What determines your position in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)

What determines your position in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)?

We are asked about Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) all the time and the answer is that it’s not just one specific thing. There are a number of rules that should be applied to each page and we have created a list of items, all of which contribute to high rankings. Of course, beautiful web design with great UX (User Experience) counts.

Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) essentials

• Inbound links. Each link to your website from another website counts as a positive vote. This is the major part of the Google algorithm. See below.
• Correct page titles and subtitles. Do not use ambiguous titles such as “about us” or “our products”
• Ensure your titles and subtitles are in the correct heading tags and only use them once per page!
• Research your keywords and do not use ambiguous keywords e.g. Just “About Us” is a wasted opportunity. About Artofdata Web designers is better.
• Citation Flow and Trust Flow (Described in the Citation & Trust flow blog and the links below). Basically, it is how many web directories have the correct information about your business
• Content is King – A good quality,  compelling, informative article with enough words, ideally 300+ words. Use a content writer if your English is not good enough or if you just don’t have the time to write articles. Concentrate on what you are good at.
• High quality of grammar and punctuation. Search engines analyse the quality of written content. They use the Flesch readability formula (It analyses text to see if it’s been written by a university professor or a schoolchild).
• Keyword density (Don’t repeat your keywords)
• Images named correctly with alt tags completed. Fill in the image metadata, especially on your Logo.
• Well-constructed, friendly URLs: www.artofdata.com/?post=4552 is pointless.
• Correct MetaData (Keywords & Description)
• Outbound links (Citing other website references)
• Page publicity tells other trusted sites your article exists, don’t just wait for the search engines to index it mention your page on social media
• Don’t dilute your search engine keywords and phrases. Don’t sell two different products on the same page
• Speed of your site – This is important and large images can slow down your site
• Mobile-friendly. Most of your website traffic will come from mobile phones and tablets
• HTTPS – New websites are not being indexed if they don’t have an SSL (Secure Socket Layer). The padlock in your browser address bar

Inbound links: How to measure them