Tips To Grab Google’s Attention for Your Site

Improving your website’s visibility on Google search is an art form that even the best digital marketers are yet to master. While every business owner wants to see quick results, the fact of the matter is, improving a website’s visibility takes time. Some expert marketers might even say that it can take up to twelve months after implementing an SEO strategy to see results.

The challenge of grabbing Google’s attention and improving visibility isn’t unique to a particular industry too. Publishers worldwide face the same struggle as they try their best to ensure their website ranks on Google’s search results’ first page for related terms.

Suppose your website isn’t showing up on the top search results for the keywords you used. In that case, you run a severe risk of not capitalizing on the opportunity to convert prospects into loyal, paying customers. As online businesses grow and develop, it becomes essential to keep an eye on the website’s page views, click-through rates, and advertising impressions.

However, the best way to increase these numbers and your website’s visibility is via an effective SEO strategy. It will lead to a boost of online traffic on your website, better conversion rates, and much more. Let us go over some essential SEO techniques that will make sure that Google notices your website, giving it a better chance of ranking high on SERPs.

1. Create Your Site’s XML Sitemap

With the help of an XML sitemap, Google will find your website easy to understand while its bots crawl all over it. Imagine driving down a new road without a map? There is a high probability of taking a wrong turn. Well, an XML sitemap is a ‘map’ for Google, which tells it which ‘road’ to take to find your website’s various web pages.

Stored inside an XML sitemap is information like your website’s last modification date, its update frequency, and much more. However, when you create a website, you usually don’t have to create an XML file manually. But, for some reason, if there isn’t one made on its own, you can utilize sitemap generator tools to create manually. There are tons of such tools available on the internet, and you have to choose one that you like the best in terms of interface and accuracy. When Google knows every webpage’s location on your site, it will rank your website high on its search results, improvising visibility.

2. Verify Your Google My Business Profile

Registering your business with Google will do wonders for your website’s visibility. Doing so will allow it to appear when people conduct relevant searches near your business’s location. Once you get registered, Google will send out a postcard to its address, which they use to verify it. Your business will have a more substantial chance of appearing on Google’s search result pages. Now, they recognize you as an authentic local business.

Such verification will also increase your business’s chances of ranking higher in local search results and Google maps listings. These usually appear below the paid ads and above top organic searches as a 3-pack listing.

3. Utilize Structured Data

Schema markup or structured data is data or code you enter into your website to allow Google to return more information when users conduct relevant searches. Therefore, it will enable your business listings to stand out more against your competitors who haven’t implemented schema markup into their business’s website.

As Google is a platform for users to gain the information they are searching for, schema markup allows them to find such information more quickly. We recommend all businesses, especially ones targeting local customers, include local business schema markups in their websites. It will help google find out their business’s type, name, and location. The more easily Google can access this information, the better your rankings will be on its search result pages.

4. Optimize Your Website’s Images

There is a lot more to content than only text. Images and videos are perfect for breaking up long paragraphs of text. Plus, it allows you to explain something in a way that provides value to the reader. Thus, images are an excellent addition to your website. However, they need optimization, too, like text. When you upload images, pay close attention to the format and name.

Some CMSs will utilize the images’ titles as alt tags. An Alt Tag provides an image’s perfect description for Google when learning everything about the different webpages. Such a minor tweak will give your website’s visibility a good boost.

If your content management system doesn’t utilize the image names as Alt Tags, you can easily change them manually. Also, adding captions beneath your images will provide value and context to the user. And allow them to understand the gist of your content.

Furthermore, file format also plays a vital role as it affects your website’s loading times. Large files with weird formats can slow down your pages, annoy your visitors, and encourage them to click back!

5. Earn Backlinks

Backlinks increase your visibility on Google and also demonstrate your authority. They indicate their other websites find your content valuable. Although earning backlinks might not be in your control, it is up to other websites or editors to deem your content helpful enough to backlink to it. There are several ways to monitor your website’s mentions that can provide you clues regarding backlinking opportunities.

For example, Google Alerts helps you monitor keywords that appear on the internet. They will notify you when someone mentions your name. If there are mentions, but no backlinking occurs, you can directly ask the website owner to link back to your website. Such an SEO practice will go a long way to stamp your authority in front of Google. You are a valuable source and will improve your ranking on search result pages.

6. Improve Your Website’s Mobile Viewability

We can’t agree more that even after knowing users now prefer mobile phones to find information, website owners still create content. Users will read it on their desktops. They use small fonts, include insufficient spaces between two lines, or write long boring sentences. And this makes their website content look uninteresting and outright annoying to view on a mobile phone screen.

In an era of unstoppable sharing of content on social media, it is now even more necessary to optimize your website for phones. You can achieve this by improving your website’s page load speed, avoiding scripts, using big fonts, writing better overall content, for starters.

7. Incorporate Semantic Keywords

With their ability to provide visitors a better understanding of a topic’s context, semantic keywords must always be present in your content. It tends to improve a website’s visibility and authority. Whenever a user searches for something on Google, they will most probably look for the most knowledgeable and relevant search result. As Google wants to please their searchers, it presents them with search results most likely to fulfill their search demands. To do such a thing, Google looks for an authoritative source of information for a particular topic.

So, when you incorporate semantic keywords into your content, it provides Google with more context about your webpages. And this also shows Google that your content covers a particular topic in its entirety.

Conclusion

It’s every website’s goal to achieve the shiny first spot on Google’s search result, but it is easier said than accomplished. However, with the tweaks mentioned in the article above, your job to achieve SERP dominance will be a little easier. Just do not forget to conduct an SEO audit now and then. It will allow you to know whether you are using the appropriate SEO techniques. Plus, you will also be able to gauge if they are bringing positive results.

Salman Zafar

Salman Zafar is an ecopreneur, consultant, advisor, speaker and journalist with expertise in waste management, waste-to-energy, renewable energy, environment protection, conservation and sustainable development. His geographical areas of focus include Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. Salman is the Founder of EcoMENA, a popular voluntary organization based in Qatar. He is also the Founder and CEO of BioEnergy Consult, a reputed consulting firm active in biomass, waste-to-energy and waste management segments.
Salman is a professional environmental writer with more than 350 popular articles to his credit. He is proactively engaged in creating mass environmental awareness in different parts of the world.
Salman Zafar can be reached at salman@ecomena.org or salman@bioenergyconsult.com

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