How to start being found in Google search results
Search Engine Optimisation (S.E.O) is constantly evolving and 2018 will be no different. The Google algorithms control and monitor how we find our way online, and how your website information appears on the Search Engine Results Page (S.E.R.P.S).
RankBrain
Lets take a quick overview of what’s been happening with Google algorithms in recent years. In 2015 Google released a machine-learning artificial intelligence called RankBrain that helps Google process some of it’s search results, it was designed to help refine search queries, and is also used to help rank web pages. Google wants to return the best content to it’s users, the most relevant and useful websites that keep their visitors engaged. Google is focusing more on user experience, the context of your website and human read-ability.
Responsive Websites will rank better
In 2016 Google made a huge change in how it ranks your website, it introduced a new algorithm that ranks your websites mobile version first over the desktop version.
This meant if your website was not mobile adaptive, (this means your website resizes it’s content to fit onto a mobile screen) your Google ranking would suffer. Google made this a huge factor in your ranking, since the majority of website searches are now conducted on mobile phones.
However keep in mind, new data in 2018 is showing that users are still using desktop during work hours as their primary device to browse websites. However, morning and evening times saw mobile phones and tablets dominate. So this means in order to give our users the best experience when visiting our site, is to ensure it displays on all device screen sizes, including desktop, mobile and tablet devices.
Main factors affecting your Google ranking:
Website Performance
A main factor affecting your Google ranking starts with your websites overall performance. This includes the time it takes to load all the content on your page such as images, video and website code. If there’s a long loading time, you can start to lose visitors, as they end up leaving.
Heavily coded template sites can harm your website S.E.O if not selected carefully. Pre-built templates are generally designed for no one specifically, but needs to allow for heaps of functionality and automation in website building, meaning a lot of bulky code in the back of your website.
However not ALL template sites are bad, there are some lightly built template theme’s available, this is a great alternative especially if you’re on a budget.
Optimised Website Pages
There’s also plenty of things going on behind the scenes in your website that assist with boosting your Google rank, and also what appears to the user.
Well researched and structured website content that’s easy to read and supplies the correct information regarding your business services will rank well. This is why key word stuffing can have negative effects on your rank.
Site Visitors
How much traffic you’re getting to your website is an important factor in any website ranking. If your website is gaining regular traffic, organically, (not through paid ads) Google know’s your website has relevant content for it’s users.
Google also wants to know if that traffic is real, there are many spam bots out their, that will crawl your website, count as traffic, but it’s not a real person. If you’re gaining a lot of unusual traffic from countries you’re not targeting, this could be a sign of incorrect setup with your website S.E.O, or you’re being targeted by hackers and spammers.
Direct Visits
This is a good way to boost your ranking, most traffic to your website is good traffic. Google can tell your website has useful content as users navigate to your website. However organically finding you through search results will have better benefits for your S.E.O.
Site Searches
This is still a very important factor for any website and this can also be a great place to start planning your S.E.O. Researching the key terms your customers are typing into Google to find your business or blog is critical in setting up S.E.O for your website. However we highly recommend doing this before building or designing your website, since you can plan your website around these key terms, and how people will find you.
Google also will keep track of what key words your customers are entering into Google to find your website, and it will start to collectively base your website ranking on these terms.
Time Spent On Your Site
Google monitors how long each individual visitor spends on your website, and records data of what pages they navigate to, and how much time is spend on each page.
Longer time spent on your website means your website has useful, engaging content for your users.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate refers to the time it takes users to leave your website. A high bounce rate is usually an indication you’re not getting the correct traffic to your website, since your visitors are leaving your website straight away, or quickly.
This helps Google determine how relevant your websites content is for the key terms your targeting with your S.E.O marketing campaign.
Page Views
How many pages are viewed per session for each user? Do users explore your website content or leave from the landing page? This is also a good indicator there could be an issue with those pages, you might need to improve your websites content to make it more useful for your customers.
HOW DO I IMPROVE MY WEBSITE S.E.O?
Now you may be thinking, well I don’t think I have any control over these factors? Well you can assist each one by creating a website that’s designed and planned correctly from the start and you have a website developer who knows how to code, and won’t overload your website with patches and plugins. Over use of plugins can slow down your website, make it harder to update and debug issues, and opens up more potential for third party security threats to your website.
If you’re still not sure how to approach your website S.E.O, feel free to send us an email.
