There is nothing more frustrating than investing time and money into a website, only to realize that no one can find it. You start to feel like no matter what you do, nothing will change. You might even think Google has it in for you and simply does not like your site!
If you find yourself in that situation, or if you just want to know how to improve your search rankings, this article is for you. By the end, you will have a concrete list of actions you can take to rank higher on Google and drive more traffic to your site.
While other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo exist, Google holds the vast majority of the market with over 90% of searches performed in Canada. That is why we will focus exclusively on Google.
Why does ranking on Google's first page matter?
Why does everyone in organic search dream about the first page of Google? In digital marketing, there is a popular saying: where do you hide a body? On the second page of Google. Nobody goes there!
According to multiple studies, over 90% of all clicks happen on the first page of Google. To be more precise, positions 1, 2, and 3 capture more than 50% of all clicks. Here is a chart showing the average click-through rate (CTR) by Google position:
What influences your ranking?
Before diving into strategies for improving your ranking, let us look at the factors Google considers when classifying websites.
Many factors are considered by Google's algorithm, and some of them are not even publicly known. In fact, there are over 200 factors that can influence your position on Google!
Over the years, however, a number of them have been revealed. The most important ones are:
Content relevance and quality
Page authority (backlinks)
Mobile-friendliness
Page speed
Site security (HTTPS)
Content length
UX (user experience)
Core Web Vitals (Core Web Vitals)
As you have probably guessed, improving your ranking means optimizing your website to perform better across all of these criteria.
Keyword research: a first step that is too often overlooked
Before optimizing your website for better rankings, you need to research which keywords you actually want to rank for.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or SEMrush to conduct your keyword research. You can also use these tools to spy on your competitors, helping you understand which keywords they are targeting in their SEO strategy.
The goal is to find keywords that are relevant to your services, have manageable competition, and carry decent search volume.
Once you have built your list, it is time to optimize your site. You can use tools like Google Search Console to track your progress over time.
How to improve performance on Google's most important ranking factors
Your site structure
The first element to optimize is your site structure. It needs to be designed to communicate clearly with Google.
Here are some foundational concepts:
-> Sitemap
A sitemap is simply a file that tells Google key information about your site. It lets Google crawl your site so that all your pages can be discovered by the search engine. In short, the sitemap is not for you personally, but it is essential for Google. It also lets you specify which URLs you want to be indexed and which you prefer to hide, such as shopping cart pages.
How do I know if I have a sitemap?
There are several ways to find your sitemap, but they can be quite technical. The simplest approach is to contact whoever built your website and ask them to confirm it exists.
If you do not have a sitemap, we recommend reaching out to your developer to have one created.
Optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, and H1
Google uses this information to understand what your site is about. The following infographic will help clarify these concepts:
Unlike the sitemap, titles and meta descriptions are not only important to Google. They are what convinces a user to click on your site rather than a competitor's.
The process varies by platform. If you are on WordPress, we recommend installing the Yoast plugin.
As for the H1, it represents the main topic of your page. Just make sure it is properly tagged as an H1. To check whether your page has one, follow these steps:
1. Go to a page on your site.
2. Right-click on the page.
3. View the page source.
4. Press Ctrl+F on PC or Command+F on Mac.
5. Look for <h1>.
That will give you your answer.
Yes, this section was quite theoretical, we agree. But it is necessary to achieve a strong ranking and ensure your site is properly structured to communicate with Google.
Content relevance and quality
Google's ultimate goal is to direct users to the best possible information so they can answer their questions. But how does Google determine whether your content is relevant? Google's bots analyze the words on your page and compare them to the user's search query.
It is essential to build your web pages from your target customer's perspective. Use their language. Make information easy to find. Put the most important content first. Make sure your calls to action (CTAs) are clearly visible.
Instead of boosting your credibility, using overly technical language may discourage your audience. By speaking in the same vocabulary your audience uses, you increase the chances that your page will be found and that readers will understand your content. Remember: the most important thing is to have the best content on the web.
If there is one thing to take away from this article, it is this: invest the time to create content that is genuinely better than your competitors'. If you deliver real value to your visitors, Google will notice and reward you with a higher ranking.
Building page authority (backlinks)
Google tends to favor pages with greater authority. One of the key factors driving that authority is backlinks: links from other websites that point to yours. Google's logic is straightforward: if many other sites are linking to you, your content must be valuable.
The strategy is to acquire as many links to your site as possible, ideally from high-authority sources. For example, a link from the Globe and Mail will have a much bigger SEO impact than a link from a brand-new blog.
It is technically possible to buy backlinks, but we strongly advise against it. When Google catches you, and it will, your ranking will take a significant hit.
There are tools that show you every URL that mentions your company. Reach out to those site owners and ask them to turn the mention into an actual link to your site.
Another popular tactic is guest blogging: writing articles on high-authority sites in exchange for a link back to yours.
Having a mobile-friendly website
In 2015, Google announced it would penalize sites that are not mobile-friendly. That decision makes perfect sense: since 2016, more than half of all Google searches have been made from mobile devices. Your site must adapt to any screen size.
To test your site's mobile-friendliness, paste your URL into this link:
https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Page speed
Your site's loading speed has a significant impact on your ranking. To check whether your site meets Google's standards, paste your URL into: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?hl=fr
Here are some quick strategies to boost your site's speed:
Compress your media files
Use media at the appropriate dimensions
Minimize your code
Enable caching
Remove unnecessary content
Use a CDN acceleration service like Cloudflare
If your site is still slow after optimizing all of these factors, consider switching to a better hosting provider.
A secure website
Google has penalized non-HTTPS sites since July 2018. To check whether your site is secure, look for the padlock icon to the left of the URL in your browser.
Making your site secure is simple and free in 2021. If you are not sure how to do it, reach out to us and we would be happy to help.
Content length
Opinions vary on the ideal length for a web page. However, multiple studies suggest aiming for around 2,000 words. Longer content gives you more opportunities to incorporate keywords and signal relevance to Google. The following chart shows the relationship between article length and Google ranking:
Yes, content length matters, but be careful not to pad your content just to hit a word count. Your content must remain relevant, or user experience will suffer. As you now know, that is another factor Google evaluates.
We recommend prioritizing quality over quantity. But if you can write a genuinely useful 2,000-word article, that is even better!
Core Web Vitals (Core Web Vitals)
According to Google, Core Web Vitals are signals that measure user experience and site performance. They became a ranking factor in May 2021, so it is worth getting your site ready now.
So what exactly are Core Web Vitals?
There are three main categories of Core Web Vitals:
Page loading time
Interactivity
Visual stability
Loading time is measured by Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). In short, the slowest-loading element on your page must finish loading within 2.5 seconds to pass.
Interactivity is measured by Interaction to Next Paint (INP). It measures how responsive a page is to user interactions, including clicks, taps, and keyboard input. A result under 200 milliseconds is recommended.
Finally, visual stability is measured by Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). In essence, Google wants to know whether your page's layout shifts while someone is viewing it. You have likely visited a page that suddenly rearranged itself after a few seconds. Google does not want that to happen. Your page layout should be stable within 0.1 seconds to pass.
We will be the first to admit that Core Web Vitals are not the simplest topic! To check whether your site is passing, head to Google Search Console and click on the Core Web Vitals tab in the left menu.
Strategy for a new site vs. an established site
Strategy for a brand-new website
When you are starting from scratch, targeting the right keywords from day one is critical. You do not want to compete with the web's biggest players right out of the gate.
The strategy is to go after keywords with lower search volume that are still relevant to your business. Larger companies often overlook these terms because the volumes are not high enough to interest them.
It will be much easier to rank in the top results for those terms. Once you have established a solid ranking on lower-volume keywords, you can start going after more competitive ones.
Strategy for an already well-ranked site
When you already have strong rankings, the best strategy is to focus on keywords where you sit between positions 2 and 10. Why? Because you have already done a lot of the work, and every gain will generate additional traffic.
In most cases, it is more impactful to move a keyword from position 5 to 4 than from position 30 to 20. At position 20, you will generally not generate any traffic at all. But moving from position 5 to 4 can mean thousands of additional visitors. Think about it!
How long before you see results?
Typically, it takes 4 to 6 months to see the impact of your changes on your rankings.
SEO is not a short-term traffic solution. However, once you rank highly for the right keywords, you will no longer need to pay for traffic. The key is to learn the fundamentals and apply them consistently every time you create new content.
In summary
We know this is a lot of fairly technical information to absorb quickly, so here are the key takeaways:
Start with keyword research.
Make sure your site structure is optimized for SEO.
Prioritize content quality over quantity.
Do not get discouraged too quickly. SEO is a long-term investment.
With these four foundational principles, you can stand out from the competition and one day reach that first page on Google. If you need help building a strategy, get in touch with us!