Search engines are more complex than they used to be. Every year, Google updates the algorithms to better reflect real human search intent and results. Most of us still remember a time when keyword stuffing not only worked, it was considered mandatory to flag the search engine crawlers at all. Now, stuff a keyword inorganically and you’ll win a penalty instead. SEO changes optimal strategies every year, but the one unifying theme of these changes is the human experience.
Search engines are themselves, optimizing to give the searchers the best experiential results. That means not just being the right answer, informative, and reliable as a source – you also need to appeal to the sensory journey of your website visitors to build a presence for search engines. Where do you think Google gets the text and images for every Position-0 snippet? The same place it gets every other search result – existing websites.
Formatted and Organized Page Layout
The first place to begin is an organized webpage template. Organized web pages are easier for web crawlers to explore and more appealing for users. Create a formula for each page, something that aesthetically presents your page content and information. Then match the template or modify it for each page of the website. In this way, your menus, action buttons, conversion assets, and content are all quickly found by the eye and by crawlers cataloging your website for search results.
Product Pages with Clear Details
Google has some amazing shopping search results and wants to help searchers find items to buy. In addition to fully integrating your GMB profile, your product pages also need detailed completion. Once again, choose an aesthetic and functional layout for all product pages, then present the same complete data for each or the same data for each category of product.
For example, you might always list material, weight, dimensions, size, fastener type, etc. in the first few lines immediately after your paragraph description. Remember that your title, image, price, and shipping are the four details Google is most likely to harvest and display.
Ask and Answer Questions
One of the best ways to earn your content a snippet-spot is to ask questions and answer them using the typical question language. Remember your W’s “Who, What, When, Where, and Why”. Ask these and other typically formatted questions, considering the way that your audience might ask questions that your team can readily answer through service pages, product pages, the help section, and of course, your blog. Pose questions to answer and then answer them in language that web crawlers will immediately recognize as direct, useful, and concise.
Hierarchy of Headers
Google loves to answer questions in lists. You may have noticed that the top snippet is often a list answer, and the list doesn’t have to be at the top of your article (though that helps). What search engines really need is a hierarchy of headers. Your title is H1. Your section titles are H2. Sub-paragraph headers should be H3 and below. A list of H2 headers or H3 headers underneath an H2 category are more likely to be picked up and used for quick search engine answer snippets.
Use Numbered and Bulleted Lists
Search engines also love lists that are easy to suss out as lists. The use of numbers makes this exceedingly simple for the crawlers to determine when one point follows the next, no matter how many sub-points are in between. Make the use of numbers to sequence any long or listed information.
Concise information is equally appealing, and bullet points have a certain appeal to a very wide user audience. Find creative and simple ways to make use of bullet points. Pre-list your article topics, list instructions, recipe ingredients, or project supplies. Create outlines, frame ideas, and summarize the coming content. Just use useful configurations of bullet-point lists.
Short, Informative Paragraphs
Wherever you place information – from blog article to product and service pages – make your paragraphs concise and informative. Search engine crawlers make snippets from quick-answers and digestible in-depth answers. Break up your paragraphs by point and be free with subheaders that tell what each paragraph is about.
Content-Labeled Images
Make use of your image metadata. If you want your images to appear as the snippet image on search results or in image searches – you have to tell the crawlers what they’re looking at. Make sure your alt-text and captions are descriptive and simple. Name the people, the setting, the activity, or the subject. Name prominent colors, categories, or uses. Stick to 4 or fewer keywords for your image details, choose the best four.
Share Charts and Graphs
Charts and graphs are fantastic for attracting search engine visitors and keeping their attention. Many people rely on charts, infographics, and graphs to understand the massive amount of data we deal with every day. If your team is good at making graphs that explain related concepts, then you have a great tool for building awareness, following, and search engine ranking.
Search engines will often favor a well-built graph with a clearly-marked axis or a key so that searchers get the best possible information on their search. Use the image labeling techniques to ensure that web crawlers know exactly the graph they are looking at. Then build pages around your charts and graphs detailing the data and information surrounding why that data is important.
Work with Professional Web Designers
Every business designs its own brand for the website, including everything from web page layout to your images and assets. For most teams, it’s perfectly usual not to have an SEO expert on staff, much less a visual web design artist who can remodel your website’s presence for search engines. IF you know that your website needs a boost in search result traffic but aren’t sure how to make that happen, you can count on us. As an experienced team of web designers and SEO experts, we’re here to help your website reach that coveted tier-zero snippet territory – not just attracting visitors but also informing them, keeping them, and beginning the conversion process.
Contact us today to consult on your website remodeling plans.
