Once of our clients asked us last week why his SERP (search ranking) report is showing remarkably different results than when he is doing a manual search. This is a reflection that as Google continues to personalize search results, the data you normally see in ranking reports only indicate what rankings would look like in a non-personalized search. Most of your customers, meanwhile, see rankings driven by their behavior – so your website might rank 1st, 20th or not at all depending on a particular user’s search activity.
Regardless of a user’s personalized search history, there are several general ways to maintain a healthy ranking.
Social engagement.
If you are engaged with your customers via social campaigns and initiatives, you will have added ranking factors that place your site in front of searchers
Content marketing.
The more sharable content you create, the more it will be shared, and the more search engines will reward your effort. But all of this sharing won’t happen on its own; you need a solid strategy that will give your content momentum.
Advertising.
Most of our clients don’t execute PPC activities but focus on organic search efforts. However, if you can, engaging with advertising does indicate to search engines that you are actively improving and caring about your website and content, and search engines will factor those into its ranking algorithm.
As always, if you have questions about how to improve your website, contact us.