SEO is one of the best options open to businesses and people to get higher rankings. It is also something that is continuously changing. In the world of SEO, you need to know how to get a higher rank and understand that the rules are changing. However, the following are some of the primary factors you need to know to get high search engine rankings:
Authoritative and Quality Content
Suppose you want to get a decent ranking on Google. In that case, one absolute essential is authoritative content, and if only that’s what it was all about. Plenty of quality links pointing to and out from the content page are essential too. Consider that, for their usefulness, search engines will do their best to provide search results that are most relevant and useful. Through their ranking algorithms, what search engines are trying to determine is that if the content provides real value, and, for that, you have to attract and engage your readers. There are various definitions of authority content. One straightforward way is by determining whether the author or publisher is already an expert on the topic online. Such thought leader authorship makes the content gain more credibility, thereby making higher rankings more probable. In many instances, the actual content itself might be lacking in one or more aspects. As experts from SEO Crawler point out, if the content isn’t of high-quality, people will not be adequately satisfied, which is something search engines will eventually pick up. But all other things equal, content authored by authoritative online figures stand a better chance of ranking high in SERPs.
Use of Keywords
For most search engines, including Google, keywords serve as the primary pointers of how relevant the content is to the keyword. Using such keywords and alternative phrases called LSI keywords in the content help in higher SERP rankings. Text is one of the better forms of content than images and videos as the latter is something search engines find hard to decode. Additionally, as it is relatively not as simple, search engines might fail to recognize them as pieces of content. The use of keywords is essential. It is still very much needed to make the content appear relevant to keyword searches. However, it is a terrible idea to use spamming and other dubious means while using keywords. They might work to penalize you in the search rankings. It is better to use keywords and semantically related phrases in natural language spread over the body’s content page.
Keyword Research
Using keywords is not quite as some of you might imagine. Just thinking of a keyword that you want to rank for is not the best way to choose the right keywords. On the contrary, you need to conduct proper keyword research. In this process, you research the actual phrases or keywords people are using to find solutions to their problems. Such keyword phrases might be short and concise as well as longer in length. If it is the latter, it is referred to as long-tail keywords. Keyword research is not only an essential part of SEO; it is also a fundamental thing that businesses need to be doing. It lets companies know how real people use search engines to look for solutions to their problems and offer such solutions. The content needs to be aligned with solving such problems and address issues faced by potential customers. At the end of the keyword research exercise, your SEO team should have determined a set of primary and LSI or secondary keywords.
Backlinks
The backlinks that point to a content piece are almost as important as the content itself for SEO. It is no coincidence that nearly top-ranking sites have more links pointing towards them than others. Some SEO experts opine that better backlinks are more important in search engine rankings than any other individual factor. Like in the use of keywords in content, you can use dubious black hat techniques in SEO, too, but that might prove counterproductive. The result might be a penalty that might make a significant impact on your business and its bottom-line. With time Google and other search engines are becoming increasingly better at discerning high-quality and legitimate links. These are just fundamental things to know about SEO. A wealth of online resources awaits you if you want to get deeper or want to learn more about the continually evolving SEO world. However, the tips we mentioned above are indispensable for higher rankings. Here’s hoping for your SEO success!
