The target for high rankings in Google search results is always shifting. A few foundational strategies have become ever more so clear in the past year. And these should be what you build your online presence upon in 2020.
Remember to E-A-T
No, don’t break your New Years resolution by loading up on junk food. Instead, focus your website content (and off page also) on:
- Your Expertise in your field of work;
- Your Authoritativeness;
- Your Trustworthiness.
In all your online and offline networking, remember to project yourself as the local expert in your field. Post content on your social media platforms that is relevant to your business and the needs of your target audience.
People do business with those that they know and trust. You can build rapport and establish a relationship with your local market online by offering good advice to topical issues.
And Do It Fast!
Now, that you’ve written an awesome blog post, check out your website for how fast (or slow) it takes your post (and other web pages) to load. People are so impatient now and if they have to wait five seconds, they’re gone. Including Google.
Google wants to deliver a great user experience. And they know how annoyed people get having to wait for slow web pages to load. So it’s no surprise that they put a lot of emphasis on page load times. It IS a ranking factor!
Images/Photos are always typical suspects. Nothing slows down a web page more than a multi-megabyte image file. Images on your website should be a few kilobytes, not megabytes. The lower resolution won’t be noticeable to your site visitors and they’ll appreciate an efficient and fast website experience. And so will Google.
Google makes a great FREE tool that will tell your page load times are and what you can do to speed them up. Just type your domain’s URL in and Google does the rest. It even makes recommendations on how to speed it up.