How to rank a new website on Google – from scratch

In this article, Adido’s own industry experts join forces to show you how to rank your new website on Google from scratch. They will cover the technical, content strategy and E-E-A-T aspects of SEO that are essential for a website’s success.

Senior SEO Manager Radina Ivanova will tell you everything you need to know about technical foundations, while SEO Manager Aimee Bradshaw will provide some top tips for putting together the ultimate content strategy top tips. Finally, SEO Content Writer Anna Heathcote will explain how you can boost your E-E-A-T credentials to get people interacting with your site.

How does a new website rank on Google?

In order to rank a new website on Google, you need to be aware of the following ranking factors that the search engine takes into account during the initial crawling phase.

On-page content

On-page content refers to the content that is visible on your website pages, such as text, headings, images, title tags, etc. When analysing your website content, Google will consider the following:

• Is your content helpful? Google rewards content that is helpful, informative and engaging to users.
• Is your content unique? Google prefers original content that is not plagiarised or copied from other websites.
• Is your content in-depth? Google favours content that is comprehensive and covers a topic in depth.
• Is your content well presented? Google considers the overall appearance of a page, including the layout of elements on the page, efficiency of coding as well as use of H1 & H2 tags to convey key information easily.

Off-page content

Off-page content refers to the content that is not visible on your website, such as links from other websites, reviews, mentions, etc. Specifically, Google will look at the following:

• Is your website an authoritative source? i.e., the quantity and quality of other websites linking to yours to measure your overall website authority.
• Is your page an authoritative source? i.e., amount and relevance of inbound links to a specific page to determine its authority.
• Are your authors authoritative sources? i.e., the people writing your content have experience and expertise to write about key facts and information.

To ensure your on-page and off-page content gets a big thumbs up from Google, new websites must focus on these core SEO elements – technical, content and E-E-A-T. To explain more about the technical element, here is our Technical SEO guru Radina with her top five tips on how to get your new site ranking.

How to rank a new website using technical SEO

Technical SEO is the process of optimising your website and servers for the crawling and indexing phase of search engines. Here’s what you’ll need to consider when planning your site optimisation:

1. Consider your site and URL structure at the beginning of the SEO project. Carry out keyword research to understand what people are searching for and how your site’s menu navigation can best communicate your services or products. Keep your most valuable and important pages just a few clicks away from the homepage to ensure customers can easily find them.
   
   Ensure your URL structure reflects the keyword on the page as changing and redirecting URLs once the site is live can lead to all sorts of problems.
   
2. Ensure technical excellence before the site goes live – add meta titles, descriptions, headings tags, schema, canonical tags, robots.txt file and an XML sitemap to maximise your chances of being indexed correctly.
   
3. Ensure your target keywords and phrases are found in the page’s code and can be easily crawled and indexed by the search engine. Google uses HTML code to index the page, so the more content you have in HTML, the better.
   
4. The Google algorithm is mobile first so check mobile performance before you go live. Usually, out-of-the-box sites or WordPress themes will already be mobile-friendly, however, if your site is custom, you need to ensure that the experience on mobile is as good as it is on desktop.
   
5. Last, but by means not least, check the site’s directives and robots.txt file on launch day to ensure that search engine bots can in fact access your website. The opposite happens more often than you’d think!

To learn more about using Technical SEO to boost your website’s performance, why not check out our article - How to perform a Technical SEO audit?

It’s now over to our expert Content Strategist Aimee for some great hacks on creating a content strategy which will help your website scale the SERPs (search engine results pages).

How to rank a new website with a clever content strategy

Having a solid content strategy for your new website is essential – consider it your secret weapon for boosting online visibility and climbing those search engine rankings. Here are my five golden rules for any new website marketers:

1. Make sure you have landing pages for all your products/services. Do significant keyword research to ensure you’ll be found by the right people at the right phase of the buying journey. For example, product and service pages should target commercial keywords, so use a tool like SEMrush to see whether a keyword has a commercial intent or not.
   
2. Make sure each service or product page includes an FAQ section which answers questions related to that product or service. If you can, add product or service schema to each of your pages. Schema is a piece of code that helps Google to recognise the relevancy of your content. You can use a site like Technicalseo.com to generate the schema for you.
   
3. Include all the essential pages – About Us, Meet the Team and Contact Us pages are good starting points to build trust with your visitors and also Google. Again, make sure each of these pages has the relevant schema.
   
4. Pick your battles in the SERPs. As a new site, you won’t have any domain authority or topic authority which lessens your chance of ranking for high search volume, high competition keywords. Use tools such as Also Asked and Answer the Public to find niche questions and produce high quality content that answers those questions.
   
5. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus on building out one product or service at a time. Create content that answers queries related to that product or service. For example, if you sell organic chocolate, focus on organic dark chocolate as a category and create blog content based on niche questions around organic dark chocolate. Then make sure all this content is linked together to boost your chances of success.

If you want to discover more about the importance of having an effective content strategy in place, our article, Why content is important for SEO, contains all the information you’ll need

Up next is SEO Content Writer Anna to explain how applying E-E-A-T to your new website can help enhance its performance and boost visibility.

How does good E-E-A-T help a new website to rank?

E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) forms part of Google's Search Quality Rater guidelines and relates to how Google ranks webpages in the SERPs. Each of these four elements can help a new website to rank by demonstrating quality, relevance and credibility to both users and search engines. Let’s look at how each element can help:

Experience

By demonstrating personal experience of a topic related to your niche, your website can increase its chances of ranking for relevant queries. For example, a travel blog written by someone who has in-depth experience of the places highlighted in the content, along with tips and photos, can rank better than a generic travel website that only provides basic information. It’s also wise to steer clear of AI content as this will signal to Google a lack of first-hand knowledge.

Expertise

To show expertise, the content creator must be able to provide evidence of experience, such as accreditations, testimonials, qualifications or proven knowledge of the topic. For example, a medical article written by a certified health professional is more likely to rank higher than one written by an amateur blogger who has no medical training.

Authoritativeness

Showing that your website has earned backlinks and endorsements from other reputable websites can help build its reputation and boost visibility. For a new website, this takes time, however there are some ways to earn reputable backlinks more quickly. For example, if you’re a local business, you can add yourself to local directories as an easy way of acquiring backlinks. You can also consider guest blogging on other websites in your industry.

Trustworthiness

There are steps you can take to demonstrate your site’s trustworthiness from the get-go. For example, an e-commerce website can show its commitment to protecting its users' privacy and security by having a secure domain, a clear privacy policy and refund policy. You can also demonstrate trustworthiness through responding promptly to reviews (good and bad) which will show willingness to engage with your customer base.

If you’d like to learn more about E-E-A-T, our article What is E-E-A-T in SEO? has lots of useful information.

What is the fastest way to rank a new website?

Here’s the bad news. A new website is unlikely to reach the top of the SERPs overnight. Organic ranking takes time, patience and meticulous planning and monitoring. That said, there are some steps you can take to speed up the process and improve your chances of ranking higher. Here’s a quick reminder of the best practices you should follow:

• Optimise your site for technical SEO
• Create high quality content for your target keywords
• Optimise your content with relevant headings, images, links and formatting.
• Make sure your website stands out for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
• Build links from other relevant and authoritative sites.
• Measure and monitor your performance using tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4 and SEMrush.

Do new websites need SEO?

100% yes. SEO can be a complex process, but it's worth it. In fact, it’s essential for any online business wishing to boost its website’s visibility.

Take a look at some of your top-ranking competitor sites. If they are ranking higher than you, it's important to identify the reasons why. For instance, have they successfully harnessed the respective niche by using relevant, long-tail keywords to answer related questions? Are their meta tags keyword friendly? Are their sites desktop and mobile user friendly?

To compete effectively with well-established sites, you not only need to match their SEO credentials, you need to go one better. Explore ways to stand out from the crowd and look for opportunities to introduce a unique element that sets you apart.

How much does it cost to SEO a new website?

It’s important to remember that SEO is not a one-off job but an ongoing investment that enhances the quality and visibility of your website. Content – as highlighted in this article - is the key investment here, providing essential value to both users and search engines. The more quality content a website has, the better its chances of ranking and attracting traffic.

The average cost of providing SEO services for a new website can vary depending on a number of factors, e.g. the size of your business, the complexity of the website and your business’s specific SEO objectives. For instance, a local delicatessen with a simple website and low competition would usually require less intensive SEO work than a large, national e-commerce business operating within a significantly competitive market. However, as a general guideline, a reputable agency will charge from £1000 per month to optimise a new site but this is very much dependent on the competition and objectives.

An SEO freelancer may charge less, but it’s worth remembering that there are several advantages of hiring an SEO agency over a consultant or freelancer. Some of the benefits you should expect include:

Access to a team of specialists: An SEO agency will have a team of experts on hand who specialise in different aspects of SEO, such as content, technical, analytics and more. The team will work together to provide a holistic and bespoke approach to SEO that covers all the bases and meet the specific needs of your business.

A library of resources and tools: SEO agencies will almost always have access to more resources and tools than a freelancer which helps them perform SEO tasks more efficiently and effectively. This includes tools for analytics and reporting, monitoring performance, identifying keywords opportunities and much more.

Higher level of experience and authority: An agency will usually have more experience and authority in the industry than a freelancer, working with a variety of clients across different niches and markets. They will also have a portfolio of case studies, testimonials and reviews that can demonstrate their credibility and expertise, providing peace of mind that you will receive the best possible service.

If you’re keen to get your new website ranking on the SERPs, contact the Adido SEO team today and we’ll demonstrate how we can boost your online presence and grow your business with our proven SEO strategies.