Ranking on the search results page requires constant modification and analysis. After optimizing and publishing your website, you need to analyze the performance and improve the lag points. The SEO determining factors and data points can be your guide for improvement.
Top 10 SEO factors and data points
The following data points can act as your key guide for carrying out technical SEO activities.
1. Crawlable URL
URL is your website’s identity and is one of the first things Google tries to crawl through. So it is important to have a crawlable URL that the search engine can easily access. So the website URL needs to be easy.
The URL should also be able to represent the content in it. It should be well-related to the content posted on the website. Though the ‘HTTPS’ initial is known to have very little influence in indexing, it can slightly improve rank.
2. Server speed and response time
Ask any SEO agency about server speed and they’ll tell you why this factor is so important for any website. Server speed indicates the speed at which your website is served when clicked upon. With easy high-speed Internet availability, people are used to getting instant results. Anything hampering the user experience can lead to increased bounce rates. For example, if your website takes an additional 30 seconds to load compared to the other sites on that search results page, the bounce rate rises automatically.
Shared hosts can increase your website loading time. Switching to a host that provides faster access can fix the issue. Keep track of the count of error messages your website shoots to the visitors. Anything above 500 would require immediate fixing of the server.
3. SEO Indexable pages
Google indexes the website pages in their search results to provide valuable search results. When your website pages are indexed, there is a high chance of increased click-through rates and even conversions, ultimately leading to better ranks.
Track the number of indexed pages of your website using the Google search console. The unindexed pages would require technical SEO modifications like adding relevant content, providing adequate information, improving server speed, and removing plagiarized content.
4. Compatibility with mobiles
Mobile is one of the most used devices for immediate searches and even purchases in recent times. If your website isn’t compatible with mobile devices, there is a high chance of losing a large chunk of traffic.
Google also uses the mobile compatibility test to alter the rankings of the website by analyzing the bounce rate, page views, and clicks through mobile traffic. Basic modifications like resizing to fit the small screen, appropriate font size, easy navigation, and access can help you create a great mobile-friendly version of your site.
5. SEO Optimized content
Seo-optimized content is already known well for grabbing the search engine’s attention and paving the way to better rankings. Keywords insertion has been relied upon as one of the easiest ways to optimize the content. Keywords help the algorithm identify the relevancy of the content while crawling. More the match, the better the ranks. However, keyword insertion should be done systematically and naturally. Mere stuffing of keywords without providing relevant associated information will only decrease your ranking.
But there is far more to technical SEO optimization than keyword insertion. The recent update in the mode of search, which has switched from text search to voice one, also influences the search results. Latent semantic indexing of the keywords can help you cater to a larger target audience. An SEO agency can help in reducing bounce rate leading to better ranks through content optimization like educational, navigational, research-oriented, and purchase-oriented content.
6. Content delivering frequency
Curating the perfect content is not enough. The chief determining part is the timely publishing of the content. Quality and punctuality can together drive a good deal of traffic. This will increase the click-through rate and dwell time, aiding in better ranking by the search engine.
Quality content doesn’t mean you need to spend days creating the perfect content before posting. Instead, create relevant content, to the point and plagiarism free, and post it regularly as planned in the content strategy.
7. Click through and bounce rate, dwell time.
These factors are good indicators of the user experience of your website. They can affect the rankings of your website on the search engine result page considerably.
Click-through rates indicate the percentage of clicks your site receives when it appears on the search results page. This is directly associated with the website’s rankings on the result page; the higher the ranking, the more click-through rates.
Bounce rates indicate the number of people leaving the site immediately or in a short span of time after clicking on it through the search results page. Bounce rates are generally high when the user need is not served; that is, your website did not justify the search. Increasing bounce rates can affect the website ranking.
Dwell time is the amount of time the user spends after landing on your website. Relevant dwell time conveys to Google that the website is a good result for the corresponding search enabling improved website ranking.
8. Metadata
Metadata helps in giving better direction to your website and helps the search engine to identify what’s in it. Ensure you fix the title tags, image description, alt text, and meta description for better ranking results.
9. Domain security
However perfect you create the website with all the SEO specifications, the website will not rank great if your website is insecure. Insecure websites increase the bounce rate. Enabling SSL security can be the first step toward domain security.
10. Inbound links
Inbound links, also called backlinks are links located on the other websites that direct to your website pages. Since your website link is referred to by another website, the search engine recognizes it as relevant content and ranks it better.
Though inbound links add to the reliability factor, it is important to have inbound links on relevant websites that are experts in their fields. Inbound links from domains of poor quality can do more harm than good. So the goal is to have more inbound links from relevant websites and low to nil inbound links from poor-quality websites.
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