Your search engine ranking is affected by hundreds of different things, but relevancy is the most important.
Being more relevant to a search means your page will rank higher, it seems obvious that it doesn’t help. Instead you should focus on the top 5 search ranking factors.
1. Article title/keywords
2. Word count
3. Internal links
4. Reading length
5. Bounce rate
There are two categories of SEO ranking factors: user behaviour and article content.
It’s easy to focus on the second and often people ignore the first, dismissing it as being out of control.
Writing engaging content will keep readers sticking around longer, boosting your search rank. But that takes practice and data on your readers. Instead, focus on the article content. By using the top 5 ranking factors you can start to make the Google algorithm work for you.
1 Using keywords and titles to rank higher on Google
Think of keywords as what you’d type into Google, though remember they won’t be one word, but phrases.
Once you have found your topic, research how people search for that in Google. Use these phrases in your title, making sure it’s grammatical and interesting. You’ll see this strategy in post titles around the web.
2. How long should your blog posts be?
Longer is better. A 2,000-word article will rank higher than a 500-word article. But the doesn’t mean you should bloat out your post with fluff.
A basic structure that will help add length to your post without being fluffy is:
1. Fulfil the promise of the article right at the beginning
2. Explain what led you to the answer
3. Expand on the answer; give details
4. Justify your answer
5. Answer any follow up questions people might have
Not only will this make your article longer, it will be better and more informative.
3. Use internal links
Link between different posts on your blog. If you touch on something you’ve previously written about link your readers to that page.
Identify your favourite or best posts. Link to them constantly. This tells Google to pay attention to these more.
4. Reading duration is important
The previous ranking factors were under your control. Not so for this one.
If people stay on your post longer it says to Google this is a good answer to their search.
When you post an article, monitor the traffic and see if the reading duration makes sense for the post length. Edit it if it doesn’t.
5. Bounce rates
Bounce rate measures how many people left your site without going to a new page on it. If reading length shows how interesting one post is, bounce rate measures it for your site.
High bounce rates might be down to posts not delivering on their promise or no other relevant posts on your site.
Fix the keywords and title if you’ve got a high bounce rate because of the first. For the second, see what related topics are being searched for and write a post. Like with reading length, measure bounce rate and tinker.
6. Loading speed
How fast your site loads is an important search rank factor. Use this tool to measure loading speed and identify issues to fix.
How long does it take?
Getting to the first page of Google doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll have to be consistent and patient but follow these steps and within six months and dozens of posts you should be flying high.
