Getting your website to the top of Google is the ultimate SEO goal for any business. In today’s article, you will find how to increase Google ranking without going deep into black hat SEO. On top of that, you will discover my personal Google SEO guidelines for 2018.

If you are searching for “how to get on the first page of google in 24 hours“, you will not find the answer here because it takes resourcefulness, dedication, persistence, and creativity to rank on the top page of SERP. This is especially true because of the constantly-changing nature of Google’s algorithm.

Here’s what I can Guarantee

Not many writers will tell you this, but I’m going to tell you that if you follow these steps, you are going to increase SEO ranking for free and at the same time, improve Google search skills.

As search engine optimization is an evergrowing and ever changing business, you need to improve your SEO skills in order to beat your competitors.

How to increase Google ranking the right way?

In this article, you are going to discover the following:

Understand the Google ranking algorithm
Track and target the right metrics
Ensure your website is mobile friendly
check-circle-oImprove the average dwell time
check-circle-oDo keyword research
check-circle-oDo on-page SEO
check-circle-oUse LSI keywords

Understanding Google Ranking Algorithm

checkWhat is Google ranking algorithm
checkWhat are the key metrics and algorithm you need to focus on
checkHow to rank higher on SERP using Google ranking algorithm

Do you know what is Google ranking algorithm? In 2016, Backlinko published 200 major factors that affects the Google algorithm. And if you think those are the gems, you are wrong!

There are way more factors that affects how a website rank on Google.

So, how can I rank my website on Google and not getting crazy?

The answer is simple. Focus on the right Google ranking factors and you will well on your way to increase the ranking of your website.

Of course, it is easier said than done. It is hard work and takes a lot of time to get it right.

Carry on reading the below to learn more on how you can increase your website on Google’s SERP.

Important metrics for better search ranking

I get this question a lot of time and I will share with you the major ones that are going to help you skyrocket your site to the first page of Google.

1. Keywords

Keywords — meta keywords, focus keywords and related keywords are all important if you want to rank your website.

A detailed description of each type of keywords are as follow.

Focus Keyword

Focus keyword is your primary keyword in your blog post. Each blog post should only have one focus keyword to avoid ‘confusing’ the search engine cralwers.

Meta Keyword

Meta Keywords are a specific type of meta tag that appear in the HTML code of a Web page and help tell search engines what the topic of the page is all about. The best way to use meta keyword is to eansure that each keyword used accurately describe your content.

Related Keyword

Related keywords are keywords that are not the exact match to the primary keyword. However, these keywords are alternative keywords that provide similar meaning to the primary keyword. Using related keywords in your blog post will help the post rank higher on Google.

2. Keywords ratio

This is very complicated and I do not recommend you to follow to the ‘T’. However, I usually go with:

< 3% exact keyword
< 2% long tail keywords
< 5% related keywords

3. Bounce rate

This is pretty much a no-brainer. Lower bounce rate is always better. Get it under 50% and you will see a nice jump in Google search ranking.

The dwell time that Google is looking for is the magnificent 3 minutes and 30 seconds mark.

So, how do you make your website visitors stay for that long? It’s really simple and highly doable.

Here are some methods that you can use to reduce the bounce rate:

Embedding videos within the blog post
Giving a summary of the content upfront
Offer a bonus once they finish the article (giveaway, cheatsheet etc.)

4. Website loading speed

If your site takes more than 2 seconds to load, you are in trouble. When it comes to website loading speed, aim to be below the 1.5 seconds mark as it is going to help you rank higher on Google.

Responsive andMobile Friendly

checkWhat is a responsive or mobile friendly website
checkHow mobile responsiveness affects Google ranking
checkWhat is AMP and how to use it

Do you know how many website users are using mobile to visit your site?

For my site, it is approximately 30% on a monthly basis. A non-responsive or mobile friendly website doesn’t display the content properly to the website visitors who use mobile devices.

If your website doesn’t have a responsive design, it is time to consider this seriously. Take a look at the stats below.

What is a responsive design?

TL:DR A responsive design allows the website layout to automatically accommodate to the resolution, size and scripting abilities to provide the best user experience to the web visitors.

According to Smashing Magazine, a responsive web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.

The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and an intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to iPad, the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. In other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.

How mobile responsiveness affects Google ranking?

The first and most important reason is mobile responsiveness will improve the site usability. If web visitors are not having an easy time navigating your site, they are not going to stay!

After all, good usability scores lead to repeat visitors and increased conversions. As noted above, Google is in the business of satisfying user queries.

Besides that, page speed is critical. A mobile responsive design will always loads faster than normal design. If you want to improve ranking on Google (and a speed freak like me), mobile responsiveness is the fastest way to get higher ranking on search results.

How to implement responsive web design?

You are convinced that responsive web design is an important factor to get better Google ranking.

Good for you … but what’s next? How do you actually go from not responsive web design to mobile responsive web design?

There are two ways you can choose:

checkCheap solution: Get a mobile responsive theme
checkExpensive solution: Hire a web developer

If you are looking for cheap and affordable solution, you can easily do so by changing your WordPress theme.

Here are some of the best mobile responsive WordPress themes in the market today:

And if you really can’t decide, don’t worry. This article is going to solve your problems once and for all.

What is Google AMP and how AMP can increase your site’s Google ranking?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, a Google-backed project designed as an open standard for any publisher to have pages load quickly on mobile devices. On Feb. 24, 2016, Google officially integrated AMP listings into its mobile search results.

If you are NOT on AMP yet, you should! Google released a statement recently (in 2017) on mobile first. This means that content found on mobile devices (view) will be given top priority instead of the desktop version.

How to enable AMP on WordPress?

This is fairly simple (aren’t you happy to be a WordPress user?).

Install Google AMP plugin (here’s the link) and it will automatically do the needed to enable your site for AMP.

Note: While you may customize the way the AMP display looks like, this is highly optional and AMP for WordPress works automatically once it is installed.

KeywordResearch

checkWhat is keyword research
checkThe best keyword research strategy
checkBest tools for keyword research

Keyword research.

Every blogger in the world reads about it but only a handful does it correctly.

Keyword research is important if you want to improve Google ranking but it comes with a cost — keyword research is time consuming.

The best keyword research strategy

I love to believe that my keyword research strategy is the best in the world (please don’t hate me for that).

I don’t mean to be disrespectful but keyword research is really very straightforward. You can improve Google ranking fast if you follow these steps.

Determine the seed keyword (general keyword) you want to target

Start your keyword research by determine the general topic or keyword you want to target. It don’t have to super specific, but it is able to give you a good idea of what you want to target.

For example:

checkStart a blog
checkWordPress drag and drop editor
checkCheap WordPress hosting
checkMake money online

Find low competitive keywords

The next step involves finding low competitive keywords and long tail keywords. I use KWFinder but you are free to use Long Tail Pro or any other tools that fit your needs.

Examples of low competitive and long tail keywords are:

checkLonger than 3 letters
checkHas more than 500 searches in a month
checkTop 10 results are low in Page Authority and Domain Authority (use Moz Open Explorer to check)
checkThin or not up to date informations on the result pages

Find LSI keywords

Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI in short, these are keywords that are semantically related to your primary keyword. They are not just synonym or keywords that are similar in meaning. They are keywords that Google considers them to be similar to your primary keyword.

How to find LSI keywords?

checkUse LSIgraph
checkInput the primary keyword
checkUse the generated LSI keywords sparingly within your content

Craft and publish content

You have all the advantages now because you did your homework. You know exactly what keyword you want to rank and you are only one step away from beating your competitors — crafting the best content ever.

How to do so?

checkInstall WordPress SEO plugin (either Yoast SEO or All In One SEO pack)
checkOptimize your article for SEO
checkOptimize your entire site for SEO (seriously!)
checkUse a drag and drop website builder to improve engagement with your audience (I recommend using this WordPress editor)
checkEmbeded videos, images, quiz and lead in boxes to keep your audience occupied and stay longer on your site
checkAsk them to leave a comment and share their opinion (you can get way better engagement using advance commenting moderation and control with Thrive Comments)

Summary: How do you increase Google ranking?

I hope you like this guide on how to increase Google ranking.

Do you have any specific tips to rank on Google? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it!

By the way, click here if you are looking for the best plagiarism checker in the market today?

How To Increase Google Ranking: Step By Step Guide