Ranking on Google is a great effective way to bring traffic and clients to your doorstep. Within a fraction of a second, Google delivers billions of indexed pieces of information, to each user that searches for specific keywords or key phrases. By making your website appear on Google, you can maximise your chances of making new conversions and finding new leads.
Google’s indexing system is made up out of a series of algorithms, to decide what you are searching for and what it Google feeds back to you, the user.
Google dissects your website content and places a value on it. How well you meet their criteria, is the margin to decide how well your content will rank amongst your competitors, in google’s global ocean of search listings.
Think of a teacher having the answer book and the students only being taught enough so that they learn enough to pass the exam, but not enough to ever master the topic. This is the extent of knowledge that Google allows for website owners.
Google provides some assistance and SEO indicators as to how website content can perform well in their master criteria, and what website owners can do to ensure that you meet enough of the criteria to show up with the most optimal value in search feedback.
If your website is search engine optimised, any changes that Google makes to the SEO landscape shouldn’t impact your rankings too negatively, though, there are a few points to adhere to, to consistently keep you in the rankings of being relevant.
Even if you’re not currently using your website actively, it’s still best to keep it up to date by following these guidelines for Google’s algorithm criteria.
Keywords
Central criteria, but by no means limited, that Google uses to index your website content within their search engine is through Words.
Optimised words play a pivotal importance in determining how Google accept your content.
Google captures and calculates each and every search term and from this provides a value to each word, depending on the order in which it falls into a phrase.
If the ‘keyword’ phrase is popular, Google associate this within its criteria and recognises it as optimal relevance within the context of your content.
Google is also able to make natural predictions about the structure of words used in a particular order of what comes next. This allows users to not only find information quicker, but also Google acts as an aid to fill in the gap if particular words that naturally complete a phrase are not known.
Using ‘encouraging words’ within your content, means that Google are able to quickly calculate the rest of the ‘story’, and therefore helps your website content to become favoured in Google’s ranking algorithm.
Matching meaning
Google uses its algorithm to decipher what your content is all about. In order to rank better with Google and for your content to be understood clearly, Google extracts the keywords from primary locations such as headings and subheadings.
Google then identifies words that associate with the heading to predict the nature of the specific topic.
If your business uses the words, ‘dog’, ‘shampoo’, ‘clean’, ‘fresh’, and the word, lather, within the same area of content, Google understands that the nature of the topic is to clearly wash your dog.
However, if you used the terms, dog, sensitive, skin, shampoo, itching, Google then identifies your content as something specific.
The more you provide clues by using specific corresponding words, the more likely Google can identify and rank your content favourably so that when Google does make additions to their SEO landscape, you are still prepared to compete in competitor ranking.
Quality content
Words can produce a thousand potential meanings and therefore, Google gives more value to content that produces a good user experience and this can be known through the number of times that your content is shared and linked back to.
Factors such as the frequency of your search terms appearing and if other popular websites on the same topic link with your page can contribute to how well your website performs in the Google’s search index.
Context relevancy
When a user begins to search a term, Google uses information about the person’s location, search history and their language as to what the most appropriate or nearest appropriate result would be.
Website owners can become a more specific fit to Google’s algorithm changes by providing indicators such as their location, trending news and names of local hot spots.
Algorithm feedback and impact for businesses
Before indexing a website against how it matches against google’s algorithm, each component is collectively calculated and given an interpretation that will be the most helpful to the searcher.
As the internet evolves, Google needs to modify their algorithm continually and although they sometimes provide indicators of major change updates, users can be better-equipped not to be adversely affected by consistently adhering to these core contributing SEO factors that help to get you noticed and stay relevant.
If you’re interesting in improving your Google search results, get in touch with us and we’ll help you connect with your customers.
Written by: Daniella Smithson
