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How to use Google ranking factors to improve your SEO

Upperdog
Upperdog Author
UpperdogSEO
4 mins

With Google being the most popular search engine on the planet, it is important to understand how to improve your Google rankingsGoogle ranks a website based on hundreds of different factors, but it can be difficult to know what to prioritise when creating an SEO strategy. The Google algorithm is constantly changing but as technical SEO experts, we know how to improve SEO using a few key ranking factors. Read on to learn more about Google rankings factors and how you can use them to optimise your website.  

High Quality Content 

This is perhaps the most important factor when considering how to improve your SEO. Having high quality content on each page is the best way to optimise your site. Pages with thin or poorly written content will not rank well in Googles algorithm. But what does having high quality content mean? Well, in most cases your content should be unique, fresh, and helpful. It is important that your copy differs from websites that are ranking for similar search terms. Keeping the content on your website up to date is also crucial when thinking about how to improve your Google ranking. Make sure that you are providing valuable information as this will keep users on your site for longer and lower your bounce rate. 

Internal and External Links 

A strong link structure and relevant backlinks are Google ranking factors, and when used correctly will help to improve your Google ranking. Internal links can also help drive traffic through a site – meaning a better user experience as users navigate the site and the potential for conversions.  

External links or backlinks are an important ranking factor when trying to understand how to improve your SEO. Backlinks help Google’s algorithm gain confidence in your website which will increase the chance to improve your Google ranking. By getting backlinks from high authority websites, it helps Google verify that your site is trustworthy.  

It is important to build these inbound links in the right way to improve your Google ranking. Spamming or manipulating links is usually picked up by Googles algorithm, especially since the July 2021 spam link update. This update aimed to target websites that were building spammy links in order to manipulate rankings.  

Keywords and Meta Data 

Using the right keywords throughout the copy on your site can really help to improve your Google ranking. While the content you write on each page should be well written, it should also include as many targeted search terms as possible that you want to rank for. Some simple keyword research will show you the kind of keywords you should try and incorporate. Writing and optimising content using these keywords will then help improve your chance of a Google ranking. 

Another great way to improve your SEO is by optimising your meta data. Meta data is a web page’s title and description and will show up on search engine result pages. It is another place to write unique copy for a page and you can incorporate some keywords in the meta title and description.  

Usability 

Knowing how to improve your SEO ranking is more than just having well optimised content. It is important that your website design is as user friendly as possible. UX design is even more important with Google’s June 2021 update to page experience. A well-designed website layout will keep users engaged with your site and improve your Google ranking. 

You should also consider how well optimised your site is for mobile devices. Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing. Therefore, it is crucial that pages are responsive, and content is readable on mobile browsers. 

Site Speed 

Another key ranking factor is page speed. Page speeds play a huge part in user experience, and how long elements of your site take to load will have a big impact on how users interact with your site. To improve your Google ranking you should test your page speed and optimise your site to create faster loading pages. There are many tools that will highlight potential problems with your site speed and make suggestions on how you can improve the responsiveness of certain pages.  

Utilising these Google ranking factors in your SEO strategy will help to improve your Google ranking and create a better overall user experience. If you are still unsure how to improve your SEO then get in touch with our team of technical SEO experts. We are an SEO agency in Bournemouth with years of experience helping our clients improve their SEO ranking. Get in touch with our digital marketing agency by calling 01202 798820 or email us at hello@upperdog.co.uk. 

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