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This blog was last updated in May 2020.Your goal as a business is to be noticed, and that’s perfectly understandable. Whether it’s individually or among your competition, you want to be visible to customers in order to get more sales and achieve more leads and traffic. So how do you do this? Thanks to Google, your specific goal is now going to be to satisfy its algorithm, climbing the steps on the search engine ladder in order to get your business at the top of the results page.
When customers Google content keywords that ping with your business, your website or related information should be the first thing they see on that page – or that’s the goal, anyway. This doesn’t just happen overnight, though. Getting noticed by the Google search algorithm is about optimization and hard work, consistently and over time. Your business’s content and websites have to all be noticed by Google, and these 15 methods are going to help you make that happen.
How to Get Noticed by Google's Algorithm
1. Start writing longer content.
There’s something about longer pieces of content that makes Google’s search algorithm happy. When companies post pieces of content that are 2000 words or longer, they tend to rank higher. This means picking content topics that allow for great length and crafting high-quality and well-thought out articles and blogs that you can post to your site, effectively showing Google you mean business.Want to try skating by with simple 500-word blogs? Studies show that if you want to make it within the first 10 pages of Google’s search rankings, you have to regularly post content that exceeds 1100 words.
2. Upload a sitemap.
Don’t underestimate using an XML sitemap. This clever tool directly shows Google exactly what’s on your site, and Google even offers you their own XML Sitemap Generator for easy access.
3. Use 301 redirects, not 302s.
When you use a 301 indicator to state that your site isn’t on the page it used to be, this sends the message to Google that your site has permanently moved, not just vanished. This redirects all that useful SEO information to your new site instead of letting it go to waste.
4. Make sure Google isn’t blocked from seeing you.
Sometimes, site owners have the problem of never seeing any search traffic – not a minimal amount, but literally none. Look through your robots.txt and other site components for these two roadblocks:
User-agent: *Disallow: /
Both tell Google that they aren’t allowed to index or visit your site, rendering any and all SEO efforts you’re using literally worthless. Remove these and you’ll see an immediate difference.
5. Mobile sites and optimization.
Always stick with mobile optimization. Google even has a tool you can use to make sure your site is responsive and mobile-friendly – don’t neglect this important aspect of your website. Mobile sites are how a large majority of potential customers will view your site, so using a mobile site is critical for both SEO and customer response.
6. Make sure your site loads quickly.
Google's algorithm takes off points for slow websites. This is another problem Google can fix for you via PageSpeed Insights. See how quickly your site is running, and if you’re slow? Figure out what the problem is. This is a big turn-off for your audience, too, so always keep an eye on how fast your site’s response time is – or, in this case, isn’t.
7. Descriptive URLs are your friend.
When you add content pages to your site, make sure that you’re using URLs that contain keywords and that describe the content you’re working with. When you stick with URLs that simply spit out numbers and letters, Google ranks you considerably lower.
8. Don't be scared to venture outside .com.
Having a .com website used to be favorable, but it plays a much, much smaller role these days (if any at all). That means it's safe to use things like .life, .io, .xy, .co, etc. The algorithm won't mind.
9. Start using more internal linking.
A lot of keyword usage can come across very easily to your audience because it looks so out of place. When using internal links and anchor text, try to incorporate keywords and links as seamlessly as possible. Keep working at a piece of copy until you’ve fully figured out how to make it look as natural as possible.
10. Important content stays at home.
Top-ranking site pages are usually domain pages, meaning your heavily optimized SEO content shouldn’t be anywhere other than your domain page. When you post SEO content in sporadic places, it might count for something, but you aren’t using your content in the most valuable way possible.
11. Don’t forget title tags.
When each page of your site features a unique and descriptive title tag, Google will be grateful. This information lets Google know what your page is about and helps boost your SEO.
12. Use schema.org for rich snippets in search.
Schema.org is a website that allows you to display rich text snippets right alongside your search results listing. When you do this, you show Google's algorithm exactly what your site is about in an extremely valuable and simple way.
13. Start blogging.
This will help you in two ways. One, customers looking for information can find your blog, thus finding your website, and this can lead to more link and lead generation. Two, adding this kind of content (and thus traffic) to your site is a very important way to keep your site SEO-friendly.
14. Always use relevant keywords.
While keywords aren’t the most important forms of SEO anymore, they still matter to Google in smaller ways. Find relevant keywords and use them to punch your site up in the search rankings.
15. Content marketing is the key.
Overall, content marketing is truly how you start getting people – and Google's algorithm – to notice you more. When you become a credible business with lots of loyal site traffic, Google takes notice.
