SEO comprises a variety of techniques used to help your website go higher up on the search rankings on Google Search. While the exact criteria for getting your website on the first page or as the first result are a tightly-guarded secret, Google has made a few pronouncements on which factors are given importance by their algorithm. 

In this article, we will share four ways you can dominate SEO without heavy spending this 2020: 

If you have a physical location, claiming your business on Google is one of the easiest and most effective ways to boost your online presence. In doing so, your business will appear whenever a relevant “near me” search term is used. This might seem like a menial aspect until you figure out that only 44% of businesses have been claimed, but that “near me” searches grew up to 900% in 2017. 

Claiming your business, creating a profile, and supplying it with complete information signals to Google that you are an active business. Plus, you can ask customers to give you a good review and rating, which further boosts your online presence. 

SEO is an ever-changing field. While some techniques can come and go based on Google’s requirements, content will always remain as king. Focusing on good content means constantly looking for ways to engage your target audience by taking on topics that may interest them. Content can come in the form of blog articles, infographics, and videos, among others. The better your content is, the better people will respond to it. As a result, this gives you a better chance at Google indexing your website and putting it on the top spot of results. 

In the early days of Google and SEO, keywords were thought to be the biggest ranking factor, and a disavowed practice that is now called “keyword stuffing” was used. In essence, websites would write articles that were of no relevance or help to users because it was used to trick Google’s algorithm by using as many instances of a keyword as possible to boost its search rankings. 

Those days are long gone as Google’s algorithm has changed so much, but keywords remain relevant. After all, users still depend on keywords to look up something. However, keywords are now used to create topics that can be elaborated upon to address the concerns of users. In building your SEO strategy, you will need to find the most relevant keywords to your niche, and use it to start making great content. 

In an effort to encourage a safer Internet experience for users, Google has been favoring websites with a Secure Sprockets Layer (SSL) certificate since 2014. Websites with an SSL now use the https protocol instead of http, which made users’ data vulnerable to attackers. Getting an SSL will not only help your rankings, but it will also signal to your customers that you are protecting their data. After all, if your website is still not using SSL, some browsers, particularly Google Chrome, may not load it at all.

While starting on any of these items are better than having no digital strategy at all, keep in mind that SEO is a long-term commitment. Results are very unlikely to appear overnight. However, as long as you keep on following these tips, you are well on your way towards the top.  The easiest way you can automate SEO for your company is to hire an SEO company to complete a full SEO audit and to constantly create content and website edits to rank you higher for your targeted keywords.

The Stack Group is a team of Web Designers and SEO Specialists in the US, offering affordable search engine optimization services to small businesses. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help achieve your SEO goals!