5 Powerful SEO Strategies To Make Your Website Rank Higher
- Stephen Palasciano
- Mar 18
- 6 min read
In this post, we will be discussing:
SEO is the process of optimizing content to be discovered through a search engine’s organic search results. It is the reason certain results on Google show up at the top of page 1, and why others show up on page 2 or further.
Without the ability for websites to be critiqued in a way that search engines such as Google can read, what you see when you make a Google search may not be relevant to what you are looking for, and it would be difficult to sift through the potential millions or even billions of results you get for any given query.
Thanks to SEO, Google sifts through the data for us, making it easy to find what we are looking for by providing the most relevant results right at the top of page 1.
Why SEO?
SEO is a long term strategy where once you are ranking high, the benefits can last for a while with minimal effort to sustain your ranking. While periodic updates are necessary to adapt to algorithm changes and maintain ranking positions, the traffic generated from well-optimized content can provide a steady source of traffic.
SEO provides a powerful way to reach a large audience by potentially positioning your content in front of Google's 2 Billion active monthly users. Unlike other strategies, SEO targets individuals who have already expressed intent through their search queries. This makes it a highly effective strategy for attracting users who are more likely to engage with your content.
Keyword Strategy
Keywords are words and phrases that users type into search engines to find information, products, or services. Optimizing for the right keywords is the foundation of how search engines match your page or website to the users' searches.
Tools like the Ahrefs keyword generator are excellent to identify keywords based on monthly volume and ranking difficulty.
Not all keywords are equally valuable. When evaluating a keyword, consider:
Search Demand: How many people are searching for this keyword monthly.
Traffic Potential: The total search traffic you could get if you were to rank at the top of Google for your keyword. You can use the Ahrefs SERP Checker to find out what the traffic for the top results under any specific keyword are getting.
However, choosing keywords based on metrics alone is not enough. You also have to make sure they match search intent, which we will talk about in the next section.
Google’s Ranking Factors
Backlinks
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking signals for Google. Simply put, backlinks are links from other websites that point to your page. Google sees these links as "votes of confidence", signaling that other reputable websites trust your content.
The process to get reputable backlinks involves reaching out to people who own high authority pages and asking them to link to you. It's a very relational process, and can sometimes take more time than you might like, but it is a highly effective way of increasing your website authority.
Search Intent
Understanding search intent is fundamental to ranking well on Google. It refers to the types of content that ranks for a specific query in search.
For example, if you Google “New running shoes”, you'll see lots of product pages showing up on Google. So if you try to rank articles about new running shoes under these keywords, you won't rank very high because the search intent won't be matched for that page.
Alternatively, if you change the search to “Best new running shoes”, the search intent now changes to articles detailing the best running shoe recommendations. It’s not enough to target keywords; you must also align your content to match what the user is truly looking for.
Content Depth
Google values how detailed your content is. The more detailed and comprehensive your content is, the more likely it is to rank well.
This is not to say it has to be a long piece of content, as long as it effectively and completely addresses the search intent of the keywords you are trying to rank for. For example, a well rounded article for the best new running shoes may include:
Product specifications
Review videos
Details of why each shoe was selected for the list
Common footwear mistakes
On-Page SEO
What is On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO refers to optimizing individual web pages to make them more appealing to both search engines and users.
By ensuring that key elements on your page are optimized, you are signaling to search engines that your content is relevant to the search query, which can help drive more traffic to your site.
This revolved heavily around optimizing pages for search intent. Some On-Page items that should be optimized include:
Titles: This should include your target keywords and clearly communicate what the page is about. Learn how to craft compelling headlines that drive clicks.
Subheadings: These help to organize your content and include secondary keywords that support the main topic.
Internal Linking: Linking to other pages within your site can improve user navigation and help search engines understand the structure of your website. They can also increase link authority to other relevant pages and help search engines better understand the page’s content.
Readability: Content should be easy to read and engaging.
The Content Itself: High quality, in-depth content that answers the searcher’s query will always be favored by search engines.
Images: Search engines can't read images, so adding alt text with relevant keywords helps them understand the content of an image.
Link Building
Link building is the process of acquiring backlinks to your site.
As previously mentioned, they are critical for ranking higher in search results and increasing your domain authority. On Google’s “how search works” page, it is stated that “one of the factors used to determine quality is understanding if other prominent websites link or refer to the content”.
According to a study done by Ahrefs of over 1 billion web pages, there is a clear correlation between organic traffic and backlinks from unique websites.
Backlinks are crucial if you want to rank for competitive phrases, which are the phrases that drive the most traffic and revenue.
Link Building Strategies
Create them
manually add links on one domain back to yours. Effectiveness is low but it is easy to do. You can accomplish this by:
Add your website to directories
Leaving comments on blog posts
Adding your website's URL to your social media profile
Buy them
Pay website owners or content creators for a backlink. This is frowned upon by Google. Effectiveness is high unless/until you get caught.
Earn them
These types of backlinks are the best and most effective links to have. They are extremely effective at raising your website’s page authority, but are the most challenging to get. You can acquire these by:
Email outreach: you email other website owners and editors and ask them to link to you.
Becoming a source for an online publication or media outlet: if a journalist references you in an article, they'll often link to you and or your social media profiles.
Earn backlinks organically: if someone visits your page from a link on social media, organic search, or wherever, and they decide to link to you.
What makes a link “good”?
Relevance
Spamming your site on a forum will hold much less weight on a search engine than a link to your site from a New York Times article.
Google values links from authoritative sources, like major publications, much higher than links from low quality or spammy sources, as they are seen as more credible and trustworthy signals of content quality.
Authoritativeness
A page’s authority refers to the overall "link power" a page holds based on the quality and quantity of backlinks it receives.
Google’s PageRank system rewards pages with numerous high quality backlinks, increasing their ability to influence rankings. When reputable sites link to you, your page gains authority, which can significantly improve its visibility in search results over time.
Technical SEO
Ensure Your Site Structure Follows a Logical Hierarchy
A well organized website structure is crucial for both users and search engines. A clear hierarchy allows search engines to easily understand your website. Some guidelines for organizing content include:
Organize content into categories
Use descriptive URLs
Place important pages only a few clicks away from the homepage
Here is an example from Ahrefs of how website hierarchy should look:
Page Speed
Fast loading pages not only make the experience better for the user, but Google considers it for ranking purposes as well. Page speed has been a confirmed Google ranking factor for desktop search since 2010.
This not only improves SEO but also enhances user experience, which can indirectly influence rankings. Simple ways to speed up your website include:
Cache your websites content
Compress your images
An easy way to identify potential technical issues with your website is by using auditing software such as this one, which can identify any SEO issues and provide guidance on how to fix them.
By applying these SEO strategies, you’ll be setting your website up for long term success to rank high and drive consistent traffic.
