13 Ways To Improve Google Search Ranking Fast That Actually Work
If you are creating content on your website in hopes of attracting your ideal customer, one common question is how long does it take to rank on Google and other search engines. You can find a lot of marketing strategies out there for optimizing SEO, but some of them give you outlandish expectations of results. There are black hat SEO techniques that could possibly get you results faster, but they put your site at risk. It’s a much better idea to stick to white hat SEO techniques because they work and will keep your site safe. In this post, you’ll learn how to improve Google search ranking fast without putting your site at risk. Plus you’ll learn the truth of how long it takes to rank on Google without resorting to shady tactics.
How long does it take to rank on Google?
There are many factors that influence how long it takes to rank on Google. Depending on the age of the website and how competitive the industry is it can usually take anywhere from three to nine months to reach its full traffic potential. For many sites, ranking can continue to improve for well over two years after content has been created. According to Ahrefs “Only 5.7% of all studied pages ranked in the Top10 search results within 1 year for at least 1 keyword.“
From experience creating hundreds of blog posts and working with clients, often you will see an initial period of little to no traffic, then a spike around 3-4 months as the page is indexed. Once the post starts to get exposure on search engines you can usually see a steady increase in traffic over time as more people find it and as it begins to gain backlinks and referral traffic. See the picture below of an example of this process on a blog post starting to rank on Google.
Set proper expectations for ranking on Google quickly
The reality is that you likely won’t be ranking any pages on Google overnight, but there are several strategies you can use to build traffic to your website quickly. You should look at content marketing and ranking on Google a lot like farming.
As you build out blog posts and other kinds of content on your website it is like planting a seed in farming. It would be crazy to plant seeds and the next day be angry that you didn’t have a harvest, but that’s what most people think happens when they create content.
There is a growth period that takes a few months or more for search engines to start seeing your content and for traffic to start coming in. You can get some traffic early on, but your posts and pages won’t reach their full traffic potential for a while.
For this reason, you should have some kind of promotional strategy to go with your content marketing strategy to get the word out about your content while it goes through the process of ranking on Google.
Some of the many factors that can lead to a page ranking faster on Google are your website’s domain authority, age of a website, quality of content, backlinks, bounce rate, page load speed, SEO optimization, and more. In the rest of this post, you’ll learn some tips on how to rank on Google faster.
Know the competition of keywords you are trying to rank for as a means of how to rank on Google quickly
There are literally millions of different search terms that people use every single day, and some are more competitive than others. The reason some keywords are harder to rank for on Google is that they get a lot of search volume, or they have high buying intent or relevancy in a niche.
For example, if you a plumber and you were trying to get more leads for a plumbing business, you would want to target people who had an issue. In this case, if you could rank for search terms like “broken pipes”, “leaky faucet”, or “hire a plumber” it would be very valuable.
The idea is to try and understand search intent behind the keywords people are using. In the above example, someone searching for “hire a plumber” is more likely to hire a plumber, than someone searching for “DIY shower installation.” When a search term has a high buying intent and high search volume they are usually very competitive and ranking for those terms can take longer and is much harder.
This doesn’t mean you can’t ever rank on Google for these kinds of keywords, but realize it will take time for it to happen. Even if you write amazing content and optimize it for SEO, it will be a longer process than going after terms that aren’t as competitive.
Before you start making content on your website you should do some keyword research to see what terms you could have an easier time ranking for. This way you can start to build traffic to your website faster and likely rank faster on Google.
Have a keyword research strategy to rank on Google faster
When it comes to ranking on Google, one of the best ways to do it quickly is to have an effective keyword research strategy. A big mistake I made early on with my content marketing strategy was making content but not matching titles and keywords for what people were actually searching for.
For example, let’s say you made a post on “fixing your bike tire.” It could be a valuable post but those terms people aren’t exactly searching for. A keyword research tool I use called What’s my SERP shows “Fixing your bike tire” gets 0 search traffic. However, a very similar term “bike tire repair” averages around 1000 searches a month.
This means that when you create content you need to match what the content is about with the best terms related to that content to maximize your traffic potential and to rank on Google faster. Google itself is another great free keyword research tool you can use to discover what kind of content to create.
The autosuggest feature on Google search can give you topic ideas that people are actively searching for in high volumes. For example, if you had a house painting business and wanted content ideas you could start typing in house painting and see what Google suggests.
In the above photo, you could find a couple of good ideas to use for content creation. For example, you could make a post on something like “what is the average house painting cost per square foot.” It would be helpful and congruent with what people are searching for. Meeting both of those criteria can help you rank faster in Google search.
The age of your website can slow down ranking on Google
If you stuck wondering how long does it take to rank on Google and why your site isn’t ranking fast enough, it could be because of the age of your site. One ranking factor on Google is the age of your website.
Anyone can make and set up a new website in a few hours or quicker these days so Google doesn’t like to rank brand new sites in search right away. They put new websites into what is referred to as the “sandbox” meaning they won’t give new sites the full exposure they may deserve.
It can take anywhere from a month or two up to six months. This can be very frustrating as a legitimate website owner who produces quality content, but there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it. The good news is that if you build other social media platforms as a means of exposure for your content you can share it there and still get traffic to your new website.
You could also run paid advertising for your small business to bring in targeted traffic quickly if you have the budget for it. Just understand that if your site is new you shouldn’t be expecting to rank on page one of Google very quickly.
Write quality content with a high enough word count to rank on Google quickly
This may seem like an obvious statement, but you need to write quality content that has a high enough word count to even be picked up by Google if you hope to rank on page one of Google. The specific length of content can vary from around 1500 words to 2500 or more.
If you aren’t sure how long of content you need to write, check out some of the top-ranking posts for the keywords you hope to rank on page one of Google for. If these top posts are around 1500 words try and write something longer that is still quality and that is more comprehensive.
High-quality content means answering a query as detailed as possible. If you are trying to rank for a specific keyword or long-tailed keyword, try and provide the best possible answer to the query and cover every angle related to the question.
This might seem daunting at first, but a great way to write quality content is to break down a post first in a bulleted format. For example, let’s say you wanted to answer the best way to split wood for campfires. You might list several bullet points from the types of axes to use, to the cutting techniques, to the various wood types that work best, and even the size of wood you should cut logs into.
The content you make should try and answer the question as best as possible and not leave the reader with unanswered questions. If you do leave something unanswered or if you feel it is too long to answer, link the reader to other resources that could be helpful.
For example, if you would like to learn more about writing quality content, check out my post on writing the perfect blog post quickly.
Get backlinks to build authority and improve domain rating and to improve Google search ranking
Another ranking factor on Google is having high-quality backlinks to your website. Doing this can improve your overall domain rating which is another ranking factor on Google. This means that if you want to rank on Google quickly you need to have a variety of high-quality backlinks.
Unfortunately, most people spend too much time on this strategy and end up with low-quality backlinks or none at all. Low-quality backlinks are links from sites that can be spammy. For example, spamming your website in links on comments on blogs or forums don’t provide much value. In fact, this can actually be considered a black hat SEO technique and instead of benefitting your site, it could actually harm it in the long run.
Having someone implement a backlink outreach program for your small business could be beneficial, but for the most part, it isn’t worth the time for the returns you get from it. Unless you happen to get links from very authoritative sites, the SEO benefits will be minimal. Also, the likelihood that a high authority site will link to a site with low authority is small as well.
This means that trying to request links is usually a waste of time. I’ve found the two best strategies to get backlinks are to simply write quality content or to use HARO or help a reporter. When you write high-quality content people will naturally link to your content, and with HARO you can get relevant links without begging for them.
HARO allows you to be a source for various news sources and articles to provide your insight and expertise. These articles then link to your site naturally without being spammy. Sometimes you can even get links from very high authority sites using this service by providing your input.
Embed videos to increase time on page and improve Google search ranking
One key factor to consider to improve Google search ranking is how long people stay on a web page. If people aren’t staying very long on your content there are likely a few reasons for that. One is that the content is not very engaging.
When your content isn’t engaging that typically means it isn’t interesting or it doesn’t match the user’s search intent. Different people enjoy different kinds of media. Some people prefer to read information while others prefer to consume information in a visual format like video.
For this reason, you want to include videos in your content. Also, some people just skim your content when they read it which can be done very quickly, but if you include video they may watch the whole thing. If your video is 15 minutes long, for example, that’s 15 extra minutes someone could stay on your page. They may even watch the video and read your content making the time on the page even longer.
Another benefit of using video on your content is that it is one of the best ways to build trust and rapport with your audience.
When people feel like they know, like, and trust you, they usually will do business with you. Click To TweetBe sure to add video content on your website if you want people to stay on your site longer and to improve Google search ranking on your website.
Lower bounce rate on your website to improve Google search ranking
Another ranking factor on Google you should focus on improving is the bounce rate. What bounce rate means is how many people visit more than one page on your website in a single session. For example, if a lot of people visit one page on your site and leave right away without visiting other pages your bounce rate will be high.
When your bounce rate is high it sends signals to Google that your content must not be what people are looking for. If you came to the right place and found information that was useful you would likely explore the site more.
There are many reasons your bounce rate could be high, and you want to fix them as soon as possible on your website. One reason your bounce rate may be high is that your website has a poor design. If your website theme looks outdated, unprofessional, or isn’t mobile-friendly, people may immediately choose to not do business with you and will quickly leave your site.
The quality of your content also plays a factor. If for example your content is thin, or it doesn’t answer the query being searched for, people will also go somewhere else to find a better website. You may want to include calls to action and links to other content on your website as well.
For example, if you have services pages or other blog posts that are relevant you should link to them. You might also link people to your contact page or a landing page with a lead magnet offer. Something that links to another page on your site that can be the next step to educate a potential customer or move them along your sales process is ideal.
Increase page speed and reduce load times
Another factor that can improve Google search ranking and reduce bounce rate is to improve your page speed and reducing load times. We live in an instant gratification world these days and people want what they are looking for as soon as possible.
If your website takes too long to load, or is clunky and loads slowly, people will leave and go somewhere else. You want your website to be fast and load fully without taking too long. There are several ways to do this on your site even if you aren’t very technical.
One method to improve page load times is to make sure that your images are compressed or are a small file size. When you look at the file types of photos on your website usually JPEG or JPG files are smaller than PNG files. Usually, PNG is a higher quality photo but sometimes you sacrifice that bit of quality to improve page load speed.
You can also use various plugins or tools to reduce the size of your image files by compressing them as well so they load faster. A plugin I use and have seen good results with is WP Smush. This plugin can reduce image sizes as they are uploaded to your website without you haven’t to get too technical with it.
It also has a lazy load option which means that it will load images as people get to them on your page instead of loading everything at once. This can help your website load faster as well. You can ask your web developer to help you with more technical aspects of this as well.
Make your website mobile-friendly
Another big ranking factor on Google that is being taken more and more seriously is if your website is mobile-friendly or not. Mobile-friendly simply means that your site is functional and easy to navigate on mobile devices.
The world is increasingly shifting to mobile browsing and visiting websites on the go. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly it can look weird and be hard to work with as a user on mobile. Google continues to prioritize mobile-friendly sites in search compared to those that aren’t.
This means that even if you optimize all other factors mentioned in this post your site may still not rank well if it isn’t mobile-friendly. There are a couple of options that you can do to ensure your site is mobile friendly.
The first thing to do is to test and see if your site is already mobile-friendly. You can do that directly on Google with their mobile-friendly test. If it isn’t you should check your website theme to see if that is the problem. Often this is the case as some older website themes are not optimized for mobile.
You do also have the option of creating a mobile version of your site that only mobile visitors will see, but usually, that just doubles your website expense and maintenance. The best option is usually to get a mobile responsive theme and it will take care of the issue for you. Also when you use Google’s mobile-friendly test they give you some suggestions for improvements if your site isn’t mobile-friendly.
Optimize SEO to rank on Google faster
If you have followed the above steps to improve Google search ranking your website should be in good shape. In addition to the above strategies you likely will need to further optimize SEO on individual pages on your website.
For the most part, you really don’t need to get into the high-level technical aspects of SEO to start seeing results and an increase in traffic to your website. SEO optimization can get complex, but some of the basics you can do relatively quickly.
One method to improve SEO for example is to include your targeted keywords in the headings on your pages. For most content management systems, the title of your page becomes the H1 tag. For the other heading tags like H2 and H3, you can simply click on the paragraph button on the top left of your visual editor.
Another SEO optimization strategy that works well is to create content sections that answer other relevant questions people are searching for on Google. In most cases when you type a search in Google a section called “People also ask” shows up. These questions are great to answer and include in your content related to the main search terms you want to rank for on Google.
Check out the picture below for an example of this with the search term internet marketing.
There are many other ranking factors on Google and SEO secrets you can implement that won’t put your site at risk. Check out the infographic below and this post on SEO optimization to learn more.
Make your titles catchy and clickable to increase your click-through rate to improve google search ranking
Writing the best content and optimizing the SEO can help improve Google search rankings, but if your title isn’t enticing it won’t get clicks. Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to create clickbait titles or mislead people to get clicks.
Rather, it just means you need to create headlines that naturally build curiosity and that stands out. One of my favorite ways to do this is by using a tool called Sharethrough headline analyzer. This tool allows you to test various headlines and see what kind of overall score it gets. The higher the score typically the more engaging it is and the higher likelihood that it will get clicks.
The great thing is that this tool also gives you ideas and suggestions on ways to improve your title to get a higher score. The click-through rate can be an important metric that can help you rank faster on Google. A high click-through rate can also make a huge difference in the visitors that come to your website.
If your click-through rate is 1% for example and 1000 people saw your blog post that would be 10 visitors. If you could bring your click-through rate or CTR up to 2% you would double your site visitors. At small impression levels that might not seem like a lot but if you are ranking for high-volume search terms that could be a difference of thousands of visitors to your site each month.
Also, Google sees CTR as a ranking factor because they assume that if your page isn’t getting clicks they shouldn’t continue to give it exposure.
Use Google Search Console to find content to optimize
The last strategy I’ll recommend in this post to rank faster on Google is to use Google Search Console to find existing content you can optimize that is already doing well. Google Search Console is a tool from Google that shows you all of the organic traffic that comes to your website.
This is one of the best free keyword research tools and SEO tools you can use to optimize SEO on your website. This tool is very valuable especially if you have content that has been on your site for a while and is already getting search traffic.
The benefit of using Google Seach Console is that you may have content that is getting traffic for keywords that they aren’t even optimized for. Sometimes you’ll create content that you intend on ranking for specific keywords and they end up ranking for something else. You also may have created content previous to reading this post and it may also be ranking for search terms you didn’t realize.
When you use Google Search Console you can get a lot of information like impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and even average ranking of the page in search. The section above mentioned creating catchy and clickable titles to improve CTR. Use Google Search Console to find content with high impressions and low CTR and then improve the titles to really increase traffic and ranking on Google quickly.
You can also use this strategy to find posts that have the potential to quickly improve their ranking on Google if optimized.
Use the 5 steps in the image below to find content pages to optimize and improve Google search ranking quickly
- Sort by pages
- Click on the filter button
- Select CTR and Position
- Sort by CTR smaller than 2 and Position lower than 20
- Sort by impressions
You will then have a list of pages in order of those that get the most impressions but not many clicks and that are still ranking rather well. You can then go through and optimize these posts first. When the posts are sorted in this way you know they are already getting traffic organically. With that being the case, once they are optimized they should be able to jump up in rank on Google quickly.
Conclusion
Overall while there are a lot of different factors for improving Google search rankings there are some simple steps you can take to get results faster. However, understand that if you are wondering how long does it take to rank on Google, it can take several months or more to see significant traffic.
Ranking on page one on Google could even take a couple of years depending on how competitive the keywords are. The good news is that with the right expectations and consistent effort you can begin to grow your passive traffic to your website.
Also, with the proper keyword research and SEO optimization, you can improve your chances of ranking faster on Google. Make sure to focus on writing quality content as a foundation, and then optimize the content with SEO in mind.
Make sure to match the content you create with the end user’s search intent and use Google Search Console to help you find the best content to optimize. Write catchy titles that build curiosity and this can also help improve Google search rankings.
Ranking on Google isn’t an overnight process, but when you do the right things consistently you can build a content marketing system that can grow your business for years to come.
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Mike MacDonald
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