A solid SEO (search engine optimization) strategy helps you rank higher in search engines when potential customers look for the products and services you offer. Unfortunately, it’s becoming consistently more challenging to maintain a high rank above your competition. Here are five of the most critical factors to ranking higher in searches.
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Tip 1: Activate an SSL Certificate
Adding an SSL certificate to your website is a must, both for your sake and the sake of your consumers. In fact, Google recently changed their security requirements for websites and has stopped ranking insecure sites as high as the ones with “HTTPS” in the URL. This means that it’s a critical step to boosting your search engine rank.
What exactly is an SSL certificate? This is an encryption you can purchase from your host for an additional monthly fee and it protects your website’s users’ information when they’re sending a message, making a purchase, etc. If you operate an online store, having an active SSL is required to protect your shoppers’ information.
How do you do it?
1. Contact your host and ask them to add the SSL
Tip 2: Submit Your Site to Search Engines
Keep in mind that search engines won’t automatically know when you’ve just launched a new site. Yes, people will be able to manually search for your website if they already know the address, but if you want to start showing up organically through related searches, you need to submit your site to search engines. Now, there are tons of search engines out there, so don’t worry about submitting to every single one, but you should at least submit to the most popular ones like Google and Bing.
Submitting your site to Google Search Console is free and easy.
Remember Google is basically a robot that scours the internet for new sites to include in searches. Submitting your site map will help search engines find and crawl your site much sooner.
How do you do it?
1. Access your website’s sitemap 2. Log in to Google Search Console 3. Follow the instructions here
Tip 3: Speed Up Your Website
The sites that work the best always rank better than slow, clunky sites. Google ranks faster sites higher than ones that take longer to load. The average website loads in about two seconds, so that is a great benchmark to keep in mind when testing your website’s load speed.
Your site’s load speed will also affect your bounce rates because people are more likely to leave your website if it’s taking too long to load. You can run a speed test on your website for free using Google’s speed tester. This is a fantastic free tool that will not only test your website speed, but also give you tips on how to speed things up.
How do you do it?
1. Contact your host to see if you can upgrade your server. 2. Compress image files. 3. Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML
Tip 4: Get Content on Other Websites
One of Google’s ranking factors is your URL’s credibility. For example, if your website has links to credible websites, and credible websites link to your site, that will boost your search ranking. You might have heard the term backlink before, and that’s exactly what it means.
Try reaching out to others in your field or industry that would be interested in collaborating with content. Offer to write a few blogs for various websites and have them link back to your website. When Google sees these links to your site, it will see that your URL is important and move you up in searches.
How do you do it?
1. Reach out to websites related to your industry 2. Write content for others with links back to your site
Tip 5: Get Traffic to Stay Longer
Google considers your website’s bounce rates when placing you in search listings. A bounce rate is a metric that calculates how long visitors stay on your website. The longer people stay on your site, the better.
You can get visitors to stay on your website longer by giving them something engaging to do while they’re there. This could be adding a video to your home or landing page. You might also consider adding a quiz or similar interactive activity. Writing quality blog content that answers your audience’s questions can also keep them on your site for long periods of time.
How do you do it?
1. Add a short video or quiz to your home or landing page 2. Add blog content that answers common questions
If you’re needing help with your SEO, website, software, or marketing this year, feel free to plan your project here.
With over 7 years of experience in marketing and creative writing, Mel keeps his finger on the pulse of online trends and leverages storytelling as the driving force that sways the modern consumer into a loyal fan. He's worked with national brands like Audioengine USA, Kidokinetics, and Boardworks Education on marketing, design, and content writing efforts. With a bachelor’s in creative writing and journalism, the art of storytelling takes a front seat to all marketing efforts. Mel has written for encore magazine, Lumina News, and countless blogs for brands of all industries.