Google SEO Ranking Factors

by Natalie Karr | 2 Mar 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Search engines present what they deem to be relevant search results to users looking up various keywords and phrases, and to do this, their automated algorithm programs ‘crawl’ web content continuously.

These crawls pull up a variety of data and intelligence on websites, using this information to understand what a site is about, who its relevant for and what it offers. The elements of a website that are scanned and used by the search engine algorithms to determine where and how to rank them are known as SEO ranking factors.

It’s not known exactly how many webpages or websites are crawled by Google’s systems daily, but we do know that hundreds of billions of pages are scanned continuously; primarily based on previous searches made by search engine users. The crawlers work through site maps, paying attention to the usability and performance of the site overall, links to and from it, changes made to pages it has crawled before, and the content on the site itself.

Each of these SEO ranking factors are taken into account and this helps the system decide where to display a website on relevant SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

What are Google’s SEO Ranking Factors?

There is a common misconception that the only influence on search engine ranking is the written content within a website – and this has resulted in lots of websites being full of content that is stuffed with as many keywords and phrases as possible.

While this was effective in the early days of SEO, technology has moved on vastly since and this activity is now penalised by Google. There are now over 200 SEO ranking factors for Google alone.

Google’s SEO ranking factors change continuously and the algorithm changes and tweaks daily; so it’s nigh-on impossible to hit exactly the right spot for top organic SEO ranking all of the time. The 200+ SEO ranking factors that Google currently refers to includes, by is by no means limited to:

Domain factors – security, keywords in domain, domain history, geographic registration
Page-level factors – keyword usage, tags and meta data, content, page load speeds, image optimisation, responsiveness
Site-level factors – site architecture, site uptime, site navigation, Core Web Vitals
Backlink factors – links to and from the site and the authenticity of the sites linking
User interaction – user behaviour, content interaction, traffic, bookmarks
Algorithm rules – geo-targeting, safe search, shopping results, YouTube results, local results
Brand signals – branded text, branded searches, linked social media accounts
On-site webspam – pop-ups and ads, poor quality content, hidden links, on-site spamming
Off-site webspam – site hacking, unnatural links, fake links, fake likes, spam traffic.

This variety in ranking factors highlights just how much ongoing work there is to be done to demonstrate to Google how useful and genuine a business’ website is.

Ranking Factors for other search engines

Google has by far the highest market share of search engines. However, there are audiences using search engines other than just Google.

SEO ranking factors aren’t made entirely public for all search engines, but all of the algorithms operate along roughly the same lines. There are some differences that should be noted, though, including:

Bing have commented publicly that social media is a very influential factor in their SEO
Yahoo relies heavily on Bing’s search algorithm and so optimising for Bing will too optimise for Bing
DuckDuckGo does not track users and so results are never based on search history
Baidu hugely favours domains registered in China
Amazon essentially relies entirely on keywords.

Generally speaking, it is best to follow all of the principles of Google SEO in order to rank on other search engines too.

The Importance of Optimising SEO Ranking Factors

Google is an increasingly competitive search engine with 8.5 billion searches carried out daily, so there’s no shortage of traffic. If businesses are to gain competitive advantage over competitors, they must focus on SEO to ensure that they rank higher, are more likely to be found online.

The Most Important SEO Ranking Factors for Google

Not all SEO ranking factors are equal. Although there is no complete transparency over which are exactly the most influential in ranking score, the most important factors are more user-focused than content-focused.

Google prioritises site security, responsiveness and its overall customer experience as a very important SEO ranking factor. This also includes the crawlability of sites – because if it can’t be ‘crawled’, it can’t be assessed for ranking in SERPs.

Content does form an important part of SEO, and Google now considers high quality content more eminent than the presence of relevant keywords and phrases; although they too do influence.

SEO management involves a careful and curated balance of all elements of a website in order to provide the best and most relevant user experience possible – and this acts as an extension of the brand’s overall customer experience. This makes good business sense and cannot be underestimated in its contribution to the overarching brand perception.

Does Social Media Affect SEO?

by Natalie Karr | 16 Feb 2022 | SEO, Social media

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Digital marketing is a cornerstone of all marketing activity for modern businesses – and social media perhaps even more so. Social media forms a large part of most business’ online presence and if it doesn’t, it should.

Organisations don’t need to manage a presence on every social media platform, but should definitely do so on platforms whereby their target customer would be or would expect them to be. This will have an onward impact on the overall business’ visibility through search engines (their SEO ranking) and so can combine to help elevate their content online, to gain competitive advantage.

SEO Basics

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. These three letters refer to the process of optimising a website or other online content for search engines to help improve their ranking (how high up they appear) on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) in order to increase their chances of their online listings being clicked on.

In order to judge where content should be ranked in search result listings, websites are constantly ‘crawled’ by automated programs that judge a site on its:

- Theme or niche
- Quality of content
- Target audience and relevant audience
- Usability
- Authenticity

These factors all help the algorithm determine an SEO ranking and judge where to feature the content in the search engine listings and who to show them to. This can then be further influenced by Google Ads and further digital marketing tactics.

Business SEO vs Business Social Media

SEO is a continuous activity carried out on a business’ website, made up by 3 focus areas:

- On-page SEO
- Off-site SEO
- Technical SEO

On-page SEO refers to the production of high-quality relevant content that is appropriate for the business’ industry, sector, products and services. It is achieved in part by the use of suitable keywords and phrases; normally those that users would look up on the search engine if they wanted to find something related to the brand in question. This presents the relevance of the site.

Off-site SEO is the presence of links to the site from genuine and high-authority websites in order to demonstrate their trustworthiness and authenticity.

Technical SEO is the focus of maximising usability, accessibility and performance of the website to improve user experience.

Social media platforms enable users to create and share content with others; widely considered the digital form of socialising. Social media channels are important marketing and communication tools with which to link with both potential and existing customer bases.

How Social Media Supports SEO

While content published on social media sites is ‘crawled’ and read by search engines, it is done so in a different way and doesn’t act as a primary factor in SEO ranking (unless perhaps there is no other mention of the company online and no dedicated website).

Social media content for a business influences the company’s overall SEO ranking in several ways:

External links back to the main business website

While social media profiles linking back to a brand website aren’t considered ‘high authority’ links, they do help prove to the search engine algorithm that they’re an extension of the brand’s presence online (although this is different for comment or link on a brand by the social media company itself, which would be considered high-authority).

This proves to the algorithm that a brand is being talked about, and in some cases recommended, by others and so it is considered relevant to certain audiences.

Reinforcement of brand presence

A business being mentioned or linked to anywhere externally is a positive factor for SEO as it proves the perceived trustworthiness and niche (or sector) the business operates in, to the algorithm. This reinforces how and when a business should be displayed in search engine rankings.

An organisation that is mentioned in numerous places online is likely to hold a much higher SEO ranking than one which has its own website but has no further mention on the internet.

Reinforcement of authenticity

Social media acts as a fantastic discussion tool for communities and where a business is mentioned, this discussion further proves that it is relevant for an audience. Where reviews or ratings are set up this helps demonstrate to the algorithm that genuine customers for the business exist, and so reinforces its authenticity.

Where there is a constant brand interaction with members of a social media channel, this too reiterates the genuine connection of the business with customers.

Strategising Social Media and SEO Marketing

Social media and SEO are separate disciplines within digital marketing, and there are certainly specialists in both. However both should be approached with the same focus – to ensure that they are in sync and complement each other.

Woya Digital’s expert team are able to offer advice and SEO and social media support, and can help ensure that both on-site, off-site and social media content all combine to best boost your chances of appearing as high as possible on SERPs – even before any paid advertising is considered. Get in touch and let’s talk through your business’ online idiosyncrasies – there’s lots that can be done!

SEO vs PPC: How to Pick the Right Digital Marketing Weapon

by Ian Woya | 17 Jan 2022 | SEO, Digital Marketing

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Successful marketing is more than a one-hit-wonder and takes a long-term strategic effort. So, while we’re here to talk about SEO vs PPC, let’s be clear – the answer isn’t going to be straightforward or universal!

There are many variables to finding the optimal way to tackle your digital marketing, PR, and advertising, depending on (just as a few factors) your sector, aspirations, the market climate and what you have to spend.

Ultimately, the correct approach for your business depends on, well, your business, so it’s impossible to give a blissfully easy answer without a fair few caveats.

Here, the Woya team compares all the pros and cons, costs and benefits, side by side to help you decide where best to invest your budget.

The PPC vs SEO Debate Explained

Before we get into the details, let’s clarify the context behind these powerful publicity cousins.

- PPC (or pay per click) is paid advertising you can choose to use on Google Ads, search engines and social media to drive traffic to your site.
- SEO (or search engine optimisation) is an organic, systematic method of optimising your website and digital assets to naturally steer a larger user base to your business, primarily through direct hits on search engine enquiries.

While you can do both simultaneously, you’ll usually want to have a priority to dictate how you channel your resources.

Benefits of PPC as a Business Digital Marketing Resource

Paid advertising and organic searches might look the same to a casual user on the SERP (search engine results page). Still, they are considerably different, and you’ll get a varying response.

Consumer trust and click-through rates heavily favour organic search results since users know paid ads are promotions.

But, that doesn’t mean that PPC doesn’t have some advantages:

- Paid searches take pole position right at the top of the page, with the user initially seeing the top four on a PC or laptop and the highest three on a mobile device.
- Ads are under your control, so you get to decide what contact info, location details, sales points, or pricing shows in that space – whereas organic search picks and chooses the bits of content from your site it thinks are most relevant.
- Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are a great way to enrich your PPC promotion with a visual to show users what they’re about to click on, pushing up click-through rates.

You can decide how much you’re going to spend per day, so you’ll rarely see your clicks soaring (possibly without corresponding conversions!), resulting in a hefty dent in your bank balance without the sales to match – provided you set a fixed budget.

Targeted Online Ads Through PPC

One of the key reasons businesses invest in PPC is that it’s a form of sharply honed advertising where you select parameters to control who sees your ad.

The idea is that you’re only paying to advertise to people that match your demographic, selected against criteria such as previous visits, audience location, search language and specific keywords.

Behind that, you get a wealth of intelligence about how your marketing is performing, with things like:

- Tracked conversion rates.
- Information about the best performing keywords.
- Reports on the cost per click and conversion.

You can feed that analysis, often sourced through Google Analytics, back into your wider marketing strategy, and gain knowledge that you wouldn’t have with an organic search.

Pitfalls of PPC in the Wider Business Advertising Framework

Let’s balance out those plus points with a look at the disadvantages.

The first, perhaps obvious problem, is cost. While you can manage PPC campaigns, it requires time, effort, and regular tracking.

Small PPC budgets can run out in seconds, so if you want to capture market share and grow brand awareness on a big scale, you’ll equally have to invest a big amount.

If you find that you can’t keep up with the costs, your ads discontinue immediately, and any growing lead gen stops, so PPC is only as solid as the money you’re willing to pour into it.

The PPC Bidding Wars

Bidding wars are common, if not expected when using PPC.

Competitive keywords are in high demand, and it’s often the case that the largest players with huge marketing budgets knock out smaller rivals like a set of bowling pins.

Any time you launch a new PPC ad, you’re pinching a slice of the pie from somebody else, and if you have to keep upping the stakes to stay ahead, it can be disastrous.

Managing a Successful PPC Campaign

We’ll not get into a huge amount of detail here, but the multitude of PPC search advertising options can be more trouble than they’re worth.

For example, you’ll need to monitor results continually to compare text ads, graphics and product listings, refining your promotions even several times a day to get the most from your advertising spend.

PPC ads don’t run autonomously, and there are zero guarantees of results. Businesses need to invest time and knowledge in optimising every campaign, reviewing things like:

- Search engine positioning
- Click-through rates
- Quality scoring
- Keyword bids

People costs can include hiring a marketing agency or having a PPC team member who takes responsibility for your promotions, so it’s not just a question of paying some money to Google and hoping it will do the rest.

Finally, be aware that PPC is pretty easy to replicate.

If you’re running successful ads, it’s likely a matter of time before a competitor gets involved, potentially draining your returns, bidding against you, and potentially copying your sales funnel with minimal effort.

Advantages of Organic SEO to Drive Business Growth

Next, we’ll turn our attention to SEO – organic growth that is the gold standard of marketing best practises and often used alongside PPC as a sustainable advertising strategy.

It isn’t easy to pin down SEO into one series of steps since it’s a field that blends creativity with analytics, brand differentiation with audience engagement, and sales with social value.

SEO as a Growth Strategy

The objective of SEO is to enable your business to rank naturally on the SERP – hence the term organic.

Organic searches best match the search enquiry and appear underneath the paid ads or shopping pages. They are reliant on search engine bots to crawl your site, evaluate the quality of your content, index it, and then assess your authority.

The Google algorithm considers a huge number of markers to do so, and a digital marketing team will look at:

- Content marketing – publishing, creating and advertising targeted content.
- Technical SEO – the performance and capacity of your website infrastructure.
- On-page SEO – web page content, links, keywords, headings and title tags.
- Link building – building backlinks and internal links to establish authority.
- UX – the customer experience when interacting with your site, products and services.

Ranking isn’t simple, and SEO is complex, not least because it involves many elements. The continual algorithm updates mean you need to balance those factors against each other and can’t stay still.

The Pros of SEO

While SEO takes time to generate results, there are multiple advantages.

Organic SEO is cost-effective, and although you’ll pay for expertise from digital marketing professionals, the clicks and conversions cost nothing. It’s often a great option for small or growing businesses because you can manage your monthly outgoings, potentially scaling your company exponentially without a corresponding spike in promotional costs.

Essentially, SEO is sustainable. Your returns don’t stop when you stop paying, and you can build on a strong ranking to showcase your business to customers around the clock.

If you’ve optimised your site and keep contributing valuable content, you’ll usually see fairly stable rankings, whereas PPC ads fluctuate wildly depending on price competition.

Other benefits to consider include:

- Flexible content creation targeted to each step of your sales funnel without prioritising middle-ranking keywords to get the best return for your ad spend.
- Increased click-throughs – customers know that paid ads aren’t the results Google thinks they want to see. The average organic result gets ten times more clicks than paid ads, even though they’re displayed underneath.
- Positioning – visibility is key, and if your content regularly crops up through organic searches, you establish trust and brand authority, with ongoing positive benefits.

Most users place far higher credibility on organic searches and skip past ads because natural results are perceived as more trustworthy.

The strategic advantage is that, although it takes more time and effort to gain organic search visibility, once you’ve established yourself in this way, your competitors can’t copy your techniques, they can’t buy you out of the market, and they can’t nab your engaged customer base.

Relying on PPC isn’t something we’d recommend (not that it doesn’t have a well-earned place in a well-rounded digital marketing approach!), but it’s more a tool to boost sales and visibility than a way to get ahead of competitors.

The Downside of Relying on SEO to Grow Your Customer Audience

As with anything, there is a flipside. Organic traffic, as we’ve mentioned, isn’t a lightning-fast outcome.

If you’re beginning a new SEO campaign, you need to be conscious that mega-corporations like Amazon and eBay may dominate popular search terms. Of course, the same applies to PPC, where you’re going to be competing directly on a cost basis for the same keywords!

The other caveat is that organic SEO requires sustainable, ongoing expertise and talent, tackling tasks such as:

- Creating valuable content assets to achieve visibility.
- Handling safe, credible link-building challenges.
- Analysing data, conversions, and stumbling blocks in your funnel.
- Technical SEO to ensure your site or app loads fast, works flawlessly and provides a great level of responsiveness and interaction.

As an ongoing process, organic SEO means making tweaks and improvements as you go. It isn’t ever possible to optimise a site 100%, and leave it be – there is always work required.

Choosing Between SEO vs PPC – the Conclusion

Both PPC and organic SEO are valuable and can make a profound difference to your business performance, brand awareness and bottom line – but neither are resources you can use once and forget as a standalone, one-off project.

SEO is an investment in the ongoing success of your company. It typically means working with an experienced digital marketing team to create a future-proof strategy and work through that methodically, targeting all of the many elements of organic search.

PPC is a great way to jump to the top of the Google page, but it should be used carefully for lead-gen or to develop a good understanding of the data behind your traffic.

As a quick recap:

	PPC	SEO
Costs	Each click costs you money - although you can set a spending limit per day. The initial investment required is higher than to launch a new SEO strategy.	Clicks are free but require time and effort to build a strong presence. Costs are scalable since SEO doesn't cost more the faster you grow - it is more cost-effective over the long run.
Speed	Instant results (until your campaign ends, or you're out-bid). Promotions show only until your budget has been utilised, so it may be time-limited.	Takes longer but is then sustainable, long-term. Organic results show 24/7, 365 days a year, without manual intervention.
Targeting	You can tightly target ads to hit specific audience demographics. Extensions to ads can enhance results.	Targeting is based on keywords throughout the sales funnel. There is no control over regularly rolled-out algorithm changes.
Returns	When ads are turned off, you lose visibility. People costs are lower if you manage PPC in-house, but you pay for both campaign management and click charges.	SEO attracts around 10 x the clicks of a paid ad. There isn't a guarantee that your strategy will outperform competitors, but a rival business can't copy your funnel or buy out your ranking.

For most businesses, the goal is to create a hybrid strategy to capture the advantages of both SEO and PPC, utilising the data analysis available through PPC to inform a cohesive SEO approach.

Much depends on your company, what you’re trying to achieve, and the nature of the market you’re trading in.

Still, in a pinch, it’s best to start with developing SEO targets and identify where you can add in PPC to contribute to hitting those objectives.

If you’d like more information about the pros and cons of SEO vs PPC or help to establish the right ways to get started with a powerful, long-standing organic SEO strategy to support business growth, please get in touch with Woya Digital. Our experts offer a range of SEO packages and support structures, targeted advice, and everything in-between as an accomplished organic SEO agency!

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

by Ian Woya | 5 Aug 2021 | SEO

Reading Time: 4 minutes

SEO is truly a cornerstone to business marketing in the modern age; and if any organisation wants to find its place online, SEO must form part of their ongoing strategy. With Google facilitating some 3.5 billion searches every day and a market share of over 92%, it makes sense for companies to optimise their SEO efforts in a way to fit the Google algorithm.

However there are different techniques to be used, and not be used – you may have hear the terms ‘White Hat’ and ‘Black Hat’?

What is SEO and why is it important?

SEO refers to Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is the practice of optimising online content through a business’ website, social media or any other presence online. Content can be optimised through the creation of relevant content, through increasing usability and accessibility of a website and through the production of authentic third party comments and links on the business.

SEO is important because when done correctly, it fits the Google algorithm and helps the machine learning behind the scenes to best understand when and where to display a search result based on its relevancy to the search being carried out. This means that when a Google user searches a word or term on the site, they are more likely to see relevant results – and therefore, if they’re googling something linked to your business, your business’ online presence is more likely to be prominently displayed in the Google ranking. This can gain significant competitive advantage over competitors.

In a world where ‘to google’ has become a verb and an everyday way of life for the majority of the population, having a carefully curated presence online that displays when people look up something relevant isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ business marketing tool – it’s a must.

White Hat SEO

White Hat SEO is a technique used to optimise content online by targeting it and shaping it for a human audience. This means that the content is created for and aimed at relevant users and viewers without the concern of any additional tools used to target an algorithm or Google ranking.

White Hat SEO includes the creation of high quality, niche content, rich in naturally occurring keywords and phrases, the proper construction of links and meta tags, and the organic linking to and from content by appropriate third parties.

White Hat SEO is considered the most ethical and appropriate way to optimise an online presence in order to improve a Google ranking.

Black Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO is the usage of techniques that directly targets search engine algorithms to increase Google ranking position, without the consideration of the human audience who may be reading, viewing or using the content displayed.

Techniques used by those practising Black Hat SEO include keyword stuffing, link farming, spamming and buying followers and likes. Such techniques are used in the hope of ‘tricking’ the Google algorithm into understanding and promoting the content to a higher ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

Black Hat SEO techniques are commonly employed by low quality or altogether false SEO or business marketing agencies who do not intend to deliver on a proper investment.

What does Google prefer – White or Black Hat SEO?

The ethos behind Google is always to deliver the most appropriate search results possible, so Google rankings should be based on real human behaviour and relevancy. Therefore, it is of no surprise that Google favours White Hate SEO tactics over Black Hat SEO tactics.

White Hat SEO sits comfortably within the Google Terms of Usages (Ts & Cs), but Black Hat SEO does not – so technically, those utilising the latter techniques for their online presence are in breach of their user agreement and can be removed from the site altogether. Indeed while this doesn’t often actually happen in practice, the risk is more than the Google ranking priority will be realigned and so the results of Black Hat SEO negative rather than positive for the business.

White Hat SEO is a long-term and continual practice, whereas Black Hat SEO is a quick means to an end rather than a solution that lasts. This means that not only is enacting Black Hat SEO techniques a risk, it is unlikely to ever be effective for more than a short period of time anyway.

So does Black Hat SEO actually work?

It can seem frustrating to see businesses using Black Hat SEO techniques to improve their Google rankings – particularly if it appears to work and list their online presence ahead of those genuinely trying.

However, Google’s algorithms and the machine learning behind them is amongst the most sophisticated in the world; and it is always working to better learn and comprehend human behaviour. We see updates to Google’s SEO requirements every few months but behind the scenes, changes are being made all the time. The most recent update, Google Page Experience, rolled out in May 2021 saw Core Web Vitals being introduced as a Google ranking factor – all of which are based on user experience and accessibility above criteria that can be artificially inflated, such as keywords.

No matter how tempting it may be to purchase a quick and easy Black Hat SEO ‘fix’ service, it should always be avoided. Even if the gains seem positive in the short term, they will never last and in the long term will only detract from a positive Google ranking.

In order to best promote and nurture your business online, only White Hat SEO techniques should be used. If you’re outsourcing any part of online business marketing, it’s critical to ensure that the agency used is only applying authentic White Hat and reputable SEO services – your online ranking, your reputation, and your bottom line, will thank you.

Woya Digital is a digital marketing agency providing SEO and Local SEO solutions that are aimed at getting you to page 1 of Google. We can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results!

Successful On-Page SEO: Top 10 Elements

by Steve OBrien | 23 Mar 2021 | SEO, Top tips

Reading Time: 6 minutes

SEO services or search engine optimisation is more complex than ever before, especially on-page SEO. It is no longer a simple process of marking various things off of a pre-determined SEO services checklist.

Woya Digital’s successful search marketing for our pay monthly SEO services involves the use of 10 important on-page SEO elements that are extensively understood and properly implemented.

What is SEO?

SEO is an abbreviation that in full means ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. Optimising web content for search engines is a marketing discipline within itself (cunningly enough known as search engine marketing). The practice of SEO refers to the optimisation of content on a website so that it can be easily judged on its relevant, appropriateness and importance by search engine programs – meaning that it is ranked high in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) when a user searches for a relevant word, term or phrase.

Search engine marketing and SEO practices are often just focused on Google, as it’s by far the world’s largest and most used search engine, but in broad terms, optimised content prioritises websites across all search engines.

What are The Benefits of SEO?

Searching for something online when they need more information is second nature to a huge chunk of the world’s population.

Google alone processes some 3.5 billion searches every day, and with mobile devices and apps at the fingertips of an increasing number of people, the world wide web is more accessible than ever. In order to cut through the ‘noise’ on search engines, businesses must differentiate themselves from their competitors and other, similar, companies – and good SEO can allow them to appear in search results above others; making them considerably more likely to receive traffic and convert that traffic into their desired action (an online purchase, filling out a contact form, etc).

What’s the Difference between On-Page SEO and Off-Site SEO?

SEO comes in two forms: on-page SEO and off site SEO. To some extent, those working in search engine marketing have power over both, but the latter is maintained through indirect control.

On page SEO is everything that can be controlled within a business’ website or web page to influence its search engine relevance – such as keywords, tags, page load times and core web vitals. Off site SEO refers to other websites reinforcing a page’s relevance – through backlinks and mentions.

Top 10 Factors of On-Page SEO

There is lots that can be easily tweaked and changed in order to better optimise your content. These ten areas are easily influenced and quickly improved.

1. Title Tag

The title tag, which is basically a short description of 60 characters, is used by the website visitors and search engines as the identifier.

The title tag itself, placed between <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags near the very top of the HTML code for a particular page informs the search engines what the page is about. Together with the Meta description, the title tag is the representation of your business in Google and search engines.

2. Heading Tag and Keywords

Heading tags are simply the headers that are used on a website post to divide it into different sections. The Heading tag is the main heading that comes after the title on any given webpage. The use of the main keywords that help define a target in the Heading tag is one of the most popular on-page SEO services and techniques because it helps to improve the visibility of your website in a search engine.

3. Subheadings and Keywords

Headers are not limited to just the main or focus heading. There are up to 6 different header tags that can be used in any given website. Each specify and outline a different aspect of a post.

The heading tags from number 2 and onwards are all known as subheadings. It is encouraged that each subheading, especially the first three includes the main keyword for for increased SEO ranking. Using subheadings to break up long passages of text gives an extra opportunity to demonstrate the topic the copy is about and to increase its readability by making it easier to consume in short, sharp chunks. Formatting copy this way encourages the reader to continue reading and to stay on the page for longer.

4. ALT Image Tags

An ALT IMG Tag is the abbreviation to the ALT attribute to an IMG tag. The ALT tags are the alternatives to the text that are added to images in case the browser is unable to properly render them. It is a way for SEO services marketers to ensure that the search engine associates a websites main keywords with related images to strength their search rankings.

The use of ALT tags on images is one of the most successful on-page SEO strategies. Especially for web-stores selling their products online. This practice ensures that the products show up on the Google image search as soon as the keywords are entered in the search bar.

5. Keywording the first 100 Words

Most websites include a long and detailed introduction at the beginning of their posts, only choosing to mention their focus keywords much later and further down, and then they complain that their SEO services and SEO rankings are not working.

That is because the later a keyword is introduced in a post, the longer it takes for Google to recognise and understand what information is being presented on your website. As such, for optimal search engine optimisation it is essential that the main keywords be introduced within the first one hundred words.

6. Website and Server Speed

According to Google, the server speed, website and page speed are taken into account by the ranking algorithm. A slower page means high rate of abandonment, loss of links, and decreased visitor engagement, making it a critically important factor to take into consideration when marking an on-page SEO strategy.

The most recent updates to the Google algorithm include a focus on the time it takes to load pages on a website; across desktop PCs, laptops and on mobile devices. This will prioritise those sites that load quickly over those that don’t, in order to keep quality web content as accessible as possible. To ensure the pages on a site load fast, image resolutions and sizes should be reduced and any excess content and coding removed.

7. Mobile Friendliness

It’s estimated that around 60% of Google searches are carried out on mobile devices, so it’s critical for businesses that their websites work on differing devices. Such compatibility across devices is known as ‘mobile responsiveness’ and allows a site to load optimised to the device it’s being loaded on; in different sizes, formatting and layouts. As a result, Google (and other search engines) prioritise search results for websites that display well across differing mobile devices – after all, if users don’t find a site they can navigate well on their mobile through Google, they’re unlikely to use it to make the same or a similar search again.

8. User Experience (UX)

When a user visits a website, they need to be able to quickly and accurately find what they’re looking for and navigate the site easily. This is known as User Experience, and commonly abbreviated down to the letters UX.

User Experience Optimisation is a practice in itself, and one that’s ever-evolving as technology develops. However, there are some quick and easy steps that can be taken by businesses in order to improve their UX standards and in turn, their SEO.

If a business’ desired call to action is for a customer to make contact, they can display contact details on every page of their site in a prominent position in order for them to be easily spotted. Similarly, small contact us forms can be added for easy form-filling. Menus and headings should be easily named and categorised so that they’re as simple to navigate as possible. Simplify fonts to make them as uncomplicated as possible and ensure text is well formatted, short, snappy and of an appropriate tone to the audience.

9. E-A-T

E-A-T is an abbreviation that stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Although not a direct ranking factor, if businesses intend to take on the position of an industry expert or thought leader in a certain sector or topic, E-A-T is something that needs to be considered through all content creation. In order to demonstrate all three, the content on a website should be able to demonstrate to search engine programs that it is:

Well informed and explained in relevant language
As correct and accurate as possible
Written by or supplied by a qualified person
An independent source of information
Trusted by others as a source of information
Citing other trusted sources of information.

This can be tricky to navigate but if the focus is on producing good quality copy and content, then it should come as a by-product of that already being produced on the site.

10. Website Security (HTTPS)

As part of its commitment to user safety, Google includes website security as a ‘ranking factor’ when it comes to deciding how to present search engine results. This means that websites with good security protocols will be ranked higher than those without.

HTTPS is a secure connection – encrypting the connection between user and website so that no one is able to intercept and acquire any of the data shared between the two. HTTPS (rather than just HTTP, as typed in a web browser) demonstrates that the website being visited has an SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Level Certificate). This isn’t actually a certificate at all, but rather a small piece of code that encrypts data privacy.

HTTPS is now the default security level for new websites being set up, but older sites may not have yet switched across. Most web hosting facilities offer SSL Certificate implementation for just a nominal fee. Moving from HTTP to HTTPS will have an immediate impact on both search engine ranking and consumer trust, as it illustrates a commitment to data and user privacy.

On-Page SEO Support

Woya Digital is a social media marketing agency offering SEO and Local SEO solutions that are aimed at getting you to page 1 of Google. We can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results!

« Older Entries

Next Entries »