Regardless of the quality of the content or the design of your page, or a stunning portfolio for that matter, if your page lacks the required optimum level of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), there are chances that it won’t rank pretty well in the search rankings. If you put in effort for keyword optimization, you should be aware that search engines rate the relevance of keywords along with the metadata. The number one way to improve ranking is to get the users to visit your website and put content good enough to interact with the users.
Keyword optimization is half the story of a good ranking. The other half is listed below.
- Web site usability
The umbrella of website usability covers a few aspects of web design. The few elements that affect your rankings include things such as effectiveness. It mainly answers whether a user achieves his goal when he lands on your page. Efficiency- The content should be relevant enough for them to stay on the website, else they navigate away, in the occurrence of which the rankings are likely to go down. Learnability. This includes the fact whether users find quick and easy call-to-action buttons or not. If not, they spend less time focusing on what you have to offer and quickly move away. If users can re-find your website and there are less occurrences of error codes, chances are that it can result in a higher ranking.
- Page load time
Anyone who has used the internet knows how frustrating it is when a page loads slowly. So this is one aspect you need to take special care of. Google definitely takes into account the page loading factor while ranking your website. One way to reduce the page load time is to ensure that the backend code is streamlined. Also, if you can minimize the number of plugins and the number of redirects, you can get a fairly higher ranking in the search results.
- Image optimization
Research based on data shows that the use of good quality images on your website can help increase conversion rate. Properly optimizing image can help in building trust and generate empathy. This improves an overall user experience. For example, if you can use an image of size 51 KB instead of 72 KB that appears the same, it helps in loading the page with better speed as the loading size is less.
- Link worthy sites
Commonly known as outbound links, this is by far one of the best ways to generate higher rankings. Providing links to other websites for in depth information in your own site increases the relevancy of the content on your site. This also sends a good signal to Google and improve SEO rankings. On the other hand, providing outbound links way too much can be distracting as it makes the content hard to go through.
- Layout and formatting matters
A good presented information sends a very positive effect once the user sees it for the first time. Knowing how to create a blog is easy but writing a well formatted blog is a task. A well formatted write-up can help your readers stay on your site longer and improve rankings. Some tips include use of readable font and the use of bold or italics on words requiring attention. Short paragraphs and bulleted points make the content way more presentable than a monotonous one.
So, if you have been missing any of these important points, it’s time to implement it and help your content improve the ranking in the search results.