SEO Is More Than Keywords
Want to improve your search engine rankings? Including certain keywords into your site’s content is an effective way to boost your rankings - but it’s not the only way. Below are seven other SEO factors to consider.
Page loading speed
The speed it takes for a web page to load can directly impact its rankings. If your website is slow to load (anything over three seconds) it could have a negative impact. There are many ways to boost your page loading speed including optimizing images, removing flash content and not displaying too many ads. Migrating to a faster hosting server could also speed up your site.
Mobile friendliness
Websites that are mobile-friendly are likely to rank more highly than those that aren’t (this is particularly the case for those using Bing or Google on a mobile device). To find out if your site is mobile friendly it could be worth doing the Google mobile friendly test. Many modern websites are likely to be mobile-friendly - but older websites may not be.
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks can play a big part in SEO. It’s important to have a good mix of internal (links leading to other pages on your site) and external links (links leading to other websites) on your site. Inbound links leading from other websites to your site are also important. These inbound links are some of the hardest to build - paying for guest blogger outreach is one solution. When creating SEO-friendly hyperlinks, it’s best to use keywords instead of solely using generic anchor text such as ‘click here’.
Fresh content
It’s important to keep adding fresh content to your website. A website that has had no updates for several months is likely to rank low. Let search engines know that your website is active by constantly adding new content or editing old content.
Domain age
Don’t be alarmed if your brand new website doesn’t rank highly. The age of a domain can have an impact on its rankings - older and more established sites tend to rank higher. After three years, your site’s rankings should start to improve significantly, providing that your site has been active until then.
Dwell time/bounce rate
How long do visitors stay on a page after landing there? This is known as the dwell time and it can impact your rankings. This is closely related to your bounce rate - the rate at which visitors leave your site without exploring other pages. A high bounce rate will negatively affect your rankings. How do you increase dwell time and reduce the bounce rate? Mostly, by making your website’s content engaging and user-friendly. The page loading speed can also play a significant part on this (which is discussed earlier).
Page traffic
Web pages that get a lot of traffic are also more likely to rank higher. While your search rankings can in turn affect the amount of visitors you attract, it’s important to consider other ways of encouraging traffic to your site. This could include sharing content on social media, using PPC ads, promoting content with emails or even using QR codes.
