Having your website ranked highest in Google’s search engine results page is every business’s goal. Ranking higher will have a positive influence on your business’s visibility and in turn your bottom line. With over 170,000,000 active websites on the Web, how can you get your website to rank highest and beat Google’s algorithm?
The trick is to understand the complex algorithms that search engines like Google use. An algorithm is a set of mathematical instructions that tells computers how to complete specific tasks. Search engines do the work for you by searching the entire Internet for web pages that contain the specific keywords you typed into the search bar. The algorithm then assigns an order to each website, based on various factors, where the higher-ranked pages will appear first on your results page. Search engines are constantly changing and revising their algorithms in order to keep relevant, filter out spam sites, and be as organic as possible.
Here we share four of our favorite tricks on how to beat Google’s algorithm and get your website to rank higher.
1. Keep updating your website so it stays relevant.
Your website is never done! You should always be tweaking it so it stays relevant, reflects new products, or highlights your marketing campaigns. An easy way to always have fresh content is to blog. Blogging at least once a week will improve your Google ranking according to traffic to your website and allowing you to rank for specific keywords.
2. Use keywords throughout your article.
This includes using keywords in your meta-text, article’s URL, picture name and ALT text of your pictures. Google pulls keywords from every area of the Internet, so it is critical that you use keywords as much as possible.
3. Don’t try to rank for general keywords; use specific long-tail keywords related to your business or services.
Trying to get a high SEO rank for a general term is extremely competitive and can take you months, even years. Instead we suggest you aim to rank for long-tail keywords. A long-tail keyword is a very specific phrase that contains three or more words.
For example:
- General keyword: Google
- Long-tail keyword: how to beat Google’s algorithm
4. Guest write, or ask other publications to link back to your website.
One factor in the Google SEO algorithm is that they count hyperlinks as votes of popularity. The more links you have pointed toward your website, the more popular your website will be. So if you are linked on someone else’s website with an article about a specific topic, you will have a better chance of ranking higher for that topic. Guest writing for other sites is also a great way for you to reach a new audience.