Understanding How Search Engine Ranking Works (Continued…)
How Keywords Influence Search Engine Rankings
This is the part of the SEO process that confuses people more than anything. For every keyword that someone uses to find your website, you have a unique search engine ranking. You may show up on Page 1 of Google for “roofing company Detroit” and Page 4 for “roofers in Metro Detroit.” The keywords seem the same and they certainly point to the same types of search results, but your website will show up differently for each of them. That is why it is so important to have a solid keyword pyramid in place, so you know which keywords to target to boost your search engine rankings across the board.
Keep in mind that Google will take into account similar words on a page, even if they are not the exact keyword you’re targeting. For instance, having “roofers in Metro Detroit” on a page titled “roofing company Detroit” will help your search engine ranking for both terms. This all comes down to a unique process called Latent Semantic Indexing, in which search engines crawl your pages for synonyms to help them rank you for each term. By using varied but similar keywords in your content, you can effectively help your website show up better in search engines.
Other Factors That Influence Page 1 Google Rankings
- How up to date your content is
- Keyword density (the ratio of your target keyword to the number of words on the page)
- Content quality
- Link building (the number of other websites pointing to your site, as well as the number of references used on your pages)
- SEO optimization, including tags, meta data, headings, etc.
- Internal link ratios
- The amount of authority your posts and pages have
- The amount of competition you face for target keywords
We could keep going on, but the idea here is to show you that there is no way to predict how long it will take to reach Page 1 in Google. There are far too many factors to take into consideration. Any SEO company that “guarantees” Page 1 ranking in a select period of time is running a scam – plain and simple.
Now that you know what influences your search engine ranking, you can learn how to speed up your pursuit of Page 1. Check out the next part of our guide to learn more…
Simple And Proven Ways To Boost Your Search Engine Ranking
