The question I most often get is,
“How do I get on the first page of Google?”
Man, do I wish there were a straightforward answer! The truth is, getting to the top of the Google search is actually quite a daunting task. I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 most actionable SEO tricks to help you climb your way to the top of Google!
Dwell-Time
Google’s ranking system pays very close attention to how long people click and stay on your page. This is called dwell time and is the most important ranking criteria. Now you must focus on content that people stay to read, watch, or interact with from your page. This means that the more ridiculous SEO tactics won’t be as effective anymore. Say there was a site that creates pages or articles just to link to keywords, well that won’t help put that site higher up on the list. Think of this as more of quality over quantity. The goal is keeping people on your site, dwell time is the way to climb the ranks. This way you can focus on making content with quality and climb the ranks by adding real value people interact with.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
The click through rate of a site is still important. The analytics work similarly. There are some SEO “tricks” that will be less effective. And there many ways to help your CTR. The classic cliché SEO phrases and words may not be as effective. Keyword heavy titles and taglines may be the first instinct but CTR analytics prove that’s not the best way. The most important lesson to be learned is that humans are emotional beings, therefore write titles and taglines appealing to emotion. Use better synonyms, write from a human perspective, try to help, inform, or deliver information and content that has value. https://www.wordstream.com/images/organic-seo-ctr-infographic.png
In-Depth Content
Content is measured a little differently on Google now. The old criteria still affect your ranking, but content is deemed the “best” answer to a search if it covers the search’s topic in depth. So, a longer article will most likely outrank a shorter article because Google will think it covers the topic better. LSI keywords also help with this. Cover keywords that relate to your content. This, along with just being more in depth, gives your content context. And Google now uses this to rank your site.
User experience
This blends in to all the other SEO guidelines somewhat. But it should be a no brainer to try and provide the best user experience when coming to your site. This is the equivalent having a nice showroom, or a very engaging store layout and buying experience. Except your site is the substitute for all of those things, available to the entire digital world, and is open 24/7. Naturally you can imagine that this can affect your site’s success. This will affect your CTR, dwell time, and other important factors. If you have great content, marketing, or products but have a terrible user experience, it will hinder all other aspects of your site and/or business. A growing want for video, images, and easily digestible content should influence how you build the experience for those who visit your site as well.
Mobile Optimized
Google now will consider your mobile site the real version of your site. “Nearly 60 percent of searches now from mobile devices.” An important thing not to miss out on is optimizing your site for the mobile platforms. Make all your content and information available to desktop and mobile users equally. So, put in a little extra effort to make sure your site provides the same great experience and feel on mobile as it would on a desktop. It’s going to give you a leg up on your competitors who aren’t as mobile focused.
Are you ready to step up your business game in 2018? Schedule a consultation with me!