It’s not too far-fetched to say we rely on Google’s powerful platforms to get by day-to-day. From business to personal lifestyle, the impact the world’s largest search engine has on our lives is significant. And with over 40,000 search queries conducted each and every second (a whopping 3.5 billion a year), it’s no wonder ranking high on the platform is a priority for most businesses.
But getting to the top of the web’s most prime real estate isn’t just a matter of having a website and keeping it active. A plethora of strategic elements form an influential campaign that garners the attention of Google, enticing it to view your business as an authoritative voice that deserves to be ranked high in search results. In order to get to that position, however, you must undertake all the right steps to get in Google’s good books.
Allow Google to find your website easily with our list of top 8 tips to being seen...
- Make sure you’ve submitted your website to Google
You wouldn’t expect to get a job you didn’t apply for, so why would you expect Google to rank you without telling it you exist? While the platform is fairly omniscient, it does need a bit of support sometimes to keep up to date with the trillions of searches it has to monitor. So while your website may actually be found by bots at some point in time, it always pays to speed up the process by submitting it to Google in the first place. Give the engine a heads up by shooting through your sitemap on Google Search Console and wait for the bots to start creeping over.
- Know all the right keywords to use
A major part of an SEO campaign is the utilisation of strategic keywords. While old-school days saw a lot of spamming throughout content, careful placement and inclusion of these search terms are now a significant ranking factor. In a nutshell, keywords are typically phrases that are around three to five words in length, and relate directly to your business in some shape or form. They’re also what’s pulling huge volumes of searches, so including them on your page (in content and metadata) is critical.
But how do you know what keywords to use? It takes a bit of logic and a lot of research to balance out the right set of phrases to include on your site. You want to tap into those pulling searches, but not ones that are so far beyond competitive that there’s no chance you’ll reap any benefits from them. This is where having an SEO tech on hand – like those at Haveavelook – can help you to sift out the best phrases, eliminating any risk of wasted time and energy on ineffective choices.
- Create a healthy trail of links
When a website has a link pointing back to your own, it’s a positive ranking signal for SEO. Therefore, it makes sense to plant (quality) links around the web on authoritative websites. This is also where social media profiles come in hand, allowing you to build up a good profile of links that you can monitor on your Google Search Console dashboard. The more you show Google you’re being pointed to by others, the more it will see you as a credible source worth ranking.
- Be mobile responsive
The mobilegeddon us well and truly upon us, and with Google’s recent open announcement about favouring sites that are mobile-friendly, getting onto this function is paramount. In fact, mobile devices currently pull more than half of all internet traffic across the globe. That’s a huge amount of content consumption happening on devices you may not even be equipped to support, so if you’re not yet running a mobile-responsive website, now’s the time to take action.
- If you’re a local, prove it
Local SEO is a huge aspect of digital marketing, and or those that are interested in tapping into a narrowed down audience, particularly via a certain suburb or city, it’s usually the primary tactic. Google’s ability to showcase local options to searchers means it’s important you let the engine know you’re looking to pinpoint hat audience in the first place. A great way to do this is through Google My Business – a directory that’s responsible for what appears on Google Maps. By submitting to this database, you’ll increase your likelihood of appearing for a search relevant to your business and location that a user may actually be trying to hunt down. Best of all, you’ll land on top of search results complete with your contact details, location and opening hours.
- Keep your content updated
Constantly refreshing your website’s content will ensure you’re being seen as a living, breathing entity to Google. It also gives the search engine a reason to keep returning to crawl your website, increasing your likelihood of ranking across the board. Beyond that, the search engine craves new content that feeds audiences accurate, credible and timely information, so playing on this quickly becomes a huge advantage. If you find getting into all this a bit tricky, the Instablog feature from Havealook can help you dedicate a space on your website purely for publishing fresh, quality content all from your mobile phone while you’re on the go.
Top it all off with a refresh on your keywords and a consistent assessment of what’s working and what’s not, and you’ll find the perfect balance of high-performing content and Google bots that are kept happy. Win-win.
- Keep your site secure with SSL
Otherwise known as the HTTPS protocol, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a process that establishes a secure connection between the user and your website’s server. Previously reserved for highly sensitive fields like banks or password inputs, SSL is now widely used across almost all websites. In fact, if you’re not running an SSL secure website, it’s likely Google will exclude you from rankings altogether, in a bid to eliminate risks to its users. If you’re not sure how to make your site secure with HTTPS, we highly recommend opting for a professional to help you get started – like the experts at Havealook.
- Collect reviews on Google
Word-of-mouth has a strong impression on consumers looking to make a purchase decision, and Google reviews are a big part of that. Beyond that, your reviews also appear alongside search engine results pages, putting you at the top where you want to be. The more confidence you give Google about your local authority and position with the public, the more likely it is to rank you higher in return.
Getting started
Tackling all of these elements takes time and patience, and ultimately, a lot of research. With a bit of juggling, smart tactics and maintenance, garnering a positive position in rankings doesn’t have to be such a huge challenge.
The best way to get on the right track, however, is by ensuring you are equipping your business with someone who understands the nature of Google algorithms and user behaviour on the net. The team of experts at Havealook are well-versed in analysing strategies and their ability to power up clients’ websites, no matter their industry or location. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you get noticed by Google, get in touch on 1300 367 009.