SEO is still one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, from directing organic traffic to building brand awareness. But with the ever-changing Google algorithm, it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends.
In this blog, Jen Cornwell, Vice President of SEO at Ignite Visibility, will provide everything you need to know about how to stay at the top of the SERP in 2024.
What You’ll Learn
My Expert Insight on How to Rank Higher on Google
In a world where everyone is trying to be the best, slow and steady always wins this race. There are many things you can do to rank higher on Google, but gimmicks and tricks won’t work.
My best suggestion for digital marketers wondering how to improve Google search ranking is to commit to better user experiences and brining relevant information to your audience. Prioritizing the quality of your content, your brand’s online footprint and on site journeys will create the best opportunity for your site to rank well.
Pro tip: If you are interested in ranking 1 on Google, I recommend doing content audits often. This will help to keep your content fresh while incorporating new updates and trending keywords. Keeping up with Google’s updates and trends will also help you stay ahead of the curve and maintain your top spot or climb to a higher one.
Understanding the Current SEO Landscape
Google has a rich history of algorithm updates, so what worked in 2020 won’t necessarily work in 2024. Staying up to date on the current SEO landscape is key to how to rank 1 in Google.
AI and the impact it will have on organic search is important to keep in mind. At Ignite we’ve found that there is a lot of overlap in the nuances to being recommended within an LLM like ChatGPT or Gemini, and ranking well within organic search engines. The ways these systems work are different however the ultimate goal of either platform is to provide users with the best recommendation so quality and reputation are important for each.
One thing has become clear: Google is not going to tolerate spam content for much longer. With AI’s increased reliability and the focus on decreasing spam, the importance of E-E-A-T—Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness—has increased.
Writing content based on your experience and expertise will help build your brand’s authority and increase your audience’s trust in it. When your audience learns to trust you, the algorithm will, too.
Core SEO Strategies for 2024 to Help You Rank Higher on Google
Staying in the know about trends and algorithm updates is just part of the SEO puzzle. You must also become familiar with core SEO strategies that will help you propel your site to the top of the search results page.
1. Keyword Research and Optimization
Keywords have always been a huge part of SEO but now they’re really taken center stage.
If you want to capture a specific, niche audience, consider using long-tail keywords. These highly specific keywords will help you rank higher on search engine results pages that align with your target market’s search intent, driving more qualified traffic to your website.
You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to find keywords that are currently popular with your target audience. Once you have a good list, integrate them naturally throughout your content.
A big warning here: do not keyword stuff your content. This is an old SEO tactic that no longer works and will probably get your website marked as spam.
2. Focus on High-Quality Content Creation
Speaking of your website getting marked as spam, be careful with the type of content you’re creating. It’s never a good idea to create content for the sake of creating content. Be sure to stay away from AI-generated content as well – you can use AI to help with your content creation process, but you should not directly post AI-generated content.
Instead, always create high-quality content that will educate, inform, or entertain your audience.
Creating content your potential customers search for is the cornerstone of ranking success. That means researching your target audience’s needs and interests with thorough keyword research.
Your content doesn’t need to just be copy. You should also incorporate different forms of media. Videos, infographics, and photos can add value to your content and make it even more engaging.
Content that comes from first -hand experience will always win. The difference between using a product and writing about your experience instead of describing what you think it would be like is something the algorithm and users can often distinguish.
Just like SEO, the tips of content marketing are always evolving. Be sure to continually go back and update or refresh your old content on a regular basis.
Use this list as a collection of ideas to refresh your content:
- New copy
- Multimedia elements
- New graphics
- FAQs
- Instructional videos
- Reviews
- Updated statistics
- Recent Studies
- Resources or downloads
3. On-Page SEO Techniques
SEO doesn’t just mean your content. There are plenty of on-page SEO tasks to incorporate into your strategy to ensure your website doesn’t get lost in the abyss.
In addition to creating helpful content by following the E-E-A-T guidelines, incorporating a few (or all!) of these on-page SEO techniques is one of the best SEO tips in 2024:
- Title tags and meta descriptions: Make sure your titles and descriptions are accurate and captivating
- Optimize header tags: Use keyword-rich headings that improve readability
- Optimize Images: Use unique images when possible, size them appropriately and create accurate image alt tags
- Incorporate schema markup: Schema markup helps search engines to better understand your content
- Lean on internal linking: Link to other pages on your website that are also relevant to the topic at hand
4. Website Accessibility
Accessibility practices go hand-in-hand with good SEO.
By making your website accessible across all devices, you’ll reach a broader audience and provide a better overall user experience.
Here’s a quick checklist to consider:
- Using alt text for images and diagrams
- Ensure all interactive elements such as forms and buttons can be activated by the keyboard
- Use proper HTML tags like headings and landmarks
- Make sure your link text describes the function of the link
- Balance the color contrast between your background and text
- Keep your text scalable by using relative units
- Add captions to videos and transcripts for audio
- Keep your website responsive so it works across all devices
- Maintain a consistent layout and navigation structure
5. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is another factor that can impact your ability to rank as it directly relates to crawlability, indexablility or user experience.
Conduct a technical SEO audit to ensure you aren’t doing things that could affect your ranking.
Check for the following:
- rel=canonical issues
- Title tag issues
- H1 tag issues
- Missing meta descriptions
- Sitemap accuracy
- Indexation issues
6. User Experience (UX)
Google wants to know that they are sending users to a website that they will benefit from. That’s why your user experience is so important when learning how to rank higher on Google.
It is important to have a clean and intuitive website design. An easy-to-navigate site will help your users find what they’re looking for while providing a good overall user experience. It is also important to think of other things, such as page loading speed, interactivity, visual stability, and mobile friendliness, when attempting to increase your user experience.
One way to improve your user experience is to pay attention to your Google Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console. This report will tell you what your website lacks and how to improve it. To ensure your website is optimized for Core Web Vitals, regularly test its performance. Monitor its loading times and navigation speeds to ensure everything performs well.
7. Backlink Building with Digital PR Strategies
High-quality backlinks will help boost your site’s authority. When other sites see you as reputable, Google knows that you are a quality site to send its users to. Focus on quality over quantity when working on your digital PR strategies.
Some ways to earn high-quality backlinks include guest posting on other sites, influencer outreach, and content marketing. You can also focus on nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links. The more you get your brand out there, the better.
As you’re working to generate high-quality backlinks, don’t forget to monitor your existing ones. You can use online tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMRush to keep your eye on ones that could be affecting your SERP ranking.
8. Local SEO to Rank Higher in Google
In 2024, we’ve seen SERPs provide more localized results than ever for everything from B2B to ecommerce. Local SEO strategies can improve your visibility for highly relevant traffic. Typically localized searches including terms like a city name or ‘near me’ convert at a much higher rate when it’s relevant to your business model.
Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business) is an important free tool that will increase your local organic traffic. Make sure that all of your important information, like your name, address, and phone number (or NAP), is consistent across your entire digital presence, including your website, social platforms, and any local directories you’re listed in.
You can also optimize your on site content with local keywords. Keyword phrases like “near me,” “local____” and “___[city]” will help you capture all of the local audience searching for those words.
Examples of Local SEO Rank “Near Me”
9. Voice Search Optimization
The SEO industry has been talking about optimizing for voice search for a very long time. However, with the evolution of AI and LLMs this conversation is likely more relevant than ever. Users are holding conversations with platforms like ChatGPT or CoPilot in a way that’s very similar to how people speak with a voice assistant on a mobile device.
As you work voice search SEO through your content, remember to incorporate your keywords naturally. Thinking about the ways people may ask questions will help you understand how to optimize. By focusing on solving your audience’s problems and answering their questions, you can help improve your content quality and optimization simultaneously.
10. Visual Search Optimization
With the rise of platforms like Pinterest, Google Lens, and more visual search features, more users are testing out their visual search options.
Visual search helps users discover products they might not have known how to describe. All they have to do is take a picture or screenshot of an object, upload it to a visual search engine, and in return, they’ll see a wide variety of search results with objects similar to the one they searched.
Early adopters of visual search might see a competitive edge as it helps improve the user experience and speeds up the customer journey.
Simple steps to optimize for visual search engines include:
- Using high-quality images
- Including descriptive file names
- Adding specific and accurate alt text
- Incorporating relevant captions
- Adding structured data markup
- Optimizing image sizes
11. Multimedia Asset Creation
Keep in mind that content marketing isn’t just copy. You also need to incorporate other media assets, including video content.
Short-form video, in particular, is huge right now, so don’t ignore it! Use it to your advantage by finding out who is watching this content and where. You may find that your audience is very active on YouTube, whereas other brands will shine on TikTok or Instagram Reels. Once you find where your audience is, it’s time to capitalize on it.
Optimize your multimedia content in various ways, including your titles, headings, descriptions, meta tags, video thumbnails, and more. Remember to add subtitles and use hashtags to increase your reach even more.
12. AI and SEO
AI is gaining steam in all areas of digital marketing, including SEO. Leverage AI tools to help you create better content, develop blog outlines, do hashtag and keyword research, and more.
You can find free and paid tools to help you use AI to increase your SEO results, including RankIQ, Jasper, and NeuronWriter. These tools can help you optimize your content and learn how to rank higher on Google.
Best SEO Tips in 2024: How to Measure Success
Now that you know how to improve your Google Search Rankings, let’s talk about how to measure your SEO success.
Tracking Key Metrics
Keeping track of certain metrics will help you visualize your success and see where you can improve your strategy. Be sure to monitor stats, including:
- Organic Traffic Rate
- Keyword Rankings
- Click-Through Rate
- Conversion Rate
- Backlinks
- User Engagement
SEO Metric Tracking Tools
Worried about tracking all of these numbers? Don’t be! There are plenty of online tools that can help make this job easier for you.
Some of the most popular include free tools like Google Analytics and the Google Search Console. Although these tools are robust, if you need more flexibility and data, check out some of the most popular third-party SEO tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
Perform Regular Audits
Armed with your analyzed metrics, set aside time to perform regular audits of your entire marketing funnel, including all of your content.
Regularly auditing your content will help you keep it fresh and updated with new information, statistics, and graphics. It will also expose holes in your user experience and opportunities to incorporate new ideas into your content.
Just like your brand changes, your audience’s likes and interests will change, too. By regularly auditing your content and reviewing your performance, you’ll improve your chances of holding on to your high SERP ranking.
Discover How to Rank Higher on Google with Ignite Visibility
Whether you want to rank number 1 for “plumbers in Chicago” or for “restaurants in New Orleans,” Ignite Visibility can help!
Thousands of businesses across the country use our skilled and talented team of experts to:
- Improve their content strategy
- Boost their social media presence
- Maximize their SEO ROI
- Analyze their reporting data
- And more!
Sound good? Let’s get started! Get in touch with our experts today!
