For Google's algorithm, it is known to be secretive, and there are no precise data on which mathematical formulas Google ranks your page in the search engine. Only some basic information has been patented and can be read.
The purpose of this post is to give you a basic overview of what Google's spiders look for on a page. Despite constant changes in the algorithm, there are constants that do not change. This article will most likely not guarantee you the top position for keywords, as you will need to do more than just follow the tips below, but it will certainly help your site.
Important data for Google that ranks your page are:
Image material - quality and unique
Warning: A robot cannot see your images through spiders, so it is enough to ensure that your files are named after keywords and contain Alt tags with the same keywords. If you have images named unknown.jpg and without Alt content, the robot cannot recognize and rank them. Also, make sure that the image names are without special characters, spaces (make these with -), and other characters.
Text content - quality, unique, and with the presence of keywords.
For keywords, make sure they are important for your niche and are repeated in bold text. Keywords should be evenly distributed throughout the page, and be careful not to overdo it, as you will have the opposite effect, and Google will perceive your page as "spammy." Multiple uses of a keyword throughout the page at a normal frequency of repetition let Google know that this word is relevant to the page, and based on this, you will be ranked higher.
Outbound links (links from your site to another)
If you have many links from your site, it is advisable to use no_follow tags on the links, as Google then does not consider such links. Many people have hundreds of links to other sites on their pages, but only a few return links, thus losing value. Nowadays, it is good to have up to a maximum of 75 outbound links, which may sound like a lot, but these links accumulate quickly.
Consistency of keywords
Google can instantly determine keywords and their frequency, so frequent changes of keywords on the page are not advisable, as such a page appears inconsistent and unreliable.
Meta tags
For some time, it has been said that keywords are losing value, but this is not entirely true, as meta data are the first to be indexed and are still widely used in searches on other search engines (Najdi.si, matkurja.com,..).
- Meta titles - it is important to use the most frequently used keywords at the beginning of the title, as these are the most important. The title should not contain more than 66 characters, including spaces, and characters like "&" as Google sees these differently, in this case, as "alt." Instead, it is recommended to use a dash (-). Also, make sure the title does not contain too many keywords or misspellings.
- Meta description - Google will use the meta description on the results page under the title, and people will read it, so the words must be connected and at the same time contain keywords. The text must be dynamic and descriptive but not longer than 150 characters. Do not use the same keywords in the description more than 3 times.
- Meta keywords – other search engines still heavily rely on keywords, so use them but keep them up to 800 characters and no more than 3 uses of a keyword.
Inbound links - links from other sites pointing to your site. It is important that links from quality sites point to your site.
Other important things to be careful about:
- Importance of content
- Age of the page
- Number of indexed pages
- Server data - how many servers have changed, how many DNS records, how many whois records, etc. Too many changes indicate that the site is not stable.
- Pagerank – Pagerank no longer affects page ranking, but it can tell us whether the site is properly maintained and of quality
- Whois Information – although it sounds funny, whois data is also important, so make sure you have contact information
- Headings (h1, h2, h3,..) - headings on the page are crucial. The most important is the h1 heading, which should be only one on the page, and so on by the number of headings (h1, h2, h3,..). The heading must be short and contain keywords.
- Title and Alt tags – images need alt tags and links title in which you enter your keywords
- Sitemap – sitemaps should be in xml and html format with links in the footer of the page
- Robots.txt – in the file, specify which files and folders are visible to spiders. Prevent indexing of pages and folders that are not relevant to your site. Most often, these are system files.
As you can see, there are many factors you need to pay attention to, but these are by no means all. Optimization is a long process that takes a lot of time and effort, but in the end, it usually always pays off.
