… So where did your site land?
For small businesses high-ranking search results are not only vital for increased website traffic but also the growth and success of your business, especially if you are dealing with a limited or non-existing advertising budget. In the world of Search Engine Optimization, the factors affecting positive search results are not as mysterious as you might think. According to a recent report by Searchmetrics, in order to receive good rankings in organic Google search results it is important to focus on more than just SEO.
In order to determine the most important factors affecting SEO rankings, Searchmetrics analyzed the organic Google search results of 10,000 words on 300,000 different websites. The pages that ranked the highest had several factors in common including, comprehensive coverage of topics, easy to understand language, large word counts per page and a tons of photos and videos.
While most of the websites that ranked in the top positions were mainly those of big brands, the key takeaways learned from these top sites can be applied to company websites of any size, even small local businesses. Here is a quick overview of the results, and how you can implement them to your own site.
Tip #1: Increase Relevant and Interesting Content
Quality and depth of content continues to be one of the most important factors that affect high search rankings. These factors are typically measured based on word and sentence count using relevant key words. To expand keyword searches even further, it is important to also relate single words to other key terms since it is likely that the searcher is researching entire topics not just key words that appear in the exact Google search. But relevant content isn’t just about the words, it is important to also include plenty of photos and videos to further enhance the content on the page. As far as what to avoid, the page analysis says to steer clear of AdSense and AdLinks on pages, as they actually can have a negative impact on SEO rankings and were also very uncommon on top ranked pages.
Tip #2: Create an Awesome Site Architecture
The technical performance of a page plays a huge role in the overall success and ranking of a site. It all starts with short page loading times, with the average loading time for top ranked pages being around 0.99 seconds. The presence of Meta tags within the site has also become increasingly important. These Meta tags should be for both Title and Description. But it is also important to not just focus on the technical aspects of your site. It is vital to update page content frequently, while always working to optimize internal links.
Tip #3: Don’t Forget the Backlinks
Backlinks are, and probably always will be, one of the most important factors in determining site relevance. Search engines, especially our pal Google, give more recognition to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks. Sites with a higher share of links anchored to their brand, company or domain name are often considered more relevant than other sites, and so they often appear in a better position on the results page for a search inquiry.
Tip #4: Be Social. Always, in All Ways
It’s no surprise that social media still plays a major role in SEO rankings. While correlations between ranking and social media have decreased slightly from last year, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest activity still rank among the top factors for high-ranking sites. It is important to note that the key to successful social media engagement is rooted in sharing relevant, quality content with your followers.
Tip #5: Interpret User Signals
In order to achieve better SEO it is not only important that the visitor clicks on your site, but also that they actually stay on your site. Searchmetrics found that the highest ranking sites have high click through rates, low bounce rates and high time-on-site. Simply put, this means that when someone visits their site they don’t immediately leave and they continue to click through different pages on the site. For the top 10 sites, users stayed for an average of 101 seconds and clicked through around a third of the site content. Again it all goes back to content, if you provide quality content on your website searchers are much more likely to stick around.
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