Ranking Higher On Google: A Guide to Top the Results

Google excelled as one of the top search engines with its motto, “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The bulkiness of the amount of information available on the internet makes it practically difficult to sort out information without assistance. Google attained its influential position with its power to influence the flow of online information through its well-designed system of ranking which accordingly, “sort through hundreds of billions of webpages in the Search index to find the most relevant, useful results in a fraction of a second, and present them in a way that helps you find what you’re looking for”. The system used for ranking consists of a proprietary algorithm designed to recover and arrange search results in a way to provide the most appropriate and reliable sources of information. Hence, a higher ranking on google is a method to improve the organic growth of any business.

Search Algorithm

Before learning the steps to rank higher on Google it is important to understand the process in which the Google search algorithm works. Search algorithms consider a variety of criteria to provide the most relevant information, including the terms in your query, the relevancy and usability of pages, the expertise of sources, and your location and settings. For ensuring the best standard search algorithm, Google uses Search Quality Raters who are further directed to follow the strict guidelines that go in hand with their goal. For every query of the user, the first step is to establish the intent behind the query. The intent is often studied based on the language through the build-in language models deciphering the keywords of the search.  Other than language, search algorithms also evaluate the category of information being searched. In short, search results are the resultant of data analytics run by the specially programmed search algorithm of Google.

Methods to Improve your Google Ranking

1. On-page SEO: It is the optimization of web pages for specific keywords to improve search visibility and traffic. By optimizing any page quickly, the google ranking can be boosted. The best preferred on-page method is frontloading the keyword, using the keyword towards the beginning of the title tag, as google gives more emphasis to the terms used at the beginning of the title tag than the later keywords. Similarly, the ranking factor of google depends on the number of words. It had been found that the average Google first page result contains 1,447 words.
2. Content Quality Optimized for SEO: A website with high-quality content increases traffic and improve google search rank. Google has already mentioned that providing relevant, quality content is more crucial for ranking than website experience. An error-free, mobile-optimized content with appropriate keywords and properly addressing the needs of the targeted audience with valuable internal and external links is an ideal website with a higher rank in google. For a website to rank better, the content writing should be apt, brief and well written with appropriate keywords.
3. User-Friendly Website: Improving the quality of the websites by providing a user-friendly experience is the best growth strategy and another technique to improve the google ranking of the website. As per the study on ranking factors, it is observed that the main ranking factors included website visits, duration of visit, pages surfed in a single session and bounce rate. These are the same factors Google recently emphasized for the Page Experience update. As long as a website is easy and enjoyable to use and offers valuable information, the number of visitors using and staying on your site increases and as a result the search rank also increases.
4. Page Speed: The loading time to your page is another important quality to improve your ranking. The quickness in accessing a website increases the number of users of your website. Google’s recent Core Web Vitals upgrade highlights load time as the key measurement of the Google ranking.
5. Image Optimization: While using an image on a website calls attention from the user, it is important to optimize the images as it boosts the speed of your site and allows Google to identify the image on the web page. An image included should be in compressed form with a proper descriptive file title and having an alt text.
6. Backlinks: Backlinks are links that direct users from other sites to yours. The number of incoming links to the website from higher domains presents the site as authorized and trustworthy. It increases the traffic and hence, improves your ranking.
7. Broken Links: The quality of external links provided in the website increases traffic and establishes authority. However, a broken link that brings in a 404 error can cause a decrease in the search rank as it indicates a not well-maintained website.
8. H1 and H2 header tags: H1 header tags is an HTML heading used to mark up a web page title while H2 headers are secondary headers used to indicate secondary keywords that break up content as more scannable and easy to read. Providing headers to your content improves the readability and is easier to comprehend for both users and search engines. Therefore, the header tag in use is directly related to the Google search rank. Header tags are also a great way to show the structure of your content and emphasize your key points.
9. Local Search Optimization: With the increasing use of smartphones, the search for business “near me” also has increased. For improving the search rank of the business and to be relevant in the local searches, it is crucial to be in the Google Business listing. Furthermore, to be on the Google business list one must own a Google business account.
10. Voice Search Optimization: According to a survey more than 60% of people used voice search as a preferred method of surfing on their smartphone. Therefore, it is important to incorporate proper voice search phrases in a conversational style to the website content as it can bring in an increase in the google ranking.
11. Position Zero: Position zero is the information offered by Google at the very top of the search results. It is also referred to as the featured snippet, a featured snippet of content that directly answers a search query. To be getting referred to as a featured snippet by Google increases traffic and boost the credibility and visibility of the website. In order to be incorporated as a featured snippet, provide authoritative answers to probable questions related to your website.