Improving Search Visibility – Your 2023 Checklist

When you run a business in the digital age, being seen is everything. If your website is not visible on the big search engines, you will struggle to stay afloat. The more often your website appears in those precious search engine results pages (SERPs), the more likely people will be to pay a visit to your site.

Standing out from your competitors online is one of the core components of search success, and when most of today’s consumers are online, that’s where people will go to discover businesses of interest. Search engine algorithms are always changing, so your approach to staying visible needs to adapt to the times.

As 2022 draws to a close, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to search visibility for next year; what it is, how it works, and how you can improve yours. After all, increased visibility will drive more traffic to your site and get you more sales.

What Is Search Visibility?

In simple terms, search visibility is a score that represents the estimated number of times your website is seen and clicked on by people who search for the keywords that you are organically ranking for. The score is given as a percentage and indicates how well your site is performing versus your competitors who rank for the same keywords as you.

Search visibility is a key performance indicator (KPI). The higher your score, the more site visitors you will get and the higher up the SERPs your website appears. The lower your search visibility score, the lower down the SERPs your website appears, which means fewer people will visit your website on average.

Why Is It Important?

Search visibility refers to how many clicks your website gets. It’s an important metric for SEO professionals because the more visible on Google your website is, the more likely people will be to click on it. However, according to Search Engine Land, over half of all Google searches end without a click – so capturing the attention of your customers by being at the top of the SERPs is more important than ever! As you know, clicks can result in sales and increased revenue for your business, which is why it is so important to be visible on search engines.

How Can Search Visibility Be Calculated?

Calculating search visibility is done based on your targeted keywords and where you rank in search results for these keywords versus other sites. It allows you to see how your website performs as a whole.

There are specialist tools available online to calculate search visibility. The method varies slightly based on which tool you use, but Ahrefs uses the following formula to determine search visibility scores:

• Take the total number of clicks on the search results for a tracked keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business.
• Take the number of how many of the total clicks go to your website
• Divide these numbers to display the visibility score as a percentage. This is how many clicks go to your website.

How To Monitor Search Visibility: Tools To Use

Your search visibility score can be used to track your progress when seeking to improve it. You can compare your visibility to your competitors across different search engines and locations.

A 0 per cent score means that none of your pages rank in the top 50 places in the SERPs and indicates that you need to focus your SEO efforts in these areas. Whereas a score of 100% means your pages dominate all the ranking positions for your keywords. However, in practice, unless you are ranking for branded keywords, it is unlikely that a site will score higher than in the 40% range.

These are some of the best tools out there for monitoring search visibility for SEO:

Semrush – allows you to view your visibility and compare against competitors. It uses data to determine the average position in the SERPs and estimated daily traffic.

Moz Pro – lets you monitor your chosen keywords and campaigns over time and across different devices and compare them with competitors.

Ahrefs – provides data relating to search visibility in the form of interactive graphs and tracks this information against your competitors.

Factors That Impact Search Visibility

Search visibility is one of the best ways to monitor the success of your SEO campaigns. The more effective these efforts are, the higher your score will be. There are lots of factors that can impact your site’s search visibility.

The most important of these are:

• Keyword optimisation
• Google algorithms
• Your rankings in the SERPs

These elements have the most influence when it comes to your visibility score, and when you nail them and keep Google happy, you’re sure to see a boost in your site’s visibility, and that’s the goal!

However, other factors can make or break your search visibility score. These additional factors focus on user experience and how helpful your content is – two crucial elements to keeping Google happy!

• Quick page loading speeds
• Usability of your website
• Having valuable (helpful) content on your website
• The layout of your website
• Mobile visibility
• Local search visibility
• Paid search engine visibility (PPC campaigns)

If your search visibility has dropped, it could be because your rankings have dropped, you’ve changed the keywords in your campaign, or an algorithm has changed.

How To Improve Search Visibility

So, now you know what search visibility is, how to calculate it and what influences it, we’ve put together some of the best ways to improve your website’s search visibility. Everyone wants to be seen by Google and rank higher in the SERPs, so achieving this endeavour is a marathon, not a sprint.

To see an improvement in your search visibility, we recommend that you focus your efforts on the following best practices. Some are long-term efforts, and others will provide you with immediate results.

1. Focus On Search Intent

Search intent – or user intent – is the main goal a user has when searching a query on Google. The 4 main intentions for a search are:

• Navigational
• Transactional
• Commercial
• Informational

Google’s entire purpose is to show results that people want to see. If your page doesn’t align with search intent, then Google will not display your page in the SERPs. Simple.

To produce content that matches search intent, you need to first understand the intent behind your target keywords – this will also inform the type of content you produce for users.

You might think that searching for a keyword might mean someone is looking to buy an item, only to find that Google matches this phrasing with informational content. If you notice that all content is in listicle format, for example, you need to match this to stand a chance of ranking on the SERPs.

Understanding search intent is the key to unlocking higher search visibility in 2023 and beyond!

3. Improve Content

Producing new content that is optimised for SEO and includes relevant keyword placement is vital to climbing up the SERPs and boosting your visibility. Producing long-form content that is informative, original, and helpful shows Google that you are an authority figure in your industry and that your website can be trusted.

Through keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here. and establishing the above-mentioned search intent, you can create content that provides solutions to customer pain points and shows your expertise in your area.

4. Use Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are around 4 words long and are more descriptive than regular keyword phrases. They are more specific and are usually used by searchers who know what it is they are looking for. Instead of just searching for something standard like a ‘black dress,’ a long tail example of this would be ‘best black dresses for office workers.’ Google will then link related keywords to this long tail example.

4. Build High-Quality Backlinks

Link building is a long-term SEO technique that mustn’t be underestimated when it comes to increasing search visibility. The more high domain authority websites that link to your website, the more Google will consider your website and its content to be valuable and trusted.

5. Build Internal Links

Through internal linking, you can keep users on your website. Internal linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. also improve the search visibility of the pages they link to. Ensure that all of your internal links are working, as not only can a broken link put site visitors off, it prevents Google from crawling your page, which can have a detrimental impact on your rankings and search visibility.

6. Run A Technical SEO Audit

Google holds fast page load speeds, ease of site navigation, and overall usability very close. A technical audit of your site will delve under the bonnet of your website and determine if there are any technical elements relating to website code that is holding your site back in these areas.

7. Optimise Your Website

Be sure to optimise the following elements of your website:

Headings

Search engines like Google tend to give priority to headings when ranking pages. Headings and titles that can easily inform Google what the content is about are what it’s all about. They also help users to skim your website quickly for the information they need, combatting bounce rates if your headings and titles are confusing. Headings should be consistent across your site and include keywords.

Page Descriptions

Meta descriptions tell Google and users what to expect from your page. Keep these short and relevant.

Image Alt Text

Alt text on images makes your website more accessible. It also tells Google bots what the images are so they can show them in relevant searches.

Categories And Tags

Google uses tags and categories to identify what content on your website is about. Adding these can help boost your search visibility.

8. Consider Google My Business and Locality

Google My Business – GMB- is a must in 2023 as it will get your business seen by high-value customers who are looking for your service. Setting up a GMB profile with your company name, address, phone number, and working hours will make your business appear in directories and allow it to climb up the local search results. Always keep your profile up to date to nurture trust in your business.

9. Check Your Site For Mobile

According to Merkle inc, approximately 63% of Google’s organic search traffic starts on a mobile device. Optimising your website for mobile is essential if you want to boost your search visibility and rankings. Mobile friendliness is a Google ranking factor, and data pertaining to this is included in Google Search Console.

To make your web pages mobile-friendly, you’ll need to address site speed for mobile devices, use compressed images, and use descriptive alt text on images.

10. Ensure Security

Letting Google know that your website is secure is a surefire way to help you in the SERPs. Ensure your site is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) enabled. This means your website URL will start with HTTPS instead of just HTTP. It means that visitors have a secure connection when accessing your site.

Search Visibility Checklist

So now you have 10 ways to optimise your website for increased visibility. Tick off your progress with our handy checklist:

• Have you done your keyword research to establish search intent?
• Is your content helpful, and does it match search intent?
• Have you considered the use of long tail keywords to improve the content?
• Are you building high-quality backlinks to your site?
• Are your internal links working properly?
• Are the technical elements of your site up to scratch?
• Are headings, page descriptions, tags, and titles relevant?
• Are images optimised with helpful alt-text?
• Are you listed on GMB?
• Is your site mobile-friendly?
• Does your site provide a secure connection for users?

Get In Touch

At Click Intelligence, our team of SEO specialists has more than 20 years of experience in boosting search engine rankings and visibility for countless clients from over 40 industry sectors.

Our team has its fingers on the pulse when it comes to the latest algorithm updates that affect the ever-changing SEO landscape. With our expertise in on-page and off-page techniques, we can boost your search rankings and send your visibility soaring in 2023.

Book A Call with our friendly team to discuss your requirements and get started today!