10 Proven Ways to Skyrocket your Website Ranking on Google Search
Considering that Google's search engine algorithm ranks a single website on over 200 factors and that Google is constantly changing, evaluating and updating it’s search results, a site that is ranked #1 on Google today, may not even be on the 1st page next week. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing! This means that the possibility of your site moving up to the first page can happen in a short amount of time!
1. Google Listing
Considering that 55% of all clicks go to the first 3 organic search results, listing your business on Google will help you show up at the top AND over to the right when people search your business name. Listing your business on Google helps Google know you are in business and helps customers know how to contact you. Customers can also leave reviews which also helps you rank higher and get more visibility.
2. Domain Name
If your domain name (IE: MasonElectric) utilizes a keyword (Electric) that your company provides as a product or service, your domain will show up higher when someone searches that keyword rather than a domain that doesn’t have that keyword. Don’t fret if you’ve already purchased your domain name and it doesn’t have a keyword! You can always purchase several domain names (UtahElectric, citynameelectric, 24hourelectric, etc) and forward those domains to your main/used domain. Read more about selecting your domain name.
3. Domain Age
Be sure your domain is purchased for 5 years from now. This shows Google that you are sticking around and to take notice. Those websites that have been around for many years tend to rank higher too. Having some history with Google definitely helps.
4. Secure Site
While you’re at it, be sure your site is pointing to a secure site (HTTP vs HTTPS). You want your site to show HTTPS (the S means your site is secure). Contact your domain name provider or where you host your website for help.
5. Keywords
Your website and where it ranks in Google search results is largely dependant upon its keywords and your competitors keywords. Evaluate your competition (or hire someone that knows how to research this) and note what keywords they are using and choose your keywords wisely.
6. Well-Built Website
If you’re taking your chances by building your own website, keep in mind that 97% of people don’t click past the first page of results. A professional website designer knows that some of the most important ranking factors include: a mobile friendly or responsive website, fast page speed, quality webpage content (at least 2,000 words/page) and optimized images are of the utmost importance.
7. Blog
Adding a blog to your website can increase its chances of ranking in search engines by 434%! Talk about a great return on your investment! Just be sure your website is at the same domain as your website. You don’t want to send people away to another site to read your blog - you want them to stay of course.
When you blog, it does several great things: it creates new opportunities for relative content and keywords, it allows for more inbound links, it allows for more people to find you via searching content you developed.
8. Become a YouTube Master
So you may have noticed that when you search for certain items, YouTube results will display higher. This is because Google owns YouTube. So unleash your creative genius with video or work with a marketing master who can help you with a variety of ideas to get people searching for your business.
9. Social Media
Social Media can help your website rank higher in a variety of ways. It can help with online visibility and traffic to your site, increased local results, increased brand recognition, broader content distribution and longer content lifespan. So go on - get social!
10. Quality Backlinks
Quality backlinks perform a crucial role in optimizing search engines and has a great effect on the volume of traffic you generate for your site. Without backlinks pointing at your site, it often becomes difficult to generate daily traffic. Backlinks provide the ability to drive new traffic to your site every day uninterruptedly.