Google is constantly changing the criteria for ranking high in the search results. It is not uncommon for Google to rank websites for keywords different from what you target. However, this does not mean that SEO is pointless.
There is still so much that you can do to make your webpage rank for the keywords you want. You should gear all your efforts towards making sure that you give Google the right signals through the pages.
Statistics show that the top 5 search results on Google receive about 75 percent of the clicks. Ranking in the top five should hence be your goal when optimizing your website. You need to ensure that you do not over-optimize as this can have you penalized by Google.
How can you improve your keyword search results? Read along for insights.
1. Determine Your Audience’s Interests
One reason why you want to optimize your website is to have your customers convert. It does not help if you have a lot of traffic with no sales. If this is happening, there are high chances that you are utilizing the wrong keyword, targeting the wrong audience.
To get on the right path, look at your visitors’ demographics like gender, age, and interests. This information is available in your WordPress dashboard. This information will help you know the kind of people to target once you have the right keywords.
2. Check to See Where You Currently Rank
Without a baseline, it will be difficult for you to measure results. You can use a rank-tracking tool and check it on a regular basis. Take note of the variations.
At this point, you need to:
I). Ensure that your keyword has enough volume
You do not want to continue working with a keyword that has a low search volume. Look for equivalent terms that have similar popularity. However, avoid those with too much competition as they might not be worth your time.
II). Choose a keyword relevant to your business niche
You will have a higher level of success if you use keywords that are in line with your business. You will get some real returns on your rankings if they are driving traffic.
III). Make close variations of the primary keyword
They will be important later when you are optimizing your web content. Using the Google Keyword Tool, it will be a lot easier for your find variations, especially for the long-tail keywords.
Type in your keyword in the Google search engine and check to see the other keywords it suggests.
3. Check your Competition
Once you have come up with your keyword, search for it on several search engines. You want to see what your competitors are doing around the keyword. Some of the critical concepts to pay attention to are:
- The URLs and domains- your interest should be to see how many domains have an exact match to the keyword. Do the top 10 URLs contain the keyword?
- The titles- how are the keywords incorporated in the title tags?
- Types of content- what content type are the competitors producing? Are they focusing on blog posts, videos, or product descriptions?
- Types of business- are your competitors small businesses, huge brands, or new sites?
- Their level of authority in the niche- to determine this, you can use a plugin to determine the age of the top 10 sites and the size of their profiles.
Once you get this information, it will be easy for you to come up with ways to differentiate yourself. Ideally, you will need to do more than the competitors are doing, and do it better.
4. What Is The Intention of Web Visitors?
Once check the keywords that are mostly in use, the next step is to gauge the intention of the searchers. It involves determining what visitors to your site are looking for and striving to deliver this to them. An e-commerce business will do the best it can to rank for commercial keywords.
The bottom line when looking for the searcher’s intent is to ensure that you are the one result they need. Once they click on your website, they will have no other reason to check elsewhere. Yours should be the best and most satisfactory answer.
5. Conceptualize the Content
Once you know which keywords you want to use and the impact they will create, actualize them. It is time to come up with content that will help you rank for the keywords you have chosen. Your content can be in the form of
- A blog post
- An article
- Product review or description page
- An authoritative guide
- Directory of links
- Infographic
- Videos
You need to know who will create the content and how long it will take. Sometimes due to time constraints and the need for expert content, it is wise to outsource the services. Ensure that you have the resources and budget required.
No matter the size of your budget, you can come up with content that optimizes your site.
6. Execute Your Concept
Once you know which keywords to use and in what content, it is time to put what you have gathered into practice. Remember that it is not possible to rank in position ten up from position 40 overnight. This means that you should not rush the process.
Search engines are looking for quality content. Putting forth material that is less than perfect will be a disfavor to your website. Do not write for the search engines, but make sure that your searchers will find value in your content.
6. Optimizing the Keyword
At this point, give thought to the question, “how can you improve your keyword search results?” As you execute your concept, the aim should be to optimize it while creating it. Do not wait until the content has been created to optimize it.
The list of keywords you created comes in handy at this juncture. Ensure that you leverage them in your content, but avoid overstuffing them. As earlier mentioned, if you make your content sound like a pile of keywords, you will be penalized.
Some schools of thoughts will advise you to use a white background to place invisible keywords. Avoid this approach as it is a violation of Google guidelines. Double-check your keyword research to ensure that your content will produce the results you need.
7. Publish and Promote Your Content
Carefully schedule the publishing of your content. If your article or the information you want to publish does not fall into the evergreen content, you need to be careful. News content, current trends or events happening now might not help your pages rank well a few months from now.
Immediately after publishing your content, do some media outreach before it goes live. Get as many people as possible to see it in many online quarters before it even starts ranking. You can achieve this through:
- Sharing through social business accounts like Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
- Make use of widgets and social buttons to make it easy for viewers and readers to share. If all they are asked to do is click a button, the likelihood of sharing is very high.
- Create links to your content. Linking might be an annoying part of SEO, but it is still a huge part of increasing your ranking. Link building can be done in two ways; backlinks and internal links.
Backlinks
They are links from other websites and drive traffic back to your site. They are difficult to accrue, but when you have them, search engines will weigh more heavily on them to rank your site. An easy way to create backlinks is to promote your content through social media network.
It is not a painless affair, but it is worth your time and input.
Internal Links
You can create links from a keyword on one page to another page within the website. Internal links increase traffic within the site depending on how often visitors click on them.
How Can You Improve Your Keyword Search Results? – Conclusion
Improving your keyword search results is not hard if you pay attention to the raking criteria by Google. Although the process takes time, it is worth the efforts in the long run. Remember that it takes time for Google to notice changes on your pages.
The most important thing is to carry out the steps outlined on a consistent basis. Keep reviewing what is changing and change or update your content accordingly. You would rather have slow improvements than over-optimize and suffer the consequences.
You have now found an answer to the question “how can you improve your keyword search results.” It is time to get to work. As a tip, avoid keywords that are too competitive.
Knowing your current rankings is the best way to start improving them. Be sure to use our free ranking checking tool.
