What Affects Your Website’s Search Rankings Today?

You know that being ranked on the first page of search results is one of the most crucial sales tools for your business. Over 75% of users won’t scroll past the first page, so if you’re not displayed on the first page, you’re losing sales.

In the digital world, everything is fluid. Nothing remains stagnant for too long, and we’re constantly struggling to keep up with the innovations and evolutions of technology. We know Google has been on a mission to deliver the highest quality experience to their users possible. This means weeding out the bad websites and shiesty SEO practices to provide information that is both relevant and credible. So what does that mean today for your business?

Let’s dive into the most important things to hone in on when trying to claw your way to the top of search engine rankings:

Content Matters.

Google doesn’t want to deliver content that is 5 years old to their users – and they won’t. Thousands of new blogs are published every day, so you can bet your website won’t make the first page if you don’t update your website’s content. (Unless the topic isn’t very popular, in which case, you may win first page rankings with a throwback site)  The types of content to consider include: blogs, site text, videos, podcasts, etc.

• Create your user personas to identify questions and topics your target customers are looking for
• Listen to your customers problems, and ask about their key frustrations
• Ask your customers what questions they might have regarding your product or service and use their language in the written text
• Conduct keyword research using Google’s Keyword Planner to see the search volume for relevant topics and keywords. You can even get suggested keywords based on your industry, products, services, or simply by pasting your website URL

Domain Longevity Is Still Relevant.

If you’ve got a brand new domain (or website URL), it will take some time to build up credibility with Google’s search engines. Think about it: you wouldn’t vouch for a heart surgeon you don’t know, or have never heard of when your best friend needs an aortic vessel surgery. The longer you’ve had your domain, the more trust you build with Google. You’ve got to prove that you are a viable business that customers love to engage with. There are a ton of ways to help speed up the process if you’re a new domain, but it still takes time. How much time? Maybe up to 2 years, depending on the level of commitment you have to creating new content, spending ad dollars, and trying new methods.

Keep Your Website’s Design and Layout Fresh.

If your website still looks like it crawled out of the 90s, your website is probably getting outranked by competitors who are “hip” to the times. Check out our previous list of outdated website trends that are affecting your website ranking. If your website is guilty of any of those trends, seek help immediately!

• Flash animation
• Auto-playing video – or worse, auto-playing video on a loop
• Music players
• Dead links, or links that are broken or direct users to pages that no longer exist
• Images without alt-text (this is what tells Google the image contains. Computers can’t read images, so the alt-text describes what the image is about.)

For good practice, it’s best to refresh your website’s design every two years.

Social Media

An active social media presence is critical to getting your website higher in rankings. When your social media profiles and posts link back to your website, and people are clicking through to visit your site – Google views it as a ‘vote of confidence’. In other words, your social media profiles and content are creating a buzz and driving traffic to your site, so your website must be awesome.

Google hasn’t revealed the secrets to their search algorithms, but with their emphasis on creating a positive user experience, we’re willing to bet that Google evaluates the time spent on your website as a ranking factor. Make sure that if you’re running social media ads, you’re reaching the right audiences. For example: If your ads are reaching a lot of people, but people aren’t clicking on the ad, maybe it’s time to either change up the targeting criteria or swap out your ad messaging. Or alternatively, if people are clicking on the ad, but your Google Analytics data indicates they’re only staying for 2 seconds, then bouncing out – it’s time to revisit the website page’s content.

Your best bet to climbing those search rankings are to make sure you’re updating your content regularly, driving traffic to your website via your social media channels, and other digital advertisements. Getting to the top positions takes time, perseverance, failures, and a ton of patience. If you’ve checked all the boxes above, you’re on your way to the top already.