How To Rank A Website in Google with SEO

These measures will bring you to number 1 on Google.

With some effective SEO measures, the ranking of any website can be improved. On- and off-page SEO ensures that search engines find, index, and rank websites better. The legendary ranking factors play an essential role here.

So far, Google has left it largely open with which criteria websites are evaluated and positioned in detail. However, Google has confirmed that it uses around 200 ranking signals in its algorithm. We have compiled the most essential factors from our point of view here.

1. Certainly the most crucial factor: Content

Only excellent content that interests visitors make it to page one on Google. Texts in which the keywords have only been squeezed in to convince the search engine crawlers are "old news". Therefore, optimizing the content for the interested reader has priority in search engine optimization!

Only those who offer the best possible answer to the user's search deserve a first place on Google. So your content really needs to add value.

And let's face it: keyword stuffing doesn't add value to anyone.

The content of your page should be detailed and sufficiently illuminate the background of your topic. But please refrain from a particularly long, wordy text.

Of course, conveying your knowledge and content on your website is also essential, but try to loosen it up with other elements.

For example, use the following:

And this is also well received by Google - and can influence the ranking of your website.

I would like to give you one more important tip in this context. The following does not apply to Google: twice is better than one! On the contrary – avoid duplicate content. Unique content is an important ranking factor to reach Google 1st place.

2. The Right Keywords

Do you know what your potential prospects are actually looking for? There are numerous tools for keyword research that you can use to determine attractive Google search terms.

I like to use the following tools:

You can check these using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. The Keyword Planner tells you how often a specific search term is searched for on average each month and what the recommended click price for a Google AdWords campaign for this term would be. This allows you to quickly see which search terms are most worth placing in the first position on Google.

The texts that you create for your keywords should have a natural keyword density. But please don't try to place your keywords in the text countless times. Instead, use synonyms, which are also recognized by Google.

Added value is created by answering questions related to your keyword (product/service). Use these questions and answer them on your website or blog with additional information. In this way, you make it clear to the user right from the start that you have come to the right place.

3. Usability / Ease of Use

You know it for sure: Google recognizes how long a user stays on your website. Google also acknowledges whether your visitor looks at several pages or whether he just flies over a page and then leaves your website again. Google records the latter as a so-called bounce. Both the length of stay and the bounce rate are included in the Google ranking. So how do you manage that a user likes to stay on your site for a long time and makes as many clicks as possible? Here we come to usability, i.e., the user-friendliness of your website. Above all, it should be attractive and easy to use.

Loading Time

The loading time of your website plays an important role here. You probably know this too: You are looking for a particular product, finding a corresponding result with an attractive title, and click on it. And then it happened - nothing, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds. So now you are tired and click on the back button to try your luck with a different result. As already mentioned, Google does register these quick jumps. So make sure that your page loads quickly - otherwise, the user will lose interest in your website before they even get there.

Page Load Speed

Let's move on to page load speed, another ranking factor. Google recognizes how fast your page loads. And since Google strives to rank first the page that brings the most value to the user, pages with a slow loading speed have a disadvantage. One of the most common reasons for long loading times and numerous other factors is particularly complex and large graphics. So it is better to upload your pictures in an optimal format and the ideal size.

Structure

Make sure there are clear structures. No one likes to click on menu items and subcategories umpteen times on a website until they finally get the information they are looking for. That's why it's essential to keep your site's architecture coherent and straightforward. My recommendation: There should be no more than five navigation items in the menu bar. Your blog should also have a maximum of five categories. Too many categories or menu items quickly become confusing, so it is important to reduce them as much as possible.

Design

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the design also plays a crucial role in Google rankings. The Google algorithm knows how much time a visitor spends on your website, as you learned above. In addition, the movement of the mouse pointer and the speed at which it is scrolled can be used to track how long the visitor deals with a specific element on your page. With the data that Google uses to determine where users spend an exceptionally long time and like to stay, Google can more or less predict which websites will be well received by the reader and which will not. Take this into account when designing your website - the best thing to do is to find a good web designer who will support you with this.

4. Links, internal and external

Internal links

I have already described how important it is that your website is clearly structured and your user is skillfully guided through its content. And this is where internal linking comes into play. By referring to another thematically related post in the right place in a post, the visitor clicks further and further through your page. The length of stay and the number of clicks on your site increase, which benefits your ranking on Google.

It is essential that you really only link thematically appropriate and additional information.

The internal link is to guide users and search engines into the depths of the website to make meaningful content quickly accessible to the user and suitable for search engines so that they can find their way around the site better and better understand the thematic context of subpages.

External links

An external link is considered a recommendation and shows the search engine that you trust the website you are referring to. Consider this! Links to any domains that are not related to the topic and are unprofessional can damage your own website considerably. It may only be linked to trustworthy sites. In this context, one speaks of trust links. These are outbound links to websites with good domain authority scores and a high TrustRank.

By the way, too many external links weaken the domain's ranking, i.e., the indexed website from which the links originate. One, two, or three external links per subpage are not a problem.

Make sure that the external links should be opened in a new tab so that you don't end up breaking off the page unintentionally.

In contrast to an external link, an incoming link to a website is a so-called backlink. But not all backlinks are created equal. A "good" backlink should always be related to the linking web page's content since, from Google's point of view, it should provide the user with added value and thus further content relevant to the topic.

The quality criterion is essential here. A high-quality backlink that is positively rated by Google has a powerful influence on the ranking of your own website.

5. Reputation

What do customers or business partners think of me? What reputation does my company have on the internet? If you want to succeed in the market, you have to ask yourself such questions.

It was predicted that Google could incorporate a quality score into its organic rankings more than a decade ago. However, the latest algorithm updates now indicate that a company's reputation is increasingly important for search ranking.

Google favors sites that are popular and trustworthy. If a company has many positive reviews on the relevant portals or in Google My Business, there is a greater likelihood that a user will visit your site. This creates more traffic, which has a positive effect on your Google ranking.

At the same time, Google recognizes how good your reputation is on rating portals. The better your site performs on these portals, the more trustworthy and valuable Google classifies it. Therefore, in addition to the factors mentioned above, you should also pay attention to your site's reputation.

Conversely, a negative reputation on rating portals can, of course, also damage your Google ranking enormously. For example, suppose potential customers searching for your company on Google come across relevant articles about your lack of credibility or certain scandals. In that case, they will distance themselves from your company and your services/products. This creates less traffic, and your website falls in the Google ranking.

It seems logical and understandable that Google also wants to use the authors of content to assess its quality. We humans usually do the same. We know who is familiar with a topic and who has shown in the past that the facts are correct or that the opinion expressed was valuable.