Keeping Up With Google’s Organic Search Ranking Rules

What’s new in 2018 for SEO is a win for Google and its users but quite a loss for the websites in the middle. Google is now pushing for one-click search answers. And because of this, users don’t need to go into a site anymore to find the answer they’re looking for.

For many search queries, Google now directly answers through answer boxes or lists. Most of the time, these eliminate the need for a website concerning those queries. This only means lesser opportunities to rank and lesser organic search traffic to come by for sites. Even if it’s not exactly disastrous, this change has put up a new hurdle in the market. Here are some tips to keep up with Google’s new rules:

Create more demand for your brand

This may sound like starting from scratch but, this tip will help you keep up with the competition. Rank through your brand name. Be more specific with your website and your content. Offer your best be it with your content, your social media, or your marketing tactics and make your brand recognizable. Keep your eyes on demand generation rather than just demand serving.

Google’s new list formats and answer boxes are hard to optimize for. Plus, it decreases organic search traffic the websites that users overlook. But, if you generate enough demand for your site, all it takes is one search for your brand and Google would be shooting your website directly on top.

Aim to be the snippet

This is where the old keywords come into play. Normally, Google pulls snippets, lists, or tables from websites hitting the keywords and answering the query to the top of the results. Now, users might still not click on the website once they’re satisfied with the answer. But, being on that answer box still gives a higher opportunity for organic search traffic.

Study the keywords and queries that you can hit with your content. Then make sure to provide specific and complete answers. But, if you really want those clicks, make sure to entice your readers enough for a second click. In addition to that, make your format very simple and almost similar to the query. This can help you trump the competition and use the answer boxes to your advantage.

Expand your creativity on search intent

Though Google is trying to give its users a one-click answer, there are many questions out there with not one answer. Take for example “What is the best car?” Subjective queries like these open up many opportunities for organic search traffic. It doesn’t matter if Google takes you to be their top answer because users will continue to scroll down the list of SERPs.

So consider these subjective queries and optimize your content to them if it suits you. Relating this with the first tip, as long as you keep publishing quality content, your audience demand increases. And this guarantees you a click even if you’re somewhere in the middle of SERPs.

Consider other platforms

If you have heavily depended on Google to get organic search traffic, it’s time to consider branching out. Other sites like YouTube also pulls a significant amount of traffic to websites. You can also consider joining the social web like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. These are places where you can put your content forward and garner traffic back to your website with the number of users these sites have. Not only that, but these sites could also build brand awareness and create demand that would boost your ranking in Google itself. — Liezel Stephanie Lawagan, SLU