6 Surefire Means to Step Up Your Google Rankings in 2019

You should understand that Google uses complicated algorithms to attach a rank to every website, which is majorly dictated by your SEO strategy. It is for this reason that e-marketers who are looking to optimize their online rankings should pay close attention to all SEO parameters. They are: Domain Authority, the quality of your content with proper Grammar corrector and the structure of your URL. In addition to these, it is pertinent for e-merchandisers to watch closely On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. Both these categories, in their own ways, strongly affect your website ranking.

All those looking to understand the parameters that are bound to influence their Google rankings in 2019 can check out these ‘to-do’ and ‘not-to-do’ tips.

1. The Significance of User-Friendly and Informative Headings

There is a world of difference between headlines containing keywords as against a headline that is simply filled with keywords. Hence to be in sync with the ‘always-smart’ Google, you need to update your H1 and H2 headings so that they show up compelling and user-friendly headings that benefit visitors. A strict ‘No’ would be to indiscriminately stuff the headlines with variants of keywords.

2. Get Under the Skin of Keyword Research

Needless to mention, SEO and keywords go hand-in-hand. It is a fact that keywords account for a 15% importance under the list of factors influencing Google rankings. Hence, it is paramount for every e-marketer to pick and choose the most benefiting keywords. This calls for extensive research about who your audience is and their pain points. To identify the needs of your customers, you will have to delve deep into what they are keying in their search strings. This keyword research and implementation of inferences will step up your website ranking on Google.

3. Unleash the Power of Web Security

Matters concerning web security are paramount to improving Google rankings. Although Google announced the end of July 2018 as a deadline for all websites to employ the HTTPS protocol, there are a number of websites which are still tagged as ‘Not Secure’. It is because these websites have not signed up for an SSL certificate.

HTTPS is a secure version of the standard HTTP protocol which is granted only to those websites which have signed up for an SSL Certificate.

This certificate once installed validates websites that are used by e-merchants, in addition to providing a verified legal identity to websites. Hence switching to HTTPS from HTTP can be tagged as one of the promising means for e-merchandisers to enjoy better SEO ranks.

4. Website Usability – An All-Inclusive Element For Better Google Rankings

It is but natural for websites demonstrating a higher level of user engagement to perform better when compared to others. This is an element of website usability that sums up a number of factors that have a strong impact on your Google rankings.

One of them is to strive to show up meaningful, useful and high-quality content to visitors. All those URLs which are crisp and concise are significant to step up your SEO rankings.

Page load speed is another that majorly affects your Google rankings. E-marketers who constantly strive to increase the page load speed of their websites through streamlined and error-free code will benefit a great deal. Simultaneously, it should be your top priority to bring down your bounce rates.

In addition to optimizing images, you should also include image-descriptive content in the form of an image file name, a caption, a title, its description and the Alt tag. Images which narrate your story through descriptive Alt text prompt your website to enjoy better SEO ranks. Additionally, the proper use of header tags is also recommended.

Outbound links have a say in Google rankings. By including well-researched and relevant authority sources, you will be helping your readers to access additional information. These sites, which narrate the story of your business help you step up your website rankings.

The significance of multi-media in enhancing website usability cannot be undermined. Informative videos which show up relevant, user-specific content do the trick of increasing your conversion rate, in turn boosting your Google rankings.

Broken links are a bane to websites, spoiling the concept of website usability. Websites free from broken links enjoy better ranks. In addition to having a well-designed format and layout of your website, a ‘Contact Us’ page can help you validate your website.

Studies indicate that a whopping 55% of searches come from mobile devices. Hence mobile optimization of your website can be a promising step to attract mobile users to visit your site.

E-marketers who include ‘social sharing’ plugins in their pages enjoy better Google rankings. By doing this, you will be prompting visitors to publicize your website information through likes and shares on prominent social networking platforms like Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Such a move invariably boosts your Google ranking.

5. Implement RankBrain Optimization

RankBrain is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system that is used by Google to show up relevant search results for various search queries posed by online visitors. RankBrain optimization enables to show up better-targeted search results to queries. Through this algorithm, Google will be able to offer a closer and relevant matching for long-tail search queries instead of focusing on individual words in the search string.

The ‘ever-smart’ Google constantly keeps track of metrics like dwell time (the amount of time a visitor spends on your site) and bounce rate. As and when it identifies an irrelevant result to a search query, Google makes use of the RankBrain algorithm so as to show up relevant and targeted results for the next search query, thereby improving your website ranking.

6. You Can Give a Tough Fight To Your Competitors With CTR

All those e-marketers looking to compete with their counterparts should aim at improving their Click Through Rates (CTR). You as an e-merchant should keep in mind that a direct correlation exists between CTR and Google Rankings. That means, all those web pages that show up top ranks can enjoy the maximum CTR.

Numbers indicate that all those web pages that are ranked one on Google SERP enjoy a significant 20.5% of CTR while a page that ranks second gets a meager 13.32% CTR. So, all you need to do is to optimize and improve your organic CTR by coining effective META descriptions.

The smart usage of keywords in your META tags is another means to show up precise results for visitors. Additionally, you may also look at Answer Box or Schema Markup as two promising tools to enhance your rankings. These two tools promise rich content to users which invariably boost the ranks on SERPs, indirectly improving the Organic CTR. Results indicate that all those websites which implemented the schema markups witnessed an average increase of 12-16% in their CTR. As your web traffic increases, so will your Google rankings.

Closing Thoughts

All in an attempt to increase Google rankings, e-commerce enterprises in 2019 should constantly strive to decrease their bounce rates while aiming to increase the time visitors spend on their web pages. With active engagement on a minimum of 3-4 social media platforms, e-marketers can build a strong audience pool which will share your content amongst their contacts. When such a situation arises, you as an entrepreneur will be able to enjoy higher ranks on Google. All the above tactics will cumulatively help you not only thrive but also profit from the ever-expanding domain of e-business.