How to be found on Google?

Visibility at Google is for many companies and site operators an incomprehensible, even magical hurdle that is often overcome by a lot of time, money and effort. Nevertheless, there are simple basic principles that help to stand out from the confusing flood of websites and are often used by users – which in turn improves Google’s visibility. Pages like wikipedia.org or stackoverflow.com frequently hit top positions on search queries, but what is their secret?

Answer questions

Most people now use Google as their answering machine. No matter which question comes to mind, the “digital dementia” strikes: You don’t need to remember anything, a short question to Google, and you get an answer. Pages that provide the answer quickly and directly through a fast loading time and a clear page structure are particularly popular with us users. Whether I want to know how high the Berlin TV tower is or how I can quit a specific program, the corresponding search on Google today provides fast and reliable answers.

For site operators, three important points are therefore most relevant:

  1. Performance – The page must load as fast as possible
  2. User Experience – Web pages should be clearly structured and easy to comprehend
  3. Answer questions – Pages must have added value for users by answering their questions

Speaking instead of typing

Due to the proliferation of voice interfaces such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant or Apple’s Siri, more and more voice searches will continue to be conducted in the future. After all, no user wants to have a page read aloud by search results like those found on Google today. It is helpful to use questions already in the headline of the page that are answered on the page.

In contrast to search queries, where users enter a combination of keywords in the search box (and then most likely click on a page with the question as the title), questions to voice-driven search engines are formulated as a direct question. Relevant content is therefore a direct advantage over competitors.

Translated into english with the help of www.DeepL.com/Translator