Here is a list of ten signals the search engines use to rank websites in the search results. See which one you can improve to increase your SEO performance.
Title Tags
Google uses title tags as the clickable headline in its search results. Make sure yours are dynamic, 50 to 60 characters, and a strong summary of the page’s contents.
Site Speed
Increasing the speed that users can move through your website to accomplish desired tasks is good for SEO and also for your general user experience.
Coding Errors
If your HTML is littered with poor formatting and coding mistakes, this signals a poor-quality site. So clean that code!
Mobile First
Google now indexes the mobile versions of sites before the desktop. Make sure your mobile site is flawless and your rankings will benefit.
Optimize Content
Make sure you have your main keyword in your title tag and somewhere within your first paragraph. Secondary, related keywords should also be placed occasionally throughout your text.
Internal Linking
Pages with more internal links pointing to them are assumed to be more important.
Outbound Links
Linking to authoritative sources within your content signals quality content. However, Google doesn’t like too many outbound links.
Sitemap
Having a proper sitemap helps search engines index your pages, which can help with your rankings.
SSL
Use a security certificate – this creates the “padlock” and https (secure sockets layer) to keep data traffic between your site and the user safe.
Backlinks
If a large number of other sites link to back to yours, this sends a strong signal that people find your content valuable. However, make sure these are coming from quality sources.
The more you can tweak your site to align with what Google and other search engines are looking for, the better your site will fair in their rankings.
If you need assistance getting your site optimized, contact Six Degrees Digital Media today.
