Website rankings on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others can easily give goosebumps to numerous online business organization. Everyone is so much obsessed with this online ranking that businesses can even swear in the name of website rankings. But, this obsession is not without any valid reason as website rankings on search engines improve the chances of a better site traffic, customer engagement, product sales and conversion rates. Business organizations need to understand the complete backstage story about search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others so as to improve their online visibility and presence. The rankings of the website depends on a lot of factors that are considered by sites like Google and are broadly categorized into four areas like on- page factors, off- page factors, site based factors and domain linked factors. Here are the 30 effective tips that will answer the long pending question for various business organizations- “How to improve website rankings on Google?” for the long term growth and business expansion of an organization.

On-Page SEO Factors:

The way your web page is presented do makes an effective impact on its online visibility and ranking. Optimize your web pages for improving your web pages rankings on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and such others. Here are the on- page optimization tips that can effectively guide you in this crucial process.

1. Use keyword in title tag of your content- The title of the meta tag has a strong impact on the rankings of a website. It needs to be engaging and relevant to the content so that they can be effectively used by search engines during search results. You need to use your targeted keyword in your content so that it can be indexed by the search engine crawlers. Further, try to include relevant keyword at the start of the title tag than using it in the end so as to improve the online visibility and ranking of your content.
2. Make way for keyword in the description tag- Inspite of the several developments  in the SEO techniques and search engine algorithms, meta description is still relevant among various online business organizations. You can easily get crucial user clicks on your site through these descriptions. Make it more powerful by including the relevant keyword in it for a better online search ranking and customer engagement.

3. Inserting keyword in H1 tag- Although some SEO experts are sceptical about the impact and relevance of H1 tag in present SEO environment. But, it is still used by numerous online business organizations. So, you need to insert an effective keyword in your H1 tag in order to boost the online presence and SEO rankings of your content.

4. Optimum use of keywords in content- The scenario regarding keyword usage has changed drastically since the way it used to be during initial few years. Now, the focus on the keyword usage has changed from the “How much” to “Where and when” in the content. Gone are those days when business organizations used to trick away search engines by stuffing keywords on a large scale without any relevance in their content for improving their site rankings and online visibility on search engine results. Now, the whole scenario has changed and the focus has shifted more on the placement of the keywords rather than their quantity in the content.

5. Effective length of the content- “Small is not as beautiful” when it comes to the indexing by the search engine crawlers as Google gives more preference to the longer but informative content that can provide crucial data to the readers. Further, it is no secret that a longer content can provide more insight about your chosen topic and can generate reader’s interest into your written content. So, be a little more expressive while writing your content and you can effortlessly improve your website rankings, site traffic and conversion rates to a significant level.  

6. Shun duplicate content- In order to make your site rank higher on various search engine giants like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others, you need to have an authentic content that is free from plagiarism. Provide unique content for different pages of your website so that your website is not penalised by Google Webmaster for duplicate content or non- original content.

7. Use canonical tag in your content-From preventing similar contents of a web page from falling into the category of duplicate content, you can take the help of canonical tag on your site. Use a canonical tag in your content when you are showing different variations of the product size or any other content that is having similar data. This approach will guide Google that the similar content with different URL is equivalent of one another and will save your site from getting penalised due to the existence of duplicate content.

8. Optimize the images in your site and content- Apart from the content in your site, associated images can also be optimized so as to make your site rank higher on search engine results. Use an appropriate alt text, caption and description for your image so that it can be effectively indexed by search engine crawlers for a better search page ranking.

9. Go for content updation at a regular instance of time- The algorithms of the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others pay more attention to the recent updated content. So, make necessary updations in your content at a regular interval of time in order to keep your website rankings higher for much longer duration. But, don’t make unnecessary changes or editing in your content which may backfire for the ranking and brand value of your business organization. Further sites like Google don’t consider product descriptions to be as time sensitive like blog posts that provide information about the recent events.

10. Take time out for outbound links- By providing reference to other sites about information regarding the topic mentioned in your blog post, you can send a trust message to Google and other such sites that you want your readers to get relevant and best information about the concerned topic.

However, you use them wisely as they can also take focus away from your present content and can affect your page and website ranking as a whole.

11. Build you internal link architecture- By targeting visitors to the internal pages of your site, you can improve your customer engagement to a great extent.

Moreover, this interlinking between pages will enhance your site strength and will contribute effectively in improving your online site visibility and presence on major search engines.

12. Include keyword in the URL of your content- For making your content more accessible and relevant to your targeted customers and search engine results, do include keyword in the URL of the content. This will convey the importance of your content to search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others for improving your online visibility and search engine rankings.

OFF Page SEO Factors:

Apart from making optimization in the content of your site, there are other external factors that affects your website ranking and presence to a great extent. Take a look at some of these crucial off- page factors that can make a considerable impact on the overall ranking and visibility of your website.

1. Number of domains linked to your content- It is possible that the domains linked to your content may be penalised, ignored or not given adequate response by various search engines. In scenario like this, the number of linked domains can affect the online ranking and visibility of your page on search engine results.

2. Number of pages linked to the content- Minimise the number of links to your site from a single domain as large number of links from a unilateral domain can decrease the trust and authenticity of your content which can affect your site rankings. However, you can have links from various different domains rather than having multiple links from a single domain in order to keep your page ranking higher.

3. Individual PageRank of the page linked to your content- More number of people will flock to your content if it is linked to a high page ranking content. Work towards earning the trust and reputation of high ranking pages so that they would love to connect with your content which would in turn boost your site traffic, SEO efforts and conversion rates.

4. Actual relevancy of the link- It would be better for your customer engagement and site traffic if you are having only relevant links on your site that could provide vital information to your targeted customers. Don’t carry unnecessary links on your site that are having copied and non authentic content so as to keep your targeted customers loyal to your business organization. These links have the potential to improve or destroy your business organization if they are unable to add any value to your written content.

5. Analyze the authority of your linking domain- Just as the page rank of the linked content plays a crucial role in your website ranking. Similarly, linked domain with the content should have a proper authority so that it can influence the conversion rates and user engagement of your targeted customers. Due to this reason, the link made through a high PR site can grab more number of visitors than a link which is made through a low PR site.

6. Number of links that are made through home page- Although links on your content can arrive from multiple areas like home page, product page, search ads, social media and other such places. But, out of these areas home page carries the maximum weightage and there are increased chances that more number of people will pay attention to your content if it has link to the home page of your site rather than having the link of your other product pages.

7. Check your Dofollow vs. Nofollow links-

It is not a hidden surprise anymore that the nofollow links consisting of a relational operator with no target address are not counted by the search engines like Google so they are not affecting your website rankings in any manner. In this circumstances, do follow links can have a significant impact on the rankings of your website. So, watch out for their number closely as they have the potential to change the fortunes of your online visibility and presence on different search engines.

8. Presence of different link types – The type of the link used in the creation of your website has an effective impact on the performance of your website to a great extent. Don’t use a particular type of links in your site as it gives the impression of a spam and can cause a serious damage to your site rankings to a great extent.

9. Use contextual links – Links that are placed among the content of a web page have a tremendous potential and can be used much more than a link. These responsive links in a sidebar can help in the effective navigation of the user from one page to another page in the site and thus helps in improving your site navigation and user experience.

10. Link anchor text – This anchor text of the link acts as a strong element for your website ranking. However, with time, this link anchor text began to be used as web spam indicator which can affect the ranking of your website to a great extent.

Site Based Factors

The problem could also lie with your website and due to some internal reasons there could be a significant drop in your site traffic and user experience. Some of the site based factors that are affecting SEO campaigns for your business organization are as follows:

1. Use of Sitemap: This website element helps in the effective indexing of the different pages of your website. It provides crucial information to sites like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others regarding what pages need to be included in your main website. You need to have an impressive site map that can include all the relevant pages of your website for a better targeting on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

2. Instill a domain based trust- Business organizations that are thinking about making their own name in the field of online business needs to achieve the complete trust and confidence of various search engines. Although, it is a long hectic exercise schedule but the small optimization efforts done in this direction will certainly pay you well in terms of site traffic, conversion rates and user engagement.

3. Physical location of the server- The physical location of the server play a crucial role in optimizing the performance of the website. The proximity of the server to a business organization helps in reducing the turnaround time, latency issues, server redirects and other such issues which directly or indirectly affects your SEO efforts.

4. Optimization of site according to mobile based devices-

Due to the rising mobile based customers, business organizations need to pay special attention towards its mobile customers. According to a 2014 data compiled by Shopify eCommerce platform, mobile based devices (Smart phones+tablets) are generating 50.3% traffic for various eCommerce sites whereas the traffic generated by computers (Desktops + Laptops) is found to be around 49.7%. Considering this significant increase in mobile customers, make your mobile site more engaging and navigation friendly for your targeted customers.

5. Non utilization of Google Webmaster tools-

Google Webmaster tools is an important tool set which consists of a number of wonderful features that help in improving the search engine rankings of a website and provides insight to the user about the way his/her site is perceived by the Google search engine. It provides a detailed information about the indexed pages of your site, pointed links on your site, most popular keywords for your site, incoming traffic on your site and much more. User just have to login to Google Webmaster tools and add their site on the dashboard feature. At the dashboard, you can see all the information about the recent activity on your site like crawl errors, search queries, site map and other such data. Apart from this, the Webmaster tools top queries data provides crucial information about impressions, clicks, click through rates and average position that can be linked with the visits, bounce rate, time spent on site and other such metrics of the Google Analytics tool for providing a better insight about the incoming site traffic and to make improvement in the site rankings.

Google Analytics– There is an effective web analysis and tracking tool known as Google Analytics tools that can provide a complete onsite behavior of your site. You can now effortlessly track, analyze and report every minor details of your visitors that are coming onto your site. It consists of various features like dashboards, advanced segmentation, keyword clouds, real time data, social reports, goal flow report, goal details and much more that can provide you information about incoming site traffic, social engagement on your site, event tracking, visitor flow, bounce rate, real time tracking, keywords evaluation and a range of other site tracking and reporting data.

Domain Linked Factors

1. Registration length of the domain- Always use a domain name for a website that are having a good market reputation and image. Ensure that the domain name registered for your website is more than a year old so that it can be easily trusted by the sites like Google. Don’t get tempted for a domain name that may come around for a cheaper price but may have been launched some days back.

2. Past history of the domain- Make a proper background research about the past history of your domain name and double check to ensure that your domain name has not been penalised by the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and such others in the past. If your domain name has been penalised in the past, it will surely affect your website ranking in the long run.

3. Country specific TLD extension-

For the effective targeting of the customer belonging to a specific country or location, you need to use a country specific TLD with your domain name like .us for United States of America, .in for India, .uk for United Kingdom, .jp for Japan and such others. By adding specific country in your domain name, you can easily improve the rankings and online visibility of your site for that particular location and region.

By making improvements and optimization in the specific areas of your website like domains, on page optimization, off page optimization and other areas, you can make your website rank higher in the search engine result pages of various sites like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others. Once your site is prominently featured in online searches, you can effortlessly improve your customer engagement, conversion rates and product sales.