3 things you can do today to boost your Google rankings

You’re running your own business, on the road to financial freedom, doing it your way. Your website is up and looking great, and there’s real demand for what you’re offering. But you’re struggling to drive traffic to your site, which means fewer customers…

And even if you could find some time for SEO tweaks, it’s so hard to know what will make an impact for your business. But there’s no need to feel helpless. A solution’s in sight.

Here’s three proven tactics to help you increase your rankings, and drive traffic to your website.

1. Speed up your website

Remember how it feels when you have to wait, and wait, and wait to be served at a restaurant? Well, that’s how a new visitor feels on a slow website. And just like you, chances are, they’ll leave and go to your competitor down the street.

Now, most sites in 2018 loaded within 8-11 sec. But that’s pretty dismal… especially considering over 50% of users will leave a page that takes longer than 3 sec to load. And with stats like these? It’s no surprise Google considers page load time a competitive ranking factor.

But before we look at ways to streamline your site, go test your load time at Pingdom, and look through the analysis for problem areas to address. The following can help.

3 ways to reduce your page load time

Here are some tools you can use to instantly speed up your website:

1. Image compression plugins reduce the size of your images upon upload.
2. Caching plugins preload data, and reduce the number of process required to view your site.
3. A CDN (Content Delivery Network) increases page load consistency, regardless of the geographic location of the user or host server. (This took 5 sec off my page load time!)

Find out more: 5 ways to instantly reduce your load time (and please Google).

2. Update your business blog

Google loves new content – especially when it’s worth reading. So, regularly posting high-quality, useful content not only pleases your audience, but can also boost your SEO.

In fact, companies with a business blog generate 67% more leads each month than those without.

Furthermore, a business blog helps you establish authority in your industry to become a name customers trust – and buy from. But where do you start?

Topics for blog posts can be hard to think of, particularly if you don’t have a new product or service update coming up. But a blog is much more than just business updates. It’s about providing value and a reason for customers to return to your site. It’s about solving problems, and increasing engagement.

3 ways to come up with engaging blog topics

Here are some of the many creative ways to produce great ideas for your next blog post:

1. Answer your customers’ questions
Ask your staff, and look to your business’s social media pages, to find out what questions your customers are asking. Find common threads, and respond with helpful, detailed articles.

2. One-up your competitors
Find your competitors’ most popular content – and do it better. Expand on their main points, support with quality research, include images, offer actionable tips, and make sure the structuring of information is really easy to follow.

3. Google search
Type the primary keywords for your products/services into Google without pressing enter, and see what pops up in the suggested search dropdown list. Press enter, scroll down to the “People also ask” box and “Searches related to” keywords. Take your pick, and create some great content specifically for your audience. Rinse and repeat.

Whatever you do, ensure your content is good enough for people to share and link to. More about that next…

Find out more: 10 blog topic ideas to delight your audience & drive online traffic

3. Look for backlink opportunities

Backlinks – links from one webpage to another – continue to be one of the most significant Google ranking factors. Naturally, sites with a strong backlink portfolio tend to dominate page one positions.

You see, a backlink is like a referral. And, like referrals, the source of a backlink plays a considerable role in how it influences your rankings. For example, a link from a relevant site with a decent Domain Authority (above 30) will help your rankings more than a link from a site with a Domain Authority in the single digits.

Furthermore, not all backlinks are positive. In fact, some may even hurt your rankings. So be sure to stay away from paid link farms, and spammy sites. If you wouldn’t tell a Google employee about it, you probably shouldn’t do it…

3 ways to get backlinks

There many ways to get backlinks, but here’s just a few to get you started:

1. Guest post on relevant blogs
Pitch or submit articles to popular resources in your niche, or simply write for a friend’s business. Make sure you get a byline, and link to your website.

2. Guest on a podcast
Reach out to local podcasts to pitch a guest segment. If you’re solving problems for their audience, chances are you’ll get the gig, exposure to a new audience, and a valuable backlink (or several).

3. List on local business directories
Local listings can be great for brand awareness, and some can even give you valuable backlinks to influence your rankings. But stay away from dodgy looking sites. They’ll be treated as spam.

Check your backlink profile from time to time, but be patient, as backlinks can take months to affect your ranking. But it will be worth it.

Find out more: Backlinks, how they boost SEO, and how to get them.

Conclusion

Online presence is integral to the success of many businesses today. With these proven tips, bit by bit, you can work away at improving your SEO to drive traffic, increase your brand awareness, and boost sales.

For more practical tips on improving your rankings, check out SEO basics for small business.