The positioning of a website has become an obsession, not only for a large number of webmasters or SEOs, but also for small businesses, due to all the advantages it offers when it comes to increasing the volume of online sales.
SEO and positioning in Google
As a strategy to attract potential customers, one of the mandatory tasks for all companies (whether or not they are e-commerce) is to work on SEO. That is, attract qualified users through organic traffic. Organic traffic is understood as that coming from search engines.
Moreover, no matter how attractive your offer is, if you are not seen on the first page of Google results, you are losing more than 90% of the clicks . And among all the results of that first page of answers, the first position accumulates around 59.59% of clicks, according to Sistrix data. In addition, obtaining a considerable volume of web traffic is the first step to be able to carry out all other online marketing strategies successfully (Google Ads, social networks, email marketing, etc.).
This requirement has led many SEO agencies to amass real amounts of income, but not all companies always have access to the budgets (sometimes exorbitant) that many of these agencies present to their clients.
Given this, you will ask yourself: how to position my website in Google for free? What chance do you have in Google compared to the growing number of companies that invest money in SEO positioning every month ?
Well, this is what this post is dedicated to, in which I will explain the 9 steps you must follow to position your website in the first places of Google completely free of charge. Let's start!
The theory of "democracy" within Google
A representative summary of “the theory of democracy” that Google has been preaching ad nauseam is that if your content is incredible, you will appear .
Now, is it true in real life?
Yes and no. Yes, some specific times; and no, in most cases, especially for competing SERPs (Google answers).
SMEs and small entrepreneurs are seduced by the idea of "winning by quality" of content, since it is something that can come out of their own hands without the need to invest in VPS, first level links, etc.
And it is that if you have read something about SEO, you will have verified again and again in its theory of "user response", in which everything revolves around the fact that your content responds 100% to the user's need to that your result positions.
Even with everything, you should apply the 9 tips that we explain below and that are valid for anyone without resources. They will help you enormously to increase positions in Google for free.
If you already know these tips but want to learn more about SEO, I recommend reading the guide How to apply SEO to your online marketing strategy .
What is the positioning of a web page?
The SEO strategy is the one that aims to appear among the first search results in an organic / natural way, that is, without the need to pay. These results are activated by the indexing and crawling carried out by the "web spiders" (Google's robot) by going through billions of options that could solve the user's need, who enters some keywords in the search box and clicks on waiting for the magic
These search engines return to the user those web pages that Google considers most useful and relevant to their search. Hence the “theory of democracy”. To consider quality content and acquire notoriety, many aspects are valued, including technical aspects and aspects related to the website itself (such as loading speed or user experience). But there are also a series of actions aimed at making things easy for Google and obtaining a greater probability of appearing in those highly valued first positions.
Curling the loop, the person responsible for these actions and, consequently, raising positions in Google, is the one who carries out the SEO.
What is website SEO
SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) is, as its name suggests, search engine optimization. This optimization is nothing more than the whole set of techniques aimed at improving web positioning in the different search engines to get more visits.
When we talk about search engine optimization, we must bear in mind that there is life beyond Google, despite being the most used. We must also obtain a good position in Bing, Yahoo, etc.
How to make a good web positioning? 9 steps to increase positions in Google
Follow the tips below to improve your ranking on Google and start adding converting visitors.
1. Optimize your website
Having an optimized website is key to improving speed and loading times , something very valuable. In addition, this directly influences the user experience , which adds an extra point very much in your favor, since everything on your website must favor this aspect (web design, intuitive navigation, CTA, visual structure of the content, etc. ).
There are many ways to optimize your web page (include lightweight images and videos, avoid duplication, introduce the sitemap.xml and the robots.txt file, etc.). So much so that talking about everything you can do would lead us to write another post on web optimization for SEO . The fundamental thing is that you know that there are some tools that help you do it and indicate which aspects you should improve.
A fundamental aspect that many web pages still overlook is that they are responsive and have AMP ( Accelerated Mobile Pages ). In this way, your site will be optimized both on desktop and mobile. These tools will help you check it:
- PageSpeed Insights
- GTMetrix
2. Write about what your readers are looking for in the search engine
This is one of the most relevant practices within the considered "SEO white hat", and it is about implementing a good content strategy. It consists of writing about what the users you want to reach on Google write/search for. This guarantees us to appear earlier in the results and reach the right people.
The Keyword Planner tool (free and from Google itself) no longer shows us exact search results if we do not have active Google Ads campaigns, but we can use low-cost solutions, and even free ones, to approximate what would be "an optimal result ".
If you are starting with your website and want to position yourself but you do not have a single euro to invest in keyword research tools such as KeywordTool.io or SE Ranking , it is best to use others such as:
- Ubersuggest
- keyword shitter
- Answer the public
- Google Trends
They are completely free, and while it is true that they will not give you the exact number of searches like other paid tools such as the aforementioned KeywordTool.io or SEMrush, it is also true that using them is much (very much) better than writing things "by boleo" or "by intuition".
Direct your content towards searches and you will always win in the long run.
3.Create quality content
This point is closely related to looking at the user's search intention. However, it is not only important to offer what the reader is looking for, but also that the answers are of quality . It is important so that when Google tracks you, it identifies that your content is relevant and that your website has original and interesting content, and that it is what your target audience is looking for.
In this way, the user will feel grateful for having found you in his search and will read you , which will make him spend time on your website and interact with it. Something that, after all, should be the objective of said web content.
In addition, good content will help you share it on social networks and get quality backlinks to your website.
Always be at the forefront to know how to position yourself in Google
In this sense, it is important to take into account BERT , the new update of Google's algorithms.
It is a new AI system that focuses on better deciphering the user's language in their searches, so that those queries that cannot be "predicted" can be better answered and the results can be better classified.
This new operation far exceeds the keyword mechanism that you use in your content, since it prioritizes the context and returns to the user only the content that is of quality and destined to satisfy him.
In this other article we explain the consequences that BERT could have on your content strategy . Check it out!
4. Add graphic resources on your page
Linked to the above regarding BERT and how to create a positive web experience, it is important to incorporate graphic resources, if possible, of your own creation. Namely:
- Video
- Images
- infographics
- Graphics
Graphic resources are important to obtain a good web positioning because they allow a better understanding of the subject.
In addition, they often achieve a more detailed and precise explanation of the data presented. Therefore, Google is very aware of this point and rewards those pages that rely on this type of resource to make it easier for users to read.
5. Encourage users to interact with your page
How to get this? The key for users to interact with your page is to offer the content that they are looking for, and, in addition, that it is of quality and provides them with value and a thirst for learning.
If we achieve this, in addition to encouraging our page to contribute any doubts they have or comments, the user feels part of the content and will have more reasons to contribute their grain of sand.
With what elements can we encourage this interaction?
- with more comments
The opinion section, reviews or the classic "leave a comment" can become the setting for debate. Ideal for sharing ideas with your target audience!
If no one comments, you can start the conversation yourself, encouraging readers to participate . Of course, for this you must notify throughout the post or at the end, that further down, at the end of the page, they can comment on their impressions with total freedom . Otherwise, this section could go unnoticed.
Another way to encourage this interaction is to close the post with an open question, one that is slightly controversial or that any user may feel interested in answering easily.
Remember that whether you like the comment or not, you should not delete it. On the contrary: respond with kindness and appreciate the participation .
In this way, you will make your readers feel part of the community.
web positioning comments
- Through your own blog posts
The blog posts must be conceived in themselves as elements that generate interaction. If the content is liked, it is easy for it to be shared and the users themselves recommend it to their friends, either via social networks, email or WhatsApp .
The important thing is that in each blog entry, at the beginning or on the side, we include buttons for social networks and the channels that are usually used to share: Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, email...
web positioning social sharing buttons
But be careful, because it is not advisable to add too many buttons and create a negative impact on users. You can test to find out what gives you better results. To do so, a free tool we recommend is AddThis .
Also, don't forget the CTA buttons inside the post to encourage the download of ebooks related to the topic, as well as linking to other related articles at the end of each post.
You can also include a Social Feed from your most active social network as a cross-promotion strategy.
- With the insertion of a FAQ page
The usual way to introduce a page of frequently asked questions (in English called Frequently Asked Questions ) is by inserting the most important questions in closed tabs.
If you know what your customers' most frequently asked questions are, perfect, because you can add them. But at the web level, the intention of the FAQ is to simplify the information for the user, taking into account that he does not know the web and it is possible that he has not read all the sections.
On the other hand, know the keywords with which users have actually reached your website and ask yourself the questions they might ask about it. The idea is that users click on each question to see the answers and thus encourage interaction. To do this, try to keep the questions short and answer them precisely, bluntly.
Of course, encourage users to ask more questions in the comments section below or through a contact form.
What do we get if we achieve this interaction?
- Improve the average time visitors spend on the page.
- Add value to the content. Google will link increased user interaction as a positive response, considering that your content adequately satisfies the search intent.
- Build a community with your target audience, an essential factor for the development of the brand and the loyalty of your prospects.
- Generate discussion: encourage positive feedback and discussion on your blog!
In short, we achieve a better web positioning.
6. Only index what you want to rank
A very common mistake of all websites is to have by default "all sides of the web" in index (the meta tag that allows Google to index our content).
We have to put everything that we do not want to rank in search engines in no index , in this way, to avoid Googlebot (Google's robot) wasting time on sections of the page that are not of interest to them.
These non-index pages should traditionally be the typical "Contact" or "Privacy Policy" pages.
Through a CMS, such as WordPress, we can easily configure this today with four clicks from the SEO plugin on duty .
Because... do you think someone is going to reach your website from Google by entering those words?
7. Internal do-follow and no-follow links
This point resides in a theory of its own. If Google crawls internal nofollow links less frequently, we should internally link to no follow those posts or pages that are not highly relevant to our audience or have no searches or interaction at all.
In the same way, from the home page of our template it is convenient to put the links to social networks and any external links that you may have (banners, affiliation, etc.) in no follow. You'll make things a lot easier!
8. Only deal with free links that bring traffic to your website
In an initial phase of your business you do not have to worry about link building if the following conditions occur:
- You are in a sector with low competition or medium/low competition.
- There is no money to invest in links . Start at the base and you will get more links as you grow.
The first links with which it is convenient to start, in addition to the classic insertion of links in social networks, are through the comments (and, therefore, do not follow) on external web pages that derive traffic to your website.
Google will value this traffic as an extra point when it comes to ranking and it costs you nothing to post these types of comments and, therefore, get these types of links.
9. Try to build loyalty and get recurring traffic
Probably the most complicated of all in most of the internet niches: create incredible content that leaves people wanting more.
Build user loyalty, get subscribers and make them come back to your website again and again. In this way you will get recurring visits and this "branding" factor is one of the things most rewarded by search engines today.
You got it?
Improve your internet presence and increase your sales by climbing on Google
The reason why we focus our efforts on improving the organic positioning of our website to appear among the first search results is that we are all on the internet now . On the one hand, we want to outperform the competition, which uses multiple resources to attract customers, and, on the other, we want to reach users who, through their searches, show an interest and active involvement in connecting with our products and/or services. .
Thanks to directing our resources to obtain a good web positioning, we achieve:
- A stable and quality collection of web traffic.
- Increase the visibility of your business, increasing your chances of sale and improving your brand awareness.
- An investment of work that is giving more and more long-term results.
- Considerable savings in other paid online campaigns, although they are still effective and complementary.
- Greater efficiency in SEM campaigns.
In short: properly optimize your website, know what your target audience searches for and what their needs are, engage them by creating a good content strategy and improve your SEO strategy day by day with the best tools.
We hope that if you had doubts about what web positioning is or why it is important to optimize your website for search engines , we have resolved your doubts.
Remember that your competition will also be trying to increase positions in Google, so it is important that you look for the cheapest and most stable solution as soon as possible to increase your profits. Would you like to know more? Leave me your doubts in the comments section!
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