Everyone will want to ensure that their website ranks at the top of search engines, even if they’ve had an online business for the past 20 years. Landing at the top of the search engine results pages can improve engagement and interaction with customers, as well as improve profits for the company, so it’s a goal everyone wants to achieve.
However, the field of search engine optimisation and online marketing is a multi-headed Hydra and seems to be constantly changing. So, it can be incredibly difficult for companies to know exactly what is needed to get a top-ranking website month on month.
Invest in SEO
Search engine optimisation is not going anywhere. In 2024, to get a top-ranking website, you still need to invest in the SEO of your website pages. This is usually difficult to do correctly by yourself unless you happen to be a trained SEO professional. You will likely need the help of a trained marketing team to get it right. Companies like clickintelligence.co.uk may be able to provide advice on the best places to start.
Marketing teams can help you identify keywords, assess the layout of your current website, and help with everything from short video content and remarketing to blog creation. All of these will help you get higher on those search engine results pages.
Match Content With Visitor Intent
Search intent is one of the newer code words in SEO. It is a way to ensure that the website result actually provides what the searcher is looking for. In other words, Google and other search engines are now able to figure out if your website is a good fit for a specific keyword, not just if it’s present. Search engine search bolts are able to determine how website visitors interact with your website, too.
Therefore, if visitors get what they’re looking for from your site, you can expect your rankings to improve. If they don’t, rankings will drop. So, you need to ensure that the content and layout of your website are appropriate for the visitors attracted to it.
Identify Keywords
You simply cannot have a high-ranking website without identifying the correct keywords. Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI keywords are becoming increasingly important in 2024. These are words that are synonyms or otherwise related to your main keyword. LSI keywords will confirm to the search algorithm that your content is about that topic rather than unrelated but keyword-stuffed.
Make Your Website Skimmable
A study conducted by Hubspot into website engagement found that, on average, a person will spend 54 seconds on a web page. This means that you’ve got less than one minute to make an impression and keep people on your website and purchasing goods or services.
You need to use precise and understandable sentences, write in an active voice, and embrace the use of bullet points. This will also mean that you will need to break the website down into skimmable chunks so people can find what they’re looking for quickly.
Logical Layouts
Have you ever been onto a website that has an irritating and cluttered layout? For many people (particularly web users unfamiliar with the company), it can lead them to click off of the page quickly.
To rank higher on the search engines and to ensure better engagement with visitors, you need to ensure that your website has a logical layout. This can be hard to pinpoint, and you may need to go through several rounds of testing, including with your ideal audience. However, working with a marketing company can give you a boost here too. They will be able to oversee the layout and formatting of your website to ensure it matches the brand and tone that you want without confusing the Google bots in the process.