If you want customers and prospects to find your business online, climbing to the top of the search engine rankings is crucial. Specifically, having a strong Google presence is paramount.
Why Google? This multinational technology company has cornered the search engine market, holding a staggering 92% market share as of July 2022. Google’s closest competitor is Bing at 3%.
And when you think about it, what do most people say when they intend to look up something on the Internet? They say, “I’ll Google it!” Needless to say, your audience is searching on Google, and you need to meet them where they are.
This guide will cover the top Google secrets that will help your business improve your rank in search results.
9 Google Secrets to Know to Gain an Advantage Over Your Competition
These Google secrets will help you bolster your SEO strategy and search engine rankings. Let’s dive in!
1. Choose the right keywords
First on our list of Google secrets involves finding the right keywords.
A keyword is a term or phrase that people type into the search engine box to help them find a product or service. A long-tail keyword containing several words often yields better results than a one- or two-word term or phrase because they more closely identify the user’s intent.
For example, a phrase like “auto insurance agents near Los Angeles” is more likely to attain a higher Google ranking than “auto insurance” due to its specificity.
Pro tip: Use a keyword research tool from Semrush or Ahrefs to help you identify the best keywords for your website.
2. Publish fresh content
Google loves relevant content because it’s more likely to appeal to user intent, which matters to SEO. People prefer the latest information over info that’s several years old and no longer relevant.
You can achieve this goal by creating evergreen content that never becomes outdated. Examples include answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), checklists, ultimate guides, and case studies.
3. Focus your content on user intent
User intent is one of the most vital factors for attaining high search engine rankings. User intent-focused content provides the information that people want when conducting their online searches. Google favors these pages because they prevent searchers from bouncing from page to page until they find what they need.
You can create relevant content by keeping the users’ interests in mind. Write about topics that matter to your searchers. Think about the questions users are most likely to want answers to when visiting Google.
4. Optimize your URLs
Optimizing your URLs is an effective and straightforward SEO tactic that will help you attain higher Google rankings.
The key to success is creating a URL consisting of a targeted keyword phrase — and nothing else. For example, if your page topic is about getting more traffic from Google, the end of your URL should look like this: /how-to-get-more-traffic-from-google/
Integrating your page’s target keyword into your URL helps show search engines like Google that your page is relevant to searches.
5. Include you keywords throughout your pages
As we shared earlier, keywords are critical for your SEO strategy. If you want to get the most from your keywords, integrate them throughout your page.
You should mention primary keywords at least once within the opening section or initial paragraph, as this strategy sends a strong signal to Google regarding the page’s content. You should also use keywords in the title and subheads.
You could also finish the page with keyword inclusions within the last 100-150 words, which reinforces the content with Google.
6. Improve website load times
A slow-loading website is detrimental to your SEO. If your website doesn’t load quickly, people will leave your website for a competitor.
Use a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights to see your website’s current load time. This tool provides you with page speed improvements so that you can help your website load faster.
Pro tip: Use Google PageSpeed Insights to see how you stack up against the competition in search results regarding page load times!
7. Focus on link building
Have you clicked on a link in an article that took you to a page on another site? This is an example of a backlink, and it’s a crucial Google ranking factor. Earning backlinks to your site demonstrates credibility and authority, especially when a reputable website provides the link.
Take a proactive approach to getting more backlinks by contacting authoritative sites within your industry and asking for link placement. Other methods include:
• Offering to replace broken links with yours
• Creating glowing testimonials on other sites
• Requesting to write guest blog posts in exchange for a backlink
Another helpful link strategy is to include internal links to other pages on your site. This practice will keep visitors on your site and enable them to see more of what you offer.
8. Create a sitemap
An XML sitemap contains all the pages on your site and their location. This map makes it easier for Google to find your pages and list them correctly.
A well-organized, detailed sitemap allows Google’s robotic web crawlers to index the content automatically. You can install an SEO plugin with sitemap capabilities like Yoast if you’re using a CMS like WordPress.
9. Fix or remove broken links
Last on this list of Google secrets is removing broken links.
If your site contains links that result in a “404 Error,” it negatively impacts your search engine ranking. Broken links discourage users from interacting with your content and prevent search engines from crawling pages on your website.
You can use Google Search Console to help you identify broken link errors.
Get help implementing these Google secrets today
Are you looking to improve your business’s Google rankings? At Web Creative, we create results-driven SEO strategies to help our clients achieve their marketing and revenue goals.
Our team of experts knows how to craft SEO campaigns that grow businesses. Checkout out our Services page or contact us at [email protected] for more information about our SEO services!
