We have one month left in 2019, and it’s time to make sure you’re ready to succeed in 2020. That means refining everything about your marketing so that you’re positioned well in every area.
Did you know that you don’t have to be at the mercy of Google when it comes to your search engine rankings? You can take steps to improve your optimization, even in December. Don’t just count 2019 as over. Instead, use this time to make things better!
Here are some ways to give your SEO a boost before the new year.
Highlight Your Expertise on Your Website
In 2019, improving your “EAT” has been a big topic in SEO. EAT stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. These three elements are used by Google to determine if a piece of content should rank well or not.
Essentially, Google is concerned about high-ranking content that is inaccurate and may hurt users if implemented. The response has been to evaluate the expertise of content creators and drop those who are not experts in the field. So far this has focused particularly on the medical and financial niches, but in 2020 it’s expected to expand further.
As a business owner, what can you do to avoid having your content lowered in search results? The best way to increase your search engine ranking is to document your authors’ expertise and make sure authorship on each piece of content is clear.
Some ideas to make Google aware of your authoritativeness include:
- A detailed About page that shares your founders’ story and expertise
- Clear bylines on each piece of content
- A bio on each piece of content that shares the experience the writer has to boost trustworthiness
Like a lot of elements of SEO, it’s not just on-site EAT that matters. Having someone else recognize you as an expert goes a long way. Find ways to get mentioned, interviewed, cited, and profiled on other websites.
They say you are what you eat – that’s especially true for websites today!
Improve Your Website Security
Hopefully you already have HTTPS installed on your website, but if you don’t it’s a must before the new year. HTTPS gives your users a secure connection that is authenticated and encrypted. This helps prevent your users’ data from being stolen as they browse your website.
Having a website that gives users confidence in high security is a great way to increase traffic on a website. You’ll also be rewarded by better search engine rankings.
You should also have a privacy policy that clearly states what you do with user information you collect. You want to assure visitors that their data is secure.
Any other steps you can take to secure your website can help as well. The more secure your website is, the more confident Google will be about ranking your website highly. It will also help visitors trust you enough to make purchases, which boosts your bottom line.
Mobile Optimize Your Website
This is another no-brainer that you definitely should complete before 2019 ends. Google has implemented mobile-first indexing, and the use of mobile devices has only increased. At this point, more people are doing searches from mobile than from computers and tablets combined.
That means that if your website doesn’t look good on mobile, not only will it be lower in search results but people who visit won’t be able to use your website fully and will click away to a competitor.
What does it mean to optimize your website for mobile? You should have a responsive design, which resizes automatically based on the device being used. On top of that, you should visit your website from a mobile device to see how it looks.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Can you see all page elements easily?
- Are the menus visible and accessible on the screen?
- Can the website be easily navigated on a touchscreen?
- Do elements overlap and obscure each other?
If your website is easy to read and use even on a smaller screen, congratulations! You are not only more user-friendly, you’ll do far better on search results in 2020.
Use Video to Increase Clicks and On-Site Time
If you have the basics in place, you’re looking for how to increase your ranking in Google search in other ways. One great tactic is to use videos – on your website, on social media, and throughout the web.
Several years ago it was already the case that people preferred watching video to watching TV. That means that engaging, creative videos are a great way to engage people on your website and on social media.
Using YouTube is a key tactic to give your business SEO a boost. Google owns YouTube, so it’s common to see YouTube videos ranking highly in search results. People also spend a lot of time on YouTube, so great visibility there gives your brand a big push upward.
Beyond that, you can use video to bring people onto your website and keep them there. Dwell time – a phrase that refers to how long people spend on your website – is a major ranking factor on Google. Search engines see dwell time as a sign that users are satisfied with information on your site and are enjoying the experience.
How do you optimize videos to attract viewers? You’ll need to use the right keywords in the headline and description of your video. That will help it reach the largest number of users that are interested in the content.
Leverage Your Other Marketing Channels for SEO
One thing everyone knows is that Google rewards companies for having high-quality incoming links. Those can be hard to get, but sometimes you just aren’t looking in the right place.
Think about what other marketing channels you use and how you can get links coming into your website from them. For instance, do you work with influencers? If so, there’s no reason that the influencers can’t provide mentions and links for your website in a variety of media.
Influencers can also share and amplify your content so that you get more visits to your website. Be strategic with who you choose to partner with, and make sure you plan not only for them to raise your brand visibility but also boost your SEO.
Expert Help Can Make 2020 Your Best Year Yet
Maybe one of the reasons that your company isn’t doing as well as you’d hoped with SEO is that you just don’t have the time to increase search engine rankings every day. You have to run a company, after all, and it’s possible that focusing on all the changes in digital marketing is not the first thing on your mind.
There’s nothing wrong with that! In fact, it’s a great opportunity to find someone to partner with. At Local SEO Search, we specialize in helping small businesses transform their results. We want to help you succeed, not just in search, but in bringing in more of the right customers.
Our work with over 10,000 local businesses has helped them connect with those who are ready to buy now. As a result, revenue has gone up and business owners have been able to reach new levels of success.
We’d love to help you do the same. Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation with owner and SEO expert John Vuong. We can’t wait to hear from you!
