The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) landscape is constantly changing. There is stiff competition between websites to rank first in search engines. And without proper SEO auditing measures, your website could fall behind in rankings before you know it. In this article, we briefly discuss tips to retain your top rankings.
1. Keep your Google My Business up-to-date
Google My Business lets you improve and manage your online presence across Google services, including maps. It helps customers locate your business and in contacting you. Having accurate details on your Google My Business significantly impacts your ranking in local search results. On top of appearing in response to customer search queries on Google, this tool provides multiple calls to action buttons for web users.
Google My Business has several options for specifying what your business niche exactly is. By filling them up with the latest information, your website can continue to rank at the top.
2. Acquire more reviews
Online reviews speak volumes of your business website. Amassing a lot of positive reviews makes your website appear trustworthy in the eyes of potential customers. Beyond that, high ratings in large numbers help you rank higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Especially on Google. Having four and five-star reviews on your Google My Business profile significantly improves clickthrough rates and incoming traffic.
One way of acquiring more reviews is to send Google review requests to customers who have visited your store. You can make this request by getting the review form link from your Google My Business account.
3. Use high search volume keywords
Google uses keywords as a significant indexing factor. That said, it is not enough to merely use keywords that are relevant to your business niche. You must see that the keywords you use are what your website visitors most frequently use in their search queries. You can find high search volume keywords using various SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Keyword Planner.
Narrow down on relevant and high search volume keywords and insert them in your content. Make sure to not over-add them. That leads to keyword stuffing.
4. Get backlinks from authoritative sites
Domain Authority (DA) scores help predict the likelihood of a website ranking in SERPs. The higher it is, the more chances a website to rank up on Google. If you want to retain your website’s top rankings, you must ensure that your website is supported and deemed credible by high authority websites. To achieve this, the websites with high Domain Authority will need to create backlinks to your web pages. As it improves the trustworthiness of your website, it also improves your rankings on Google.
Keep in mind that link velocity plays a crucial role in determining the legitimacy of your backlinks in Google’s eyes. A sudden, drastic spike in backlinks will cause Google to lower your site’s score.
5. Make use of social media platforms
There are many social media platforms today. The most popular ones are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Pinterest. All of those have millions of users, and creating a profile on these platforms opens up a lot of scope for engaging with potential customers. Now when it comes to SEO, social media platforms don’t directly affect your rankings. However, the content you post on social media platforms appears on search engine results. That means your social media channels indirectly impact your rankings.
Establish and consistently update your presence on social media to boost visibility and traffic to your website.
6. Create content based on trends
Quality content outshines large quantities of content that lack meaning and are irrelevant. Create content that aligns with your target audience’s interests. It increases the number of visitors to your website. You can create multiple types of content including, blogs, articles, social media posts, and more. Sprinkle it with high search volume keywords, and you will have top-quality content that will boost your rankings.
For example, say you run a dentist clinic. Write and publish creative, informational content on the best dental hygiene practices, how often dentists recommend checkups, and more. They help attract more online traffic to your business.
7. Optimize for voice search
Rapid advancements in technology are transforming the way customers search queries online. While text search is the widespread norm, voice search has begun gaining a lot of traction. It carves out new competition for businesses. The competition to rank on top and appear as the first search result in response to voice searches.
For delivering correct and relevant content to voice search queries, it is crucial to implement longtail intent-based keywords in your content. Voice searches involve the usage of more words than text searches. For example, “sports shoe stores near me” “top 10 smartphones in 2021”.
8. Keep your website mobile-friendly
With almost everyone having a smartphone in the current era, optimizing your website for mobile is essential for various reasons. More than half of all web traffic is from mobile devices. And when you do have visitors on your website from mobile devices, giving them a well-optimized user experience is vital. Having a poorly optimized website for mobiles negatively affects SEO as well as hinders website traffic.
If you’re unsure of whether your website is mobile-friendly, you can get comprehensive information on whether it is or not on Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
9. Create internal links
Internal linking is the process of hyperlinking specific words, phrases, or sentences to other pages of your website. They are different from backlinks, which are hyperlinks to an external web page. For Google, internal links help it grasp the context of what the content on your website is. Furthermore, Google gets a better understanding of how different pages on your website are relevant to each other.
Creating a rich network of internal links makes search engines view your pages as trustworthy. It makes Google easily crawl your site, and that translates to higher rankings on SERPs.
FAQ
Q1. What is an SEO audit?
To gauge the performance of your website, you must analyze various areas of your website. Doing so reveals issues that hinder your ranking on SERPs. Website areas include:
- Technical SEO
- On-Page SEO
- Website experience
- Content
- Website structure
This process is known as an SEO audit.
Q2. How will my website’s ranking change over time?
Your website’s ranking is susceptible to lowering due to various reasons. To prevent that from happening, you must perform an SEO audit from time to time. Here are some ways in which your website’s ranking changes over time:
- Slowing down of page speed
- Poor optimization for mobile viewing
- Publication of unoptimized content
- Complicated site structure
Q3. How long until I see my website ranking?
After ensuring that you have implemented the best practices in your website, getting to see the rank of your website can take anywhere between six months to one year. Using rich keywords in your website helps accelerate this timeline.
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