How to boost your Google results in 8 simple steps.

Posted by Anya Sleezer << back to blog

Last Updated on February 7, 2023

Have you heard the joke: “Where’s the best place to hide a body? The second page of Google’s search results.”

Okay, so that’s pretty dark, but the idea is correct: If you your company ranks lower in Google search results, you’ll get less business. This isn’t just hearsay. According to a recent study in 2022, the #1 Result In Google Gets 27.6% of All Clicks. In fact, the first three businesses listed at the top of Google get 55% of all clicks. In fact, only 0.63% of Google searchers clicked on something from the second page.

While Google’s “Top Secret” formula is so well protected that not even Nicolas Cage could get it, there are data-based, research-backed best practices to boost your Google search rankings. Let us show you the eight best!

1.) Heavy keyword research

While “keyword stuffing” is thankfully a thing of the past, keyword research is the essence of every internet marketing strategy. Why? Because keyword research is how you understand your target audience and their interests. Don’t think of keyword research as just looking up search terms. Think psychologically. Use keyword research to gain insights on what your target group is looking for and leverage those ideas to create relevant, engaging content.

2.) Create content based on search intent

Search intent (a.k.a. “user intent” or “audience intent”) is the “why” behind every search your users enter on Google. Users who search for something using search terms expect to find information about them. So to achieve a better rank, you need to have relevant content on your website and other social profiles. Put another way, your users are searching for answers; you want their search to stop with you.

3.) Examine and fix current Google penalties

Think of “Google Penalties” like demerits in elementary school. Get enough and you’re going to detention. Google won’t make you clean the marker board after school, but it will blacklist your website, meaning it won’t show up in organic search results. Once a website is blacklisted by Google, ranking it is a mammoth task.

Best to just avoid being blacklisted in the first place, right? Here’s how you can audit your own site to make sure it’s not setting off any Google alarm bells.

Keep away from the “Blackhat SEO” practices, such as keyword stuffing, as Google and other search engines especially penalize these.
Check your Google penalty history and implement the actions listed on the report. Submit and explanation of the origin of the problem, as well as your resolution in a “Reconsideration Request.”
Look for a sudden steep decrease in the organic traffic. This is usually the first indication of Google disliking your website.
Analyze your backlinks. Check the links pointing to your website and also check if they are contextually relevant links coming from genuine websites.
Remove unnatural links. Unnatural links are artificial links intended to manipulate a page’s ranking. These can include purchased links or links created by scrapers and spammers that attach themselves to your site under the radar.
Check if the site is hacked. If Google finds malicious codes embedded on the website, it removes them from appearing in the searches, temporarily. So search and destroy malicious codes regularly.

4.) Reduce bounce rate

Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors that leave your website without visiting other pages, filling out forms, making a purchase, subscribing to your newsletter, etc. Basically, they came to your site and weren’t impressed.

How do you avoid this? If your main page includes all of the required information, users won’t navigate to other pages. So spread the deets around. Also, keep an eye on the time users are spending on each page. If the time doesn’t match the length of your content, it’s time to rethink your approach.

5.) High-quality content only

High-quality content is not just content that is free of grammatical errors; it’s relevant, engaging, informative, and most importantly, shareable and link worthy. Since backlinks play a crucial role in the eyes of Google, high-quality content is a must.

6.) Improve on-site and technical SEO

On-site SEO (also referred to as “on-page SEO”) and technical SEO make your website:

Crawlable by search engines. Search engines use “robots” to crawl/review your site. So make sure your site has robust internal linking to ensure the robots visit all pages.
Cut out dead links. Most websites have dead links, so be sure to remove them. Sound daunting? Good thing there are tools to help you recover dead links on your website.
Delete duplicate content. Having the same content on multiple pages within your website can confuse search engines, which may make all pages with the rank lower. Also, having the same content as other pages isn’t just bad for search; it’s plagiarism (or appears to be) and could get you in trouble.

7.) Know the Google algorithm

No, we don’t mean you have to know the official algorithm that Google keeps locked up tighter than Fort Know. We just mean that since Google is always updating its algorithm, you must consistenly upgrade your website to improve the user experience.

8.) Monitor key metrics

Discover what to tweak on your website. Here are the most important metrics to consider:

Organic Traffic. To ace this, it’s crucial to understand how users reach your website. Paid ads, social media, and email are the leading ways to attract organic traffic, though this varies by industry.
Keywords used to visit your site. Besides analyzing search traffic, it’s important to know the keywords that drive visitors to your site. We recommend you use Google Search Console, which can show you the number of clicks you get for specific keywords.
Set up a SEO Dashboard. Stay informed about your website’s performance by setting up a SEO Dashboard and monitoring it routinely. Budget-friendly options like Google Analytics, SEMRush or Ahrefs help you make smarter, more informed decisions on how to improve your site. Some of these tools can even warn you about drops in keyword rankings.

These eight tips are a great start to boosting your ranking on Google. But getting – and staying – in the lead takes an expert who know how. Good news, your search for a Search expert ends here! Contact us and level up your search results with Levo!

FAQs

What was Google’s Panda update?

Panda was Google’s first major algorithm overhaul aimed at removing low-quality content. It significantly reduced the rankings of spammy websites that published low-quality, thin content.

What was Google’s Penguin update?

One of the most infamous updates in the history of Google, Penguin penalized many online marketing companies that sold links.

What is the Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors that leave your website without taking additional actions, such as visiting more pages, filling out forms, making a purchase or subscribing to your newsletter.

What is “Search Intent?”

Search intent (aka “user intent” or “audience intent”) is the why behind every search your users enter on Google. Users who search for something using search terms expect to find information about them. So to achieve a better rank, you need to have relevant content on your website and other social profiles. Put another way, you’re users are searching for answers; you want their search to stop with you.

Anya Sleezer

Anya Sleezer is the owner of Levo, a full–service marketing agency, focused on helping companies from all industries who are concerned with their marketing results, traffic, branding, advertising, or websites.

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