Introduction
Every business owner wants their website to appear on the first page of Google. The truth is, there is no magic trick or secret formula. Google rewards websites that provide value to visitors. In this article, we explain what influences your rankings and how you can improve your chances of appearing higher in search results.
Before Google, other search engines already existed. However, Google soon became the go-to search engine, because searches provided good results. Internet users soon realised that Google suggests websites that answer their questions.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) soon followed. And along with this, many myths and sales gimmicks were born.
How to get your website to be first on Google
The very short answer is: Your website has to earn a top spot.
Many promise you a top ranking on Google. The simple truth is, you cannot trick your way to the top of the list. And no, keyword stuffing does not work.
All SEO specialists, and this includes us, rely on Google to indicate what and how it chooses to index your website. This means guidelines and best practices.
Google remains the most popular search engine and they are mostly responsible for the birth of SEO. At the heart of it, Google is a business and to remain the top search engine, it is not going to reveal exactly how it works. Only the people who work at Google know exactly how the search engine weighs a website.
As an example, only Google employees know how important original photographs are versus AI generated images. Google might give you 10 points for images, or not.
As SEO specialists we rely on indicators such as statistics and performance reports to observe how a website is performing and where opportunities for improvement exist. We follow the guidelines given by Google.
Google does not want website designers to build websites for algorithms. It wants websites built for real people. Keeping the recipe a secret makes it much harder to manipulate the results.
What Google looks at when it visits your business website
Your website content is king of the kingdom. Original, informative and helpful information that answers visitor’s questions is what Google regards as valuable. With AI to generate content, it has become even more important to have your own voice online.
Your online reputation is another strong influence on how Google assigns importance to a business website. By online reputation, we are referring to reviews on Google and social media platforms. Google also looks at which other websites contain links or referrals to your website.
Page speed is also an important factor. Fast loading websites count towards your score card. Website visitors do not want to sit and wait for a site to load. Slow websites frustrate visitors. A fast website not only creates a better user experience, but also encourages visitors to stay longer and explore more pages. Quality hosting is highly recommended.
Another big factor is the structure of your website. Your website has to be built in a way that helps search engines and AI agents understand your business. Proper use of headings, logical navigation and internal links to guide the visitor, search engines and AI agents alike.
There are also smaller factors that may influence your rankings. These include the age of your domain name and the amount of time visitors spend on your website.
The goal should never be to “beat” Google. The goal should be to create the best answer to the question your potential customer is asking. When you consistently publish helpful content and maintain a well built website, your chances of ranking well improve naturally over time.
DID YOU KNOW?
Google processes billions of searches every day.
Its goal is not to find the “prettiest” website.
Its goal is to find the website that best answers the user’s question.
How did we achieve a top spot on Google?
When you conduct a search for the top website designers in Pinetown, you will find HetJou! at the top or near the top. We achieved this by following Google’s guidelines and standards in our design and SEO. We are actively involved in maintaining the website software and adjusting SEO tactics based on results from Google Analytics and Search Console. Our online rating is good and we aim to publish helpful content.
Google also considers your location. Even though we rank tops for Pinetown website designers, we do not rank tops for website designers in Durban…. yet.
Search engines aim to bring you the best local results. Then it fans out to a broader area, but your website will not necessarily be in the top 5 suggestions.
How long does it take Google to index a website?
It can take anything from a few hours to a few weeks for Google to crawl (visit) your website and start to index it. Considering that more than 30 000 websites are launched every day, the turnaround time is not bad. Having a sitemap will help search engines to learn what pages your website has and how they relate to each other.
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