Whether you are a content consumer or content producer, Google is a powerhouse of tools to help you successfully navigate the World Wide Web. When you search websites with Google as a visitor, you harness a suite of tools working quietly in the background to provide you with the best surfing experience. This can benefit businesses and individuals such as website developer or a small business owner.
Today, we will introduce you to seven of Google’s best tools designed to give you the best possible search engine results page (SERP) ranking. Since Google has several resources to help boost your search engine optimization (SEO), let’s get right into it by starting with Google My Business.
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7 top tools to rank high in Google search results
1. Google My Business
This is perhaps the simplest way to begin your SEO process. Google My Business is a tool that helps Google put your business in front of potential customers. You provide Google with the contact information for your business, as well as a brief description. You can even include photos. But, how does this help you achieve SEO?
When potential customers search websites with Google using a geographic keyword, Google My Business will automatically cause your website to be ranked higher if you are located within that geographic region. In fact, the more information you include, the more likely that you could be included in Google’s Local Pack.
Local Pack is that bit of SERP #1 where a map and other useful information are included along with search results. For potential customers searching on the go, this tool literally helps lead them to your door.
2. Google Analytics
As the name suggests, Google Analytics is the empirical foundation from which you would base all your SEO decisions. Google Analytics is capable of tracking very useful and nuanced information about your website visitors. Examples of trackable information include location, length of time spent on a page and browser used.
You can then use this information to determine which pages receive the most and longest views, or which calls-to-action (CTA) produced the best results. With such powerful information, you will be able to guide future decisions to ensure greater click-through rates, reduce bounce rates and increase conversion on your website.
3. Google Mobile-Friendly Test
When users search websites with Google, nowadays, there is a 60% chance that a mobile device is being used. If you are like me, then non-responsive websites drive you berserk. Google agrees and made mobile-friendliness a key criterion in SERP rankings. To that end, they also made it easy for you to determine if your website is mobile-friendly.
Google Mobile-Friendly Test analyzes your website and tells you whether or not it is mobile-friendly.
If it is not, there are guidelines to help you improve it.
4. Google PageSpeed Insights
Another quick and simple tool designed to improve your SERP rankings is Google PageSpeed Insights. This basically measures how quickly your website loads. Research by Google revealed that three seconds is the maximum allowable time for a page to fully load.
Use PageSpeed Insights to know how long your website takes to load and make any necessary adjustments.
Like with Mobile-Friendly Test, these simple interventions can help reduce bounce rates, while improving conversion. After investing so much time and effort into building the perfect website, your reward comes only through high click-through rates and conversions. If no one bothers to wait for your website to load, then it is all for nothing. The small things matter.
5. Google Keyword Planner
To search for websites with Google, it is necessary to know which keywords to input to call up relevant websites. Eventually, Google identifies patterns in these search words, and can then present them to website content creators to use in a targeted and deliberate manner. This is basically what Keyword Planner does. This helps you optimize for SEO because if your website does not have the keywords to attract users, then your rankings will be low.
6. Google Correlate
A second great keyword tool to boost SEO for when visitors search websites with Google is Google Correlate. While Google Keyword Planner informs you of what searches are being carried out, Correlate flips it, and gives you the control.
If you coin your own keywords, which is recommended, especially if you are in a niche market or provide a very scarce service or product. Google suggests possible search words that you can pair (or correlate) with your keyword to strengthen your chances of appearing high in search results.
7. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a mostly unknown but it’s a very useful application that allows you to do super cool actions, such as keep an eye on your competitors, newspaper articles talking about your industry, or opportunities for collaborating with sympathetic partners. The best part is all of this is done passively: tell Google what you need, and they look out for and send the information to you.
Let’s use an example. Set up a Google alert to keep an eye on your competitors. This way each time a given competitor is mentioned in a new Internet post. Where is the SEO link? SEO really means doing everything possible to rank highest in SERPs. So, you shouldn’t be embarrassed to consider copying your competitor’s actions if they are successful. But the same alert can also be used to gauge public opinion of them versus you.
Summary
Google is the most used search engine, so it makes sense to investigate their tools aimed at improving your rankings. Seven of these tools are Google My Business, Google Analytics, Google Mobile-Friendly Test, Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Keyword Planner, Google Correlate, and Google Alerts.
You may use them in tandem with yourwebsite’s own SEO tool, or on their own. Choosing the perfect site builder require careful thought. Likewise, your SEO deserves your continued attention as raw information changes as visitors continuously search websites with Google.
