8 Things High Ranking Websites All Have in Common
Did you know that, on average, the first organic search result from Google gets 32.5 percent of the total traffic share? Did you also know that sites on the first Google search results page receive a whopping 91.5 percent of the total traffic share?
Basically, if you want people to click on your website and see what you have to offer, you need to be on that first page and as close to the top as possible.
Getting there isn’t exactly an easy feat, though, especially when you’re part of a competitive market. It is possible to improve your ranking, though.
Read on to learn about eight of the characteristics all high-rank websites have in common. If you can make these improvements to your site, you’ll be amazed at how your position improves.
1. Security and Accessibility
Website security and accessibility play a significant role in how well a particular site ranks on Google (as well as other search engines, for that matter).
One way to indicate a secure and accessible website is the type of URL your site has. If your URL is one that search engine bots can reach and crawl, with ease, your website will be rewarded with a higher ranking.
Some ways you can make this happen are by installing a robots.txt file. This tells Google where it is and isn’t able to look for information about your site. A sitemap that lists all the pages on your website is imperative as well.
Having an “HTTPS” at the front of your URL is better than an “HTTP,” too. It doesn’t hold as much weight as these other factors, but it still can help.
2. Fast Load Times
The best Google sites tend to have very fast load times, too. The faster your pages load, the more likely it is that people will stick around to see what’s on them.
There are plenty of ways to speed up your load times, from getting rid of clutter to compressing images. Talk to your web developer to figure out how you can start to make your site more efficient.
3. Mobile Friendliness
These days, the majority of online searches come from a mobile device. If your website doesn’t look good on a smartphone or tablet, people are going to be less inclined to spend a lot of time on it.
If you want to enjoy a high ranking, make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices. The easiest way to do this is to work with a developer who specializes in this aspect of website building and design.
4. Higher Domain Age
The longer your website has been around, the easier it’ll be to get on top Google sites lists. In most cases, sites that have existed for less than a year are less likely to rank near the top of any search engine results page.
If your website is less than a year old, don’t give up hope. You can still implement these other practices to boost its ranking and help it reach a top spot faster.
5. Technical Optimization
Technical optimization is an often-overlooked component of search engine optimization. It plays a key role in improving search engine rankings, though. Some important technical aspects to consider include the following:
- The use of keyword phrases in your website’s page titles
- Using header tags to organize content and create a hierarchy
- Writing a clear and concise meta description
- Using keyword phrases in your images’ alt tags
Many people overlook these factors when trying to optimize their sites, but they can make a significant difference in your website’s overall performance.
6. Optimized Content
As stated in the article, Buy Guest Posts On Real Blogs With 1000+ Organic Monthly Traffic, one of the only trustworthy metrics to how much Google favors a website is how much organic traffic that website receives monthly from Google.
Of course, bringing in organic traffic is difficult. One way to increase the number of people visiting your site is to make sure your content is well-optimized.
There are lots of ways to do this, including the following:
- Including the right keywords in your content (in an organic, non-forced way)
- Answering common questions
- Using videos and infographics to appeal to a wider range of visitors
Writing long-form content is also helpful. Posts that are in the 2,000-word range tend to outperform those with lower word counts.
7. Positive Social Signals
Google wants to see how your website is performing on social media. Positive social signals can lead to higher search engine rankings. For example, if lots of people are tweeting links to pages from your website or sharing them on Facebook, that will reflect well and lead to rewards from Google.
8. High Click-Through Rate and Low Bounce Rate
When determining where to rank a website in search engine results, Google’s algorithm will pay attention to your website’s click-through rate as well. This refers to the number of clicks your website receives from people who have typed in a particular search term. The higher your click-through rate is, the better off your site will be when it comes to rankings.
It’s not good enough just to have a high click-through rate, though. You’ll also need a low bounce rate.
Bounce rate refers to the number of people who click the “back” button and leave your website, as well as how quickly they do this after visiting your site. If the majority of people who visit your site click away within a few seconds, that’s a red flag to Google and your site will be penalized.
Join the List of High-Rank Websites Today
As you can see, there are quite a few characteristics that all (or nearly all) high-rank websites share. If you want your website to be counted among this group, you need to know what not to search on Google and, instead, make sure you’re doing what you can to implement these changes and improve your site.
Do you want to learn more about improving your web presence and raising your Google site’s ranking? If so, check out some of our other helpful blog posts and digital marketing resources today.