It’s really a fast-changing digital world we have today. Users are more comfortable searching their questions through mobiles than desktops. There are a lot of changes in user behaviour that makes search engines alter their algorithms every now and then. The strategies you used to secure a top rank in 2018, won’t work for you in 2019. With that being the case, what would be the best way for you to get a good rank this year? Let’s find out.
HTTPS
According to Ranking Factor 2.0, 65% of secure websites rank in the top three positions of SERP for high search volume keywords. HTTPS is mainly used for building trust among the users. Search engines always prefer those who are safe for the users. Therefore, by switching to HTTPS, you can greatly improve your ranking factor in 2019.
Be aware that your site load speed increases a bit while switching to HTTPS. Despite this, the switch is still beneficial because according to marketers, a secure server is mandatory for a site to get ranks.
Backlinks
Backlink has always been a major ranking factor. There was a time when Google mostly considered the number of inbound links of a website to determine its rank, giving birth to link building firms where generating links for a website was everything that an SEO guy would do.
Backlinking will play a major role in 2019 as well. But this year, you should be more selective while building links as the relevance and authority of a domain are not going to determine your ranking alone. You must be looking for websites that are hosted in different servers as the total number of referring IPs will be an important SEO factor this year.
You should also check that the site you have chosen has a comprehensible structure, clear layout and decent number of traffic.
AMP is meant for fast-tracking content to mobile devices and improves the traditional way of surfing the internet on mobiles. As most marketers aim to provide mobile users with an app-like experience, AMP is a big help.
AMP is also useful for SEO. As Google states, mobile-friendliness is one of the major determiners of ranking.
Let’s say you provide digital marketing services in Toronto and there isn’t a single AMP page that ranks for the keyword “SEO services in Toronto”. That means there’s a chance for you to manage a good position in the mobile SERP for the same keyword if you upgrade to AMP.
Google prefers long content. Pages that have more content have a high probability of getting into the top ranking. However, you need to ensure that the content is sufficiently long content is relevant in satisfying users’ pain-points. Just analyze what your competitors are doing and develop a content writing strategy based on that.
These days, you can’t get rank by just stuffing a lot an of keywords in the titles, meta tags and body content. Google’s algorithm has become smarter and it mainly focuses on the context rather than the keywords in the H1 and meta tags. Therefore, it’s better not to include too many keywords in the heading tags, titles and metas as they may categorize your content as ‘spammy’. It also means that the keyword-based hyperlinks don’t have that much importance today. Google understands that a natural backlink won’t have the same anchor text again and again and determines it as spam. Several guest posting sites don’t even allow service page links in the blogs.
Website traffic has always been a major ranking factor. Make sure that your attempts at gaining more traffic doesn’t lead to a high bounce rate as that signifies that your page is not relevant to the users’ queries. You have to aim at getting higher page sessions as it directly correlates with ranking.
You have only three seconds in your hands to attract your users towards your website as after that he/she will just look for other options available. Naturally, you will get a high bounce rate causing a rankdrop to your site. So, look for external files that can be reduced more, remove the third party tags if you are not using them, optimize the images, switch to a speedy server and keep your CMS always updated.
According to Google, a lot of brand value can be gained through your social engagement. Your Facebook likes or Twitter followers can also be a good ranking factor for your site. Even your social media profiles can be visible on your business knowledge graph if there’s a good number of people attached to it.
There may be some on-page content that is not relevant today. You have to find that content and make the necessary changes. Experiment with some changes in the titles and meta tags. By doing so, you will have another chance to get your pages crawled and may get ranking for those blogs which were not in the SERPs.
CTR though indirect is a strong ranking signal as it indicates how relevant your website’s link to the query made on Google. It basically helps in quality control testing of proposed algorithms. This is the only area from where Google learns about the user engagement and their satisfaction with the search results. This is what helps Google tune core algorithm further. So, maintaining a good CTR will be an important ranking factor in 2019 as it can make new algorithms aware of your search engine presence.
A higher CTR can impact negatively on your rankings if you have a higher bounce rate as well. People bouncing back without spending much time on your site indicates that there’s not relevant information on your landing page. So, to acquire a good ranking on the SERP, you should have a clear design and quality information on the landing pages so that the users spend more time, reducing the bounce rate of your website.
Today’s Google is more focused on users’ intent. Create your strategy in such a way that the users can benefit. By doing this, you will establish yourself as a strong brand. Google will start relying on you soon.