Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the scientific way of improving a website’s visibility when people search for products or services. The more visibility on search engines such as Google, the more chances of brand exposure and capturing business.
You must be here because you’re thinking “I need help ranking my website”. In this article, I will go over some key aspects of what SEO is, and how you can apply some simple concepts to your website.
How do I rank my website?
There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to how exactly Google ranks websites but, here are the definitive known elements that can help rank your website:
You’ll want to publish content that is relative and authoritative
Who’s your target audience? Asking questions such as “who am I trying to reach?” and “what sort of language do they use?” is a huge step in figuring that out. Think about what your reader would type into Google when they want the solutions that you’re providing.
Once you’ve identified your keyword and/or phrase, it’s time for you to create your content. You must repeat the keyword several times throughout your webpage. Use bold and italics to highlight the keyword in your content, and also include it in your headings. Make sure you’re not sacrificing high–quality work for keywords.
You’ll want to update your content regularly
Having quality content with the relevant keyword spread throughout it is not enough. You’ll want to make sure that your content is updated regularly to stay relevant to your audience.
Having blog posts can give you a huge SEO ranking boost. It means you can have nice short articles loaded with keywords and phrases!
Metadata – Specific HTML tags
Your titles are the most important metadata and are responsible for your header, and sub-headings throughout your article. Make sure you’re including your keywords in some of the titles to boost your ranking.
The description metadata could be the “call-to-action” that your webpage needs. Think of it as the window that your audience will peer through to get a glimpse of what you have to offer.
The keyword metadata is the least used of all the metadata. You’re trying to aim for around 3 to 7 key phrases that are about 1 to 4 words long. A good example is “Ranking my website”.
Have a webpage that is link-worthy
What do we mean when we say “link-worthy”? If you have content that is helpful to your visitors, is high quality, and authoritative, you’re more likely to be used as links from other web pages. This can only boost your SEO ranking. Furthermore, your link network, or the amount of links pointing to your website is a big factor in how your website performs in search rankings.
Link building is the explicit action of asking other websites for links to you website. It is arduous and the success rate of having another website link to you simply because you ask is painfully low. A better way is to develop valuable and helpful content that people actually want to link to.
Developing link-worthy content means that you’re developing content that is relevant to that customers or clients that you want to attract. It means that you’re offering information that they readily need and can use.
Always use alt tags
Alt tags are compact content pieces that appears in place of images on a website, and they offer a descriptive snippet about a particular image. Although nobody can see these hidden descriptions of videos and images, they allow search engines such as Google to learn more about what your website is about. Additionally, this is especially helpful to users who use text-only browsers or screen readers.
How long will ranking my website take?
If you’re asking “how long will ranking my website take?” It’s estimated that it could take around three to six months. This is the general time it will take for the SEO operations you have done on a website to start to register with search engines. Understandably, SEO isn’t instantaneous, but putting in the work now ultimately results in better quality traffic at lower cost.
How does Google organize web pages?
It’s important to understand why ranking your website takes long by first understanding how Google organizes web pages. Google’s algorithm takes into more than 250 factors, some of which are keywords, titles, and alt tags. It also takes into account how much traffic is coming from other websites, so make sure you’ve taken the advice on making your website link-worthy.
No one knows exactly what formula is used to place pages but there are some known factors, which are:
How much will ranking my website cost?
If you’ve read the first part of this article, you’ll understand why SEO is so important. Now let’s have a look at some pricing options out there.
SEO pricing models:
Pricing models vary but at the end of it everything comes down to results and how confident you feel that a particular marketer can help you reach the desired goal. And if you’re not embarking on the work yourself, hiring someone to take on that work is the other alternative.
Can you pay Google for SEO?
No, you can’t pay Google for SEO services. SEO is completely up to you. If you’ve followed the steps above so far, you’re on your way to having a top-ranked web page.
One thing Google does let you pay for is advertising. Even if you can’t end up at the very top of the search results organically, you can pay Google to be in the ads section of the search results.
It only takes a few minutes to launch your ads with Google ads. The payment model that Google uses is pay-per-click, which means that you pay Google a certain amount each time someone clicks on your ad. It also depends on the keyword that you choose to use, and how much you’re willing to bid for the top spot.
How do I make sure my website ranks first on Google?
Getting to the top of that first page means a 36.4% click-through rate, compared to the 12.5%% for the second result. With this much difference, you’re definitely aiming for the top! Let’s have a look at the key elements that’ll help your website rank first on Google.
Let’s look at a few things you can do to make sure you’re at the top!
Adding keywords to specific places on your website
You’ll want to consider what your audience is going to search for when they want an answer from you. In a way, you’ll want to work backward. You have the answer, but what question needs answering?
