With the continually changing Google algorithms, one requires resourcefulness, persistence, dedication, and creativity to rank your sites faster. SEO helps figure out the strategies and techniques that can help increase audiences’ number on the website.

You have to dive back to the basics to understand the On-page and Off-page SEO and optimize humans and search algorithms. Read the article to know how to master SEO for web design and soar to the top of SERP.

Keep up with the changing Google Algorithms

For long-term success and consistently high ranking, you have to keep up with the continually changing Google Algorithms. It can make some significant update announcements but not a lot about the inner working algorithm. These changing search algorithms are the biggest hurdle for the SEO success of many marketers.

Some major Google Algorithm updates till now are:

1. Mobile-friendly update: Favor websites that comply with mobile-friendly versions
2. Pigeon: Integration of local search results like Google Maps
3. Hummingbird: Understanding the context behind the users search and not just the words they type
4. Penguin: Target spammers and sites with unnatural links

There are few resources like Google Webmaster Central, The Webmaster that can help you with Google algorithm updates and prevent penalties.

Know where you stand in ranking

If you wish to improve the website’s ranking, know where it stands in the current search rankings. Luckily, several tools are available online to see the site’s keyword rank, speed, and health.

How to know the keyword rank of your site?

• You can use SERPs.com to know the rank according to the specific keywords in the page content.
• The site will show where your site ranks.
• The first page that comes up in search result on your site
• The average monthly searches
• The average CPC (cost per click) for keywords

Keep a check on your site’s speed, as it is a significant factor in deciding your website’s ranking in the search engines. Utilize tools like the Google Page Speed Insights, Web Page Test, Yslow Browser extension, and Rigor.

Track the vital site’s metrics

Some important metrics to assess if you want to rank higher faster in Google:

1. How many visitors find your site?

It is the organic traffic that will help your website reach the top faster. For almost every industry except the media and entertainment, organic traffic is the highest source of revenue. Go to Google Analytics account and look at the acquisitions channel report.

2. Are you paying attention to the keywords?

Keyword plays a significant role in generating organic traffic for your website. You should know which keywords are leading to more visitors to your site. There are various tools like the SERP Scan that can help identify keywords.

3. How much time do you spend on commercial keywords?

Commercial keywords are the ones that help websites in generating money. For higher rankings, you have to know the difference between commercial and informational keywords to improve rankings. Informational keywords can only generate organic traffic but not convert users to buyers. The keywords should be a part of the meta description and On-page SEO.

Try setting up an SEO dashboard and track all essential metrics at any time.

Diagnose the current penalties

It is essential to check if, by chance, there are any penalties in effect and remove any link to unhealthy sites. Follow the given procedure to analyze and get rid of unwanted spots:

• Analyze your site’s inbound links with tools like Ahrefs, SEOprofiler, and many others. It is easy to know which sites are harmful and low quality:
• The ones from PR0 or PR-n/a websites
• The sitewide links
• Are domain names with little traffic
• The link leads to web pages with many external connections.
• After identifying the spammy links, it’s time to remove them from your site. Clean up the link profile with two easy steps:
• Visit the spammy site and ask the site owner to eliminate the link and add a no-follow tag.
• An alternative to the first one is Google’s disavow links tool, a part of Google Search Console. Go to Console and check the unnatural links, then click on disavow. It will export the links, but Google can’t remove the links due to lack of access. However, it will allow Google to stop transporting the link juice from the unnatural site.
• Always work on diversifying the anchor text distribution for improving the search rankings. While distributing, keep the following in mind:
• Will the anchor text match the targeted keyword?
• Does the anchor text have keyword phrases?
• Using the appropriate URL
• The brand name used as an anchor text
• Combine the anchor text with the target keyword
• Do you know that overusing the anchor text can get you penalized? To avoid over-optimization, follow the given guidelines:
• Try not to use excessive keyword-rich anchor texts and add something more generic along with the keywords.
• Avoid unnecessary links that can lead to Google penalties. What is the point of linking hair dye tutorials to a casino site?

Opt for meaningful on-page SEO changes

With some meaningful changes in the on-page SEO, one can increase google rankings and maximize their site’s performance. Take into account these considerations for on-page SEO:

• Keep the title tags descriptive, unique, and according to the target keywords. Don’t use the same keywords and title tags over and over. Consider the following points for title tags optimization.
• Try using pipes and dashes to maximize real estate.
• Never use all caps titles.
• Don’t use default title tags.
• Try inserting the essential anchor texts first.
• Avoid overstuffing
• Schema markup tells Google what exactly your content means and makes the website more understandable. With the schema, the user will gain more visually organized and aesthetic information.
• A search engine sitemap will help Googlebot crawl through your content and be readily available for SERPs rankings.

Conclusion

Your website needs to be relevant and reliable, depending on the user’s search criteria. It takes time to understand and study your target audience, but one can easily attract them with some key strategies. Do the required research and create killer content to meet the requirements of your user. This is the only way by which you can dominate and rule the search engines.