SEO for Beginners: 20 Powerful SEO Tips to Rank on Google
Given that research shows that 75% of searchers don’t bother clicking past the results on the first page and that the first 5 results for a given search account for 67% of all clicks as explained at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, it is essential to rank on the first page of Google. To help you with this, here are 20 powerful SEO tips to rank on Google.
Perform keyword research
As per RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, keyword research is one of the key aspects of SEO. You want the keywords on your page to be relevant to what people are searching for so that Google will rank your content. This is why conducting keyword research is important, and tools like Google Keyword Planner can help.
Focus on on-page SEO
On-page optimization remains one of the easiest ways to boost your rankings on Google as it doesn’t take a lot of time and brings quick results as well. It refers to all the elements that appear on the pages of your website that you can optimize, like headlines, page titles, and images.
Understand your keyword’s search intent
As search intent is the most important ranking factor in search engines, you need to understand your target keyword’s search intent according to RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Fortunately for most keywords or phrases, the search results on Google will tell you everything you need to know about that keyword’s search intent.
Technical SEO is just as important
Technical SEO refers to making sure that your website is designed in such a way that search engines will be able to crawl and index it easily. You will need to make sure all your pages are secure, your site is optimized for mobile, you don’t have any plagiarized content on pages of your site, your pages have quick loading times, and all the links work.
Use long-tail and medium-tail keywords
Given that long-tail keywords make up 70% of search traffic, if you want to get more organic traffic, you should use long-tail keywords in your content. If the search volume is too low, you can always aim for mid-tail keywords instead, which are 2 to 3 words long.
Avoid low-quality content
Backlinks play a huge role in Google’s algorithm as articulated at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Therefore, one of your main goals should be to get visitors to share your posts on social media. You can only expect visitors to do that if you regularly post high-quality content.
Related keywords
While it is important to optimize your keywords for search intent as already mentioned, it is just as important to use the right variations of keywords if you want to increase your organic traffic and climb in rankings on Google. This is why you should focus your efforts on creating easy-to-read and high-quality content that also uses related keywords and keyphrases.
Internal links
As much as backlinks are important, you should not ignore internal links as captured at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. An internal link is a hyperlink that links to another page on the same domain. They help Google with finding and indexing your web pages.
Focus on readability
Readability is an important factor for search engines and content that is easier to read often ranks higher than content that is difficult to read. That is why you should always break up your content with shorter sentences, subheadings, images, quotes, and bullet lists to keep the reader glued to your content and stay on your site.
Include LSI keywords
Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords refer to related phrases that a search engine like Google can use to get a better understanding of a page’s content. LSI keywords also help to improve your topical depth which in turn helps with relevancy.
Optimize your SEO title or title tag
The SEO title or title tag is one of the most important factors that Google uses to decide what your content is about and whether to show your site in the search results or not as covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. This is why optimizing your SEO title or title tag is important.
Focus on E-A-T
Google E-A-T is another three-letter acronym that can help you in your efforts. It stands for expertise, authority, and trust. These are three elements that Google looks at when working out the ranking potential of your website.
Write a well-crafted meta description
As described at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, writing a well-crafted meta description can compel users to click through to your website while also letting Google know what your page is about. A good meta description should describe your page’s content, answer users’ questions, include a call-to-action, be unique and interesting, and include your main or focus keyphrase.
Improve your bounce rate
When visitors leave your site’s pages and leave in a matter of seconds, it tells Google that they aren’t impressed with what you have to offer, hurting your search rankings. To improve your bounce rate, make sure that all the most important info appears above the fold. Adding a table of contents can also help.
Visual search
Articles with images get 94% more views as opposed to those with no visuals. Therefore, optimizing your images is crucial if you want to crush it in visual search on Google and other search engines Also make sure you add additional information about your images, so search engines can understand what they are about.
Share statistical data
Try to occasionally include content, like facts and figures, that others can quote on their own blogs as discussed at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Content creators often link back to statistics which can earn you valuable backlinks.
Use schema markup and rank for featured snippets
Google rich snippets can help you unluck the highest rankings and traffic for your site. Google rich snippets are created by adding schema markup or structured data to your web pages. They give users the sneak peek they need to decide whether they want to check out your recipe or not.
Boost your click-through rate
Even though rankings are important, you should also keep an eye on organic traffic. To improve your click-through rate, focus on your metadata like the URL and the metadata description that appears below the search result as outlined at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com.
Create an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a list of every new and important URL on your website, and it helps Google and other search engines to find and crawl your new content. There are tools you can use to generate an XML sitemap for you.
Create a Google My Business profile
Businesses can also get a better Google ranking for local searches by creating a Google My Business profile. This will help you to control how your business appears across Google products such as Search and Maps.
If you are looking for more tips on this topic as well as help optimizing for SEO, then the excellent RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com have got you covered.