Perhaps you recently redesigned and rewrote your website. Will your site suddenly shoot to the top of a web search? While the redesign may certainly benefit your company, that doesn’t guarantee you will be boosting your web presence. Rather, there are many ways to improve your standing in search engine ranking.

Even if you are just setting up your first company website, you know being in the top spot(s) is important. However, you must remember that ranking better is relative. After all, moving from page 6 to page 3 is still an improvement.

If you have looked at your first quarter numbers, and want to do more, then there’s no time like the present. We have a long list of action items from which to choose. But before you begin, take a few minutes to decide what you wish to accomplish, how much time or money you have to invest, and how much knowledge you have of search engine optimization (SEO). Once you narrow down these answers, you are ready to get started.

How to Improving Your Ranking 

1. Manage your business on Google Listings. In today’s mobile society, more searches are done on-the-go than ever before. Improve your chances of showing up on the first page(s) of a search by filling out your Google Business Profile.  Add the correct address, operating hours, special services, and any other information pertinent to who you are and what you have to offer. You can even include pictures and use keywords to give your company an extra edge!
2. Check your website for usefulness. If it has been a while since updating your website, this is a good time do it. Keep in mind that your site is more than content. It also needs to be easy for both site guests and search bots to navigate. Also, if you have yet to update your site to be mobile-first, now is the time to do so.
3. Think about plugins. A WordPress site has thousands of plugins available, many of which are designed to boost SEO efforts. Talk to a website developer if you are unsure what plugins would best benefit you.
4. On-page SEO. Thinking about new website content? This is a good place to begin and will make a significant difference. As you write new content be sure that:

• You use your keywords at least 2 to 3 times per page
• Includes keywords at the beginning of your title tags
• Has plenty of long-form content (ideally, a minimum of 1,800 words)

5. Technical SEO. This task comprises many actions. It involves ensuring your website is search-bot friendly, and easily indexed. Components of technical SEO include, but aren’t limited to:

• Pages being secure
• No plagiarized content
• Quick loading pages
• All links work

6. Uses latent semantic indexing keywords. Latent semantic indexing refers to those words and phrases that are not your keywords but are closely related. So, if you have a nanny agency, you might also use childcare professional, babysitter, children’s caregiver, after-school care provider, or even home manager. The more words you can use to expand your keywords, the better the result.
7. Good E-A-T-ing. This refers to a site showing expertise, authority, and trust.  When a search bot crawls your site, you want it to find material that is respected- not just by you but by others in your industry. Asking people to leave a review, getting others in your field to write a blog post, press releases, linking to other resources are all ways to build credibility.
8. Make your website information quick-to-read. There is a new term in in search results- “zero-click search”. It refers to a user being able to find the info they want right in the search results page. While this may not drive traffic to your website, it can help get your information on the first page of search results. According to WordStream, this is a two-step process: Use heading tags with a clear title, How to Hire a Nanny”. Then use specific headings, H3, H4, etc. that Google can build a meta description from- “Hire a nanny from Raleigh who will keep your children engaged in the world around them.”  Use bullet points, boldface, lists, etc. to make it easy for Google to identify you as reputable result.
9. HTTPS – This lets guests as well as Google know you have done your part to provide a secure and safe website.
10. Check your links. –Sometimes external links get broken because a site you linked to removed the post, other times a link is broken because you updated something and failed to follow up. Leaving broken links on your site will cause Google to rank you lower. Run your website through a tool such as Sitebulb to find and correct bad links.
11. Learn the Google Algorithm – Ok, we know this is a daunting one. In fact, Moz estimatesthere are as many as 600 Google algorithm changes every year. Some of these changes are minor, while others are quite important and can make a huge difference. Fortunately, you don’t have to track all these changes. A web development team can do this for you and will upgrade your site as needed.

Remember those four questions from the beginning?

• What do you want to accomplish?
• How much do you want to invest?
• How much time do you have to spend?
• How much knowledge you have of SEO?

If any of these questions give you reason to pause, you are not alone. Many small to medium companies lack the tools to answer them. But this doesn’t mean you cannot build a solid online presence and rank well on Google search results. Page Progressive helps companies just like yours all the time. Visit our Contact page now to schedule a consultation and learn how we can help you be better than ever.