Photo by RDNE Stock project
Getting your website to rank high on search engines like Google is a surefire way to bring steady streams of organic traffic to your business online. However, while the desire to see this happen is easy for all businesses to adopt, knowing how to get there successfully is an entirely different story.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is often the first step many businesses take to help get their websites ranking faster. The challenge is that SEO, as a digital marketing strategy, has multiple nuances and complexities associated with it. Most businesses wonder what areas they should focus on first and which investments will bring them the most returns.
To make things easier for you to navigate, we’ve built a cheat sheet you can use based on how your target keywords are currently performing in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Keywords Without Any Rankings
If you have a brand new website, or your new content pages are simply not ranking at all, there are some foundational elements you’ll want to make sure are in place:
Perform Keyword Research
Targeted keyword research should be one of the first processes you complete when trying to rank your web pages higher in SERPs. However, you’ll want to ensure you’re not trying to target unachievable or too broad keywords or phrases.
When analyzing tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs, take a balanced approach to identifying low- to moderate-volume keywords with lower-ranking difficulties.
Optimize On-Page Elements
After you’ve identified the keywords you want to focus on in your ranking strategy, it’s important to align the on-page elements of your site to support them.
You’ll want to make sure all of your webpages’ title tags and meta descriptions incorporate target keywords wherever possible and that all of the content on your site applies optimal header tags like H1, H2, etc.
Audit the Technical Aspects of Your Websites
While the look and feel of your content and site navigation are essential when ranking your website higher in SERPs, you shouldn’t forget the importance of having a solid technical foundation.
Focusing on your site’s technical SEO means making sure it performs the way it should according to Google’s Page Speed Insights and is configured to be mobile responsive.
Prioritize High-Quality Content
High-quality, original content is another critical focus when posting web pages online. Search engines highly prioritize unique content that’s engaging and informative for their users.
This means avoiding the temptation to use AI tools to auto-generate pages of unresearched or plagiarized content and designing well-crafted content that brings real value to readers.
Keywords Ranking on Page 2 or 3
It can be very exciting to find out that your web pages have started to rank and can be found on the first few pages of search results. However, this is when you’ll often want to put a strategic focus on helping to push your pages closer to page 1.
You’ll now want to focus on the following steps:
Gain Backlinks
One of the more time-consuming but very important strategies of getting your content to rank higher is to acquire more high-quality backlinks. Backlinks are inbound links to your website from other authority sites that signal to search engines that your content is worth referring users to.
To acquire these valuable links, you’ll want to create a separate campaign designed specifically to reach out to authoritative websites in your niche to discuss the ability to provide valuable content for their readers in exchange for a reference link back to your site.
Promote Your Content
The content you create can be a powerful tool for improving the traffic that comes to your site, both through direct referrals and increased SERP rankings.
It’s important to diversify your content promotion strategy and look for relevant online communities with which you can share your thoughts. You can reach out to different organizations through email and publish your content on various social sharing sites.
Analyze and Improve Your UX (User Experience)
The user experience is a critical component of any web design strategy. However, while creating a great website aesthetic and easy-to-navigate structure is important for users, it has also become essential for ranking a site on search engines.
As your web pages rank, you’ll want to optimize your site’s UX wherever possible. This will help you avoid high bounce rates and reduced engagement across all pages of your site.
Keywords Ranking on the Bottom of Page 1
Having your web pages rank on the bottom of page 1 is a great accomplishment. This means you’ve been working hard to create quality content and a well-structured website that search engines find highly valuable to users.
However, the work isn’t finished yet, and there are still some things you’ll want to do to move your pages even higher:
Track Your Competitors
When you start to rank on the first page of SERPs, you’ll need to keep an eye on your competitors, who will be trying to take that important position away from you.
Knowing who your competition is in the top 10 search results and tracking their performance over time allows you to look for gaps in their SEO approach and leverage those instances to ensure you’re performing better in those areas than them.
Optimize Your Content
At this point, you’ll want to start fine-tuning your content to better match users’ search intent. Keep your content well-researched and work at providing a unique perspective that others haven’t yet given. Think about incorporating different content formats like images, videos, or infographics to increase engagement.
Follow Schema Markup Guidelines
Another important thing to ensure you’ve done when starting to rank on the first-page search results is to incorporate schema markup into your website’s HTML.
This helps to categorize the content on your website and gives search engines like Google the opportunity to improve your website’s visibility on search engines by adding rich snippets to the returned results for your website. This can significantly improve a user’s experience and substantially enhance click-through rates.
Keywords Ranking Number One
Ranking a webpage as the number one search result is no easy feat. However, the hard part isn’t always getting there, it’s keeping that spot long-term.
Search engines are dynamic, and most people who can rank their content high on SERPs will see some fluctuation in this ranking over time. However, you should do some important things to help keep the prominent spot you’ve gained:
Remain Consistent
It’s important for your rankings to remain consistent in both the frequency and quality of your content development.
Search engines like Google will regularly look for signals that a website is staying relevant to its audience. Having a regular cadence of website updates and new page publishing will help to maintain your rankings over longer periods of time.
Focus on brand-building
Having a strong brand presence can significantly improve your overall SEO efforts. Focus on establishing a reputable online presence through social media engagement and other brand-building activities. Positive brand signals, such as mentions and reviews online, can be vital to influencing your search rankings.
Monitor Your Performance and Improve
Lastly, you’ll want to ensure you regularly monitor and track your SEO performance over time. This will help you to recognize which initiatives you’re taking are working and areas you may need to tweak your approach.
Start Focusing On the Right Ranking Factors
SEO is critical to helping your content rank higher in search engines. But rather than blindly throwing darts at the wall, by following the guidelines suggested based on your current rankings, you’ll get the most value out of your time and resources while you watch your search engine position steadily climb.
Jason Khoo started freelancing in SEO in college, sold his first agency, and now is the founder of Zupo, an Orange County-based SEO consulting agency helping construct powerful long-term SEO strategies for our clients. Jason also enjoys multiple cups of tea daily, hiding away on weekends, catching up on reading, and rewatching The Simpsons for the 20th time.
