You can’t buy Google rank with money alone, but you can boost your ranking on the search engine results page (SERP) without wasting a dime with a bit of time and strategy. Here are some easy ways to boost your Google search ranking for free.
Enhance the user experience on your website
Website visits, time online, pages per session, and bounce rate are the top four ranking variables, according to a SEMrush survey. All four of these factors are directly linked to the user experience the website provides. It’s pretty straightforward: if your website is simple to use and offers valuable content, you’ll attract more visitors who will stay longer on your site and visit more sites, improving your search ranking.
Create excellent SEO-optimized material
One of the most effective ways to increase traffic and boost your search ranking is to provide high-quality content on your website.
In reality, on-page content creation was voted the most successful SEO tool by 58 percent of marketing professionals in a recent poll. Make sure your content is error-free, keyword-rich, mobile-optimized, and written to meet your target audience’s unique needs, as well as increase the number of backlinks you have.
One of the highest weighted Google ranking criteria is backlinks or links from other websites to yours. Incoming links from high-authority domains to your website content demonstrate your site’s authority, drive traffic, and increase your search ranking.
Alt Text is best for the optimization of images
Adding supporting photos to the website pages improves the user experience and increases the page’s Google ranking. Google, on the other hand, can’t see images; it requires a text alternative to detect and understand what they mean (hence the terms “alt text” and “alt tag”).
Make sure you tag every picture you upload to your website with an alt tag/alt text to boost your website’s SEO through photos. This allows Google to read the image, collect more evidence of your page’s relevance, and index the image for image-only searches.
Alt text should contain keywords specific to the page that users are typing into search boxes, much like title tags and meta descriptions.
Internally linking the website’s pages is a good idea.
Internal links are hyperlinks inside the website’s pages that connect to other pages. Google prefers internally connected pages because they build a more cohesive network for it to crawl. Internal linking is also popular with Google because it improves the user experience.
Users who can easily navigate your site spend more time there, connect more, and are more likely to visit, sending signals to Google that your page is valuable, improving your SEO.
Improve the pace of your website
Although Google said the “speed update” would only affect a small percentage of pages, it’s still a good idea to make sure your site is as quick as possible—both to boost your search rank and to have a good user experience.
Replace any broken tiles. Quality links are one of the great ways to increase traffic and build your website’s authority, but links resulting in a 404 error are bad for your user experience and your search ranking. To find any broken ties, use a tool like BrokenLinkCheck or Dead Link Checker.
Improve the quality of your pictures
Optimizing your images is essential for increasing your site’s speed and making it easier for Google to recognize your pages’ images. Ensure that all of the photos on your website are compressed, have descriptive filenames, and have alt text.
Make use of the header names(H1-H2)
Not only do headers make your content more readable and understandable for humans and search engines alike, but there is a clear connection between the use of header tags in the body of your content and Google search rating. Header tags are also a nice way to highlight important points and display the structure of your content.
Optimize your site for local searches
People are increasingly using their smartphones to look for businesses “near me.” Claim your Google My Company page, include relevant content in Google Posts, get your business listed in local directories, and boost your online credibility with excellent online reviews to improve your chances of appearing in relevant local searches.
Optimize your Website
For mobile devices
Mobile devices account for the vast majority of search engine queries. You’ll be losing out on a large portion of your audience if your website isn’t mobile-friendly. To ensure a smooth user experience, ensure that users can perform any activity that they can on the desktop version on the mobile version. Also, keep an eye on loading times and results. Users will become bored and move to another site if your site takes too long to load.
For Speed
Site speed is one of the variables that Google considers when ranking your website. Slow site speed will hurt your Google ranking and scare away customers, which can hurt your bottom line.
For voice search
According to a Perficient report, voice search is no longer growing, but more than 60% of those polled said voice search is their favourite form of asking questions on their smartphone.
Use likely voice search phrases in your website content—be sure to use complete sentences phrased in a natural conversational style rather than single keywords—to ensure that specific voice searcher finds your company.
As for “position zero,” that’s where you want to be. When a user asks a question in Google Search, Google can show content from a related website in a particular featured snippet or answer box above the #1 search result. Getting your content into a featured snippet is a perfect way to improve your brand’s reputation and exposure while also the traffic (snippets provide a link to the website where the content originated).
Consider possible searches relevant to your business and pepper your site with simple, authoritative answers to improve your chances of getting your content selected as a featured snippet by Google.