I wasn’t always someone with above average SEO knowledge, in fact it wasn’t too long ago that I graduated from college. As my understanding of optimizing your site and your name has grown I have compiled a number of different areas to focus on in order to increase traffic to your site through Google. My knowledge and understanding is always growing, and that is the way that I like it, so I thought I would share some of this insight.

  1. Rich Content
    This is where it all starts. Creating rich content for your site is like laying the foundation of your internet presents. Your content will either edify or disqualify the validity of your knowhow in the eyes of a visitor to your site. It will also influence the number of people coming to your site. When you have a site with rich content that is regularly being updated and added to, you have a platform to market from, and visitors will not only return for more, but they will share and engage.
  2. Improving User Experience
    The experience that a visitor has on your site will determine a lot. Google uses an algorithm called Panda to punish “low-quality” websites, and Google also attempts to measure the satisfaction of users when they click on search results.
    For users who click on your link but then quickly return to the search page, Google takes that interaction and views it as an unsatisfactory visit. This means that the user conducted a search, clicked on one of the results, wasn’t satisfied with the information, and then clicked ‘Back’ to find the information on another page.”The idea is called pogosticking, or return-to-SERP, and if you can reduce it by keeping satisfied visitors on your site (or at least not returning to Google to look for the answer somewhere else) many SEOs believe Google will reward you with higher positions in search results.
    “While we have no direct evidence of pogosticking in Google’s search results, we’ve seen enough patents,interviews and analysis to believe it’s possibly one of the most underutilized techniques in SEO today.” – Cyrus Shepard
  3. Utilization of Video
    When the average person views a search results page, their eye is first and foremost attracted to video content. When conducting eye tracking research, you can see that the video link is the most common place for your eyes to go to.eyetracking-serps-3

     

  4. Google Authorship
    If a video isn’t possible, getting to be the post with the picture next to it is often the next best thing, but you want to make sure to have a few things straight.
    – Get the right Photo: Have a picture of the author’s face, not a logo, drawing, or icon.
    – Make it easy to see: Get a picture with good color contrast, and make it clear. The image isn’t very big and you want it to be easy to see.
  5. Optimized for Smart Phones
    The number of mobile site visits has been increasing for a while now, and so you want to make sure your site is optimized for those people visiting on phones, tablets, or other mobile devices. You also want to avoid any type of smartphone errors, which could include:

    • Redirecting visitors to the wrong mobile URL
    • Embedding a video that doesn’t play on a particular phone (Flash video on an iPhone, for example)
    • Pop-ups that aren’t easily closed on mobile
    • Buttons or fonts that are too small on a mobile device

The pursuit for Google search ranking results is always going to be a battle, but the implementation of these tips will help you in your quest for that top spot.