In order to rank high in Google, it is important that your content, site technology and authority are optimized in such a way that they fit in as well as possible with the search engine’s ranking algorithm. This algorithm is adjusted several times a year, so it is also important that you stay busy with the SEO optimization process. Let me show you 15 tips for improving your SEO.
For your website review, Google looks at more than 200 factors. All these factors can be placed under one of the three main pillars of SEO:
Of course, not all factors weigh equally in the assessment. In addition, the algorithm will be adjusted, as with the announced Google UX update for 2024. It is impossible to handle all the influential factors on your site ranking in this article, so we zoom in on the most important SEO optimizations that you can get started with right away.
We start by treating content tips as an influence on your ranking.
Look for words you want and can be found. With a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Mangools you can, for example, check which search terms and similar keywords are often searched for and what the competition is on these keywords.
Use the keywords regularly, but do not go keywords stuffing (text stuffing with keywords), because then the search engine will judge the text unnaturally. Also change short tail keywords with long tail keywords. Especially the long tail keywords will become more and more important in the future (also with a view to the rise of voice search). Also process the most important keywords in your headlines.
Every page on your website basically needs at least 300 words to rank Google at all. It is even better to extend the number of words per page – Content Is King! For blogs, the preference is 800 to 1200 words per article.
If your current pages are sufficient content, it is certainly a plus to expand these pages with text (with keywords incorporated in them).
In addition to relevant texts, it is smart to alternate your content with multimedia, such as images, videos, screenshots, infographics, tables and graphs. This makes the text more readable and interesting. Moreover, it increases the chance that visitors will stay on your page longer. And the longer they stay on your page (dwell time), the more relevant your website is assessed. Bullet lists also have a positive effect.
An additional advantage: research by Moz shows that content that is interspersed with multimedia gets more likes and shares, which is also good for your SEO.
Give your images alto attributes when you add them in the back end. They can rank again in Google Images.
The meta data is very important to Google, because you rank on it. In the search engine you see for pages the snippet, which consists of a meta title, meta description and URL.
Please note: in principle, the meta title and description length are based on pixels and not characters. However, pixels are very difficult to measure in a text editing program. The number of characters is therefore a free conversion of the number of pixels to characters. Especially the meta title is important for the position you rank at which keyword. Make sure you always include the most important keyword in the meta data. In addition, the meta data, or the snippet as shown in Google, must be attractive to click through.
To make this even more attractive, you can optimize rich snippets for certain pages, where you show an image, number of stars or event data in the search engine.
Each page on your website can only have one H1 (title). Make sure you include the most important keyword. Make other heads H2, subheadings H3, et cetera. Google sees the H1 and H2 as more important than the other text, the other headings are less important. It may sound like an open door, but it is something that is often not applied in the right way. With incorrect application, you mess up Google, as it were, which can have a negative effect on the rankings.
When you write a text containing certain terms or topics that are already covered on a different part of your website, it is wise to link internally. This will spread your page value to other pages on your website, which increases the findability.
No matter how good your website is, if it is inactive, Google may start to think that it is no longer in use. This allows your rankings to automatically fall against websites that are concerned with optimization. That’s why it’s smart to add new content regularly. It’s not for nothing that almost every website has a blog. In addition, more content ensures that you can be found on more keywords.
A blog is definitely a must. You can also share the articles on social media and Google My Business, so you may get more visitors, which also has a positive effect on the assessment of your website.
The technology of the website on the one hand ensures that the website functions properly. On the other hand, different parts of the technique have an influence on your rankings.
At the end of 2018, Google switched to the mobile first crawler, which means that Google initially assesses a website in terms of technology on mobile devices. In short, make sure your website is usable on different screens of smartphones and tablets.
With an SSL certificate, you can mark your website as secure, which classifies Google as important. You can often purchase an SSL certificate at the same time with your hosting package. Sometimes this is included in the price, sometimes this costs a separate amount per year (often around €50).
In addition to being a ranking factor (https://) it will generally also have a positive influence on the opinion of visitors about your website. In addition, according to the Data Protection Act, it is even mandatory for some websites to protect the data of your visitors through SSL.
No one is happy with a slow website, not even Google. With a bad page speed you get a more negative user experience and the chance is more likely that visitors will leave your website. In technical terms, there are a number of factors that affect the page speed, such as your hosting package, page loading and images.
Often you can already exert a lot of influence with the compressing (reducing) your images and ensure that they are under 100 kB. This is possible with a website like IloveIMG.
Structured data helps search engines to understand your website. This makes it easier to stand out by rich snippets. In addition, it generally gives you higher positions. To implement structured data, it is best to use a developer. This can be used to implement documents (Schema.org) pieces of code, usually J-SON, in your HTML.
Plagiarism is of course not desirable, both not copying from other websites and duplicate content within your own page. This has a negative effect on your rankings. If you have double pages, it is important that you tell the search engine which page is original by means of canonics. This way the search engine knows which page should be indexed.
When a page achieves bad results, is obsolete or even no longer working at all, then it is wise to delete the page or redirect it if applicable. This prevents the search engine crawling problems.
Despite the fact that Google uses an algorithm itself, it can of course never hurt to help the search engine on its way with indexing. You do that with an XML Sitemap and a Robots.txt.
For example, you can exclude the pages with general terms and conditions and privacy statement. The XML Sitemap can be submitted to Google Search Console.
Is your website technically okay? Do you add new content on a frequent basis? But are your competitors for Google? If this is recognizable to you, the authority of your website may not be in order.
You can still scream so loudly that you are the best, but it is a lot more believable when others say that about you. That’s how search engines think. When external qualitative websites place a link to you, it is positive for your positions in the search engine. Your authority value and the quality of the external links are determined by:
You can buy more links (referring domains), because many websites require a fee for an article placement with do-follow link. Other ways include engaging your network or uploading articles on free websites. Please note, if your link is placed on a low-quality website, this can also have a negative effect on your rankings.
Another way that is regularly used is link exchange. However, this technique is outdated and is punished for Google in the worst case.
SEO is a long term process. Do not expect results from one day to the next, but build your positions. Remember: once a good position does not guarantee the future. Preferably keep an eye on the upcoming Google updates and respond to them in time. Keep optimizing and go for the maximum result. Good luck! Good luck!
The Google Algorithm
For your website review, Google looks at more than 200 factors. All these factors can be placed under one of the three main pillars of SEO:
- Content
- Technology
- Authority
Of course, not all factors weigh equally in the assessment. In addition, the algorithm will be adjusted, as with the announced Google UX update for 2024. It is impossible to handle all the influential factors on your site ranking in this article, so we zoom in on the most important SEO optimizations that you can get started with right away.
The influence of content on SEO
We start by treating content tips as an influence on your ranking.
1. Use relevant keywords in your content
Look for words you want and can be found. With a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Mangools you can, for example, check which search terms and similar keywords are often searched for and what the competition is on these keywords.
Use the keywords regularly, but do not go keywords stuffing (text stuffing with keywords), because then the search engine will judge the text unnaturally. Also change short tail keywords with long tail keywords. Especially the long tail keywords will become more and more important in the future (also with a view to the rise of voice search). Also process the most important keywords in your headlines.
2. Provide enough words per page
Every page on your website basically needs at least 300 words to rank Google at all. It is even better to extend the number of words per page – Content Is King! For blogs, the preference is 800 to 1200 words per article.
If your current pages are sufficient content, it is certainly a plus to expand these pages with text (with keywords incorporated in them).
3. Alternate text with multimedia
In addition to relevant texts, it is smart to alternate your content with multimedia, such as images, videos, screenshots, infographics, tables and graphs. This makes the text more readable and interesting. Moreover, it increases the chance that visitors will stay on your page longer. And the longer they stay on your page (dwell time), the more relevant your website is assessed. Bullet lists also have a positive effect.
An additional advantage: research by Moz shows that content that is interspersed with multimedia gets more likes and shares, which is also good for your SEO.
Give your images alto attributes when you add them in the back end. They can rank again in Google Images.
4. Optimize snippets
The meta data is very important to Google, because you rank on it. In the search engine you see for pages the snippet, which consists of a meta title, meta description and URL.
- Meta title: 50 to 60 characters
- Meta description : 150 to 160 characters
- URL: shortening keywords and length
Please note: in principle, the meta title and description length are based on pixels and not characters. However, pixels are very difficult to measure in a text editing program. The number of characters is therefore a free conversion of the number of pixels to characters. Especially the meta title is important for the position you rank at which keyword. Make sure you always include the most important keyword in the meta data. In addition, the meta data, or the snippet as shown in Google, must be attractive to click through.
To make this even more attractive, you can optimize rich snippets for certain pages, where you show an image, number of stars or event data in the search engine.
5. Add headings in the right way
Each page on your website can only have one H1 (title). Make sure you include the most important keyword. Make other heads H2, subheadings H3, et cetera. Google sees the H1 and H2 as more important than the other text, the other headings are less important. It may sound like an open door, but it is something that is often not applied in the right way. With incorrect application, you mess up Google, as it were, which can have a negative effect on the rankings.
6. Internal linking
When you write a text containing certain terms or topics that are already covered on a different part of your website, it is wise to link internally. This will spread your page value to other pages on your website, which increases the findability.
7. Content is key
No matter how good your website is, if it is inactive, Google may start to think that it is no longer in use. This allows your rankings to automatically fall against websites that are concerned with optimization. That’s why it’s smart to add new content regularly. It’s not for nothing that almost every website has a blog. In addition, more content ensures that you can be found on more keywords.
A blog is definitely a must. You can also share the articles on social media and Google My Business, so you may get more visitors, which also has a positive effect on the assessment of your website.
The influence of technology on SEO
The technology of the website on the one hand ensures that the website functions properly. On the other hand, different parts of the technique have an influence on your rankings.
8. Provide a mobile friendliness website
At the end of 2018, Google switched to the mobile first crawler, which means that Google initially assesses a website in terms of technology on mobile devices. In short, make sure your website is usable on different screens of smartphones and tablets.
9. Secure with SSL Certificate
With an SSL certificate, you can mark your website as secure, which classifies Google as important. You can often purchase an SSL certificate at the same time with your hosting package. Sometimes this is included in the price, sometimes this costs a separate amount per year (often around €50).
In addition to being a ranking factor (https://) it will generally also have a positive influence on the opinion of visitors about your website. In addition, according to the Data Protection Act, it is even mandatory for some websites to protect the data of your visitors through SSL.
10. Optimize page speed
No one is happy with a slow website, not even Google. With a bad page speed you get a more negative user experience and the chance is more likely that visitors will leave your website. In technical terms, there are a number of factors that affect the page speed, such as your hosting package, page loading and images.
Often you can already exert a lot of influence with the compressing (reducing) your images and ensure that they are under 100 kB. This is possible with a website like IloveIMG.
11. Implement structured data
Structured data helps search engines to understand your website. This makes it easier to stand out by rich snippets. In addition, it generally gives you higher positions. To implement structured data, it is best to use a developer. This can be used to implement documents (Schema.org) pieces of code, usually J-SON, in your HTML.
12. Avoid duplicated content
Plagiarism is of course not desirable, both not copying from other websites and duplicate content within your own page. This has a negative effect on your rankings. If you have double pages, it is important that you tell the search engine which page is original by means of canonics. This way the search engine knows which page should be indexed.
13. Remove or redirect pages with negative crawling effect
When a page achieves bad results, is obsolete or even no longer working at all, then it is wise to delete the page or redirect it if applicable. This prevents the search engine crawling problems.
14. Robots.txt and XML Sitemap
Despite the fact that Google uses an algorithm itself, it can of course never hurt to help the search engine on its way with indexing. You do that with an XML Sitemap and a Robots.txt.
- XML Sitemap : here you include pages that need to be indexed
- Robots.txt : here you tell which pages should not be indexed
For example, you can exclude the pages with general terms and conditions and privacy statement. The XML Sitemap can be submitted to Google Search Console.
The Influence of Authority on SEO
Is your website technically okay? Do you add new content on a frequent basis? But are your competitors for Google? If this is recognizable to you, the authority of your website may not be in order.
15. Generate high quality links
You can still scream so loudly that you are the best, but it is a lot more believable when others say that about you. That’s how search engines think. When external qualitative websites place a link to you, it is positive for your positions in the search engine. Your authority value and the quality of the external links are determined by:
- The value of the websites that link to you (their own authority)
- The position and keyword under which the link is
- How many other links in the article
- The number of different websites linking to you
- Whether the links are do-follow (traceable for search engine)
You can buy more links (referring domains), because many websites require a fee for an article placement with do-follow link. Other ways include engaging your network or uploading articles on free websites. Please note, if your link is placed on a low-quality website, this can also have a negative effect on your rankings.
Another way that is regularly used is link exchange. However, this technique is outdated and is punished for Google in the worst case.
Finally: Monitor and Optimize
SEO is a long term process. Do not expect results from one day to the next, but build your positions. Remember: once a good position does not guarantee the future. Preferably keep an eye on the upcoming Google updates and respond to them in time. Keep optimizing and go for the maximum result. Good luck! Good luck!
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