When it comes to internet commerce, Google ranking can make or break a business. The vast majority of internet users still prefer Google over any other search engine, with Google sites accounting for two-thirds of all internet searches. And not only do you need to show up in Google results, you need to show up early – according to a 2013 study, the top result of a Google search gets 32.5 percent of that search’s traffic, and the number drops significantly from there. And if your page comes up on the second page, the numbers aren’t kind: your site will get less than 2 percent of the search traffic.
To make sure your articles are appearing on Google, and in a timely fashion, you need to understand how Google’s search algorithm works. Google uses what is known as a crawl to follow links and explore the entire internet, indexing and cataloguing everything as it goes. They then use algorithms (which are constantly updated) to make sure your search results are the most relevant results available.
(Note: If you’re interested in learning more about how this works, Google has a very slick, flashy interactive infographic about it)
So why aren’t you ranked highly by Google’s algorithm (which increases your Google rank)? Here are some of the reasons:
You haven’t been around long enough
Google’s crawl is aptly named, because it takes quite a while to get through everything and index it. Google’s index is enormous – more than 100 million gigabytes in size. The longer your page has been around with content relevant to your market, the more likely it will be sufficiently catalogued in the index.
You don’t have enough relevant content with appropriate keywords
Whatever your market is, your articles need to have content that is relevant to the market and filled with essential keywords. Are you in the hardware business? Your content needs to reflect topics that are relevant to hardware, with the keywords to match. As you emphasize certain topics and words, it will help Google’s algorithm associate you with that field, which increases your Google ranking.
You’re not cross promoting
To borrow from an old saying, when trying to build your Google ranking, you need to have your fingers in many pies. In order to maximize your online marketing potential, you should be involved with multiple social media sites – use them! Whenever there is a new article, post it to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. This not only increases visibility, it also adds to your article’s online footprint. The more places where the article link exists, the more Google will notice it.
You’re not linking to others
Linking to other pages may seem counterintuitive – after all, you’re trying to drive traffic to your site, not somebody else’s. But cooperation on the internet means a better ranking for you. Since Google’s crawl follows links, linking to another site is just adding to the number of times the crawl comes back through your site. Linking to reputable sites also helps establish your site as reputable, which will allow you to avoid any connection to spam sites (which are blocked altogether by Google).
To learn more about Google rankings, download our free eBook "How to Rank #1 on Google".
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