Each and every experienced expert of search engine optimization is going to agree that SEO is changing constantly and it is a lot different than what it used to be. In addition, the ethics, as well as rules of search engine optimization, keep changing with every passing year or in better words, the rules are rewritten. For instance, the rules of search engine optimization from 2018 might not be applicable in 2019. Owning a business can be extremely hectic and if you want Google to provide you with more and relevant traffic, and you are also interested in giving your business website all the attention that it should get, you need to have proper knowledge about the essential factors of ranking. If you do not have enough knowledge, you are going to be taken over by your competitors.
Consider the list of the ranking factors that have been listed below for your convenience and better understanding.
An accessible and secure website
Undoubtedly, the first and most important ranking factor is having accessible as well as a secure website. It is crucial that you have the proper kind of URL, and this URL has to be easily reached by the Google bots. In simple terms, Google needs to have the ability to visit your URL and go to the page in order to understand what exactly your page is related to. In order to ensure that you are helping Google bots, you need to take care of the following:
- Your business website needs to be created with the help of a website builder that is well coded.
- There should be a robot.txt file, which is going to inform Google exactly where it should look for the site information.
- Also, there should be a sitemap, which is going to list all the pages.
HTTPS is definitely not a factor, which is responsible for deciding whether a page should be indexed or not. However, it is definitely one of the most important ranking factors and it is also going to be great for the users to have HTTPS.
Page Speed
Page speed is another important ranking factor, which has continued to remain one of the most important factors for years. Google is interested in improving the users’ experience of web and if any web page is loading fast, it is going to help in enhancing this experience. According to recent algorithm updates of Google, the page speed of the mobiles is going to affect the sites to a great extent. Therefore, if your website is not loading fast on mobile devices, it can lead to heavy penalties. Make use of the mobile testing tool of Google in order to understand the page speed of your website. You can take help from any reputed branding company, in order to know more about this.
Mobile friendliness
There is no denying the fact that this is the era of mobile devices. Therefore, you have to agree to the fact that mobile friendliness is definitely one of the major ranking factors of search engine optimization. Currently, more people are making use of their mobile devices as opposed to desktops in order to surf the web. This is why Google has made numerous changes in its ranking algorithm. According to www.optinmonster.com, mobile traffic has been successful in taking over desktop traffic.
The mobile-first index of Google is currently a reality, and this means that it is drawing most of the results from those websites, which are mobile optimized, in comparison to those websites, which have not been optimized yet. If you have not mobile optimized your website, there is a high chance that you are going to lose out in terms of search engine optimization.
The things that you need to consider include:
- Your site has to be responsive and needs to automatically resize in order to fit any device.
- You need to make use of large fonts so that readers can read comfortably even when the screen is small.
- Navigability and accessibility need to be there.
- It is your duty to ensure that any important content is not being hidden by the interstitial advertisements.
Age of the domain, URL, as well as authority
You need to know that almost 60% of the websites have the top 10 rankings on Google and they are more than 3 years old. According to data extracted from different reputed sites, it has been suggested that only a handful of websites, which are less than one year are going to receive that ranking. Therefore, you need to know that if you already have your website and you made use of the previously mentioned tips for optimizing your website, you are already benefiting from those tips.
In most of the cases, the domain name is known to matter to a great extent. Certain researches show that exact-match domains are considered to be relevant and valuable, and your website can observe a boost in the ranking because of them. However, if your website is established already, you do not have to go for exact-match domains. You only have to focus on a proper URL, which is going to reflect the business in an ideal manner.
Authority also matters when search engine optimization is being considered. Both the domain authority score as well as the page authority score is responsible for determining how a page is going to rank in the Google search results.
Technical SEO
Getting your code right is definitely one of the most important aspects of optimizing your content in order to get a better search engine rank. Given below is a list of the aspects that you need to consider.
- Make use of keyword phrases within the page titles.
- Ensure that you are using header tags for highlighting content hierarchy.
- Create a Meta description, which is going to entice the readers and also don’t forget to include the keyword phrase. Ensure that your Meta descriptions are short but grabby.
- Make use of schema markup in order to make Google understand the type of content that you are producing.
Conclusion
It is true that getting a high rank in search engines is definitely a difficult job. Consider the ranking factors that have been mentioned above so that it becomes easier for you to gain your place within the top 10 search results of Google.