Ranking number #1 on Google is every business dream. As per Google’s algorithms, the higher the website ranks, the more traffic, and revenue it generates.

Sadly, one cannot control how exactly Google ranks the website. Well, not to worry! There are many things that can trigger the growth of the website. Different techniques help to rank the web pages on the top search results and increase your brand’s popularity.

You must be wondering, how to play this Google game? Well, to achieve the top SEO rankings, you need to master the SEO game while covering all of Google’s ranking factors to understand what’s working and what’s not for the website ranking. Surprisingly, there are around 200 Google ranking factors that are designed to optimize the websites. Don't panic! The good news is that you don’t have to follow all the factors to gain online visibility.

In this post, we will be discussing the most useful SEO factors that can actually make a difference.

Website Speed

Who in the world has time to wait for slow-loading websites? In this fast-forward life, the customers on the Internet are really impatient. They seek fast answers and if they don’t get the same, they are likely to skip the website. They are then likely to hop onto another site.

The website that loads within three seconds is considered to be fast. Otherwise, you are likely to lose the users as well as huge losses. For example - with just a one-second delay, Amazon could lose around $1.6 billion in sales each year. So, you not only lose a few sales but also provide the users with a bad user experience.

Follow these tips that can help in speeding the website:

• Minify CSS, HTML, JavaScript.

• Optimize the images.

• Use CDN and caching plugins.

• Optimize the database.

• Opt for a high-quality web hosting platform.

Website Security

Google is quite particular about the site’s security and ensures that each search result shown is secure. Google announced HTTPS as a ranking signal that assures site security and also helps in boosting search results.

Sensitive data like - credit card details, passwords, and more are delivered from a non-secure (HTTP) site to the server are easily readable by hackers. This can further result in serious cybercrimes or harassment. However, by encrypting sites with HTTPS, the selenite data is encrypted and can not be read by any hacker.

Do you really think your website is secure? Well, a recent Google survey showed that 55% of Americans don’t even know what exactly a safe website looks like. This is why website security is one factor you shouldn’t ignore at any cost.

Mobile-Friendliness

Back in February 2015, Google added mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. This meant that Google will now include mobile versions of the web pages for ranking and indexing factors. So, if your website is optimized for the desktop but not for smartphones, then your search engines rankings can be affected directly.

Wondering how to check mobile friendliness? Well, to check whether your website is optimized for mobile, you need to perform Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. All you need to do is enter the website’s URL and enter to see the site cores. Here, you will get a list of pages with issue suggestions to improve them

Site Crawlability

Of course, you work hard on the website to ensure the content is optimized as per the search results. However, if the search engines fail to discover your website’s existence, then it is most likely that your site has crawlability issues.

That’s why site crawlability is an essential part of SEO.

Google uses web crawlers, also known as bots or web spiders, to browse or crawl the web in order to drive more content to the site. When these bots find the site, it starts scanning and reviewing the data to understand what exactly the web pages are about.

To make this process a bit easier for the crawlers, all you need to do is submit the site to the Google Search Console. Once you are done, you can then view the pages that have been crawled by Google and the pages that still have the issues. Also, you need to set up the robots.txt file to tell the search engines which pages to crawl and which ones to ignore.

Right Keywords

Keywords are something you cannot actually ignore. Before you start curating the content, make sure you are clear with the keywords. One wrong keyword can affect your rankings and will lose you a lot of users. No matter how hard you try if you don’t choose the right keyword, then your content won’t rank!

Now, the question is how to know which is the right keyword? What are people searching for the keyword? Which keywords should you avoid? Well, the easiest way to perform keyword research is by using a keyword research tool. There are various tools available, some free and some paid. However, speaking of the popularity, SEMrush is a great tool with extended SEO features that can not only provide you with the insights of the website but also help in finding the loopholes of the links that need some rework.

High-Quality Content

The most crucial step is to write high-quality content. We all are aware of the famous saying, Content is the king of the online world. We have to admit that it’s true! Google keeps on updating its algorithms and it is really important to stay updated with all. Google keeps looking for new ways that can enhance the user experience. High-quality content that is well-researched and optimized can help in boosting traffic, SEO rankings, and conversations.

While many have this misconception that the quantity of the content matters the most, it’s the quality that matters the most. However, it requires a lot of research, and time to write quality content. But, believe me, it’s worth the effort. Target the primary keyword and make sure to add 3-4 long-tail keywords to your article.

Conclusion

Google has a tricky world of its own. To make the most of Google, keep a regular check on its updates. The above-mentioned factors can help you up to your SEO game and power your SEO rankings. Good luck!

If you have any other tricks and tips to boost Google’s rankings, then feel free to share in the comments.