A recent study says that the first page of Google receives 95% of web traffic.
Search Engine Optimization is itself a world full of potentials. You just need to have the courage to explore it.
You may think that SEO is an easy thing. But, it is not. And, neither it is rocket science. It has its own fundamentals and rules which can take a website to the next level. You just have to make sure you are dedicated and persistent enough to work behind a website and never lose your patience.
And, make sure you have a grasp of both On-Page and Off-Page SEO.
Google often changes its algorithm. But they are not always made public. According to a study, more than 500 changes are made per year and it has also been acknowledged by John Mueller.
So, you need to keep yourself updated and amended.
If you want to rise high in the Search Engine Result Pages, you have to follow some rules and apply some tips to optimize your website both for humans and crawlers.
I will discuss the Secrets of Website Audit step by step to improve your site ranking.
Step by Step Guide to Improve your Site’s Ranking
Website Audit itself is very important. You need to know the most important factors to rank your Website higher and practically do it.
Before going through the steps, modify your mind to develop thinking and analyzing abilities. So that you can adapt to the changing tips and tricks which is being updated constantly.
Step 1: Confirm Google Indexes only 1 Version of your Website
Yes, if you don’t know this let me tell you. Having different versions of your website indexed in Google is not a good going sign.
Let me give you an example:
- http://www.thesaurus.com
- https://www.thesaurus.com
- https://thesaurus.com
They might look alike to many, but they actually are not the same in Google’s view.
I know it can upset you, but do not worry you can fix this easily using free tools.
You need to redirect the other URL properly to the main site which you want Google to see. So, even if someone searches with a similar URL, they will end up on the main website.
For example, if you type ‘www.thesaurus.com’ it should take you to “https://www.thesaurus.com”, your main URL
You can check your website indexing by putting your URL in Google Search Console and analyze the result by yourself.
This will definitely do the job.
And, if the process of redirection is not working properly, you can just 301 redirect it to the version you want to use.
Step 2: Make Sure your Site is Mobile-Friendly
The first point to remember is that 60% of total searches are made from Mobile phone. And, this rate is constantly increasing.
So, Mobile SEO is a very important ranking factor to keep in mind.
Mobile SEO includes optimizing your website for smartphone users in simple language.
Google has already started using their Mobile-First Algorithm. Mobile-First indexing means that search engines will use the mobile version of the page for ranking and indexing factors in order to satisfy the user’s search results.
If your website is perfectly optimized for phones, then it is great. And if not, then you should. Because more than 90% of all mobile searches are made through Google.
If you want to know if your site is Mobile-Friendly or not you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Testing Tool.
Go to the tool and put your website’s URL and Run the test.
If your website turns out to be Mobile-Friendly Google will notify you and if there are any flaws, that will also be shown.
You just need to work on it and make the website flaw-free.
Step 3: Analyze your Current Search Ranking
There are billions of websites registered on Google. You should know your website’s ranking. In order to compete, it is very important to know where you stand and what you need to improve to come on top of Search Engine Result Pages.
Fortunately, there are several tools which offer free service to check your Website’s ranking.
You can check your Website’s ranking in Alexa. Just open Alexa, put your site’s URL in it and click on Run Analysis.
The result pages will come up with a full analysis, it will show you an overview of your website.
Now, when you know where you stand among the crowd, you can start boosting your website’s rank by engaging in concerted activities.
Let’s roll on to the 4th and one of the most crucial part.
Step 4: Maintain Website Speed
Site speed is one of the most important ranking factors. I am not saying these. Google itself has confirmed that your site’s loading speed is a major ranking factor.
So, if your website runs slow, you will not have a high search position.
According to a study, many giant businesses have experienced loss of conversions due to slow page loading time.
So, running a speed test would be of much help. After the analysis, you would be able to figure out how to improve your Google rankings.
There are certain tools to check your site speed like Google PageSpeed Insights.
Open Google PageSpeed Insight and put your website URL in the bar, then click on Analyze.
This is how it will look after it is analyzed.
Once your website is fully analyzed, you would know what improvement does your Website need in order to speed up.
If the result comes out to be under 50, it denotes that your page is really slow and it definitely needs enhancement.
Secondly, check the page loading time. One should aim below 2-3 seconds. That is a good sign for a fast site. You could lose web traffic if the output is above a few seconds or more.
Last but not least, maintain the image formats. Large images can be harmful to your site as it slows down the loading speed. So, before attaching your images compress it to a smaller format.
Tip: Improve your hosting. If you have moderate traffic and you believe in your products, you should use a good budget on better hosting. It will definitely boost up the speed.
Step 5: Improve On-Page SEO
As I told you earlier, SEO is itself a huge territory to know about. And, On-Page SEO is crucial that makes your website eminent among the crowd.
You don’t need to work day and night for this. You just have to know what keywords are important and you want to target. Working on all the pages would take a lot of time and effort. Instead, you can select the most important pages and start working on those.
Few basic but crucial things to keep in mind –
- Avoid using the same keywords and title tags repeatedly
- Put your keyword in Title Tag and in first 150 words
- Try adding External links and Internal Links
- Put unique keywords
- Make good use of LSI keywords
- Google prefers natural keywords over forced keywords, so don’t overstuff your keywords
- Try to use Schema Markup
If you have difficulty understanding Schema Markup, you can start with this tutorial step-by-step schema markup tutorial.
If you want to explore more about On-Page SEO factors, you can follow an exceptional infographic 16 on-page SEO factors created by Backlinko.
I have discussed some key factors of On-Page SEO, but it is paramount to actively work on these factors. Following these could make your On-Page SEO far better than it is today.
Step 6: Make Quality Content
Content making is art. Though we have talked about the use of keywords placement and how it works to improve your site ranking in SERPs. One should understand the value of keyword research and placement.
Google came with its first Google Panda update in 2011, February and the best content marketers and content creator knows that useful and quality content is necessary.
Because in 2019 Content is KING.
Optimizing your site for informational keywords by writing extremely useful and quality content is very essential. This helps you to attract traffic and gain high authoritative links easily.
Few Point to deep-seat in your mind –
Keep your Intros to the Point –
Introduction should always be kept short. If you write a 300 words introduction,it won’t attract audiences. It should be short and informative. One should understand what are you going to talk about by reading your intro.
Make Data-Driven Content –
This technique can increase your potential traffic. Try to phrase accurate information which will make people share your content on the social media platform and see it as authentic.
Short Para Building –
When you go through content or blog with 300-400 words input in a single paragraph, readers usually skip lines. Google crawlers now focus on the topics instead of only going through thousands of keywords. So, you should put more LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.
Use Multimedia Often –
Multimedia helps to make your content fascinating and easy to understand. Because visuals help the audience find out and learn things in a different way. Try to put more videos. infographics, animated GIFs, checklists, guides, and demos to make it more attractive. These tips will make your audience stay longer.
Make it Intriguing –
Intriguing headlines and keywords are important.
Facts and Stats –
Keep in mind, statistics and important facts are liked by most of the visitors.
Unique Information and Storytelling –
Writing your content as a story help to captivate your audience. You should provide unique information which a few people have access to. This will automatically draw audiences.
I hope following these steps would take your website to a new level and will definitely help to rank better and draw traffic. Thousands of businesses have established the following guides and tips from experts all over the world.
People around the world look for best SEO Services and Website Development has been solving problems for years now.
Conclusion
Enough points have we discussed here which can lead you to rise your Website rank in SERPs.
Though it is not a technical audit, it is very easy to apply the above-mentioned steps for your website.
You could do detailed researches on the steps which you need to furnish more. Take your time and study more about SEO.
