Congratulations, you’ve taken the first step in working to get your business website seen by the hundreds of potential customers it needs. In this article, we look at how to increase your Google ranking for free.
Take a look at our tested methods for 2021.
Google rankings are determined by an extremely complex system or algorithm, which ranks your website on literally hundreds of factors. These include:
- Website relevance – Is your website relevant to the users search enquiry? Does the wording suggest that the user will find relevant content for their search?
- Website quality – Is your website designed to be functional for both a desktop pc and a mobile device or tablet? Is the information clear, displayed correctly and worded well.
- Optimisation – Is your website fully optimised? A SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Specialist will be able to carry out advanced optimisation of the content for Google, including page titles.
- Location – Is your business local and serving a certain area or district near by? Is your address consistent across your website and any other online adverts or directories?
The Google algorithm includes the factors above, plus many hundreds more, which are updated almost daily. A typical year may see hundreds of adjustments to how Google ranks websites and determines who should be on page one.
Therefore SEO is essential in ranking your website at the top. SEO companies keep on top of these changes and research how to best optimise your business website for the results you want, driving new customers and enquires to your business.
How to Increase my Google ranking for Free
Theres certainly plenty that a user can do for free towards ranking their website at the top of Google page one.
To start with, follow the bullet points above. Think how your website comes across to your potential customer. It’s often hard to see this as the person who has created the website, so ask a friend to check it for you!
Ask them if it makes sense, is the wording clear and concise. Is the content understandable and directly relevant to what the potential customer has searched on Google?
Navigate your website and check each page loads and looks as it should. Do all buttons work in directing you to the desired page? Is your contact information easy to find and accurate?
Try to get some key words or relevant search terms into the text on your website. Include these without compromising the quality and readability of your website. There’s no point spamming your website with certain words or phrases, it won’t help. Years ago this was common practice to basically manipulate the search engine into thinking a site was relevant. Google will penalise you for this today. A site needs to be organic, relevant and read well.
To show you an example: To promote our SEO services in our local area, we would include the term ‘Blackpool SEO services’ as a highly relevant search term. We’d include this in our content, while keeping the content as natural as possible. We might write: ‘Studio 36 Digital offer Blackpool SEO services’.
Google My Business listing
Google has a great free tool called ‘Google My Business’. When you search for a local business, you will see 3 businesses relating to your search and a map with their locations. This will always appear close to the top of the search results. If they have a customer review star rating, this will be shown too.
These local business listings were added by Google as a quick way to find trusted local businesses. Customers can quickly find a business phone number and location, view their products and services, and leave a review for the product or service.
The Google My Business listing also includes a link to your business website, hence why it’s essential to have. It is also a great SEO technique, referring traffic to your own website.
Bring in the Website Traffic
The ultimate goal? Drive website visitors to YOUR website, not the competition.
We’ve covered some important SEO techniques to ensure your website and Google My Business listing are set up correctly. Now we need traffic.
We need this for two reasons:
1) We want potential customers on our website, buying our products or services.
2) Google will note your website traffic over time and it’s popularity will assist in ranking your site.
Here some tips to bring in the all important website traffic:
- Share, share, share on social media. Post links to your products, interesting articles, current offers. Use your Facebook business page. Use relevant hashtags to promote your post on Instagram and Twitter.
- Write a blog. You can create your articles in a blog on your website. Share these on social media.
- Promote your website wherever you go! Business cards, workwear, car signage are all great methods.
- Consider paid advertising. Facebook and Google, as examples, offer targeted adverts to put your website and business in front on the right people, based on their interests or shopping behaviour online.
Summary
Remember, Google wants its users to find genuine, relevant content that’s useful to them. Keep this in mind when putting your website together and use the above techniques to increase your Google ranking for free.
We can help you
At Studio 36 Digital in Blackpool, we deal with SEO for small and medium companies looking to boost their presence online. We feel our SEO prices offer great value and you will see some fantastic results.
