Source: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/01/21/seo-basics-22-essentials-you-need-for-optimizing-your-site/
Of all the global organic search traffic in 2015, it was determined that Google accounts for more that 90% of it. Therefore, it is vital that your website appears in the top 5 results in the Google SERPs for you to have a strong online presence as the top 5 results account for 67.60% of all clicks.
What Search Engines ARE And ARE NOT Looking For
But how are you going to get to be on the top 5 results in the SERP? Here are some tips to know what Google is looking and is not looking for.
What search engines (Google) are looking for
1. Relevancy
The main purpose of a search engine is to provide the user the most relevant results there are for a particular search query. Whether it’s a simple question of how old your favorite movie star is, to a more complex query such as what is the best burger joint nearest to you. It is the search engine’s own internal algorithm that enables it to provide the results which is impossible to determine. However, there are actually factors that certainly influence the results that are all based around relevancy like: a searcher’s location, search history, time of the day or year, etc.
2. Quality of content
You will have to stop worrying about keywords and focus more on user experience. It is said that Google is now moving towards content that are in longer-form which understands a visitor’s intention as a whole, instead of focusing mainly on keywords based on popular search queries.
3. User experience
An easily navigable as well as clearly searchable website that has relevant internal linking and related content is what Google is actually looking for. Basically, all the stuff that keep site visitors on webpages and make them want to explore them further.
4. Site speed
It is expected that Google might start labelling soon results that are hosted on Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) which will focus on how quickly webpages load, and this could be the ‘mobilegeddon’ of 2016.
5. Cross-device compatibility
Google has reiterated that it prefers a responsive design as its method of mobile optimization. You shouldn’t forget to keep your website and its content optimized for any given screen size or device.
6. Internal Linking
This provides your audience with further reading options, and also helps to improve your website’s rankings for certain keywords. And most importantly, it helps Google crawl and index your site more efficiently.
7. Authority
The more links a website has from an authority website, the higher quality content it produces since an authority website is one that is trusted by users, its industry as well as other websites and search engines. A link from an authority website is deemed by Google as a vote of confidence which makes it very valuable in making your own site become an authority one too.
8. Local SEO
This one is significant specifically to businesses that need to catch a searcher’s attention at the right instance since it is found out recently that Google is now beginning to serve results to users based on their location. (Ex. what is the best burger joint nearest to you)
9. Social
Social media marketing is the most obvious means to raise site visibility without technical SEO methods. You have to make sure that you’re present on all social channels that are relevant to your business or industry. Use the social channels as a customer service channel and don’t just broadcast content in a faceless manner, interact with the people.
What search engines (Google) are NOT looking for
1. Keyword stuffing
Do not ever overuse keywords on your webpages to the point that they already affect the readability of the content on your site. However, there is still a debate running on whether Google even still uses keywords as a ranking factor anymore.
2. Link buying or excessive link exchanging
Link farms are no more. Remember, the most valuable links are those that come from high authority websites within your own niche.
3. Annoying ads
These are anything that negatively affects the readability of a website’s content and hampers its site speed.
4. Mobile app interstitials
Google will take you as ‘No longer mobile friendly’ the moment you present your mobile visitors with a full-screen advert to download your app.
5. Duplicate content
Google indexes only one of two identical pages, whether if it finds them on your own site, or on another that you are not aware of. Beware of scraper sites that steal content automatically and republishes them as their own.
6. Hidden text and links
Don’t ever use white text on a white background, set font size to zero, and position text off-screen, or even hide a link in a single character like a comma or a full-stop as Google will find these tactics as ways to manipulate rankings and will make you pay dearly for it.