How to rank #1 in the spot in Google search. The answer is simple. You can do it by following Google’s Search Quality Rating Guidelines. It can webmasters and people understand what Google looks for in web pages and what you need to top the search rankings. Hidden within this document are four insights into
How to rank #1 in the spot in Google search. The answer is simple. You can do it by following Google’s Search Quality Rating Guidelines. It can webmasters and people understand what Google looks for in web pages and what you need to top the search rankings. Hidden within this document are four insights into the kind of sites Google would like to rank higher. The following four strategies are related to search marketing trends that you did not know about:
1. Content is Not King
Google’s guidelines instruct the raters to judge a site based on how a page satisfies a site visitor’s goals. These guidelines state that satisfying users’ goals are the standard on which every web page is judged by the search engine. Content is just no longer the king. If you’re going to put a bet on anyone then put it on the site visitor. Google’s guidelines put the user in the spotlight and so should you because doing so is the key to unlocking the right kind of content.
Section 4.2 of the quality rating guide states:
“The purpose of the page is to help you determine what high-quality content means for that page. …High-quality shopping content must allow you to find the products you want and to purchase them easily.”
Nowadays, algorithms consider the user intent based on machine learning from Google visitor logs and CTR data. The algorithms are slightly biased to display the content that tends to satisfy users making a specific kind of search query. Many sites in the top ten don’t even feature the search keywords. This is why Content is not king. Satisfying user intent is king.
2. User Intent is King
There is a complete section in the rating guidelines, section 12.7 called, Understanding User Intent. This comes in handy while considering the scope of your content, especially for a shopping site.
The intent of a Do query is to accomplish a goal or engage in an activity. The goal could be to download, to buy, or to interact with an app or a website.
3. On-Page Algorithm Ranking Factors
Expect the search algorithms to favor sites based on their ability to satisfy user goals. The only time when the quality rating guidelines make reference to keywords is in the context of keyword stuffing. Keywords are not a quality signal or a concern to the authors of the quality rating guide.
4. Award and Review Cultivation Strategy
It’s certainly an area where Google’s algorithms need more investigation. Section 2.7 is called Website Reputation and deals with the awards and reviews given from other websites. Human quality raters are encouraged to seek third-party ratings for the site.
Use reputation research to find out what users think about a website. Seek reviews, references, news articles, recommendations by experts, and other credible information created by individuals about the website.
5. Sentiment Analysis
This strategy to cultivate reputation relates to the field of scientific research called ‘Sentiment Analysis’. Though this is speculative and not a confirmed ranking signal, it is useful to consider reputation as an algorithmic signal. Doing so may make sense to the purpose of encouraging conversions and building goodwill, both of which lead to more sales. So it’s nice to consider incorporating review and award cultivation into your online strategy.
It’s no longer enough to be the best. You must prove your worth to the site visitors, and awards and reviews are a reliable symbol of quality to the visitors.
6. User Experience Search Marketing
The word “User Experience” has been used 23 times in the Google quality raters’ guidelines. This shows the importance of this factor. One of the strategies discussed the value of serving the user’s goals with the content. Another suggested doing that by focusing on the user experience, which includes download speed, suitable font size, logical navigation, etc. The quality rating guidelines underline the importance of focusing on user experience, which makes a user experience strategy as a practical and pragmatic approach toward ranking better in the SERPs.
7. Prepare to Accelerate
Contemporary web design and marketing trends tend to be in conflict with user experience trends. This is why an entire industry has grown around making the web more usable by blocking ads, cookies, and anything that slows a user down.
Users want results right away, at that’s why may not be able to spend a lot of time to find what they are looking for.
A major takeaway from the 2015 version of the rating guidelines is the major emphasis on speed and ease of use.