It is said, that the ranking factors within the Google Algorithm number in excess of 250 indicators, and even these are in a constant state of change and modification. As Seo experts, we study constantly to keep abreast of what’s hot in search engine optimisation, and apply these principles to clients’ websites. If your website needs a quick fix in seo and you’re wondering what you can do for an almost immediate improvement in Google rank, these points will get you started quickly.
Keywords
Never underestimate the importance of this property that some seo practitioners are beginning to dismiss. Your keywords should be seen as what your website or web page (depending on your optimisation strategy) stand for. Where you use them, how often you use them and how many keywords you optimise for, will play a big part in your website’s place in search engine ranking.
Page Title
This is one of the most important aspects of onsite search engine optimisation you could possibly do. Your page title, and the words you choose for it, are crucial elements which affect your website’s ranking. Be absolutely certain that your page title is relevant to the real content of the page- so that the visitor is presented with information they see as relevant to the title of your page, which would have been highlighted in the search engine results.
URL of Website
The URL – or the universal resource locator – is the web address of your site or web page- and this is an ideal opportunity to utilise one or more of your keywords in the address. Don’t despair if your desired string of keywords is not available; there are workarounds for that. Wherever possible, aim for the top level of the domain name- the “dot com” if you can get it, as this is the most universally recognised extension.
Links pointing to your site
Links to your website tell search engines that other web masters consider the content on your website worth linking to- but we need to point out that the acquisition of links needs to happen naturally over time. Read more about the process- and value- of link acquisition, in this article. Although links and back linking to your website are hot topics among search engine optimisation practitioners, our research and testing has found that links are not quite the wonder-cure they are purported to be.
Trust Rank
Trust Rank is something that is earned over time- like any relationship dealing in something of a high value (in this case, prominent search engine rank) the credibility, trust and respect of the participants is earned over time. The age of your website- how long the domain has continuously served a functional web site (as opposed to a “parking” page) has a big influence on how trust is allocated by search engines. Time and age, once accumulated, spell “here to stay”, but the message and parameters of delivering that message need to be correct too.
Semantic Markup
Your website needs clean semantic code- a clear page title, defined heading, within the correct markup tags. Ensure that your content is grammatically correct, that there are no broken links, and that title tags are used when the opportunity presents itself. Break content up into chunks which are easily read by your human visitors, and use this opportunity to insert h2 level tags, which give weight to the content of that page in the quest for search engine rank.
Content
Never forget this in your quest for top search engine rankings for your website: visitors come to your site for content. They come seeking information, to solve a problem or to get answers to questions. Provide useful, informative, relevant and compelling content to your visitors, enhance the readability of your content, and search engines will reward you with great ranking. Do not just churn the same content your competitors do!
Accessibility
Ensure that your content can be accessed by human visitors- including people who might use a screen reader- as well as search engine spiders. Pale text on a white background is not a good combination at the best of times- don’t use same coloured backgrounds and text in an attempt to conceal content from human visitors but have it read by search engine robots. Recent talk suggests that search engines are starting to get a little “Flash” savvy- if they are then they still have a long way to go- don’t embed text within a “Flash” file.