Google is moving away from ranking sites just based on technical SEO (Search Engine Optimization), content, and backlinks. A few years ago, if you had these three things nailed down you could rank pretty well in the search engines.
In 2019 that will get you in the top 50 of the search results for competitive keywords.
In order to rank in a competitive niche it’s necessary to have authority and relevancy.
Domain Authority Explained
Some years ago the people at Moz developed a metric called “Domain Authority”, or DA for short. It predicts how well a site will rank, and it’s a metric SEO professionals use to see how their SEO efforts have progressed.
DA is measured on a scale of 1 to 100. The closer a site is to 100 means it has better authority and relevancy.
I need to emphasize that improving the DA for a website is a long-term process. You can’t just make a few changes and expect the DA to skyrocket.
How can I find out what my DA is?
The best way is to head over to Moz’s Site Explorer and enter your URL. You will be prompted to signup for a free account, which only takes about a minute.
A healthy DA is anywhere from 30 to 50. Anything above that means you are in a very good spot.
How do I build authority and relevancy?
Here’s what you need to do to build authority and relevancy:
1.Have a healthy link profile
Google loves to see many different websites linking to your site, especially from sites that have a strong DA. This is a strong ranking factor.
2.Create unique and relevant content
If you have interesting content that engages people and answers their questions, you are ahead of the game. Not only will search engines rank your site higher, people will share your content through links, and most importantly, your site will generate sales.
3.Improve your SEO
Having good SEO for your site is essential for improving your DA and rankings. There’s no documentation that one part of SEO is more important than another. That’s why enhancing every part of SEO is essential. Here are some important SEO elements:
A. A well-coded website. Search engine bots don’t see the design part of your website, they read the code behind it. If the bots can’t read and follow the code, they may not fully index your website and your rankings will suffer. To help the search engines, make sure you include an optimized robots.txt file. This file tells Google and the other search engines how to crawl your site. Also include an XML Sitemap. A sitemap gives search engines a road map to follow to crawl all the pages on your website.
B. A secure site. For some time Google has recommended that all websites be secure. Secure websites will have HTTPS in the URL, instead of HTTP and you will also see a lock icon. Unsecure sites will see a “not secure” notice in Chrome and other browsers. Secure sites will also receive a slight ranking bump from Google.
C. Site speed. Google has said that a slow website will be a ranking factor, so it’s important to have a fast loading website. A fast site relies on the type of server and optimized images (reduce the file size). A well-designed caching program helps immensely. And don’t forget mobile speed performance too.
D. Be mobile friendly. It is important that your website looks good on desktop computers, tablets and phones. More people are now using mobile devices for web browsing than desktops or laptops. Make sure your site builder is using the best practices for mobile devices. You can use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to see how your site stacks up.
E. Page titles. Use keyword phrases in page titles, which is where Google first looks to determine which content is relevant to which search. You’ll see the page title as the first line of a search result entry.
F. Meta descriptions. Although not technically a ranking factor, this is the description below the page title that describes what’s on the page. Use this description to entice viewers to click on this page.
G. Header tags. Use header tags to show content hierarchy. Your most import title is formatted as H1, then use H2 and H3 for subheads. This helps search engines determine where your most important content is.
H. Use alt tags. Alternate tags (alt for short) are used for short descriptions in images on a website. It describes what the image is about, since search engines can’t see images. This is an opportunity to use your keywords in the alt tags; just don’t overdo it.
I. Schema Markup. This is a markup language that tells Google what kind of content you’re producing. For example, we all can recognize a street address when we see it, but Google sees this as just a bunch of numbers and some unrelated words. Schema markup makes it clear to search engines that is entry is an address. This is just one example. There are many types of Schema types, such as events, organizations, products, or restaurants. This can also help your content appear in rich card entries and answer boxes.
J. Improve user experience. For a while now, Google’s been using artificial intelligence, called RankBrain, to better rank web pages. This includes signals that affect your search engine ranking, such as:
Click-through Rate – the percentage of people who click on a link shown is the search engine results.
Bounce Rate – the percentage of visitors to a website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
Dwell Time – This is how long visitors stay on your site.
K. Links. Links are an important ranking signal. There are two types. Inbound links (or backlinks) is one way to help determine how authoritative and relevant your content is. If a website, especially an authoritative one, is linking to your site, that means your content is valuable.
The other type of link is internal linking. Linking to your own content can help tie pages together for both Google and your visitors, making each page more valuable. If you have an authoritative page and link to another page on your site, that helps visitors find the other page and passes on some of that authority. That will help that second page boost its search engine ranking.
L. Get Social.
Combine a strong social presence with your SEO efforts to improve the traffic that goes to your site. It takes lots of time and effort to create great social media posts that will yield small improvements to your DA. But remember, this is one small part to a larger effort.
4. Tap into YouTube
Google loves YouTube videos, probably because they own it. YouTube videos is another way of getting and sharing your message about your business. There are plenty of poorly produced videos out there. Make sure yours stand out with valuable information about your business without over-selling.
5. Get Reviews
This is one of the most untapped areas of any business, but it is one of the most important. According to studies, 68% of customers are more likely to trust a business if they read a positive review. Encourage happy customers to leave a review on your site, Facebook, and Google. This will increase sales and is a ranking signal for Google.
6. Create a Blog
Regularly scheduled blog posts are a good way keep your content fresh. The problem is that there are millions of blog posts out there for all kinds of subjects. Your posts have to stand out from the others so that people will link to it and share it on social media.
Summary
These are the basic steps needed to increase your authority so your site can rank higher in the search engines. I must tell you that this is most likely a long-term endeavor. Increasing your DA score may take many months or even years to accomplish. You have to stick with it and be patient.
If all of this seems overwhelming to you, Blue Lacy SEO can help. We are determined to help your business grow. Contact us today.
