Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world because it consistently delivers fast and accurate results. Its ranking success comes from sophisticated algorithms, including PageRank, designed to surface high quality content. This is why SEO professionals are always looking for effective ways to improve their visibility on Google.
A website only has value if people can find and visit it. In most cases, Google is the largest source of traffic.
So how well does your site rank? Our SEO consultants have gathered proven strategies to help you improve your visibility and increase your website’s overall Google friendliness.
Want potential customers to notice you first? Check SSW's Pay per Click consulting page.
Google's remarkable success in search engine technology is largely due to its sophisticated ranking algorithms. While the original PageRank algorithm laid the foundation, Google's approach to ranking pages has evolved significantly to combat spammy content and ensure quality. Let's explore how Google ranks pages as of 2024, considering the most recent updates and principles.
The Original PageRank Algorithm
Formula: PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
Explanation: PR stands for PageRank, 'A' represents the number of links from page A, 'd' is a damping factor, and 'T' represents pages linking to 'A'. Essentially, when a page links to another, it endorses its quality. More endorsements equate to higher perceived quality.
Recent Algorithm Updates
AI-generated Content: Google acknowledged the difficulty in distinguishing between human-written and AI-generated content. Emphasis was placed on content quality adhering to E-E-A-T principles, regardless of the content's origin.
Observations: Many websites, especially those mass-generating AI content, saw declines in rankings or were completely deindexed for violating Google's guidelines or employing questionable SEO tactics.
Timeline: Rolled out between March 5 and March 20, 2024, with a subsequent update on May 5, 2024.
Objective: To penalize spam techniques that violate Google's spam policies.
Global Impact: Affected all regions and languages.
Targets: General search spam, scaled content, expired domain abuse, and site reputation abuse (in May 2024 update).
Recovery: Sites affected should review and comply with Google's spam policies. Recovery can take many months and is subject to periodic refreshes.Key Principles for SEO Success
Timeline: Rolled out in early May 2024.
Objective: To further refine content quality assessments and target spammy websites.
Global Impact: Affected all regions and languages.
Results: Quickly after implementation, many sites were heavily penalised or completely deindexed for violating Google's guidelines or using dubious SEO tactics. Websites generating mass AI content for organic traffic saw declines in rankings or were removed from the index.
High-quality content that answers user queries effectively and follows E-E-A-T principles is paramount. Ensure your content is thorough, accurate, and created by experts.
Monitor and improve user engagement metrics. Content that keeps users engaged and satisfied will rank higher Google calls this "people first content".
Ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. Technical aspects like site structure, meta tags, and schema markup are also crucial. Google call this a "great page experience".
Focus on building high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources. Your site's domain strength and the authority of linking sites play a significant role in rankings.
SEO is an ever-evolving field. Stay updated with Google's algorithm changes and adjust your strategies accordingly.
Create content for people, not search engines. Avoid tactics like extensive automation, writing on trending topics without value, or changing dates to appear fresh. Focus on adding value and meeting the needs of your audience.
SEO success in 2024 hinges on creating high-quality content that addresses user needs, maintaining technical excellence, and continuously adapting to Google's algorithm changes. By adhering to these principles, you can improve your site's visibility and ranking on Google.
First things first. Check if your web page has been indexed by Google. Don't be surprised if Google is already one step ahead of you - its Google bots could have already crawled your site without you knowing. So what's the best way to find out if Google has indexed your web page? Just search for its exact link.
Content is essential! If you want to be found in the top results on Google, you must choose the best keywords for your target audience. First, you must do some research on what your target audience is looking for and then focus on making great content for your website that is related to these keywords. This will help your domain to be recognized as an authority (especially if are blogging too). You can use the Google Keyword Planner to help with this, which is a free and helpful tool built into your Google Ads account that can show you how a list of keywords might perform.
When trying to optimize your website’s performance and visibility, there are a few tools that can help (e.g. Google Search Console, Google Analytics, SEMrush). Each offers unique features suited to different aspects of your site's SEO.
SEO is very important to companies, so devs should know the tools they can use to optimize websites, analyze data, and improve search engine rankings.
Do you find yourself reworking pages on your website that weren’t created with SEO in mind? Businesses face this common challenge: balancing value for real users and ticking the right boxes for search-engine algorithms.
The best way to avoid this is to start each webpage with solid SEO built in. To support this, use a consistent SEO components checklist when creating any new page.
When search engines or auditing platforms visit your site they expect a clean sitemap.xml. A broken or poorly formatted sitemap wastes crawl budget, hides new pages, and triggers avoidable health errors in reports.
Social signals are human interaction metrics on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Medium, etc. Some examples of social signals are: likes, dislikes, shares, votes, pins, views, etc. which commonly help to showcase popularity and affinity for a specific piece of content.
While social media doesn’t directly affect your Google ranking, social sharing does directly increase the visibility of your page. That increased visibility means it may get noticed by a creator of content, such as a blogger, journalist, or an author. That creator may mention it in a subsequent piece of content and if they linked to it, that page is then more likely to rank well.
Therefore, it’s the combination of good branding and a strong social media presence that will make the difference here. Good engagement, and of course good content, will make your results more relevant to others. So, make sure you link your social media to your website and vice versa.
Always include your social media signals, on your website so that people can easily connect with you and stay connected.
It’s essential to have a functional website. It must be user-friendly and focused on providing the best experience they could have if they are either shopping or looking for information about your business/service. Keep in mind that your call to action is the gateway to increasing your conversions on web pages, so make them obvious, no one likes to hunt for what they need!
A backlink is any “incoming” or “inbound” link to your website. Besides the total number of backlinks directing people to your website, the relevance of these links is also important. Quality is key. We suggest using tools like Ahrefs.com or SEMrush.com to check it.
With Google's increased emphasis on local search and promoting local services, it is important that companies have a Google My Business entry so that their businesses can be found easily in searches.
Login using your business administrator account and add your business.