Optimizing content for SERPs can be challenging, but it can be done with a proper process.
The SERP is the list of web pages that are returned when a user types a search query into a search engine. According to research, 67% of all the clicks are made on the first five results on a SERP. In other words, more than half the searchers on Google never look past the first few results.
This tells us that SERP is important and that standing out in the first few results is vital. Therefore, one must optimize their content because only 5.7% of pages rank in SERP during the first few months. So, let’s find out how you can be among that rare number.
What Is SERP?
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page, which is the page that appears when a user searches for a keyword on Google. The SERP consists of the first page, second page, third page, and many other pages of search engine results—depending on the query as some have millions of results.
The first page will be the top-ranked websites, and the second page will consist of other websites that are ranked lower than the top-ranked sites. These websites on a SERP are typically those with the highest domain authority (DA).
The DA is calculated by looking at how many other websites link to it, how much traffic it gets, and how often it appears in search results. A website’s DA can also be calculated by looking at its PageRank score.
It was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997 and was used as a measure of the importance of web pages within the early web. An increase in DA will increase the SERP ranking for that website.
Why Is It Important To Rank In SERP?
We know that SERP is commonly referred to as the first page of a search engine. It includes the top articles and websites considered by Google for a specific search query. That’s why ranking in SERP is essential because it gives you a chance to be seen.
The more visibility you have, the more credibility you will gain. So, what you need to understand is:
- It’s not enough to just rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs); you need to rank on the first page for your most relevant keywords.
- This is because your competition will also be there, and to rank higher, it’s vital that your content is well written and optimized for search engines
- If you want to rank higher in SERP, you need to understand the importance of having a high-quality content
- It is not enough just to publish any content; it should be well-written and should have keywords that are relevant to your business
A website’s ranking in SERP determines how visible it is. The more visible your website becomes, the more people will visit it and eventually buy from your business.
How Does Google Rank Websites In SERP?
Google has these AI elements called scanners and web crawlers, which scan the internet for relevant websites and pages. Now, these crawlers look for specific pages with elements such as:
- Proper on-page SEO
- Backlinks
- Informative value
- Media such as images, videos, etc.
Once they find these pages, Google sorts them as the most relevant to search results and places them in the first few links of the SERP.
5 Ways To Optimize Your Website Content For SERPs
Optimizing your website content for SERPs requires you to do the basics right, such as:
- Writing informative content
- Ensuring a proper structure
- Using the right keywords
However, beyond the basics, you need to keep up with the trend and tend to further elements, such as these 5 ways of optimizing website content:
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Answer Common Queries
Find the questions that your target audience is asking. This is perhaps the best way to know what your audience is looking for and optimize your website content accordingly. Two viable ways of doing it are:
- Google’s suggested question
- AnswerThePublic tool
These two can help you find common queries related to your topic and add them to your content.
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Keyword Placement
Keyword placement is one of the critical essentials of optimizing for SERP. Search engine crawlers often dump content without using it for SERP because the keyword placement is all over the place. Therefore, you should:
- Place them in the title
- Use them in the intro
- Use them in the first paragraph of various subheadings
- In the meta description
However, you need to ensure you don’t overshoot it and use your keywords in more than 1-2% of your overall text.
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Content Tone
This is the aspect where you’d need a paraphrasing tool if you wish to save time. Since content tone is one of the key aspects of optimization, you need to ensure you get it right. How does a paraphraser help with that? Here’s how:
This is what a capable tool like Paraphraser.IO offers. So, once you pick either one and paraphrase your text, you get this:
As you can see, the content in the second frame is much more fluent than the original. Therefore, using a paraphraser can help you fix this issue.
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Use FAQs
FAQs are one of the best ways to implement your keywords. On top of that, when you need to answer queries of your target audience, there are seldom any better ways than using FAQs. So, use FAQs at the end of your articles to optimize your article for specific queries and sub-queries.
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Remove Plagiarism
Plagiarism is one of the main issues and hurdles in the way of optimization. Therefore, you need to tend to this before you post your content. How do you do this? Once again, you’d need Paraphraser.IO; here’s how:
Once you rephrase the plagiarized/suspected text, scan it again:
As you can see, some sections of this text still have plagiarism. Therefore, rinse and repeat this process until you have 100% unique content. Then, cite the original source to optimize content properly and avoid plagiarism.
Conclusion
These five ways of optimizing your content will surely increase your chances of standing out in SERP. Therefore, make sure you tend to all these factors and improve the quality of your website content and its chances of being noticed by search engine crawlers.
