SEO for beginners: 5 ways to get your website to rank on Google
NINETY percent of users do not scroll past the first page of Google search results.
That is why it is more important than ever that your website is optimised and ranks well.
TRAFCK share five top tips to help you rank above your competitors on Google search.
1. Keyword analysis
First of all, you need to pull together a list of keywords that you want to rank for on Google.
In this context, keywords refer to the words and phrases users type into search engines.
For example, if you are a plumber based in Canterbury, you might target ‘Canterbury plumbers’ as a keyword.
You need to start by understanding your target audience, their interest, needs and pain points.
Consider what your customers might search for when looking for products or services you provide.
To take your keyword research to the next level, you can use specific tools to see how often these terms are searched online.
These tools include:
– Google Keyword Planner
– SEMrush
– Ahrefs
– Moz Keyword Explorer
– Ubersuggest
– KeywordTool.io
Once you have identified the keywords you want to rank for, you need include these in your website’s content.
This will help Google understand what your pages are about and in turn, will improve their rankings.
2. Competitor analysis
Now you have your list of target keywords, you can identify your online competitors.
Type the keywords into Google and see which websites are positioned on the first page of search results.
Look at their content and ask yourself – why does this website rank above mine?
Does it have more content on the website? Does it have more internal links? Does it have longer titles on pages?
Identify what all of your competitors that rank well have in common and replicate on your site – but do it better.
Alternatively, TRAFCK can do all of this for you.
We can identify your rivals and provide you with a list of recommendations to improve your online visibility.
3. Meta description
A meta description provides a brief summary of a webpage.
It usually appear on the search engine results page below the page’s URL and title.
A well optimised meta description can improve the click-through rate of your page.
To add a meta description, include it in the <head> section of the page’s HTML markup.
However, most content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress allow you to add and edit meta descriptions by simply typing them in.
You need to write a meta description for all of the pages on your website.
Meta descriptions should be no more than 152 characters on desktop and 105 characters on mobile.
These need to be crammed with keywords that you want your site to rank for.
4. Content is key
Producing more content on your site is a great way to target keywords and improve your website’s visibility.
For example, let’s imagine you own a website that sells luxury watches.
You could produce an article on ‘The best Rolex’s to buy right now for under £15,000 including the Datejust 36 and the Sea-Dweller 4000’.
This will allow you to target several keywords including: Rolex, Rolex’s under £15,000, Datejust 36 and Rolex Sea-Dweller 4000.
Google repeatedly highlight the importance of EEAT when it comes to producing content online.
This means you need to demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoratitiveness and Trustworthiness in your content.
Google’s March 2024 core and spam updates have stressed the importance of this.
Use your expertise to produce people-first content that does not mislead the reader.
5. Backlinks
A backlink is a link from an external page that points back to your website.
Backlinks help Google to discover your pages and identify your website as the original source of information.
As a general rule, the more high-quality backlinks a page or site has, the more trustworthy it is.
There are several ways to increase the amount of backlinks to your website or a specific page:
Link outreach – Reach out to other sites and request a link back to your content
Paid backlinks – Paying money in return for a backlink
Guest posts/blogging – Writing content for a website and including a link back to your page within the article
Alternatively, TRAFCK can do all of this for you. We offer a 100% free SEO Audit.
This means we will analyse your site and come back to you with a list of recommendations.
There’s no catch. No strings attached. No bank details needed. No login details needed.
We just need permission to audit your site and we will get back to you within 48 hours.
