Sites and blogs: How to improve Google positioning
SEO is slow in nature. It can take years to build a domain's authority and page rank. Learning how to improve positioning on Google requires some dedication.
Search engine optimization is the slowest form of marketing we know. But there is a big shortcut you can take to get there faster. In addition to learning typing, it is essential that you know how to optimize your texts for search engines.
This article is a guide that will teach you step by step how to improve Google positioning on your sites or blogs, in order to help you have a blog with many visitors and able to generate you extra income.
Before starting, it is worth mentioning that this guide does not go through complex subjects, such as improving the loading speed of your website or even having to migrate the website hosting to another server. All are tactics that you can apply today to improve the positioning of your articles.
It is the only relatively fast SEO strategy we know of. If you've never done this before, there may be great opportunities to improve your ranking on Google. The key is in your Analytics.
The goal is to find a key phrase for which you are already ranked, but which does not appear first in searches. If you can find these phrases, you can find the corresponding page. If you can find the page that is ranked, optimize it better for the phrase and watch the ranking jump.
Makes sense? We will go into detail in the next paragraphs of this article. Before that, check out this summary with the steps you should take to learn how to improve positioning on Google.
- Find the phrases for which you almost rank high;
- Find the page in Google search results. Confirm the classification;
- Then, improve the page by better indicating the relevance of the sentence;
- Go back and see if it worked.
It is very fast. There is no need to search for keyword phrases, as Analytics will provide us with the phrase. There is also no need to check the competition, because it is already ranked on Google.
That's why this is the fastest way to increase Google's rankings with the least possible effort. The entire process will take five to ten minutes. Looks good?
So stay with us and learn everything you need to know about how to improve Google positioning for your sites and blogs!
1. See the “Consultations” report
First, let's find the phrases you're almost at the top of. It is in Google Analytics and you can access the report by following this path: Acquisition > Search Console > Queries.
It’s worth mentioning that if you’re unable to access this report, you probably didn’t connect your Search Console account to Google Analytics.
This report shows:
- all phrases you rate;
- the number of times you appeared on Google (impressions);
- the number of times your pages were visited from these phrases (clicks);
- how high you rank for the phrase (average position);
Tip: This report shows data for the last three months only and does not reveal information for the last two days. Set your period to cover three full months to get as much data as possible.
2. Define an advanced filter
We are looking for phrases that are already classified on Google, but that can improve. We need to use an advanced filter to find only the phrases that appear on the first or second page of a Google search for the keyword phrase you chose, but that is not in the first position, for example.
The idea is that a page with a rating higher than 10 is high on page two.
This assumes that there are 10 organic search listings on page one, which is not really the case, but it is close enough that we can make this work.
In other words, this filtered report asks Google Analytics the following question: “Which phrases does my site rank on page two?”
Nobody wants to rank on page two, but the good news is that at the top of it their results are similar to those on page one. You are just below an inflection point. This is a low fruit!
3. Sort the report by ratings
Click on the “Average position” column header to sort the report. In fact, you will have to double-click to be able to see articles that are in the eleventh position onwards.
Advanced Tip! Make a Google Analytics “shortcut”. Save the filtered and sorted query report as a shortcut.
This will make access easier next time. Just click on the “Shortcut” link above the report, name it and click OK. The report will now be available at any time in the navigation on the left side of Google Analytics.
4. Scroll through the list searching for keywords
You will quickly notice that this report shows some strange phrases. Things that seem irrelevant.
Don't worry about them. Every website ranks for unrelated phrases. Just ignore them and keep looking.
This report can also show phrases that include your brand name. Go beyond them too.
Search engine optimization is about ranking and getting traffic from unbranded phrases.
Ideally, you will find some key phrases related to the buyer. Remember, there are two types of keywords, which we will go into more detail below.
Question Marks
Phrases inserted by people who are researching a problem, not yet knowing how they want to solve it.
Example: "Why does cold water hurt my teeth?"
Dollar signs
Phrases inserted by people who know how they want to solve their problem and are looking for an assumed solution. They are usually ready to spend money.
Example: “Emergency dentist são paulo”
The money, like the leads, are in the phrases related to the buyer!
Did you find any? Great. We’ll continue to the second half of the guide on how to improve Google positioning.
5. Confirm your rating
Start searching for phrases on Google to confirm your ranking. You will now notice that the “average position” is not the same as the ranking. Sometimes, you’ll see a higher rating than the report suggests.
Other times, you will not see your website. There are many reasons for the discrepancies. They can be:
- Your website can have more than one page ranked for the phrase;
- Your website can be ranked in the image search results;
- Today, your site may rank differently than the average, considering the reporting period you built;
- Your search results can be customized for you based on your location or browsing history, among others.
You can avoid this last problem by taking a few actions before searching: log out of Google, open an anonymous tab in your browser – the cookies stored in it alter the search results! – use a proxy server to connect to Google or using Google's ad preview tool.
Tip: There really is no fully neutral research. That's why the A / B test for Google's ranking is impossible.
Don't expect the data to be accurate. You're just looking for clues.
Did you find a page that ranks a sentence, but not too high? Great. Let's go to the next step!
6. Check how the phrase is used on the page
Now, we want to see how the page has been optimized for the phrase. Does the phrase appear on the page in the right places? Was the page indicating relevance?
It is possible that the phrase barely appeared on the page. It is possible that the ranking was completely accidental.
In that case, you now have the opportunity to indicate relevance and improve rankings with very little effort. To check, search for the phrase (using control + F or command + F on a Mac) while viewing the page, just as you would in a Word document.
Check if:
- Does the phrase appear on the page?
- Does it all seem together or is it broken?
- Where does it appear? In the title, header and body text?
- How often is it used in each location?
If the sentence is not in the title, header and body text, that page has not really been optimized. Google's rankings were accidental.
Do you think the page is not well optimized? Great! Before proceeding, check that this page is not yet classified for other phrases.
It is possible to indicate the relevance for one sentence and harm that of another sentence unintentionally. To ensure that you do not “de-optimize” it, go back to your consultation report and look for other phrases by which the page may be classified.
Search for these phrases on Google. Or just type the page address in SEMrush. This will tell you all the phrases that the page ranks and how tall they are. Great data to understand how to improve positioning on Google!
If the page is already classified for another phrase, check the volume on Google Keyword Planner. Is the sentence more popular? Is it a more relevant phrase that can bring more targeted traffic? If any of the answers are yes, do not undermine the relevance of that sentence.
Go back to the beginning and start again, or proceed to the next step using the better phrase.
7. Improve the page and indicate the relevance of the sentence
Search engine optimization is all about indicating relevance. We indicate relevance using on-page SEO best practices, which we will summarize here.
Use the key phrase once in the page title
This is the <title>, which appears in the code, but not on the page itself. It appears on the browser tab and is usually the clickable link in Google's search results. If your site is on WordPress, the titles can be managed in a plugin like Yoast.
Ideally, the target phrase should appear at the beginning of the title and the words should be kept together, without being broken up. Also use the key phrase at least once in the header, which is the tag
, usually the title of a post on your blog or the most prominent phrase on a landing page.Use the phrase several times in the body of the text
In order to improve positioning on Google, it is necessary to use the key phrase several times throughout the text. There is no magic number for keyword frequency, but high-ranking pages tend to be long, with 1500 to 2000 words.
Remember, Google is a research tool created by scientists. Google loves text so abuse the word or character counter!
If your page is 1500 words long, four to six instances of the sentence are likely to appear natural. If the page is short, don't try to inflate it by adding more text. But make sure the phrase appears at least once, all together as a "linked" key phrase.
Advanced Tip: use semantic keyword search
Search engines are really more about topics, meaning and intention, rather than words and phrases. As Google becomes more intelligent, they pay more attention to “semantics”, rather than a series of letters.
Therefore, smart search optimizers are paying attention to the wider meaning of their pages and indicating relevance using other semantic key phrases in their content. To find out which words and phrases are semantically linked to the phrase you're targeting, look for clues at the bottom of a search results page.
Did you find anything? Ask yourself if it makes sense to insert these phrases on your page. In that case, put one or two in the body text.
8. Improve text quality!
Relevance is all within the context of quality. So here's the final SEO trick…
If you want to increase your ranking on Google, your goal is to create the best website for that topic. Don't try to trick a robot.
Try to help people find the information they are looking for. Look for ways to make the page look great. Add details. Put examples. Add links to other great pages. Include graphic images. Insert a YouTube video to complement what is being said in the article. Adding keywords is not enough. It's all about the reader. Make it a better page any way you can.
9. Wait a few days and check your placement
How did we do it? Ranking a little higher? If you don't see a change within a week, you probably won't see any changes.
In my experience, some small changes can have a big impact on the rankings, especially if the page was not well optimized to begin with. The total time to find a phrase and refresh the page usually takes less than 10 minutes.
And the results are usually visible in a few days. It is the quickest way to improve positioning on Google and it works very well. The only downside is that there are so many opportunities in this report.
The practice is called search engine optimization precisely because it involves iterative improvements over time. It is not something you do once. Repeat this tactic every few months and be sure to check out these best apps for bloggers!