7 Google Signals to Increase your Website Ranking

Research shows that consumers believe that whoever’s at the top of the search result, even if it’s an ad, is also whoever is the best in the area or the best in the industry. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s just what consumers assume.

So how do you reach the top?

To rank up on Google, you need to match the signals that Google is looking for. Below are the signals:

1. Reviews

So it’s not just the number of reviews, but actually what matters the most is your review velocity.

In other words, how many reviews have you gotten in the last couple of weeks and in the last couple of months? Because you could have gotten a lot of reviews years and years ago, but what happened recently is what Google is going to take more into account.

2. Keywords and your Google My Business Profile

So the best way to find out how we can rank is to look at who the other folks are because if Google’s already ranking them, then we can reverse engineer what’s working for them. 

Want to learn more about how you can leverage your Business Profile to the maximum level and avoid getting suspended? Here is an Office Hour Episode that discusses just that + insights from a platinum GMB Partner. 

 3. Configured local service ads

You just have to upload realtor licenses and some random things like insurance, just to verify that you are a legit business. And then that way you’re going to show up in searches and it’ll say Google screened or Google guaranteed.

Your ads will appear as Google screened sponsored but what people don’t know is those are ads. Naturally, it’s going to pull most of the clicks just because they’re at the top, and its pictures probably going to get 50 to 70% of all the clicks. Ad copy is a pay-to-play game, easy to set up.

And so this is the game where your SEO and your reviews and your social and the links are coming in.

What happens when you have bad SEO, how will that affect your ads?

Ads can be a great way to get traffic immediately as SEO takes time. It’s like buying your vegetables at whole foods versus planting them in the garden. And there are pros and cons to both of them. Think of it as like renting a car.

You can rent the car, try the car, and see whether you like it. And then if you like it, buy it. So if you have a number of keywords that you wants to go after. They may or may not be good keywords and you might decide that you want to do SEO for them when they’re not even valuable.

What you can do instead is rent the keywords by paying Google for them and once you decide it’s good, then start creating the content, and start building the links. Then you know, it’s going to work because you’re able to sample the keywords. So maybe it’d be a lot of effort to get to the first page, but you’re able to buy it temporarily. And then maybe you still continue to buy it, but think of it as like buying versus owning. Like you could rent the house, but eventually, you want to buy the house. 

Once you know which keyword is good, then you own that keyword. So rent a bunch like a Ford or Chevy, or Toyota,  and rent each of the cars for three or four days. See which ones you like and then buy the one you like, don’t just buy it before you get to try it first.

4.  Content

So when you have the regular search result, with the page title and the description, add other stuff like if you are a realtor, add an ad such as buyers start here, sellers start here. 

You can also add location, snippets, and review snippets.

If you’re a restaurant, then there’s the menu, all different kinds of related categorized information

And so that’s where search has really evolved in the last few years where it’s not just web pages, but you want to include all those other pieces. 

So what are those pieces? It should:

• Have a great title
• Be not plagiarize
• Not be fake content
• Tell a story and it should be interesting so people actually want to read
• Be useful and not just jammed with keywords
• Have maybe a picture or two and maybe a video just to give more flavor because Google wants to show a mix of results.
• Have Categories and Tags because that will help us rank. 
• Not be for the sake of repurposing. 
• Not make ridiculous promises

So typically Google want to show news, videos, and maps and they’re showing a whole range of different sorts of results. 

So what Google is going to do is they’re going to look at these articles and look at it generating traffic and generating a great user experience.

What happens if people click back? 

If people click back to the search results, then that’s prompting Google that the article is not good and is generating a bad experience.

Need help with creating “great content”, especially with limited resources, and often in competitive and unsexy industries. Here is our Content Marketing Course that will teach you how.

5.  Have people link to your site

Let’s say for example the site of our Office Hour Member markschweikert.com and we can see from an SEO standpoint that this is a new site. It has no domain rating. In other words, it has nobody linking to the site.

So anytime someone links to your website, that’s passing some juice. Now you can be linking from the site that has no power or link from a site that has a lot of power.

So anything above 60 is really powerful. 

So the more links you have, generally, the more SEO juice you’re flowing to yourself.

6. Repurpose your content.

Turn your videos into a different form of content such as articles, snippets, and show notes. 

Did you know that Descript is such a powerful tool for repurposing? Here is an Office Hour Episode where Dennis talks about the power of Descript and how it’s a must-have for anybody who wants to repurpose content.

7.  Boost Post via Dollar a Day Strategy

What is the thing that is working best for you now? What is already driving leads and sales, you have to get more of that. 

Build out all the properties and start dollar-a-day ads in your one-minute videos.

Want to make Advertising Work for You by Driving Traffic and Conversions For as Low as $1 Per Day? Here is Facebook for a Dollar a Day Course that will guide you on how to get started.

In Summary:

Humanize the Experience

There might be guys on top of you when you search on Google but what you can do is take the next step and humanize the experience. Show yourself with your dog, when you are outside, on your trips. Talk about your dog or even get people on a two-minute zoom.

Want to catch up by listening to the full episode?

Want to learn how else you can dominate your Google? Here is a course that will help you out. 

This and much more when you join Office Hours that will give you access to the Academy +Weekly meeting with Dennis!