Tips for Enhancing Your Google Rankings Safely

The algorithm utilised by Google’s search engine to determine the order and relevance of search results is known as the Google rankings algorithm. Its purpose is to present users with the most pertinent and valuable content based on their search queries.

Although the precise intricacies of the algorithm are not publicly revealed, Google consistently enhances and adjusts it to provide more precise and superior search outcomes. The following factors are considered to determine the ranking of web pages in search results:

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• Website Content
• Keywords
• Backlinks
• User Experience

How can you improve your position in Google ranking without facing penalties? Achieving a higher ranking on Google is a coveted achievement for digital marketers, as it leads to increased website traffic and conversions.

However, it’s crucial to consider the potential consequences of violating search engine guidelines.

Many business owners and managers have struggled with this challenge, seeking the elusive secret to success. Although there is no instant solution, there are actionable steps you can take to ascend the search engine results page.

In this blog, we will delve into the fundamentals of on-page SEO and ranking factors in SEO to help you comprehend the latest SEO principles, optimise your website for both users and search engine crawlers and master both on-page and off-page SEO techniques.

Learn More: Ultimate Google SEO Guide for Beginners

Understanding the Dynamic Nature of the Google Rankings Algorithm

It is a well-known fact that Google frequently modifies its algorithm, although these changes are often not officially announced.

While Google used to disclose significant updates, the inner workings of its algorithm remain largely undisclosed. Most of the information available online is speculative, coming from industry professionals and Google has no plans to reveal its secrets anytime soon.

This level of secrecy is essential because if everyone knew exactly how to achieve top rankings without facing Google penalties or resorting to black hat SEO tactics, Google would not be able to accurately rank the best results. It would become easy for anyone to manipulate their way to the top without putting in genuine effort.

What Does It Mean?

Not only would this hinder the success of honest individuals, but it would also compromise Google’s mission statement: to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Our understanding of the Google algorithm primarily comes from significant updates that have been introduced over time, including:

Reviews Update (April 2023): This update specifically assesses webpages that provide recommendations for products, services, places, games or movies. Customer reviews are not considered in this analysis.

• Core Update (March 2023): Changes associated with this update pertain to how Google’s systems evaluate web content. Consequently, some pages may perform better in search results, while others may experience a decline in rankings.
• Page Experience Update (June 2021): This update focused on Core Web Vitals, organic search results and News alerts.
• Core Update (December 2020): The emphasis of this update was on content quality and relevance.
• Mobile-first update (July 2019): Googlebot now treats all websites as mobile devices, prioritising sites that offer a seamless mobile experience.
• Mobile-friendly update (April 2015): This update favoured websites that have mobile-friendly versions, setting the stage for potential penalties if sites failed to comply.
• Pigeon (July 2014): This update aimed to integrate local search results, including Google Maps.
• Hummingbird (August 2013): This update focused on understanding the context and intent behind a user’s search rather than solely relying on the keywords they used.
• Penguin (April 2012): This update targeted spammers and websites that engaged in the purchase of unnatural links to manipulate rankings.

Other notable updates include Panda, Google EMDs (exact match domain names), Private Blog Network (PBN) deindexing and Phantom, which has seen multiple updates since its initial appearance in May 2013.

For further insights into link-building strategies, on-page SEO and user metrics related to Google rankings, you can watch the accompanying video.

Learn More: 9 Top Google Algorithm Updates

Evaluate Your Current Position in Google Search Results

Before implementing any major changes, it’s crucial to assess your current Google rankings factors and address the foundational aspects.

Here’s a guide on how to do that effectively:

• Confirm Indexing of Your Website: Have you experienced a situation like this before? You eagerly search for your target keywords on Google, but your website is nowhere to be found on the first page. You continue scrolling through the search results but there’s still no sign of your website.

  What To Do?

  Try searching for your business name or directly entering your website’s URL but the outcome remains the same—your website seems invisible. What could be the reasons behind your absence in the Google rankings? Consider these common possibilities:

  • If your website is relatively new, it’s possible that Google hasn’t had sufficient time to index your pages. In this case, you’ll need to ensure that your website is crawlable by Google.
  • Rectify any issues by addressing a blocked robots.txt file error and then follow the necessary steps to request Google to index your site.
  • Incorrect settings in Google Search Console or coding issues on your website might be preventing crawling bots from accessing your content.

• Utilise tools to Assess Your Keyword Rankings: If you have been targeting specific keywords within your page content, you can use tools to evaluate your Google rankings.

  What To Do?

  • Log in to the tool and navigate to “Traffic Overview.”
  • Enter your domain and you’ll gain access to a comprehensive list of SEO keywords you are ranking for, top-performing pages and an overview of your keyword rankings.
  • Scroll down to examine the “SEO Keywords” chart, which provides insights into your position in the Google rankings for your primary keywords.

By leveraging these techniques and tools, you can gain valuable insights into your current Google rankings and determine areas for improvement.

Learn More: What Are on Page SEO Ranking Factors?

3rd H2: How to Step Enhance the Health of Your Website?

Upon closer inspection, you may discover existing errors and inefficiencies on your website that can significantly impact its performance. Given Google’s increased focus on these factors, it is crucial to address them and make improvements.

Here are some actionable steps you can take:

• Evaluate Your Site’s Speed: The speed of your website remains a critical Google rankings factor. It is vital to conduct a site speed test to identify areas for improvement. Numerous tools can assist you in this process.
• Assess Your Site’s Overall Health: Before diving into optimisation, it’s important to evaluate your site’s overall health. This involves addressing the following questions:

• “Have you experienced a sudden decline in organic traffic after a period of consistency?
• Are you concerned about whether Google has deindexed or penalised your site?

What To Do?

Check for manual actions taken by Google, log in to Google Search Console and enter your website’s URL. Access the “Security & Manual Actions” report, which indicates if Google has imposed any manual actions against your site.

It’s important to note that this report only reveals violations of Google’s rules and does not indicate if your site has been penalised by a Google algorithm update. If you do encounter manual Google penalties, there are specific steps you can take to rectify the situation and regain compliance.

Ways to Track and Measure Essential SEO Metrics

Now, let’s focus on tracking key site metrics to identify areas for improvement.

Here are the crucial metrics you should assess:

• Organic Traffic: Understanding how visitors discover your site through Google is vital. In the past, organic search was the primary driver of website traffic, surpassing non-organic channels such as paid search and social media.

  However, the landscape has evolved, and social media, email and paid advertisements now contribute to organic traffic, although the significance can vary across industries.

  What To Do?

  To determine the number of visitors reaching your site, log in to your Google Analytics account and examine the acquisition channels report. This comprehensive guide will assist you in understanding the report.

• Organic Traffic Conversions: In addition to analysing search traffic, it’s important to pay attention to the keywords that generate traffic for your site.

  Google Search Console can provide valuable insights by revealing the number of clicks your site receives for specific keywords in organic search results.

  What To Do?

  Navigate to the “Queries” section to access keyword data. This will present a list of the top search queries (keywords) people use to find your website in Google search results.

  Furthermore, you can analyse clicks, impressions, click-through rate and position for each query. Sorting and filtering this data will help you gain a better understanding of how visitors are finding your website.

• Keyword Ranking for Transactional Keywords: One common mistake in keyword research is not dedicating enough time to transactional keywords. Transactional keywords are crucial as they drive revenue.

  To improve your Google rankings and generate income, it is essential to distinguish between commercial and informational keywords.

  What To Do?

  If your keyword focus is solely on informational queries, you can generate organic traffic. However, converting those visitors into buyers or individuals who engage on social media may require significant effort.

  Important Tip: If you have the budget to invest in SEO tools, it’s worth considering. However, if you’re working with a limited budget, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can still be a valuable option.

  • Creating an SEO dashboard in GA4 is a recommended step to monitor user behaviour effectively.
  • If you’re already using Google’s Universal Analytics, you can utilise the G4A setup assistant to integrate GA4 alongside Universal Analytics.
  • Alternatively, if you’re setting up GA4 for the first time, you can follow the guidelines provided by Google or integrate it into your content management system (CMS) or website builder platform.

  In addition to setting up dashboards in GA4, you can enhance your keyword insights by linking Google Search Console with GA4. Google offers guidance on how to establish this connection.

Learn More: How to Increase Organic Traffic?

How Can You Improve Your SEO Rankings?

To improve your visibility in Google rankings, it’s crucial to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and optimised for mobile devices. With more than half of all website traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s essential to provide a seamless mobile experience.

Google has implemented “mobile-first indexing,” which means they prioritise the mobile version of websites when determining search rankings. If your site is not mobile-friendly or difficult to navigate on mobile devices, your ranking may suffer.

What To Do?

You can easily assess your site’s mobile-friendliness using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Simply enter your URL and click “RUN TEST.” The test will provide a clear “yes” or “no” answer and a list of any loading issues encountered. Addressing these issues will ensure optimal performance on mobile.

Benefits: The test helps identify page loading issues such as redirection errors and instances where the robots.txt file blocked the Googlebot from crawling certain pages.

Additionally, Google’s Search Console offers a Mobile Usability Report. This report highlights any mobile usability issues on your site and provides helpful guides on how to address them effectively.

Ranking Factors in SEO: Effective Tips

If you want to cater to the vast number of smartphone users and ensure a positive user experience, making your website mobile-friendly is essential.

Here are some tips to help you achieve that:

• Consider using services for a quick mobile-friendly fix.
• Opt for a responsive design that allows your website’s layout and content to adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes.
• Ensure that you have the latest version installed to take advantage of these features.
• Use large and easy-to-tap buttons for your call-to-action (CTA) elements and form fields.
• Avoid using popups that are difficult to close.
• Optimise your images and videos to enhance your website’s loading speed.
• Ensure that the text on your website is legible on smaller screens. Use a readable font size and color and keep your paragraphs concise and straightforward.

By implementing these tips, you can make your website mobile-friendly and provide a seamless experience for smartphone users.

Learn More: Boost Your Mobile SEO Rankings

Revamp Your Approach to Building Links

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of your Google ranking factors and have set up tracking for key metrics, it’s time to delve into the details of your website and address any existing penalties.

One crucial aspect that can significantly impact your Google rankings is link building. However, sticking to outdated practices can do more harm than good. Let’s explore how you can modernise your approach to link building.

• The Changing Landscape of Link Building

  Utilising poor-quality links can have a detrimental effect on your site, potentially leading to a Google penalty. Therefore, it’s crucial to rethink how you generate links for your website.

  What To Do?

  Conduct a backlink audit using tools such as Google Search Console. These tools allow you to assess which websites are linking to yours and evaluate the quality of those links. Once you’ve identified any unfavourable links, you can take appropriate measures to eliminate them.

• Analyse Your Links

  Begin by analysing the inbound links to your site. Various link analysis tools can assist you in this process. When evaluating your backlinks, pay attention to the following key elements: Backlinks, Referring Domains, Link History, Domain-Level Opportunities, Domain Authority and URL-Specific Backlinks.

By embracing these modernised approaches to link building and conducting thorough link analysis, you can optimise your website’s backlink profile and enhance your Google rankings effectively.

Learn More: Top 5 Steps to Improve Domain Authority of Your Website

Conclusion

If your competitors are outranking you in Google search results, it’s time to gather some intel on them. Since the search SEO ranking factors 2023 favours their content, it makes sense to learn from and emulate their strategies.

What To Do?

One effective approach is utilising Google Keyword Planner as it provides accurate estimates of competitors’ targeted keywords.

Consider the following Google Rankings Factors:

• Volume: The number of monthly searches for a particular keyword.
• Position: The ranking of the URL in Google’s search results.
• Estimated visits: The approximate traffic the webpage receives for the keyword.

If your webpage is stuck on the second page of search results, how can you boost its ranking and propel it to the first page? One effective method is employing the skyscraper technique.

The idea behind this technique is to find an existing post or article that already ranks well, improve upon it and promote it extensively.