Regardless of the type of product or service your business offers, in this era, maintaining a website is a must. The reason is quite simple: everyone searches the web for what they need and, in most cases, the search ends with an online purchase. This means that being among the first to appear is essential. People tend to check only the listings at the top, before moving on to a different search.
The necessity is the reason behind Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices. Essentially, it’s a set of techniques and tools that intend to guide a website’s content at the highest ranking possible, therefore, to appear within the first results. The importance is punctuated even more, when we take into account that a study conducted in the last quarter of 2021, showed that only 20 to 30% of paid listings are chosen by the users. In other words, organic results are at least three times more successful, while being considerably less expensive.
Content management and content creation are among the many first class services that Rangval offers. Under this concept, we have prepared a list of 12 SEO tendencies that you simply need to follow, if you want your website to rank high. In this first part we will discuss about the first six:
This is a topic that has been around from quite some time. However, we wanted to start with it because we simply cannot stress enough how important it is. It is fact, that personal computers are no longer the primary devices used for searching online. That honor goes to smartphones.
A website that is not optimized for an acceptable mobile experience is akin to not having one at all. Even worse, once users realize that they cannot enjoy the content in their mobiles, they will simply leave, which in turn will increase your bouncing rate, causing your content to be placed at the lowest rank.
Always keep in mind that what you present must be experienced and enjoyed in the same way, regardless of the devise people are using. And that means mobile compatibility.
Many people don’t realize it, but Artificial Intelligence is not a sci-fi thing anymore. It is a reality. This technology is present in every mayor search engine. In fact, Google’s AI, named RankBrain, plays a crucial role in their ranking algorithms. Therefore, ensuring that your website pleases the inquisitive eyes of RankBrain, is the road to acquiring a good position in the organic results.
However, truth be told, there is still too little information about the way it works. Google is understandably reluctant to reveal any information in that regard. Yet, most experts agree that the most probable parameters have to do with the user experience returns. Therefore, your content must captivate users enough to interact with it and engage in deeper browsing.
Virtual assistants are another type of device whose popularity has grown exponentially in the last few years. They make people’s lives easier by executing certain commands, whenever they are told, including, of course, internet queries. If we take into consideration that voice searches are also a common occurrence with smartphones and other mobile devices, we can safely conclude that they have a clear impact on the ranking.
In order to make the most of this aspect, it is important to consider that there is a difference between the way people talk and the way they write. Voice searches tend to be longer and are usually phrased like questions. Therefore, using longer keywords and figuring out the kind of questions your content would need to answer to, are the successful ways of optimizing it for voice search.
Content quality is critical, especially for Google. The key factor here is to define correctly the “quality” part. Fortunately, what they want is clear: EAT. The acronym stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. In other words, content that has relevant information, come from either a person or an institution considered as an authority on the subject, and is found on a reliable website, will be ranked higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Make sure to consider carefully what kind of content your specific audience would appreciate the most and formulate it in such a manner that it provides real value for them. Linking to external sites with .edu or .gov URL extensions is also a great idea, along with including statistics and facts backed by real research and surveys.
We already established that creating content just for the sake of doing it, with no real value, is detrimental to your ranking. However, we also need to highlight that the length of your text also plays an important role. In fact, articles with over 3,000 words, tend to receive more traffic than shorter pieces.
However, it isn’t just a question of adding more words. Presentation and organization are also crucial. Use sub-headers to organize the information and facilitate mobile navigation and include other types of multimedia elements, to make the content more dynamic.
Feature snippets were introduced in 2017. In essence, they are highlighted excerpts that appear at the top of the Search Engine Result Page. They are very brief and usually include the answer to a search question. They also represent the fastest way to get to the top of the first page, especially for newcomers.
Scoring one is not that complicated, though. Just think of a way to structure a part of your content in a Q&A, bullet-point or how-to format. Images, star-based reviews and product descriptions, including prices, are also a good idea, depending on your type of business and your target audience.
In a nutshell, we can say SEO is about doing the best, on aspects that require special attention. All of the above, are just a way to achieve such a goal. However, keep in mind that staying updated is also vital. To do so, contract our content management and content creation services and leave everything to a team of professionals that will guarantee appropriate results.