Top Ways to Build Your Website’s Search Rankings
Your website is your sole source for online profit generation. Industry leaders in every market spend thousands, even millions to ensure their websites receive top search engine ranking. You’re probably thinking, “I don’t have that kind of money, but I want those results!” You don’t need to be an industry leader to earn a piece of the online market share pie. You can organically increase your web presence in the eyes of search engines by fully optimizing your website with tried and true, ever evolving white-hat search engine optimization techniques.
Google supports competition, making it difficult for one website to stay highly ranked for a long period of time. Google makes millions by tricking people into purchasing their “Pay-Per-Click” (PPC) advertising, presenting PPC as the easy way to secure a position at the top. Unfortunately, many people falsely believe PPC works. The average web viewer will skip right over the PPC box at the top of a Google search, going directly to the first organic result. Online customers have deemed PPC boxes as “advertisements”. Oftentimes the clicks companies receive for the PPC placements are competitors, trying to keep them in the PPC box and raise their costs in the process. Web viewers know the first few organic choices are going to more likely contain what they are truly looking for, not what PPC companies are trying to force them to find.
The longer a visitor spends on your site, the more Google is going to become aware of your website’s importance in terms of the specific solutions the web viewer searched for. Google will know your website is relevant to the key phrase searched, more highly ranking your website to ensure others find the same valid information. Below are some useful tips to help you improve your organic search engine ranks, retain visitors longer and appeal to Google’s ranking algorithms.
Keyword-infused Headlines and Content
Headlines are the first thing Google spiders are going to trickle through to find relevance. If key phrases are not found in the headline, the spiders will just skip right past. Your main focus and the top keyword or phrase needs to be front and center. If your business sells antique Elizabethan spoons and your headline vaguely reads “Buy Our Spoons”, the only “relevant” thing Google has to register is the very broad keyword “spoon”. However if you use a stronger headline such as “Scoop Up Antique Elizabethan Spoons,” potential Antique Elizabethan Spoon customers will be drawn to learn more and see what you have to offer. Your headline makes it clear you have what the customer is looking for, increasing their time spent on your website. Search engine spiders will give improved value to your webpage for the key phrase “Antique Elizabethan Spoons” and deem the content ‘important’ to the topic or search phrase, qualifying you for higher search engine ranking.
The body content after the headline needs to be equally relevant to the topic or key phrase used. Developing well-written keyword-saturated content for every page of your website provides necessary reader information while attracting Google ranking spiders. Topic relevance naturally enables your body copy’s organic keyword use to be contextually sensible.
Walk-Out Videos
Walk-out videos dwell further on the user attraction side of the search ranking equation. If your company sells Antique Elizabethan Spoons and a video of an actress dressed up as Queen Elizabeth appears imploring you to browse the website and purchase spoons, the web viewer is going to be drawn into what she has to say and watch her through to the end, increasing time spent on your webpage. Often times walk-out or green screen videos also intrigue the potential customer to watch the video again if they think they missed anything in the beginning when it took their attention by surprise. Walk-out videos persuade visitors and potential customers to follow calls-to-action and dig deeper into your website to see and learn more.
Flash Animation
Flash animation adds extra visual appeal to any website. Rotating, scrolling or interactive Flash animation pieces powerfully entertain the inquisitive portion of a visitor’s mind, making them stay on your page longer. Visitors are more intrigued by flash animation, sparking interest in what the flash has to say or is leading them to. Take your website’s visual visitor appeal up a step by providing different homepage Flash animation pieces for each different seasonal or yearly event. Google will reward your site for fresh content, and visitors will stay longer to see what you’ve updated, appreciating your desire to remain current.
Anchored Text
Anchored text is a close relative to keyword-saturated content. The words you link with a hyperlink are known as the “anchored text”. A good rule of thumb with links on your website is to only link keywords. Linking non-keywords or phrases words like “Contact” or “Click Here” have no relevance to search engine spiders, and are deemed as cheap “black-hat” links.
What about when another page links to your website? Off-site links directed to your website increase a search engine’s perceived value of your site, yet can’t be optimized for search engines by you. When you send a press release or give a URL to an online partner, don’t hesitate to propose they anchor your link text with a specific, effective keyword-phrased title. Keyword anchor text increases the link value for your website.
Simple Website Navigation and Functionality
In recent times, most internet users have been on a few hundred thousand webpages. Obvious website navigation is the first step towards achieving a subconscious navigational brain flow, allowing your visitors to stop thinking and just “do”. While this may sound overly simple, website navigation is not always done right. Web viewers and potential customers will just give up and move on to the next page if they aren’t able to conveniently find what they are looking for. Ensure your website has an easily seen, user-friendly navigation bar across the top and/or left of the page. Why top or left you ask? It’s where web viewers have been trained to expect it and it makes sense seeing as English readers read from top left to bottom right.
Website functionality is almost equally as important as simple navigation. Properly functioning websites won’t hinder the web viewer’s navigation ease. When a website has improperly loading pages or broken links, visitors may leave and never come back. Poor functionality and maintenance will hurt your average visit time, lower your total page hits and may negatively impact your business’ reputation. Perform a best-practice monthly website scan. Click on all links and pages, making sure your website won’t succumb to the pitfalls of poor website functionality.
