1. Mobile Responsive Design: By 2020, mobile users are expected to reach a whopping 4.68 billion. Considering the massive growth in mobile users, it is only understandable that Google has started to rate websites on their mobile-friendly feature. Although mobile responsive factor was a major part of Google’s previous ranking systems, it is expected to grow only stronger in the coming years. Having a mobile-friendly website is not an insurmountable task. Just hire PHP programmers and you are all set to go!

2. Link Building: Say what you want to say about link building, but it is still a top factor that helps with ranking. The search engine uses links as a way of checking any website’s authenticity. When someone links your website in their content, search engines use these links to crawl from the original platform to your website. Through this way, Google authenticates your webpage and ranks it better. However, this is only possible if you successfully acquire high-quality backlinks. To accomplish this task, read this great yet detailed article on link building.

3. Quality Content: Unique and original content will always be attractive. On the other hand, duplicate or copied content fails to generate the same effects. What is more, is that Google slaps penalties on websites that practice content duplication. Content plagiarism works two ways which is that you copy someone else’s work or someone else copies your work. In both the scenarios, detecting plagiarism is not a problem since many articles like these tend to solve the plagiarism issue.

4. Webpage Speed: Not everyone has the time to stick around while your webpage loads. Mere 5-second load time can decrease the rate of user engagement. To tackle this problem, consider investing in Content Delivery Network or hosting your website on a great cloud hosting platform. To check your webpage loading time, you can also utilize Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It not only reviews your page’s speed but also provides suggestions to improve it.

5. Meta Tags: When it comes to SEO, only a few people talk about meta tags. However, they play a crucial role in helping Google identify the purpose of your website. For this to work you need to find someone fluent in HTML and have them embed desired keywords in your web page’s source. This helps Google in identifying your webpage’s purpose, thus ranking you better in that specific niche.

6. Meta Description: Meta description does not directly affect the Google ranking. However, it affects CTR which positively influences the search engine ranking. A meta description is a short snippet that appears under your webpage’s main heading on the search page. You can also maximize your efforts by including keywords in the description. For more information about how meta description influences SEO, go through this article!

7. Content Niche: Carving a specific niche for your content helps Google ranking in identifying your authority. It also aids Google in ranking your pieces better in that specific niche. This means that the more content you produce in a target niche, the better you will be ranked on Google’s SERPS. For instance, if the topic of sewing machines heavily dominates your content, Google may start to consider you an authority in this area. So when someone specifically searches for sewing machines, the chances of your content appearing in the first few pages increase drastically.

8. Security Certificates: Not having the right security makes your website a breeding ground for scams and identity theft. Also, the lack of appropriate security measures compels users to ditch your website in favor of other similar pages. Moreover, Google uses security measures as a way of ensuring that secure information is being delivered to the users. On this basis, Google identifies the protected websites from the unprotected ones and ranks them better. Learn more about SSL certificates in this blog post.

9. Click-through Rates: Not everyone that views your newsletters is going to visit your page and this is exactly what click-through rates are. CTR is obtained by dividing the total number of individuals who viewed your advertisement with the number of people who visited your web page through links. CTR plays a significant role in ranking as higher clicks mean a boost in ranking.

10. Keywords: Nothing can beat this strategy. Keywords are used by many individuals as a way to send a signal to Google in hopes of ranking better. In simple terms, through keywords, Google identifies the products/services of any website. So when someone types in a query that is similar to your keywords, Google ranks you better in a bid to deliver great user experience.
However, stay well clear of keyword stuffing. Also, never depend on incorporating useless keywords in an attempt to appear in the first few search pages as Google severely penalizes such practices.

11. Voice Search Friendly: We cannot emphasize enough on the benefits of having a voice search optimized website. Just like with the mobile-responsive design, Google has started to rank websites based on how well their websites are optimized for voice searches. Also, voice searches are expected to grow considerably in the coming years, so more and more individuals are incorporating this feature in a bid to improve their SERPs standing. If you have not yet optimized for voice search, here is how you can do it.

12. Local Business Listings: When it comes to SEO practices, local SEO is just as important. Before trying to target the international market, try to focus on optimizing your website for local searches first. This is because around 95% people perform local searches on a daily basis. Tons of people ignore local SEO in order to target the international market. However, to achieve something big, you need to take baby steps. Also, improvements in local SEO help Google in boosting your overall ranking.

13. Error-free and Well-structured Content: Nothing damages your ranking like a web content riddled with grammatical errors. Moreover, a piece of content that is not structured well also takes a toll on your overall ranking. This is why it is necessary to focus on great and structured content as it helps Google in ranking you well. Having great website content has always played a significant role in SEO, and the coming years are no different. With that being said, you can hire eagle-eyed proofreaders. Or you can invest in the paid version of Grammarly to get rid of contextual mistakes.

14. Bounce Rate Bounce rate is the total percentage of visitors who leave your website without advancing to any other webpage. The time that each visitor spends on a particular website sends a signal to Google’s Rankbrain. Spending more time means that people find your information useful and high bounce rate means otherwise. Through this way, Rankbrain sends a signal to Google to rank websites according to their bounce rate.

15. Social Media Platforms Social media’s performance has been long debated when it comes to ranking. But with 2020 just a few months short of arriving, a lot has changed. When it comes to social media profiles, the nature of your shared posts considerably influences your ranking. This is because if your followers find informational value in your posts, they will share it on their profiles. This will create a chain of backlinks that will only benefit your cause.

Conclusion

People rely on SEO practices to help their websites attain a better position in SERPs. Previously, SEO did not go beyond keywords and quality backlinks. But since the recent years, it has advanced into different practices which have made it extremely complex. Because of this many people are turning towards digital marketing experts for assistance. So if you want to boost your SEO ranking you can either rely on digital marketing services UK. Or you can work on improving and implementing the strategies which we have mentioned above!