It is rare to find a business that is not available online. Marketers broadly insert the idea that a business without a full-service website is incomplete, which is evidently true as customers like to google the brand before they commit an interest. A website is like a window for publics to obtain company information on their own.
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for businesses to find that their website doesn’t show in the top search results and probably sits far behind. Google sorts search results from its index, containing hundreds of billions of web pages.
The number of pages Google indexes is three times larger than it was in 2014, growing from 100 trillion to 130 trillion, intensifying the ranking competition for customer attentions.
Losing customers to same-field peers is inevitable if you undervalue where you rank in Google search. Potential customers can lose focus easily and get distracted by information absorbed on the first page of search results.
They will turn their heads to another site if they can’t locate the right web page immediately.
Google continually utilizes cutting-edge technology to optimize its algorithm for sorting search results. Therefore, you need to keep up with Google’s latest movements and recognize the purpose behind.
Time to equip yourself with the following two tips that can help boost your website to the top of Google search, other than paying your way to the top.
1. Make your site mobile-friendly.
Mobile-friendliness has been a crucial factor in search rankings ever since Google adopted its mobile-ranking algorithm, Mobilegeddon, in 2015. This new algorithm was designed to decrease load page times and provide a greater user experience on mobile. It filters out those web pages not meeting Google’s mobile usability standards.
If a website passes Google’s test, the site’s ranking in Google search will be boosted, appearing higher than those “unfriendly” pages.
To help you out, Google offers a test that checks the mobile usability of your site. Just enter your site’s URL, and you will receive a report documenting whether the website is presentable on a mobile device. In the report, you will see a screenshot revealing what your site looks like on a mobile screen and a list of mobile usability problems.
Most problems are related to elements that affect users’ mobile reading experience, like content width and text size. Other issues, such as the compatibility of plugins and the setting of a user’s visible area of a web page, called viewport, may require professional technical support. After fixing any problems, you’ll pass Google’s test, giving your website a critical advantage towards ranking higher in Google search.
2. Answer queries that fit your customer personas.
Known for advancement in technology, Google has long ago handed its search power to artificial intelligence. Today, a substantial fraction of the millions of queries a second submitted by people on Google have been interpreted and processed by RankBrain, an artificial intelligence system.
RankBrain scored as the third most important factor in Google’s ranking algorithm and has been in use, worldwide, for two years.
Google has disclosed little regarding the details of RankBrain. The ranking-determining system remains a mystery, in large part because the machine continuously learns and determines ranking factors on its own.
We realize the importance of meeting standards made by this machine for a better ranking, but how?—as the set of criteria doesn’t exist in a written record and is constantly changing and improving as the AI learns.
To solve this puzzle, we need to understand why Google chose to adopt this new system. Previously, Google used Hummingbird for its search service but due to the increasing amount of ambiguous queries and familiar phrases people started using, Hummingbird no longer fully understood those searches. RankBrain was created to meet these new demands.
RankBrain was designed to select content that is most relevant to ambiguous searches by people. The system analyzes the relationships between facts through its ever expanding database.
Sadly, it is unlikely that a company can predict the questions that will be asked, but by comprehensively understanding its audience personas, the company can anticipate information its target groups care about. So including relevant answers will also help direct users to your site.
With RankBrain, Google answers your question without using any direct information. To get the birth date of Priscilla Chan, you can search by asking a question like “when did Mark Zuckerberg’s wife born,” without mentioning a word of her name.
Those websites that contain most content to vague queries will be considered as the best options by RankBrain for users. As a result of higher ranking in search results, they will benefit with the most traffic from their ideal groups and relevant demographics.
The above tips can help you maximize your chance of brand exposure in the Google ranking game. Though fulfilling them requires multiple adjustments and takes time before a tangible outcome reflects, it’s your best bet for higher website traffic without shrinking your wallet.