How Do You Rank?

According to a Moz search ranking survey, mobile friendliness and perceived value of page/site are the top two factors with increasing impact.

How Do You Rank?

Other notable areas with increasing impact include:

  • HTTPS
  • Site speed
  • Association with mobile app
  • Influence of structured data
  • Usability/design
  • Usage (dwell time, CTR)

SEO strategies for 2016 will reflect these trends, and those who don’t keep up will be left behind come 2017. What can you do to ensure your website will rank? Implement these three critical SEO tips:

#1: Discover User Intent Behind Your Keywords

It’s no longer good enough to find a good keyword and stick it in your title and content. You must think about user intent behind the keyword. WHY are they typing that search term into Google? What problem are they experiencing? Ask yourself these questions to tap into user intent.

When you know why users are searching a particular keyword, you are empowered to deliver the valuable information they crave. If you don’t give them the content they are seeking, they will quickly hit the back button. User intent has become so important that pages can still rank for a term without the keyword as long as they give the searchers what they want.

#2: Take Voice Search into Consideration

Voice search has accompanied the rise in mobile traffic because many mobile users find it more convenient to search using their voice instead of typing. When a person searches out loud, they phrase their words differently than when typing. Search Engine Watch reported that typical voice queries are questions starting with who, how, why, what, where, and when. They noted voice searches usually contain more words as well.

#3: Create Structured Data for Your Content

Search results that provide extra information, such as starred reviews, prices, and thumb nails, attract more clicks. This additional information is referred to as structured data. Make your webpages stand out in the SERPs by creating structured data for them. You’ll need to hire a web developer to help you create structured data for your content, unless you’re good at coding.

Conclusion

Implementing these three critical SEO tips for 2016 will help you continue getting your content ranked high in Google. Search engine optimization is consistently evolving, so your SEO strategy should as well. Don’t get left behind by ignoring these important changes taking place in the online world.

Contact us if you would like to know exactly where you are ranking and or need help with creating structured data for your content or any other aspect of web design and customer retention.

Update: Check out Digital Novas blog for additional ranking factors for 2019!