What Does Google Expect from a Quality Website?
It’s not enough nowadays to take a “build it and they will come” approach to your business website. Understand that Google and other major search engines process trillions of websites on the internet. Google, mainly, uses complex scientific algorithms to rank and order each website on a search engine results page (SERP).
SERPs are numbered indexes that look like this:
And, this:
If you want your website to rank better with Google, then you’ll first need to understand what does Google expect from a typical website.
This guide will show you the main factors that impact the success of a standard website on the internet.
Speed
Understandably, Google doesn’t want to rank slow websites. This is because internet users don’t want anything to do with a slow website. Most people only spend less than 15 seconds on your website.
If it takes a long time for your website to load, then you’re only crippling your chances to convert a potential customer. Remember that there are trillions of websites on the web. No one is going to wait on your website to load when there are other superior websites.
A website should ideally load faster than two seconds. The faster your website is, the better your conversion rate will be.
Usefulness
When a person does visit your website, what are the chances that they will receive the information they’re looking for? All websites must be useful to leverage a positive user experience.
Simply give your website visitors what they want, and not only will Google rank your website higher on the SERPs, but you’ll convert more customers. For example, if your website visitors have come to receive more information on a product or service, provide valuable content that speaks to your audience.
On the contrary, if your potential customers are on the fence about purchasing from you or a competitor, don’t waste their time claiming how your company is better. Instead, get specific in explaining the features and benefits of your offerings.
Positive User Experience
Google does measure the user experience of each website. It’s impossible for anyone to know the specific barometer Google uses to gauge user experience, but it’s heavily implied that dwell time and bounce rate play an integral role.
Dwell time is the amount of time a person spends on your website. Bounce is a metric that defines how quickly a person leaves your website without interacting with anything. To put it simply, a website with a high dwell time shows that your audience finds value in your website.
A website with a high bounce rate indicates that your visitors are not enjoying your website. User experience is a very complicated area of website development. It’s best to partner with an Atlanta website developer to receive a website that leverages positive user experience.
Prominence
Finally, Google is only concerned with ranking the most prominent, or popular, websites on the web. Websites like The New York Times, Wikipedia, and Facebook are household names in their respective industries.
People can count on these websites as trusted sources of information. For local businesses, gaining prominence is usually done by acquiring citations, or simply mentions of a business across the web.
For larger businesses, improving prominence comes through a process known as link-building. This is the process of acquiring links from other prominent websites. When a website like Wikipedia links back to your website, it means that your site is well-trusted.
Thus, Google will improve its website ranking tremendously.
We can help
Do you want to develop or upgrade a website for your brand that includes these best practices for what does Google expect? If so, click here to learn more about our web design services and how we can help you.
