Find out Best SEO rules to dominate Google search in 2018. One way to generate traffic on your website is to achieve a relevant ranking in the search engines. The market leader in search engines is Google. The search engine giant is known for its search system and has developed a complex, self-learning algorithm. Positioning on the first page of the search engine is particularly important, as results on the following pages often have little relevance for the user.
Best SEO rules to dominate Google search in 2018
Therefore, the better the optimization, the higher the visibility in the search engines and the higher the traffic you follow the following tips, you are on a good way to increase your visibility and thus your website traffic.
1. optimize your content for mobile devices
The number of end devices is continuously increasing. This is a challenge for web development, as the content has to be optimized for each end device. The current trend is towards responsive web design. This means adapting the content to the properties of different end devices. By means of responsive design, marketing goals are achieved and user satisfaction is maintained. The search engine also rewards responsive design, which is why mobile-optimized content is a high priority these days.
The following factors are particularly important:
- Loading times: Ensure a fast loading time, for example by compressing images, reducing the source code and avoiding programming errors.
- Usability: Ensure optimized usability by questioning which content should be displayed for which device.
- Good legibility: Use legible font sizes so that all content is adequately displayed.
2. optimize your headlines
The headline is often at the top of every text document and enjoys the greatest attention from the user. It is therefore not surprising that the search engine assigns high importance to the main heading (H1).
To make the best use of this ranking factor, you should place your most important search term, for which you want to be well placed, as far ahead as possible.
Within a search term analysis (see below) you should find out which other relevant search terms match your main search term and what you should write about. Also, mention these search terms in the subheadings (H2-H6).
However, pay attention to an optimal headline architecture. This means that the headings are set sensibly. While the main heading occurs only once per document, headings with the tag H2 form meaningful subheadings. If it makes sense to structure the content further, you have additional tags: H3 to H6, normally the content is structured with H2 and H3 tags.
Other tips are:
- Title Tag: Combine the title with the title tag and the meta description
- Meaningfulness: Use catchy and meaningful expressions
- Search Term Integration: Integrate the most important search term right at the beginning
3. perform a search term analysis
The basis of your work is a search term analysis. With this measure, you learn on the one hand the potential search volume of your search term and on the other hand the strength of the competition. If you find a relevant search term that matches your target page and has a low level of competition, this is the optimal search term.
These free tools will help you:
- hypersuggest
- Google Keyword Planner
- Google Suggest / Google Related
4. optimize the title tags
There are currently around 200 different factors influencing the SEO ranking. The HTML title tag still plays an important role among these factors. You can see the title tag in Google search results and in the source code. When optimizing the title tag you should consider the following aspects:
- One unique title tag per URL
- Attractive titles that should make the user curious to click
- Use a maximum of 70 characters
- Place search terms as far forward as possible
5. optimize the meta descriptions
The meta descriptions cannot be viewed by visitors to your website. These are only found in Google search results and source code. Although there is no direct correlation between meta descriptions and SEO rankings, they should nevertheless be adapted individually for each website.
The meta descriptions are displayed in the search results and can, therefore, have an influence on the click rate. Thus the meta descriptions can be evaluated as a passive ranking factor. Here you should observe the following rules:
- Between 80 and 150 characters (including spaces). All other characters are not displayed and the meta description is ended with”(…)”.
- Use the focus search term within the first 80 characters. Another time in the following 80 characters.
- Make sure that you arouse the user’s curiosity.
- Special characters attract more attention. The right level is important to avoid being labelled as spam.
6. optimize loading times
Nowadays, modern web technologies allow very good loading times. As time goes on, the technologies become more complex. But what remains the same: fast loading times will remain an important factor in the future, as a user leaves the website after an average loading time of just over 2.5 seconds.
For this reason, the loading time is an important ranking factor.
This also applies to search engines. By long waiting times and slow loading, you risk the success of your search engine optimization. In order to avoid this risk, three essential aspects should be considered:
- Reduce HTTP requests
- Keep data volumes small and/or use AMP
- Get rid of unnecessary source code and compress photos
7. provide content with added value
The Google search engine is text-based, so you should provide texts that ensure that the visitor stays on the website. The following rules can help you:
- Unique Content: the texts should be unique and should not be found on any other pages.
- Added value: Offer the user real added value and invest sufficient time in the creation of high-quality content
- Structure: Structure your content sensibly with a headline architecture
- Call-to-Action: Talk to and lead your target group to perform a certain action (“Call-to-Action”)
- Keywords: Integrate meaningful search terms that you have researched in the search term analysis.
- Extensibility: Write in detail about your topic and try to be an all-encompassing source. This increases the chance that users will recommend your content to others.
- Multimedia: Enrich your content with pictures, videos or other multimedia data.
- Formatting: Highlight important text passages by formatting.
8. Use simple and short URLs
URLs are addresses at which the respective contents can be reached. To communicate the URLs optimally, it is necessary to keep the URL length short. It is also not recommended to integrate unnecessary intermediate categories. In addition, the URL should consist of legible words instead of combinations of characters and numbers.
Further measures for search engine optimization in relation to the URL you should consider the following:
- use of small letters
- Do without filler words
- No special characters
- Include keywords
- short and simple URLs
9. Security & SSL
Search engines reward secure pages. What is standard in online shops is a topic that many webmasters ignore. Make sure your website is sufficiently secure.
A first step is the integration of SSL encryption. Google confirmed in 2014 that HTTPS will be used as a ranking signal. With “Let’s Encrypt,”
already free versions that you can use for your website. Please make sure that you forward all content as well as files/images from HTTP to HTTPS via 301.
More tips:
- Set up a backup system that creates regular backups
- Encrypt your CMS version number
- Perform regular updates to close security holes
10. Generate backlinks
Links are a recommendation. Basically, the more qualitative backlinks, the better the SEO ranking. However, you should attach importance to backlinks from quality websites, as a backlink from a reputable website is worth more than many backlinks from shady websites.
Free link sources could be:
- forums
- yellow pages
- Active web catalogs
- High-quality blog comments inactive blogs and so forth
- It is also important that you distinguish good from bad backlinks.
11. Optimize for the visitors
Make sure to optimize the website primarily for the visitor and not for the search engine. You should attach importance to a good usability. The fact that you generate website visitors via the search engine is one factor, but whether the user can satisfy his search intention is the other.
Pay attention to trustworthiness in your design, e.g. by taking certificates, customer votes or other trust-building measures.
An important step towards a usability-optimized website is the analysis of the target group. On this basis, you can find out what your target group expects and then create the content. This avoids unnecessary bounce rates and thus a negative evaluation by the search engine.
12. Be patient
Changes in the ranking cannot be observed immediately. Depending on the condition, the effects can last for months, so that search engine optimization is not comparable to a sprint, but to a marathon. Rankings change in long-term periods.