A guide to what works on Google Search
Google has become the dominant search engine in the world. But how do you get your website to show up when people search for relevant keywords? There are many companies that claim they can help with this, but there’s a lot of hype out there.
In reality, the best way to improve your visibility on Google is to follow Google’s own guidelines. In fact, there are a number of official resources that will teach you how to build and maintain a site that aligns well with Google’s algorithms. This article will give you an overview of these resources, as well as some real-world examples of what works and what doesn’t.
Google Search Central and Search Console
The primary resource I recommend for learning about SEO is Google Search Central (formerly known as Google Webmasters). This site provides a comprehensive set of guides and resources for developers, website owners, and SEO professionals. The goal of all these resources is to help the right people find the right content via Google Search. While it’s possible to get good results from basic knowledge of SEO, the Google SEO Starter Guide covers the essentials, and following its advice will result in noticeable improvements in performance.
In addition to providing educational resources, Google also supplies a free tool called Google Search Console. This tool allows developers, website owners, and SEO professionals to monitor, debug, and optimize their sites’ performance on Google Search. For example, here’s a screenshot of my own Search Console:
As you can see, this shows me the traffic that my website received from Google Search over a certain period of time. The data here is very real; it’s not just an abstract representation of “how well my website is doing”. This is measurement data, which means it tells me exactly how much traffic my website receives from organic searches, and where it ranks in the search results. It’s also important to note that this is a point-in-time record, not a permanent rank. If something changes on my website, this will change too.
SEO-Friendly Design Practices
One of the most effective ways to improve your visibility on Google is to make sure your website follows Google’s on-site design practices. These include things like optimizing your metadata, structuring your URLs correctly, creating an information architecture that makes sense for both users and search engines, and using UX signals that encourage visitors to stay on your site. When visitors come to your site, they decide within seconds whether they want to stay or leave. Making sure your site is easy to read, attractive, and includes a single clear CTA is crucial to keeping them around.
Case Studies and Proof Standards
There are plenty of documented case studies showing that following structured data and Google’s best practices produces measurable gains in traffic, sign-ups, and conversions. Saramin, for example, saw an increase of 2x in organic search traffic after implementing structured data and following Google’s best practices. They also saw a 93% increase in new sign-ups and a 9% increase in conversions. MX Player increased their traffic from Google by over 3x after adding Video structured data to their pages. ZipRecruiter saw an increase of 3x in conversions from Google organic traffic after launching JobPosting structured data.
But what makes an SEO result credible and attributable rather than coincidental? A useful example must meet a few documentation standards. First, you need to define a starting point. Second, you need to define the specific action that was taken. Third, you need to define the search surface that was affected. Fourth, you need to define the method used to measure the effect. Fifth, you need to define the business outcome that was achieved. And finally, you need to define the limits of the test. Title rewrites, technical repairs, internal links, local profile changes, and conversion tests only have meaning if they’re documented properly. You need to be able to check your results against a defined goal.
Conclusion
In short, while there are many companies that claim to be able to help you boost your visibility on Google Search, the best way to achieve this is to follow Google’s own guidelines. By making use of the tools and resources available from Google Search Central, and by ensuring that your website follows Google’s best practices, you’ll be well on your way to achieving the visibility you desire.