Have you recently launched a website or are you running a website for a while but not getting enough traffic as expected?
The biggest possible reason behind this issue can be that your website is not coming among the top search results on major search engines like Google or Bing.
The mechanism that works behind the scene to make the search engines rank websites is extremely complex and sophisticated.
Don’t freak out yet as the measures you need to take to see your website rank higher is far from complex but rather simple and easy to follow.
Read along as we investigate how proper SEO can take your website rank significantly higher than before and also be sure to check out hosting raja offers for exciting discounts on web hosting if you are thinking to start your own personal blog.
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization is a combination of several practices which are followed by website and content developers alike to try and put there website or article as high as possible on popular search engines.
This involves measures taken to make the content more understandable to Googlebot and similar bots ( The robots who fetch the data from your website to the Google database ) to making websites more friendly for every type of device and many more.
How SEO affects the Google ranking
People who are new to the world of blogging or website developers of small startups often live in an illusion that only there content will drive traffic to there websites but that is not the case.
Every second Google judges thousands of articles written about the same thing and then rank them based on users search query which is exactly where the competition creeps in.
To make it easy for you to understand, below we have discussed some of the factors which are believed to have the highest influence in Google’s decision of how your article/website will be ranked for a certain search.
Content
Content has always been the biggest contributor to a decent Google search ranking.
With the popular trend is tilting towards more and more information, Google has adjusted there ranking factor to look for more informative articles. It is not about stuffing the keywords anymore.
More emphasis is now given on how well you have placed your keywords without forcing it and more importantly how helpful your article can be for the Google user who is searching for your keywords.
So what can you do improve your content to optimize it for Google? It is actually very simple. All you need to be is natural. Be informative and do not ever try to force keywords in your article.
Also, don’t ever worry about the length of the article. All you need to worry about is delivering complete information to your reader, be it in a smaller package of a 1000 words or with a broad explanation of 3000+ words.
Also, try to create original content as plagiarized content will significantly hurt your ranking in Google search results.
There is a Free Plagiarism Checker tool that can help to detect duplicate content.
Accessible to all
With two and a half billion active users, mobile phones are now one of the most used devices to access the internet among the masses. No wonder Google has also shifted their focus to mobile devices from desktops.
For a website to be successful now, it must be perfectly optimized for every device no matter what the user uses to access it.
There are about 90% websites which are now equally optimized for a desktop and a mobile device. So, if your site is not yet optimized for mobile devices, this should be your first priority for you.
Also, make sure that there is no difference between the content on the desktop site and the mobile site as this practice can earn you a huge negative penalty in Google search ranking.
For further information, you can read the article by Ryan Shelly on the steps required to optimize your site for Google’s mobile-first index.
Backlinks
Backlinks are another important thing to keep in mind when you are trying to improve your websites Google ranking.
But it is not like the past when you could get a decent search ranking based on the sheer number of backlinks you have to your website.
The advanced Google search matrices now judge your backlinks if they are from a good, reputed site or from a lowly, spam website.
It is advisable to never try to buy backlinks from the spam ads you see on your browsers. So, the question pops up that how can you improve the number of backlinks to your article.
A very simple answer is to make the content-rich. A good, informative and crisp article can attract decent traffic including those people who create content for industry leaders in your niche.
So, the next time they create content, they refer to your article for further information and you get a decent backlink.
Another way to generate decent backlinks can be by optimizing your social media pages.
With a huge number of the population actively use social media every day it is cleaver to promote your content using social media.
The more people you reach, the better the chances get for your article to get a decent backlink.
Other SEO factors that can affect your Google ranking
Apart from the three factors we have discussed so far, there are numerous other factors that can affect your rankings. For your convenience, we have listed some of them below.
- The speed with which your website loads is an important ranking factor. So make sure to optimize every portion of your code to achieve minimum download requirement for the user. Compress every image in your article and also make sure compress the entire code including your CSS, HTML, and Scripts. Also, try to use only the scripts which are absolutely necessary as a large number of them tend to slow your site significantly.
- Make sure to structure your articles well. You must use the HTML tags properly and in the correct order. For example, the h1 tag must be fused or the heading only, the h2 tag must contain the h3 tag ( if any ) within itself and so on.
- Make sure to add alt tags to all your images to ensure accessibility for all users, a big factor in Google’s indexing algorithm.
- Keeping your content updated regularly helps Google understand that your site does not contain any out of date information and that makes you rank higher than sites not so frequently updated.
Conclusion
If you have read this far, I’m sure you have got a clear idea of the importance of proper SEO for the success of your website.
If your site is missing any of the best SEO practices I’ve mentioned in this article, rush and fix it as soon as possible.
Ultimately, if your website or blog does have the proper contents that can engage the readers then by following these simple SEO guidelines you can get your website to be one of the most popular ones in your niche in a matter of time.