by Usman SheikhWant Your Website To Rank Higher?
Want Your Website To Rank Higher?
The first thing that comes to mind when we are confronted with the idea of our website ranking higher, “what is the fastest and easiest way for my website to rank higher?”
You have to build trust to rank higher, and trust is a relationship that needs to be consistent over time to develop.
In a nutshell – there is no shortcut, and please, for the love of Google – avoid the tempting alternatives for the longevity and health of your website & brand!
Some people do not abide by good search engine guidelines and game the system, hence their websites suffer over the longterm.
Instead, one must change their thinking and approach this question with a mindset of adding value to the user experience by providing great content for whoever lands on the pages of the website. The better the content and engagement, the more the site will rank over the long term. Providing relevant and high-quality content regularly to your viewers is the key here.
In turn, Google Algorithms will reward you with higher rankings in search results, which automatically bring more traffic to your website.
In my experience, there have been many surprises from the search engines changing rules and advancing their algorithms.
But one of these remains the same – if you need your website ranking higher in search results, you must put in the hard work and create value for your visitors.
Here are a few of the most common Website Ranking Shortcuts to AVOID at all costs.
Keywords manipulation to improve website rankings
Image Source: SearchEngineJournal
Many novice SEO practitioners try to fit their content and messaging within the confines of their keyword research (and not much else) just to tap into the high-volume keywords.
In other words, marketers shape their content on the website to represent keywords for which they have not adequately aligned for the high-volume keywords.
Because of this, the website loses its chance to engage the customer to display the real message.
The results in analytics for this practice speaks for itself. You will notice lots of traffic to your website but minimal conversions.
The reason here is because the traffic (visitors) were not looking for you.
Don’t try to mislead the visitors or direct them to content that is misrepresented by high volume keywords to increase visibility.
Website Ranking Shortcut: Purchasing Links
Image Source: SearchEngineJournal
J.C. Penney was publicly punished approximately five years ago by Google for purchasing links.
According to an article on Practical Ecommerce, Google and other search engines alike hate paid links since they go after the algorithmic reliance on links as signs of quality.
If a site has earned numerous links, it must be fantastic, correct? Not if those links are paid for or given in return for the item, corresponding links, or different favors.
Therefore, Google has explicitly created algorithmic advancements to distinguish and debase links from link rings, link farms, link exchanges, and paid link schemes.
Without a doubt, there are some paid links accessible that haven’t been caught by Google yet.
However, how much longer will they have value, and what will happen if Google finds them?
The risks far outweigh the brief reward.
Keywords stuffing to improve website rankings
Keyword stuffing is probably the oldest trick in the book. Many people still think that SEO is only about keywords.
It’s not, there is a lot more to that goes into search engine optimization SEO and search engines are well aware of this practice of adding in-text combinations which are unnatural.
Search engines notice these attempts to manipulate search results and demote the content as such.
Black Hat SEO Practitioners that are just looking for shortcuts have tried all sorts of ways to trick the search engines.
Some have tried to add all different variations on the keywords in the footer of their website.
Some have even gone as far as adding these stuffed keywords in the same color as their website background so that the visitors could see them, but web crawlers would.
Remember, keyword research is essential; also, you are writing for humans and not for a search engine.
Writing content for Robots
Image Source: Yoast
Remember you are writing for humans and not for search engines.
There is still this belief out there: if you write variations on the same keywords and sentences plural/non-plural versions, that means you have covered all your bases.
Repeat the same targeted keywords repeatedly in variations, and you will rank high for these keyword variations. Wrong!
This strategy does not work anymore.
Today the search engines are advanced enough to catch repeated keywords and also variations of keywords.
Most importantly, you are going against the cardinal rule.
You are not writing for value-added or quality content for the visitors.
Instead, you are writing for Robots.
Write for humans! Or be warned. There are now even keyword density checking tools that you can use to ensure there is no “keyword stuffing”.
Write your content, and check if it is written to appease to robots. If you have someone write content for your site, test their work through this tool.
Closing Thoughts
Alright, folks, these are the most common search engine optimization shortcuts to avoid when you are looking to get your website to rank higher.
I will repeat this once again, don’t go looking for shortcuts when it comes to SEO, they never work.
Even if they do – sooner or later, search engines are going to catch on to your practices through algorithm updates, and your rankings will plummet.
The practise of search engine optimization is of patience and hard work, and there are no shortcuts to either one.
Ranking higher in search results is not rocket science (although, I am sure some may make it seem that way).
However, it demands determination and persistence to improve your Google ranking by applying efficient SEO strategies that help you style a properly optimized website.
All you have to do is make sure your site speed is up to bar, your content should be relevant, readable, and of high quality, keyword research must be on point.
All of these will help your site win in the search engine ranking race.
Don’t forget to consider hiring SEO professionals to help you rank higher in search engines.
I hope you enjoyed my article; I would love to read what you have to say and share your stories and experiences with SEO journies.
Do let me know what SEO strategies you have used for improving your Google rankings.
From a start-up helping local small businesses, over a span of 5 years, Usman has built Web Worx Labs to be a leading provider of digital marketing solutions that employs 15+ full-time employees and has customers in over 30 countries.
Outside of work and his passion for all things digital, Usman is a proud father of three, loves running and is an avid reader.
Follow Usman on LinkedIn or Twitter as he is always sharing tips on strategy, branding, marketing and analytics.