results they appear in the search engines for queries. So using keywords according to the users is crucial for the successful SEO results. You should also keep updated with the latest search trends to stay ahead.

The Bottom Line

If you want to stay ahead and outperform your competitors then follow the above SEO tips. These will not only help you to rank higher in the search engine result pages but also drive massive traffic to the site.