8 Tips to Improve Your Google Keyword Rankings

A constant question for business owners is how to find new and innovative ways to stay ahead of a competitive market and be the company clients turn to first.

The most common way people look for products and services these days is by jumping on to Google. And because everybody loves convenience, most people will only look at the first few results before settling on one. 

As a business owner, you want your website to be the first your potential customers see. But how do you do that?

Staying on top of your keyword rankings is essential for helping customers choose your business. By following these tips recommended by our SEO team here at KWD, you will be well-placed to ensure a good ranking on Google search results.

1. Look at where you are ranking

It might seem obvious by this point, but the first step to solving a problem is knowing what the problem is. You need to know how your website is ranking and what its keyword performance is so that you can track your progress as you go along your SEO journey. 

Google Search Console is a great tool for tracking your keyword data and finding out which keywords are getting you the most website traffic.

2. Find out which keywords you need to target

Once you know your keyword data, you need to determine how they align with your business. Look into what comes up in Google’s autocomplete when you type in your keywords and think about whether those results are relevant to your product or service offering. Understanding the relationship between search intent and keyword targets will help you ensure your customers find you.

3. Make your site user-friendly

Websites that are cluttered, messy or confusing to use are not just unappealing to customers – search engines don’t like them either. If both Google and your target audience can easily find and navigate your website, its chances of having a better ranking will increase. You can find this out by requesting a free SEO audit with KWD.

4. Remember who your customers are

We won’t underestimate how important it is to optimise your website to ensure Google ranks you highly, but that needs to balance with your human user experience. And this covers a lot of ground, including calls to action, page tagging, content optimisation, loading speed, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly – and much more. 

On top of all this, you need to make sure your content is readable and gets your point across easily to your website users. The information you provide should be accurate and concise. It should also avoid unnecessary jargon.

5. Know the power of title tags

Being intentional with your title tags brings you a ton of benefits. As the first points of information that your users will see on social media and in Google search results, they present an excellent opportunity for you to entice users to click on your website. So make them enticing as well as informative! 

Not to mention, title tags are a powerful SEO best practice.

6. Stay informed on what Google is up to

Google is constantly releasing small algorithm changes and they also release major core updates every year or so. These affect different websites in different ways, so it is important to stay on top of when these happen. That way, you can trace any changes in your keyword ranking back to certain updates and act accordingly if you need to.

Fortunately, while Google is notoriously secretive about how its algorithm actually works, it does provide a helpful list of search ranking updates.

7. Keep improving your content

Running a website amidst a highly competitive digital market and Google’s constant updates means you cannot be complacent about where you sit. Content is the number one most important aspect of SEO, so it is essential to stay on top of it if you want to stay ahead. 

Make sure the content on your website follows the principles of E-A-T: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. If you keep updating your content, it will help to push your keyword visibility and ensure you are providing the best possible content for your audience.

8. Get help from the experts

SEO is a complex world that is constantly changing. If it feels like something that’s too over your head or you’re just too busy to work it out yourself, you are not the only one.

Here at KWD, our passion is helping Kiwi businesses get the most out of their SEO strategies. Our team of SEO experts have helped propel the rankings of hundreds of websites, and we know the ins and outs of creating a thorough SEO plan that suits the needs of every client. 

Let us help you make your website the first one your customers find. Get in touch with us today.