The
Step-by-Step Guide to Improving Your Google Rankings Without
Top rankings are a pinnacle of online business success.
According to a study by Infront Webworks, the first page of Google receives 95 percent of web traffic, with subsequent pages receiving 5 percent of less of total traffic.
I’ve talked to a lot of business owners and managers – newbies and veterans – who have gone crazy trying to unlock the secrets of how to improve Google ranking and performance without incurring penalties.
I was 16 years old when I entered the world of search engine optimization (SEO), and I’ll admit that I was one of those people too.
I wish I could tell you that there’s a magic button to press that ranks your site in the #1 spot without fail.
But the truth is, it takes resourcefulness, dedication, persistence, and creativity. This is especially true because of the constantly-changing nature of Google’s algorithm.
While there’s no magic, there are steps you can take to soar to the top of a search engine results page (SERP).
I learned this the hard way. But luckily, you don’t have to.
I’m going back to basics with on-page SEO to help you understand the new SEO rules, learn how to optimize for both humans and search algorithm crawlers, and to master on-page and off-page SEO.
Here are the steps I will cover in this guide:
- Step #1: Get to know the Google ranking algorithm
- Step #2: Assess your current search ranking
- Step #3: Track and measure the right metrics
- Step #4: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
- Step #5: Diagnose and fix your current penalties
- Step #6: Do keyword research
- Step #7: Perfect your on-page SEO
- Step #8: Use your keywords to create great content
- Step #9: Build links the right way
Step #1: Get to know the Google ranking algorithm
I could jump right into some actionable SEO strategies to use on your site right now.
But I want to set you up for long-term success so that you’re not penalized once a new update rolls out.
Google executives like Gary Illyes and John Mueller confirm that Google is constantly changing their algorithm, even though most of these changes aren’t publicly announced or described.
Moz estimates that there are 500 to 600 changes per year!
While Google does make major update announcements, the exact inner workings of the algorithm are unknown (and a bit mysterious) to the general public. A good majority of information out there is just speculation from industry professionals.
So it makes sense that 40% of marketers cite changing search algorithms as their biggest obstacle to SEO success.
After all, if everyone knew exactly how to rank in the first position without penalties for shortcuts or black hat SEO strategies, Google wouldn’t succeed in ranking only the best results. Anyone could hack their way to the top without putting in the work.
Not only would this make it hard for honest people like you and me to succeed, but it would also seriously compromise Google’s mission statement:
“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
The best knowledge we have of Google’s algorithm comes in the form of major algorithm updates like:
- Mobile-friendly update (April 2015), favoring websites with mobile-friendly versions and setting the stage for future penalties if sites don’t comply.
- Pigeon (July 2014), working to integrate local search results like Google Maps.
- Hummingbird (August 2013), aiming to understand the context and intent behind a user’s search instead of just looking at the literal words they typed.
- Penguin (April 2012), targeting spammers and sites that buy unnatural links to boost their rankings.
Not to mention Panda, Google EMDs (exact match domain names), and the Private Blog Network (PBN) deindexing updates. Then there’s Phantom, which first appeared in May 2013 and is believed to have been updated four times – but has never actually been confirmed by Google.
So how are you supposed to keep track of all these?
There are some great resources to help. Moz’s Google Algorithm Change History is an awesome database that organizes updates chronologically. Check out Google Webmaster Central and The Webmaster too.
Check out the video below to learn more about my strategies for link building, on-page SEO, and user metrics when trying to rank on Google.
COMMENTS