As we get closer to the New Year, it is becoming increasingly important to determine which SEO concepts and ranking factors will help your website experience the highest levels of success possible.
Reaching the first page of Google may be a challenging endeavor; however, it is the one that all website owners embark upon. Despite the many mysteries surrounding its algorithm, the immense number of updates released, and the strict guidelines, Google is the search engine giant. Failure to consider the SEO concepts and ranking factors associated with Google when creating your website will result in the overall failure of the website, itself. In this brief guide, you will be introduced to a few of the most important concepts and factors that should be integrated into your site prior to the beginning of 2019 to ensure success.
Quality Content with Intent
Google is based on the premise of ensuring an optimal and highly positive experience for its users. If you want your website to succeed, you must create content that is high in quality and intent. In previous years, the use of industry-specific keyword was the ultimate milestone.
Since the release of voice search programs, location-specific programs, and the increased usage of mobile devices, it is now more important than ever to create naturally written content that provides useful information to internet users.
Yes, keywords that are tailored to your niche are still important; however, content with intent holds a higher level of importance.
Creating content with intent related to your niche that provides value to readers will result in the natural integration of keywords that will also increase ranking.
Mobile-Friendly
In the earliest decades of internet usage, desktop searches ranked as number one. Then, mobile internet accessible devices, such as the laptop, cell phone, and tablet emerged. Wi-Fi hotspots became the “norm”. People everyone took full advantage of the fact that they could now access the internet anywhere, at any time.
In 2016, mobile search took the number one spot. Mobile friendliness is critical to your website’s success in 2019. In fact, 2018 marked the first year Google developed and released a mobile-first strategy for indexing.
Desktop versions of a website are no longer used for the purpose of indexing and ranking your website; instead, the mobile versions of your web pages are what is used.
Interlinking
Interlinking is the process of linking newly created content to previously-created content that is relevant. When posting new content on your website, it is ideal to link that content back to older content that holds a high level of relevancy. This not only increases the amount of time that visitors spend on your website, but it helps the Google search engine and other search engines to determine which content is “relevant”. In turn, this ranks your older content higher, which optimizes the overall ranking of your new content.
Resources:
https://www.business.com/articles/2-new-ranking-factors-from-google/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/spark/marketing-guides/important-google-ranking-factors/