January 19, 2022

How to Rank Higher on Google in 2022

Someone once said-“The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google search results”. As a business you are either on the first page of Google or you literally do not exist at all. Yes, sites on the first page get a whopping 95% of search traffic! That is why SEO is now a vital part of business. But how do you rank your site higher in 2022? To answer this, let us look at some of the techniques you can use to get your website to the very top of the search pyramid.

Prepare your site for voice search

Voice search has already nestled comfortably into many people. An example of voice search technology is Google’s assistant. As this technology becomes more prevalent, you will need to consider how voice search will affect your SEO efforts.

Optimizing voice search involves using more or less “natural” phrasing in content. Think of it this way the site visitors will say something like this when using voice search: “what is the best hosting for blogs this year?” This question is a bit longer and also comes out so naturally while speaking, as opposed to typing something like, “best hosting blog” on a search engine. Thus, you will need to consider optimizing your content for long-tail words to be ready for voice search. This will make it easier for search engine users to find you as the tech takes shape.

Optimize your site for speed

Loading times is still a massive key to ranking higher in 2022. Remember, many internet users look for more convenience when they do a search online. So, increasing the speed of your site by reducing loading time and latency will lead to improved site ranking on the Google search results page. The Google spider has been known to factor this in the content ranking algorithm.

There are many ways to improve your site load speed including implementing content caching, optimizing the media files on your site through compression, minifying CSS, JS & HTML, cutting on redirects, optimize server performance, using a CDN to distribute your load, etc.

Make your content stand out.

Content is still king in ranking higher on Google. You ought to ensure that your content is always educative, unique and up to date. Whether they are videos, infographics, or blog posts, you should create personalized content that is targeted at a given audience. Remember, customers want solutions when they do a Google search. Always make good use of such tools as image editors, grammar checkers, or paraphrasing tools. They will help boost the quality of your content you churn out.

You should also generate great content for guest posts and link building campaigns. In fact, backlinks from other reputable sites are another huge factor in ranking higher on Google in 2022.

Choose the right keywords

You might have the best content strategies but you also need proper keywords to rank high. The key is to focus on the user intent. You need to think about the content that the user is looking for in order to determine where to position the keywords. To accomplish this, it is crucial to consider the following aspects when selecting keywords:

Opt for keywords associated with the content you want to rank
Enrich the text with synonyms of those keywords
Include long-tail words
Check your competition as you pick keywords for content

Make sure your site is secure

Google also factors in web security in ranking sites. The goal is to encourage sites to switch to HTTPS, a secure version of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) that protects web users. You can switch by installing a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate on your web server. The SSL ensures that information exchanged between your website and its visitors is secured or protected from third parties.

Track your site rankings

Rankings are dynamic meaning you will have to keep rinsing and repeating your approach. You have to keep assessing how you rank on the search engine from time to time. This will enlighten you on the areas you can improve on. You can always take advantage of some great free and paid tools to help you keep checking your ranking and performance including Ahrefs, AccuRanker, SEMrus, etc.

Figure out why you are being outranked by competitors

Your webpages might be outranked for many reasons. However, that shouldn’t discourage you. Don’t panic! Try to find out why your competitors are beating you or perhaps why rankings dropped:

Look at the kind of content and strategies that your competitors are using. That will give you an idea as to why they are ranking higher than you do
Check out if there are reasons why your site isn’t ranking higher despite the efforts you put. For example, check if there are technical errors, content changes, Google Penalty, or a change in ranking algorithm that is pegging back your efforts

Wrapping up

In a nutshell, ranking your business website higher on Google will translate to higher conversions and profits. In this regard, you need to put in work to get to the first page of Google. Better even, seek help from a reputable SEO or link building agency that can help grow your performance faster!