Every website and page strives to rank higher on Google as it is the only way to reach out to the potential audience and scale the business to new heights. In digital marketing, Google ranking factors play a pivotal role in deciding which website or online business would thrive and which would fail.
Google algorithms are continually evolving, and the factors that determine the success of any webpage depend mainly on the speed and efficiency of the website. While most of the SEO best practices strive to increase the Google Search ranking, it is important to consider additional Google ranking factors like backlinks and Alt Text.
In this article, we would discuss in detail the various factors important to increase Google Search ranking in 2020.
1. Loading Speed Matters
The website loading speed does not only impact the impression and engagement with the visit. It also has a direct relation with the Google Search Ranking. In 2020, Google Search Ranking Algorithms give a lot of weightage to the efficiency and overall loading speed go the websites. If the website is clumsy and takes a lot of time to load, the users would not wait and switch over to the next link.
Ideally, if a website takes longer than 5 seconds to load, then the user interest is withered, and they switch to another link. This creates a direct impact on the site views and thus decreases the Google ranking. Every Google expert stresses on the need to optimize site speed. Google speed update showcases that the fast loading sites have a very high conversion rate and even the bounce back is lower on such sites.
You need to fix up your website structure and ensure that your hosting plan is awesome to ensure that the websites you host perform well. The bounce back is when people hit the back button to navigate away from your website since it is not loading. Whether it is an e-commerce platform or a static website, if the pages take long to load, you would lose business.
User experience is prime, and when the site speed is great, the users stay connected to the website. They browse for the items they need and buy services and products. The higher the engagement and stay time on your website, the higher the Google search ranking. You may use various Website Speed testing tools available online to estimate and examine the performance of your website. Then take the help of experts to optimize the website so that it loads efficiently even in weak internet connectivity.
2. Mobile-Friendly Websites Win the Game
Google indexing is ever-changing, and in the present times, it has become more averted to mobile-friendliness.
Google announced that it’s changing its parameters and focused on the mobile-first indexing as part of the important Google ranking factors.
It means that the friendlier a website to mobile view, the higher its chances to rank up on Google search results. The search engine seems to love mobile-friendly sites and gives priority to the ones which work seamlessly on the small screen devices. With time mobile phone usage has increased multifold, and today most people access the internet and services on the go using their mobile phones. Every business and utility have an app associated with it.
People want to read the news, access bank applications, book tickets, and even order food online through their phones. In the fast-moving times, opening the computer for small tasks seems boring, and thus people use mobile phones rigorously. In such a situation, Google has also increased the weightage of a mobile-friendliness factor in its search ranking parameters.
Around March 2018, Google formally announced its mobile-first indexing in which the websites would be prioritized based on their mobile version and not the computer version. Since mobile searches have taken the lead over computer searches, Google also prioritizes the websites based on their adeptness and prudence on mobile devices. The deal is to develop a highly mobile and tablet friendly website which can be easily navigated on the mobile phone browsers. Users should be able to view websites with ease without any hassle.
3. Structural Internal Linking can be a Game-Changer
A website that is well structured and has a well-designed internal linking plan has chances to rank higher in Google Search results since it provides the visitors with a better navigation across the site.
By embedding internal links on the various pages and blogs on your website, you can drive organic traffic to the right place without any extra effort.
Before the website goes live with all the content and designing, it is wise to plan where and how the internal linking can be used. Google believes that internal linking is as important as external linking.
While most people look for external linking and affiliate programs to drive traffic to their websites, the power of internal linking is untapped. In 2020, however, you can rank your website higher with well-planned links as internal links are definitely one of the important Google ranking factors.
4. Header and Title Tags are important
It is true that the Header and Title tags have lost their old significance in the search algorithms as Google evolved and considered more complex parameters in its ranking. However, these tags are still very important to structure and organize your articles and ensure that they are rendered properly on the various viewing devices.
Talking in terms of SEO, they make your content SEO optimized if keywords are used in the right manner in the various headers and titles. H2 tags are a must in any long-form article or blog post, and it makes the topic clear and understandable by providing the right navigation. In case there are no headings in the long text, readers may lose focus in continuous reading.
By using consistent Header tags, you can add a lot of SEO value to your articles and post. Including the keyword prudently in the headings is important. The thumb rule is to incorporate the keyword in such a way that it makes sense and reads well. Abrupt stuffing of keyword would just not do any good. The title-tag is what makes your webpage or the blog stand out in the crowd of many similar search results. The search engines read your page title based on the tags you aver used. The ideal way is to make them catchy, simple, and to-the-point. Using words like Best, Top, Breakthrough often adds an element of attraction.
5. Meta Description: Get it Right
Meta Description is more than just introductory text, and it is something that compels the viewers to click on the link of your webpage or article from the search results. Even if your article ranks high in the search results page, if the description or the prelude is not interesting, the users would simply skip it and move to the next post.
Let us understand it with an example, suppose a user searched for the best digital marketing courses in 2020, an article is listed up on the search page along with many other related links. The user is scanning all the results to see which one to open and read. Now Meta Description serves as a prelude to the overall content of the article. Most likely, a good meta description would attract the user, and a bad one would ward them off.
If one meta description says, “Good courses you can take and the costs associated”, while the other one says, “An in-depth coverage of the most successful and comprehensive digital marketing courses which can help you turn successful digital marketer and start earning.”
The second link would be more enticing to the users, and they would spend time to read the article.
6. SEO-friendly URLs
URLs optimized for Search engines help gather the attention of Google and search crawlers with ease. The poorly written URLs can make it difficult for users to find the website and hamper the google ranking. The right structured URL help creates better readability and ease with the users, and thus Google also prioritizes them. The trick is to use the relevant keywords in the URL, making it search-friendly. Moreover, using simple phrases or smaller URLs is a great practice.
- One must remove any unnecessary words like articles and conjunctions in the URL as they make it lengthier but do not add any values. The shorter and crisper the URL better it is to read and type.
- Ensure that the URL is comprehensive and understandable, so try framing a logical and straightforward URL, making sense.
- Since you cannot use spaces in the URL as they add to %20 within the URL, you must use hyphens and underscore to replace space and make your URL readable.
- Do not use too many sub-folders and avoid nested structure in the URL.
- Do not use duplicate content in the URL
- Avoid using too many subdomains in the URL to improve the rating.
- Ensure that you match the URL with the page title; it is suitable for making a perfect URL and a good website development practice. It helps keep your website organized.
By framing a high-quality URL for your webpages, you can ensure the search crawlers find them fast.
7. Alt Text Can Alter the Game
In an earlier blog, we talked about Alt Text in detail. Alt-text is an abbreviation for Alternate Text. Alt Text and descriptions are that are written at various places wherever the image is not loaded correctly due to some issues. The alt description is also essential for the visual readers and tools for the visually impaired users who cannot read the screens. The Alt text of prime importance helps the search algorithms and crawlers track the content through images and place the website higher in the search results.
8. Content Plays the Most Important Role
Content is definitely the king be it any publication or blog post or a webpage. Without informative, unique, and substantial content, your website cannot rank higher no matter how many SEO techniques, and master hacks you employ.
The quality of the content is important to make sure that your website gets real and organic traffic, something which you can translate to profit. Google has employed all the tactics and checks to ensure that only good quality and unique content is seen by the users who search for any information.
The need is to understand the role of good and well-researched content in making your website rank higher. The content should be not only good quality but also well-drafted and structured.
As the saying goes, the more, the merrier. It has been noted that in 2020 as part of Google ranking factors, long-form articles and detailed blogposts are gaining more traction then short ones. However, one should not perceive that they can fluff the content and use unnecessary or redundant information to make content longer.
- The more scannable, readable, and comprehensive the content, the higher the chances of Google Algorithms identifying your website or blog and placing it higher on the search page.
- One thing is for sure that your content should be relevant to the users. If it is not in line with the search keyword or goes out of context, consider it being ignored by the search bots and algorithms. The content should be pertinent to the target audience considering various factors like age, profession, geographic location and purpose,
- Suppose someone searches for “Best Digital Marketing Courses for Beginners,” then the article should educate the readers about the same. The focus should be on the users who are freshers and do not know much about the technicalities of the subject. You should provide them with information about the pre-requisites, give them an insight into the basics of digital marketing, and then clearly list some good courses which they can take. In case you would just give them the definition of digital marketing and generic content available on Wikipedia and other publications, it would not be useful for them.
- Listing out courses with their important details.
- Providing links to the course
- Including associated costs
- Talking about the benefits of each course
- Providing a comparison with other courses
All these areas, if covered, would make your article much beneficial for the readers, and thus engagement would be higher for sure.
9. Backlinks
Backlinks from popular and highly visited sites are a great way of increasing your outreach. These are like a recommendation from the websites that your content is worth a read, and the page is worth a visit.
The more recommendations, the higher the Search engine ranking, be it Google or Bing. The idea is to have highly valuable backlinks from credible and verified sites. One should always strive for getting backlinks from the associated sites which post the content related to what you are doing. This is the best way to ensure that you get the right traffic on your site.
- Tumblr
- Medium
- Quora are some of the best sites to get high engagement backlinks.
The more actively you write about relevant topics on these forums and then link to your websites, the higher your website can rank.
As per earnedlink.com, social sharing can boost website links by up to 245% over the course of a year.
Conclusion
Google search ranking can be improved by employing the right techniques and managing the content in the right way. You must remember that the right engagement comes with quality and informative content. Apart from content, the focus should be on building a modern and user-friendly website that is easier to navigate and faster to work on. Speed, agility, quality, optimization, and right linking are the keys to highly ranked websites.
We hope that the above Google ranking factors prove helpful and enable you to rank your website higher on Google. Please share your feedback on the comments section and let us know what best practices and tricks you used to enhance your website’s google ranking in 2020.
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