Rich’s Web Design – September Newsletter
– How do I make my site appear first in Google Search results?-
– FREE Web Tools –
– Adding FRESH Content –

How do I make my site appear first in Google Search results?

Everyone asks this question. The OFFICIAL GOOGLE ANSWER is: there is no secret, there are only good practices. Here are the best practices for improving your ranking in Google search results: (See RWD notes below)
1. Provide high quality fresh content on your site. Google tries to find the best answer for our users’ requests; if you write the best material, you’re in the game.
2. Use the Search Analytics report (sent to all RWD clients monthly) to see which queries lead to your pages, and what the click-through rate is for links to your site.
3. Make your site mobile friendly. (All RWD clients, as of April 2015 are mobile-friendly) Many users search on mobile devices; our search results favor pages that we think answer the user’s request best with the best possible user experience on their platform.
4. Use informative titles and snippets (RWD does this for all clients). Good, clear titles and accurate meta tag descriptions help us understand the purpose of a page and generate useful snippets in our search results. Learn more.
5. Add structured data to enable additional search result features such as stars, event information, or site search boxes, which add to the user experience, making your site more valuable to readers. (RWD sites use these tools when appropriate.) Read more about structured data or use our tools.
6. Make sure that you follow Google’s guidelines for good sites and avoid pitfalls that could affect your search ratings. (ALWAYS!)
7. Make use of Webmaster Tools (now called ‘Search Console’) & Google Analytics. (Each RWD client has a Google ‘Webmaster Tools’ / ‘Search Console’ account and can be provided a Google Analytics report every month)
 http://www.richswebdesign.com/
FREE SEO Tools
I am always running across tools for web sites, SEO, marketing, etc. but this month I have a few nice ones, all from LXRMarketPlace.com .
 http://www.richswebdesign.com/

Adding FRESH Content

I know I mention this every other newsletter, but it bears repeating. Adding new, relative and fresh content on a regular basis is one of Google’s top 2-3 most important factors in their ranking calculations.

If you are not sure what to write about, simply check your monthly rankings reports that you receive on the 1st of every month.  These reports show you the targeted phrases for your own site / business. Content should be focused around these phrases.  If you need assistance, I can clarify this for you.

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