Aren’t we, at some point, used to hate SEO because it seems like it’s super complicated and frustrating even if you’ve followed all the rules you’ve searched on the internet?
We’ve heard all types of specific SEO advice such as:
-Create great content.
-Add keywords to your page.
-Make sure that your site loads fast.
Although these things can help, it helps a little, but it would not help you rank #1 in google alone. For this reason, we listed out the 5 significant ways you can rank in Google in 2021.
Step 1: Find 3 Keywords
The first step is to focus mainly on three keywords, which consist of 3 or more words or phrases interconnected. For example, if your topic is about ‘ketogenic,’ you can use keywords like ‘ketogenic meal plan’ or ketogenic diet for beginners’, or anything in relation.
You can choose 3 keywords that you can create content about by seeking help from websites like AnswerthePublic, Exploding Topics, or even Reddit to look for what commonly people ask about.
These websites offer long-tail keywords which are preferable only because it shows long yet precise results. Moreover, these websites have relatively new keywords to use, which is why it is competitive and creates possible chances for your page to rank higher in Google.
Step 2: Create A Unique Content
Did you know that most articles over the internet do not get shared nor linked to? In fact, 94% of online articles have zero external links.
You might wonder, “Why?”.
The answer is simple, it’s because most content online is not that great. And if it isn’t, most websites prefer not to get involved with your article, and it’s gonna get lost over the million contents across the internet.
What people want is not just right, but unique or something epic. Unfortunately, there’s no secret formula to that, and if there is, I’m sure every writer, blogger, or journalist would have done so.
No worries, we’ve listed out two proven steps that you can do so people can link to your content:
In-Depth Content – this type of content covers complete information and details an audience wants to read or learn regarding a specific topic. And it does get more attention than the shorter ones since, according to Backlinko, it has 77.2% backlinks than short articles.
Attention Catcher – focus on the part of your content that can quickly get people’s attention, whether that’s in the form of statistics, case studies, interviews, tools, or more so. It is where you surprise people with how good your content is.
Step 3: Keyword Optimize Your Content
Most SEO Specialists would advise you to choose at least one keyword and splash it around your content. Although this could help, current Google algorithms still select to understand the overall context of your page.
You make use of keywords in two ways:
1. Place it on a few essential places on your page specifically:
-Title Tag
-First 100 Words or within the introduction
-Alt Text of an image
-H1, H2, and H3 tags
-Last 100 words of your content.
2. Make use of LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords, which are words closely related or in similar definition to your topic. For example, if you’re talking about ‘jacket,’ you can use LSI winter, coat, cold, rain, and few related words, pointing to the word, ‘jacket.’ Then, sprinkle it at different places on your page.
Step 4: Optimize Your Content For Users
Back then, Google ranks content based on who has the most backlinks. Meaning, this page is reliable and authoritative. Even though backlinks are necessary today, Google is much smarter, so this alone isn’t enough.
Your content should also be optimized for users to freely access your website when it shows on the search results.
Google sees it helps visitors to get what they want. If they check your site and leave right away, chances are your content is not optimized. The bounce rate is high, so your ranking is downgraded too.
But if Google sees the visitors sticking on your page for a couple of minutes, then that’s the sign that you’re giving them what they want. As a result, you’d get a ranking boost.
If you have no prior knowledge in optimizing your content, here’s how:
First, structure your content with actionable information. No one wants a lengthy introduction and unnecessary details just so they can make the whole page long. Add a few introductory words, and get straight to the point. Make sure you won’t miss related info that can help.
Next up, make sure you don’t neglect the design of your page since, according to research, people scan a page’s design before reading the content. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a fancy page or with floating structures all over the place, but a simple and easily-accessible design works fine.
Step 5: Build Backlinks
Similarly to what we said, Backlinks are still necessary in present times. It’s a matter of publishing your content for the whole internet to see. But if you take note of the first 4 steps, you are already creating a strong foundation for getting backlinks.
And the best way to build backlinks is through the broken link building strategy, where you scan the broken links within your page and replacing them with useful backlinks from relevant sources.
It’s important to reach out to sources that you want your broken link to be replaced with. You can work on email templates to swap for the dead links, but personalized emails are more sincere and can get you a chance to link with them.
Bonus Tip: Use Unique Images
Little did we know, stock photos may hurt our google rankings, so it’s no longer recommendable. Instead, unique images have a direct impact on our google rankings. So what can we do?
Replace the use of stock photos with the photos you’ve taken yourself, illustrations created with adobe illustrator, or screenshots of relevant pages.
Google Algorithm changes over time, and sometimes, it does not provide any notice for us to see. This is why it’s vital to keep yourself updated so you won’t get out of place, and get your page push down below.
But now that you’ve learned 5 steps on how to rank in Google in 2021 let us know which one has given you the most helpful boost you need for the new year!
