Higher rankings in Google? What you need to know about SEO

Everybody wants to claim the top spot in Google’s search results. You can’t reach this goal without the right strategy. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is constantly developing and changing. To keep your website up to date, you’ll have to keep up with the latest trends. This blogs contains tips and tricks that help you not only to maintain your Google ranking, but also improve it.

1. Answer your audience’s questions

Gone are these days in which you could score with just a line of keywords. Nowadays, search engines are all about finding answers to questions. This of course also gets more and more important due to the rise of voice search. Google, in turn, values webpages that provide answers to these questions. In other words: are you able to perfectly explain the solution to your audience’s problems? Then write it down in a blog or provide the answer with a different piece of content. This improves your chance for a high ranking in the search results. Your information might even become a featured snippet: an answer in bold type, at the very top of the search results.

2. Offer more to your visitors than just text

A picture is worth a thousand words and SEO is no exception. You probably know already images are essential for a high ranking, but did you know video and audio are very valuable as well? The scope of Google’s algorithm nowadays also includes the contents of video and audio (think of podcasts, for example). Another SEO boost is a good motion graphic accompanying your text. Search result ranking also depends on the time your visitors spend on your website and video is of course a good way to hold their attention. Do you see an opportunity to add an informative video or podcast? Then do your thing.

3. Double check your mobile website

As a website owner, you’re probably used to visiting your own website a lot to do check-ups. This mostly means: the desktop version. But your mobile site deserves some tender loving care as well, for two reasons. First of all, we all use our mobile devices far more than a few years ago. There’s a high chance your visitors check your page on their phone or tablet. Second, Google also really values a good mobile website: it even has a mobile first policy. If your content is inaccessible on a mobile device, it will affect your ranking – and not in a good way, of course. Your website menu should work as fine as on a desktop, the text should be well readable, and of course all other relevant elements should be available on a smartphone as well.

4. Get backlinks from important websites

Not all influencers are YouTube vloggers. Google regards authoritative sources as influencers as well. Google analyst John Mueller has stated that your page will receive quite a ranking boost when a big website links to your content. But this of course raises this question: how to grab their attention? Well, this leads us back to our very first tip: provide your audience with content it really want to read. A big websites will find your more interesting if you do something new and/or distinctive.

5. Make sure your website is fast

No such thing as patience exists online: if your visitor has to wait too long for your page to load, they’re gone. This makes your website speed one of the most important SEO optimizations. Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool helps you to determine the speed of your site: the faster, the better. But if the speed is too slow, you’ll really have to take action. The ideal website speed is one second, but Google appreciates it if it’s even faster.

Want to know more about how to make the most of SEO for your company? Feel free to contact us for a consultation!