Getting
listed on the first page of Google is an incredible accomplishment. Your
efforts shouldn't stop there, however.
A
general listing without all the bells and whistles just won't get you the same amount
of site traffic as it used to since users tend to go for the one that stands
apart from the rest. The search engine competition is fierce, so don't get left
behind while everyone else makes the necessary changes to get noticed.
Consider
how you would approach building the perfect web page. You might fine tune your
headings, messaging, include images, and add resources to increase conversions.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is just as important in the search engine
result pages (SERPs).
Here
are a few tips that should help your Google search result attract the most
attention.
1.
Unique, Relevant Page Titles
Use as
many characters as possible. That's prime real estate!
A good
character range to work with is 50-65 characters. Google search results will
truncate right around the 65 character mark.
Pixel
width of your title tag should be considered, because words with wide letters
such as A and W won't be able to fit as many characters. Google will completely
ignore anything past the 70 character mark and potentially report a “Long title
tag” error in Google Webmaster Tools.
Your
page title should be unique and relevant to the topic of your page. Include
your targeted key phrases as close to the beginning as possible and, if it
applies, localize your page title.
2.
Search Engine Friendly URLs
If your domain name has your targeted keyword(s) in it, that's a
bonus, however, don't go out of your way to buy an exact match domain name and
get caught up in the exact
match domain algorithm.
Utilize
search engine friendly file names and permalink structures to make your listing
more relevant, for example, /awesome-web-page/. URLs, for example, ?pageid=246,
don't say anything to the user and won't help your rankings.
3.
Enticing Meta Descriptions With a Call-to-Action
Your
descriptions should range from 100 to 150 characters. Use them wisely. Anything
shorter or longer might result in an error reported in Google Webmaster Tools.
Describe
what the page or service is about and then ask the user to do something with a
call-to-action (CTA). In my example, I include my phone number and mention that
we pick up the phone (you'd be surprised how many companies don't).
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you had multiple
page title tags in the head of your webpage? How about multiple meta
description tags? Check out this Google SERP experiment.
4.
Google Authorship
Google
authorship is one of the most effective ways to make your search result stand
out from the others, especially if nobody else in your niche is doing it. If
you Google anything SEO related, the SERPs are peppered with faces; however, if
you're in an industry that is less tech savvy, like construction or real
estate, you could likely be the only one with your face in the search results.
Authorship is pretty easy to implement. If you haven't already
claimed your content with Google authorship, follow this
tutorial to find
out how.
5.
Google Local
Optimizing your website and brand for local can be very
beneficial whether it's for a huge company or a small mom-and-pop shop. You can
review the accuracy of your business listings with tools likeGetListed.org.
Claiming
your business listings and filling out your profiles completely help Google to
understand more about your business. Businesses with more citations from
high-quality websites will rank higher.
By
helping Google understand the link between your business listings and your
website, you are more likely to have the map listing shown just below your
search result.
6.
Personalized Annotations
Google
tries to make recommendations more discoverable to those who would find them
most useful. Because people trust their friends' recommendations, personalized
annotations display who have already +1'd a webpage or blog post.
You can increase the likelihood of these annotations to show up
in search results by adding a +1
button and a Google+
badge on your
page.
Inline
annotations aren't currently supported in mobile browsers.
7.
Google Reviews
A great way to increase
your local search rankings is to simply ask your customer and clients for
Google reviews.
Make asking for a Google review part of your process. About 10
percent of my company's clients actually take the time to submit
a website design review. While I'd like to get a review from 100
percent, the ones who do add up over time, and those gold stars really stand
out in the SERPs!
Most
service industries have the luxury of hand-picking who they ask to submit a
review. On the other hand, restaurants and hotels, for example, have to take a
different approach by monitoring their reviews and find ways to address unhappy
customers with resolutions that will hopefully turn those poor reviews into
great reviews.
Conclusion
Don't
be satisfied with a Google listing that doesn't highlight you against the
competition. Implementing these guidelines will ensure that you're well on your
way to an optimized search result.
