mt-magazine-Mar18

1
Backlinks to Quality Sites Still
Carry Weight
In a Q & A session from March of 2017, Google
revealed their top three ranking factors. Backlinks
were number one. Since Google rarely comments
publicly about their algorithm, we can’t
say for certain that backlinks are still number
one, but it’s safe to assume they’re very close to
the top.
A backlink is any link that leads from another site
to yours. If you want backlinks to have a positive
impact on your Google rank, they must be from
authority sites. Multiple links from the same site
won’t help you since Google evaluates backlinks
based on domains, not volume.
Remember that spammy backlinks won’t
help you. In fact, they may hurt you. When a
low-quality site links to yours, Google may associate
your quality site with their low-quality
content or practices. Instead of buying links or
engaging in other “black hat” practices, focus on
organically building quality links.
2
Content is Still King
The next most important ranking factor is your content. Google’s aim is to provide highly relevant,
quality content to searchers. The better your content is, the more likely it is that your site will rise
to the top of the SERP.
Not all quality is created equal. You can signal quality to Google by doing the following things:
Use keywords properly. Keyword stuffing won’t
help you, but using keywords in your URL, title
tag, H1/H2 tags, alt tags, and in the first paragraph
of your content will.
Make your content long enough to be satisfying. There’s no
specific word count to aim for. Instead, your goal should be
providing visitors to your site with the information they’re
looking for. If you do that, they’ll be satisfied
– and your rank will reflect it.
Make your content comprehensible.
By that, we
don’t mean making
sure people can read
it. Rather, it has to
do with providing
context for your
content. The use
of Latent Semantic
Indexing (LSI)
words can help. In
other words, remember
that your content
doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
To earn a high rank on Google, your
content must be relevant and engaging.
If people who find your site
through Google are happy with your
content, they’ll show it by staying on
your page and engaging with your content.
Their behavior in relation to your content
– combined with the other content
factors here – will tell Google what it needs
to know about your site.