How to Make Google Love You, 35 Ways

By: | August 10, 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , |
How to boost your Google visibility to generate traffic and boost sales.

Confusion.

That’s what website creators often feel when they try to understand SEO tips that will result in more traffic.

“Will Google like this or won’t they?” is the question often asked when content creators compose their posts and try to optimize them for SEO.

Although these strategies will effectively boost your SEM SEO effectiveness on any search engine, this post focuses on how to maximize your results on Google.

Do you want to know how to create a website Google will love?

I can tell you along with several experts who are quoted in this post.

Let’s get started.

Consider these comments:

“Samantha (Anderson, guest author of 4 Reasons You are in Danger of Losing Organic Search Traffic) has written a very useful article for us. Today I got the reason why I lost 80% of my traffic. Can you please write an article about how to recover that traffic which we have lost? I will be glad to know about that because I have been facing that issue for a long time.” ~ Divya Sehgal

My response: If you create a blog post that Google loves, you’ll get traffic from Google.

This post tells you how.

“We know that Google is the top most-used search engine. I think we need to focus more on Google SEO practices to get massive amounts of traffic to the site.
Writing long form content according to our niche helps readers to get the full information. Short content doesn’t have much information that can solve the reader’s problems.” ~ Praveen Verma

Not everyone agrees we should spend time trying to get Google traffic:

The main blogging cost is the time I spend improving and improving and doing everything to fall in the laps of Google’s favorable graces. ~ Mr. CLIXLR8 ONLINE

“It’s interesting to see the data behind how Google determines whether your blog post is worthy of being seen by others. Fortunately, I blog for pleasure and that saves me going down the Google rabbithole of being told what and how to write to try to get a few extra views. To me it’s about being authentic to my own voice – not to the Google gods and their latest algorithms.” ~ Leanne

My response to Leanne:

“As a blogging tips coach, I want to let people know the information so they can make informed choices. I know you’re happy doing what you do. You should be. You’ve built an engaged community. I like to try to have the best of both worlds– be authentic to my own voice and make Google happy.”

Follow these SEM SEO strategies. You’ll save time if you use these tips as a checklist and rank well on Google.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. You want to ensure your post is in optimal condition so that it ranks well on Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Keep reading to discover how.

According to Wikipedia,

“Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine. SEO refers to the improvement of unpaid results.”

What is SEM?

According to Wikipedia,

Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages primarily through paid advertising.

This article will cover both SEM SEO tips.

You can’t have either without the other.

SEM and SEO are related. For example, you need to optimize your posts for search engines in order to have your content, products, and services found on Google and other search engines.

SEM SEO Tips to Boost Your Traffic and Sales

1. Publish original content. Curating content is a great idea. However, Google may not know which one to rank and may not pick the version you prefer. Publishing only original content avoids this problem. Concerns over Google penalties are overblown. If you do use other people’s content, make sure to offer the source.

2. Create content 2000+ words. I recently read an article that says 3,000+ words should be your average length. Long-form content is definitely trendy. However, write helpful information. Answer questions provided by Answer the Public if needed. Don’t write empty words just to fill this word-length goal.

3. Put the word “Update” in your headline. Genuinely update the information.

4. Do your research! This means finding keywords with high search volume and low competition for readers. Free tools exist to help you find these. 

5. Tag your posts. Use long-tail keywords as your focus keywords and in your tags. Search engine users are apt to type multi-word questions and phrases into search engines. Tagging your posts this way will increase the visibility of users finding you.  

6. Build links to your site. The more links you build, the more quality Google will believe you have. However, don’t build links from sites using Black Hat SEO methods. Google would disapprove of those links and your blog would look low-quality in Google’s eyes. You can build links from high authority sites. Note: Linking to a site with whom you have a financial relationship without a disclaimer that you stand to profit may get you penalized.

7. Link to other websites. Search engines will rank you higher. By linking out, you show Google you are a credible site that cares about providing readers quality. 

8. Google likes links with anchor text. Using them close to the top is the most effective. People call the top section of your post “above the fold.”

9. Long-tail keywords will still take center stage due to voice search. Consumers speak their queries and use long-tail keywords when they do.

10. While long-tail keywords will still be marketers’ focus, interest in search volume will start to decrease. Since the numbers add up, marketers will be happy with the content that ranks on Page 1 even if the search volume is smaller.

11. Google likes fast loading sites. Blogger Moss Clement explains, “Not having a mobile-friendly site is a no-no for Google because search engines now favor mobile-friendly websites. These are websites that load fast. So, if your site is not mobile-friendly, you’re certainly going to lose traffic.” Use GTMetrix to discover how fast your site loads. 

12. Google likes links to your site with a higher Domain Authority than yours. Guest post for these sites to get these. Use the free MozBar to determine your DA and the DA of sites you consider guest posting for.

13. Google dislikes keyword stuffing.

Blogger Camilo Atkinson explains the history behind why Google dislikes keyword stuffing:

“Believe it or not, this keyword stuffing used to work to get your website on the first page of Google.
If the exact keyword had to be repeated numerous times, it would force writers to stuff the keyword anywhere they could.
Google realized this was bad user experience as the text won’t flow naturally, and so they changed the rules.”

How to avoid keyword stuffing:

Use the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast will tell you if you’ve used your keyword too many times in your post. If you find Yoast recommends reducing the number of times you mention your keyword, try replacing your keyword with synonyms called “LSI Keywords.” LSI Graph, a free tool, provides those synonyms for you.  

14. Interlink your posts. Google likes them. According to Blogger Lorraine Reguly, “You can take one simple topic and write 3-5 posts on the same thing, each with a different spin on it. Interlinking all the posts with one another after they have been published is a great way to establish blog authority as well as authority with Google.”

15. Use Search Strings. According to Dabakar Bala,

“As we know, asking the correct question solves half of the problem. Similar is the case with Google Search Queries. Strings with punctuation and symbols like ” and + are not known to many writers and bloggers. Using those search strings with your niche keyword brings up loads of poor quality articles. One can take up those topic ideas and improve upon them. Easy peasy. For example, “link building + blogs.”

16. Publish consistently. Google likes new content. Active blogs consistently publish content. If you run out of ideas, update old content. Putting “Update” or “The Latest” will please Google.

17. Fix broken links. Use a link checker plugin which will cross out the broken links on your site. Google dislikes sites with broken links. This way, you’ll know you need to fix them and others won’t click them.

18. Google likes posts that include videos. Blogger Donna Merrill can attest to this.”I do find that whenever I make a video and put it on YouTube and embed it on my blog, my ‘Google Status’ jumps high.

19. Google likes engagement. Based on my experiences, posts with many comments will do well in search engines. Asking people to comment at the end of your post will encourage and increase comments.

20. Install an SSL Certificate. Google prefers HTTPS sites.

21. Avoid linking to spammy sites. Link to authority blogs instead.

22. If you do link to a low-quality website, make sure you don’t give a dofollow link.

23. Veteran bloggers: Write about high volume search words. New bloggers: Once you have started to drive the organic traffic for low searches, then you may go with the keywords with the search volume more than 100 or 100-200. Don’t choose the primary keyword with thousands of search volume as it is tough to rank.

24. Publish posts about keywords with low online competition. [Check out these tools which will help you conduct competitive analysis.]

25. Optimize your post with those high volume, low competition search words. Put the keyword in the headline, a subhead, sprinkled throughout the post, in the meta description, and in the alt image tag. 

26. Write your meta description in a way that search engine users know you’re answering their query.  Do this by including verbs like “fix,” and “get.”

27. Bold your anchor text. This provides extra Google power.  

28. Have a variety of media in your posts. For example, include graphics, infographics, screenshots, video, and GIFs. Embedding these in your post will keep people longer on your blog. This, in turn, improves your bounce rate and your SEO increases.

29. Publish quality content that helps people. Use the phrase “How to” in your headline.

30. Avoid matching your anchor text to your keyword when you insert a link. According to Gaurav Kumar, exact match anchor text is out. If you use an anchor text that matches your keyword, Gaurav warns you could be opening yourself up to a Google penalty.

31. Keep your slug, the back end part of your URL, short. For example, the slug for this post is SEM-SEO. The slug is not 35-New-SEM-SEO-Tips-to-Make-You-See-More-Google-Traffic.

32. Don’t pay for links. Google considers buying links Black Hat SEO.

33. Use Headline Tags (H1 in your headline, H2, H3, H4) in the body of your post. These headings should organize your points in your post like an outline organizes the points in an essay.

34. Place links in a context. According to Neil Patel, links should be surrounded by context and not at the bottom of your post in the footer.

35. Type a question in your post and answer it in one sentence. Those are the kind Google picks for Position Zero, Google’s snippets at the top of the search page.

Wrapping Up: SEM SEO Tips

In case you think any of these ideas seem outdated, my guest author followed these SEM SEO strategies and got my post on Page 1 of Google. I had another guest author do the same.

Effective SEM SEO Tips

This is a screenshot from Spyfu.com showing I have 34 keywords on the first page of Google’s Search Engine Results Pages. 

Follow these tips, and you can have many keywords on Page 1 of Google’s SERPs as well. 

Readers, please share so bloggers, content marketers, and anyone seeking visibility on Google learn these SEM SEO tips.

I look forward to your views in the comments section. Are there any SEM SEO methods you can suggest?

  1. Kathryn

    Hi Janice,

    WOW! 35 Tips that are so useful to marketers!
    “Follow these SEM SEO strategies.” Some I was not even aware of.
    I will post on my sites Facebook page for others and keep it for myself for reference.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Kathryn,
      I’m glad you feel my list of 35 tips will help search engine marketers with SEM SEO.
      Thank you for sharing and bookmarking!
      I appreciate your comments as well!
      Janice

  2. Janni L.

    Wow very useful tips, thanks a lot! “Publish quality content that helps people” – I think quality content is nowadays the No. 1 SEO factor. I have written an article about Backlinks and its the same thing, only with a good written Blog, you can create Traffic.

    • Richard

      With the recent changes to no follow and do follow, some strategies may need to be updated in the short to middle term too!

      • Janice Wald

        Hi Richard,
        I’m familiar with Google’s upcoming changes to the nofollow link.
        Someone recently said we shouldn’t change our practice and just keep doing what we’ve been doing. Do you agree or do you think the new limited “Google juice” nofollow will bring soon should dictate a change? If so, what?
        Thanks for your feedback.
        Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Janni,
      I agree that quality content creates backlinks. Combined, they are a dynamic combination for ranking on Google.
      Janice

  3. Gaurav Kumar

    Hi Janice,

    If someone want to make his way to success in SERP then he should start following these 35 points. It is must that one should learn from the experts or professionals and then expand the strategies to get maximum profit.

    Glad you have shared these!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Gaurav,
      I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I just saw these wonderful comments. Thank you so much for the high praise! Testimonials are much appreciated! Thanks for validating these Google ranking tips.
      Janice

  4. Dee | Grammy's Grid

    Thanks so much for linking up your post at the #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 3!

  5. Arifmondol

    Wow. This is a wonderful and very informative article for SEO. I want to say Thank for your Article. I read this article A-Z and I really enjoyed this.

  6. Moss Clement

    Hi Janice,

    This article the kind of posts that I enjoy reading; 35 powerful tips to stay on top of Google search. All the tips are practical. I like the regular content creation and or updating old posts. It helps you reach a new audience. For example, I’ve started updating my old blog posts, and the result so far is impressive. One of my updated posts only had seven Twitter retweets when it was first published a year ago. But six days I updated the article, craft a new headline, and image. So fat in 6 days it has already generated 140 retweets and 151 likes.
    Thank you for sharing.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Moss,
      Question: When you updated the article, did you republish with a new URL or edit the old post and keep the same URL?
      Thanks,
      Janice

  7. Nikola Roza

    Hi Janice,
    all great tips, and wonderful instructive post.

    You mention that linking out help with rankings. That is true. I’d like to add that not linking out or nofollowing all outbound links can also lower rankings. Because Google can see that site as a spammer site that is not a part of the web but is trying to it’s best to hoard PageRank.
    So they punish it for not playing fair.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Nikola,
      You are so knowledgeable about SEO. I greatly respect your opinion in this area.
      I appreciate you adding to the discussion with your tip– not only does linking out help our rates but not linking out hurts our rankings.
      Yoast reminds me when I need outbound links– now I know why.
      Thanks for the important reminder and the comments.
      Janice

  8. Rebecca Forstadt Olkowski

    I agree about writing both for SEO and using your own voice. I want the benefit of both. I don’t put “update” on a post but will change the title and tweak the content every once in a while. Occasionally I will repost it at a more current date if it’s something important or has to do with a specific time of year like the holidays.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Rebecca,
      Great to see you. I appreciate you writing and sharing the SEM SEO practices you follow. I’ve never reposted but am planning on doing that for the first time soon.
      Janice

  9. Vimlaksh

    Thanks, Janice for these useful tips to grow my blog traffic. I reached your page from bizsugar.com and although I am implementing many of these tips, I did get to learn some new ones like avoiding the use of anchor text keywords.

    Regards,

    Vimlaksh

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Vimlaksh,
      I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner.
      In regards to your comment about the anchor text: It’s ironic! Years ago search engine marketers wanted to match the keyword to the anchor text. Now, Google gets mad and marketers try not to do it. How times change! Thanks for commenting.
      Janice

  10. Anil Agarwal

    Hi Janice,

    One of the most engaging articles I have read. Adding comments of others to an article is quite creative ways to stick onto it. You know how to keep things simple and gives valuable information to your reader’s.

    Lots of people did not add any video into their content. But we know “Google likes posts that include videos”.

    To get better results with SEO, you should create great content which are well researched and cover all aspects about a given topic. After from creating new contents, we should work towards improving the quality of old blog posts.

    Best Regards,
    Anil Agarwal

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Anil,
      I know Google likes posts with a variety of media, but I did not know specifically videos. You used quotes. I’d love to see the source of this important tip. I have spent more time this year updating old posts and will continue to do so updating old content also helps boost Google rankings.
      Thanks for your compliments and insights.
      Question: I emailed you to ask about guest posting. Did you get my email?
      Janice

  11. Sathish Arumugam

    Janice,
    As Anil said, you have pin-pointed the ideas. The way you have mentioned ideas and comments of other bloggers on specific ideas is great.

    Updating the old post with related keywords, you will see good ranking improvement of the post for multiple keywords. Also, you can take the keywords from Google Search Console that gets more impressions.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Sathish,
      Thanks for coming by and commenting on my blog post.
      I appreciate you adding to the conversation with your idea about adding keywords that get impressions.
      I have started implementing that practice.
      Janice

  12. affordable SEO packages

    RSS feed submission takes your website’s content to
    a huge number of audiences eventually increasing website visitors to your website.

    Apart from the above three steps, SEO experts also optimize
    your website using certain keywords, key phrases etc.
    Social media is an effective strategy for smaller businesses that don’t have a large marketing budget.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Affordable,
      Thanks for commenting. I agree. That’s why I use social media marketing often. I just feel SEM has more long-term benefits.
      Janice

  13. PacificModels

    Oh, thank you for this list of effective SEO techniques! I will try some of them

  14. Bella D. @ Self-Publishing Made Easy Now

    I’m glad I have read this article. Among all the search engines, Google is the greatest of them all and that is why bloggers and marketers are all aiming to increase their visibility on Google. Thanks for imparting your knowledge about the topic. These SEM SEO tips are very helpful.

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