Organically ranking on Google is one of the best things you can work towards to drive traffic to your website. Designed to show you the most relatable content to your query, Google uses a series of algorithms to narrow down your search, from keywords to images and everything in between. These techniques ensure the need to scroll through irrelevant pages is eradicated, and only the most relevant content appears at the top of the SERP (search engine results page). 

The world of SEO can seem a little daunting, but there are plenty of simple tips and tricks you can use to boost your rankings. Here are five easy things you can do right now to rank on Google… 

1: Optimise For Mobile…

In 2018, Google announced that they would be changing their algorithms to focus on mobile-first indexing. As mobile searches account for over 60% of total searches – a statistic that is continually rising – it’s now more important than ever to optimise for mobile devices. 

If you have a mobile-friendly site, you’re more likely to rank higher and receive more traffic landing on your pages. Making tweaks for a more user-friendly experience is sure to help you rank on Google, as well as prevent a high bounce rate. 

The first step to optimising for mobile is to ensure that your site effortlessly transitions between desktops, mobile devices and tablets; a complicated setup will not be user friendly and likely cause website disruption. 

A responsive website will smoothen your visitors’ experience. 

Not only this, an outdated website will stand out for all of the wrong reasons! Even with the freshest, most relevant content, if your site isn’t properly optimised, engagement will remain low. 

2: Increase Your Site Speed…

When indexing pages, Google will rank pages which take longer to load lower on organic searches. Consequently, if your page is bogged down with unoptimised images which prevent quick loading, or the server you’re using isn’t up to date, this will negatively affect your results. 

The best thing to do is to take a look at your site loading speed. 

If this is above 2 seconds, take this into consideration and see what can be done to improve your loading time. Something as simple as compressing your images or removing unnecessary Javascript files can dramatically improve your website’s performance. 

3: Focus On Your Links…

Both internal and external links continue to have a huge impact on rankings. For example, a website jam-packed with broken internal links will leave Google penalising your pages. 

On-Site Links

A quick crawl of your site will help you to identify any pages with 404 errors, allowing you to amend these with ease. Occasionally, users will come across a 404 error page due to following broken links or typing an incorrect URL. 

To help improve user experience, you can create a custom error page with links back to your homepage or links to popular content on your website. 

The top priority of search algorithms these days is UX (user experience), so anything that users find irritating, like broken links or poor navigation is damaging your ability to rank highly. 

Off-Site Links

In relation to external links, it’s always beneficial to have other relevant sites linking back to your pages. Regularly gaining new, high-quality backlinks from sites with a high domain authority will positively affect your rankings, as Google is notified of worthwhile content that others are finding useful. 

One of the quickest ways to gain backlinks is to set up a Google alert for brand mentions. Whenever your brand is mentioned, you’ll receive an alert and from there, you can contact the webmaster and request for a link to be added. 

Not only will this help to boost your domain authority, but also hopefully generate some traffic from the link. 

In the long run, however, the best way to consistently gain new backlinks each month is through high-quality content concerted effort. You need to be creating content worth linking to, reaching out to other websites in your niche to request they link to your site, and gaining high-profile placements on big media sites that include a bio and link back to your website.

Rank On Google

4: Concentrate On Optimised Content…

Despite there being hundreds of ways to optimise your website, the single most important thing to consider is your content, and the extent to which it’s been optimised for search. 

Without good quality content that’s easy to understand and process, and clearly relates to the terms you want to rank for, Google will not be able to understand what your page is about, let alone choose to give it a top position on SERPs. 

Creating compelling and high-value content is so important, as readers will not stay interested otherwise, and remember it’s all about the UX. 

To ensure your website’s SEO is up to scratch, research keywords and attempt to include these in your writing. Of course, don’t go overboard and find yourself keyword stuffing – the algorithms will actually penalise you for including your keyword too many times. 

Just write naturally and keywords will blend into your content without being repetitive. 

There is an awful lot more to a successful content strategy that is fully optimised for search, but blogging once a week, around a specific keyword, is the best place to start. If that sounds like a lot of effort, it is (we’re not going to lie about that), but there are so many huge benefits for your business it’s well worth it.

If you’re looking for a way to do this yourself, without the expense of hiring an agency, we offer a training course, SEO For Blogging, with our very own head of marketing and SEO ninja. 

5: Titles And Snippets…

Your page titles and meta descriptions have a huge influence on how your pages rank on Google. When writing a page title, make sure that this includes relevant information and keywords for the page, but keep in mind that it needs to read naturally. 

Again, avoid keyword stuffing; a title should only be a few words or a short sentence. Your meta descriptions are where you can be more detailed and writing a few sentences or a short paragraph is optimal as Google may use them as snippets for your page. 

These should be unique for different landing pages, effectively communicating what the content is about. 

Once you’ve done these five things, you should be well on your way to good rankings on Google! 

If you’re unsure how to do the technical side of SEO, like ensuring you have a fully responsive and fast website, get in touch, we have expert web developers and SEO geeks ready and waiting to optimise your site…

Author Profile

Shannon Greenway
Shannon Greenway
Our Junior Copywriter Shann Greenway is a creative wordsmith. Blogging is her passion, and she spends most of her time writing and editing. As a self-confessed music addict, she loves reviewing albums and interviewing artists, a hobby and skill which transfers well into her role here.

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    Author Profile

    Shannon Greenway
    Shannon Greenway
    Our Junior Copywriter Shann Greenway is a creative wordsmith. Blogging is her passion, and she spends most of her time writing and editing. As a self-confessed music addict, she loves reviewing albums and interviewing artists, a hobby and skill which transfers well into her role here.