Google decides which websites are most relevant to a searcher’s query based on a sophisticated algorithm that considers site content, page components, tags, and availability. If you want people to discover you, you must ensure that the Googlebot finds and loves your site. In this article, I will talk about the best practices you can follow in 2021 to help your website perform well in Google.
# 1: Wise Backlink Building
It used to be the case that the more backlinks your website received, the higher it would rank in Google, but things are changing. If you were to use the technique of blasting out lots of articles with backlinks in them, your website could be punished by Google as that is against their terms and conditions. For the best SEO and backlink-building practices, make sure you only build quality backlinks and do not overdo them. You’re far better off spending time increasing the quality of the article rather than building countless links to the page in 2021.
# 2: Conduct a Technical Audit
Your website may not be rising the ranks, or even having your pages indexed by Google, which means you should do an audit to see what’s going on. A technical audit will show you things that need to be fixed, such as broken 404 pages, duplicate HTML elements and content, redirect chains, and slow web pages. Try an SEO tool such as SEMRush or Ahrefs for a quick technical SEO assessment.
# 3: Make Your Website Responsive to All Devices
The degree to which your website is optimized for mobile devices affects your search engine rankings. Content that looks bad on mobile will put you back two steps ahead. For a quick peek at how your website will appear on popular mobile devices, use Google’s mobile-friendly test. Keep your website mobile-friendly for all page kinds as an SEO best practice, and understand how to optimize text, pictures, and embedded media.
# 4: Optimize your website for Google EAT
Google’s E-A-T principles assist you in keeping abreast of algorithmic changes by the search engine. By following these principles, you will establish yourself as an expert in your field and offer your readers useful information.
Expertise: Talk with authority and offer useful material. Engage your audience, know what they want, and simply provide the best information you can. Make sure you back up any claims made in articles with links to sources to prove your claims.
Authoritativeness: When other relevant sources reference you in the form of a backlink to your website, Google understands both your expertise and your “proof” as an authority in your area.
Trustworthiness: Sharing your material on social media may also help you gain authority and trust in Google’s eyes. Maintain a high ranking in the search engines by having positive ratings on sites like Yelp, Google My Business, TripAdvisor, etc.
# 5: Increase the speed with which your website loads.
Your rankings will suffer if your site takes too long to load as loading speed is now part of Google’s algorithm ranking system. You may use many free tools to test your page performance, including Google’s PageSpeed Insights. GTMetrix is the tool I suggest. This free tool analyzes your page speed and recommends ways to enhance it.
# 6: Improve Your Site’s Voice Search Results
Using voice search, users will have an improved search experience, according to Forbes. By 2022, 55% of American homes will have a smart speaker. Therefore, now is the time to start optimizing your website to take advantage of this trend.
# 7: Improve Your Photographs
Images play a crucial role in making your material come to life. If you’re going to include photos or graphics, make sure you use at least two of them in each blog article. Imagery should be relevant to the subject you’re writing about and seem consistent with your brand’s aesthetic. Images with informative captions outperform those without, according to research.
# 8: Create Snippet Content for Featured Snippets
Featured snippets will see some changes in Google 2021. SERP features such as featured snippets appear when a user types a query into the search box. Featured snippet search results are more likely to include information written in a question-and-answer format. Adding tables to pages is also another great way to try to get featured in these snippets.
In conclusion
SEO is becoming more difficult each year, and with the number of updates released by Google, it is impossible to keep up with them all if you’re a blogger on your own. The best SEO practices for 2021 are to create quality content that is packed with information and provides users with everything they need to know about the topic you’re targeting. If you do that, you should get backlinks naturally and gain trust from Google.