The 4 Most Critical Ways to Rank Your Website on Google Search

If you get it right, search engine optimization might just the most effective marketing tactic at your disposal. Without spending a dime, you can get scores of visitors to your website simply by understanding what your audience searches for, and optimizing your website accordingly.But as successful as SEO can be, it is also difficult to master. Especially brands new to the concept tend to shy away from embracing it because of the apparent complexities involved to make sure it produces tangible results.

Fortunately, there is a path to success any brand can follow. If you break down SEO into its various components, you can create a strategy designed to succeed. To get you started, here are

1. Your Content

In search engine optimization, content is king. In fact, across the board, marketers see content as the single most effective SEO tactic available to brands.

That survey signals a shift away from specific keywords as the traditional focus point of SEO. A separate study found that in fact, less than half of Google's top results include specific keywords in their title tag or H1 headline. Instead, quality content matters more than all else, thanks to increasingly intelligence algorithms that can determine the quality and credibility of your website based on its content.

2. A Network of Backlinks

Since the search engine's first iteration, backlinks have been a core variable for Google to determine a website's quality, relevance, and credibility. The more other websites link to yours, the more Google will feel validated in ranking your site highly in related search results.

But don't think that all links are created equal. Google can distinguish between credible and questionable links to your pages, and ranks your website accordingly. Instead of looking to build your link profile at all costs, try to be strategic in getting links from only the most credible sources in your industry. Focus on relevant content that others want to link to. It also makes sense to disavow questionable backlinks in order to prevent accidental ranking penalties.

3. A Mobile-First Experience

We've come a long way from mobile devices being a novelty in browsing the web. Google first started its shift toward optimizing results for mobile in 2015, with an update that became known in the industry as Mobilegeddon. Since then, mobile searches have surpassed their desktop counterparts, and the search engine giant continued its adjustments accordingly.

Last last year, Google announced a broader shift to a mobile first index. In other words, it will now consider any website's mobile version before its desktop version. Optimizing your website for smartphone and tablet users first, using measures such as responsive design, is absolutely vital to maintain and improve your search rankings in this mobile environment.

4. On-Page SEO

Finally, the more technical, on-page measures still matter in improving your SEO. There is, for example, a strong correlation betweenencrypted https sites and high Google rankings. In addition, title tags, anchor text, and other variables can all influence your rankings.

Google is continuing to move toward a more organic rankings process in which user experience and quality content matter more than anything else. But while its algorithms are getting smarter, some technical aspects are still needed to define your website in the eyes of the search engine's crawler. Paying attention to your on-page SEO helps you get the basics right for impacting your Google search rankings

By focusing on these four components, you can create a website that attracts significant amounts of visitors through its Google Search ranking. But of course, you might not feel comfortable enough diving right in, particularly when it comes to technical points like your on-page SEO. In that case, we'd love to help.