When you have a website that you’re trying to improve sometimes figuring out how to get a better search engine ranking can seem like a bit of a mystery. There are a lot of tips out there and if you start digging deep you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed by all the things you can try to improve your page’s ranking.
Still, a good search engine ranking does make a huge difference in how much traffic your website will get, and that’s a big deal. It’s understandable that you don’t want to just ignore your page’s performance. Sitting back and hoping your ranking will improve without taking any action is leaving a lot of your digital marketing strategies to chance which is never a good idea.
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The good news is there are some simple ways you can improve your site’s search engine ranking. The tips you can use for SEO are luckily the same no matter where you go, so tips from a Boston SEO service are going to be just as valuable as tips from an expert in Florida, Minnesota, or any other is. With that in mind, here are five ways to improve your site’s search engine rankings.
Table of Contents
1. Write Good Content
This one doesn’t require a lot of digital marketing know-how, or technical expertise. It’s just about writing content that isn’t spam and will enhance the user’s experience. There are things you want to focus on, like keyword density (how often your keywords appear on your webpage) because that tells Google or other engines what your site is about.
However, just because you’re repeating a keyword a few times doesn’t mean you should focus only on writing for the search engine. Websites that are crawling your page to differentiate spam from valuable information will notice that and your page will rank lower because of it. Find that balance between writing that feels a little geared towards an engine and what’s best for your user.
Your content should be relevant to your website, easy to read, and not so bogged down with images and ads that a user is going to leave before its even finished loading. All of those things factor into your search engine ranking so make sure you’re creating good content for your users first and foremost. It really does matter.
2. Link Anchor Text Matters
When you’re writing your copy and you want your users to click on something it can be tempting to choose to type in “click here” and link that text. Don’t do that. It’s not going to help your keywords or your site ranking in the slightest. The words “click here” don’t tell a search engine what your site is about and will just be ignored.
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Instead of using basic directions for anchoring your links, describe what your user is clicking on. If you have a section of your website for frequently asked questions, choose to use those words (or FAQs) as your link’s anchor text instead of “click here” for frequently asked questions.
Search engines look at things like anchor text pretty heavily when deciding what your page is about and what relevant text matters the most. Make sure you aren’t shortchanging yourself by choosing anchor text that just doesn’t make any noticeable difference to your search engine rankings at all.
3. Turn Mentions Into Links
You can use tools like setting up a Google alert to tell you when your site has been mentioned somewhere online. Sometimes blogs or other articles will mention a site without linking to it. With a Google alert, you can find out when your site has been mentioned and reach out to ask if that site owner can turn your mention into a link back to your site.
While this isn’t something you have to change directly on your page it’s still something you want to watch. You might not always get a favorable answer to your request but the more you reach out the more links back to your site you’re likely to get. This is another way search engines learn that your site is valuable and helpful, and it will increase your page’s ranking significantly.
4. Headings Matter
The way you write your content and the headings or other stylized fonts you use actually matter. They matter more than you might realize, to be honest. Your site is crawled by search engines purposely looking for things that tell them what the page is about. That means more weight is put on headings (especially H1 headings) and things like bolded or italicized text.
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It’s not just about making your copy look good (although headings really do make it easier for readers to understand what’s going on) it’s about telling an algorithm what your page is about. Use your headings, bolded text and italics to emphasize what is important. Remember your keywords and use the stylized text options you just read about to highlight them.
5. Keep Updating Your Site
This means adding fresh content frequently and making sure your keywords and metadata are still relevant. It means making sure your internal and external links are all still functioning and that your images are still loading. Broken links or images and irrelevant information are all things that will drag your ranking down.
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Maintaining your site isn’t always the most fun part of having a webpage. It can get pretty monotonous having to go through everything you’ve built to make sure it’s all still functioning and nothing needs to be updated. But, if you let your content go stale, or let broken links just sit there your site will suffer more than you might realize. It’s definitely worth the effort to keep things updated.
Conclusion:
Improving your site’s search engine ranking isn’t always an easy task. You’ll have to put in some work and make sure you’re focusing on keeping everything updated. It’s a continual task but when you start to see an increase in your traffic and your ranking is going up it will be worth it. Keep at it and don’t give up. It will pay off in the end.
