How do you rank higher on Google? 12 things in the right order

There is no secret formula. There is a list of things everyone knows about and few people finish. Here it is, in the order worth working through, with the emphasis on what works in the Icelandic market.

First: the technical foundation

1. Speed. Google measures load time directly. A site that takes more than three seconds on a phone loses both ranking and people.
2. The phone view. More than seventy percent of visits to Icelandic websites come from a phone. Google ranks the mobile version, not the desktop one.
3. Indexing. Check in Google Search Console whether your pages are indexed at all. An astonishing number of sites have half their pages outside the index without anyone knowing.
4. HTTPS and clean URLs. Obvious today, and yet sites with ?id=482 in the address still exist.

Then: structure

1. One page, one subject. A service that deserves its own page should get its own page. Do not bury it in a tab on the front page.
2. Titles and descriptions. Every page needs a unique title that describes what is actually on it, and a description that makes people click.
3. Internal links. Link articles to service pages and back again. It is the cheapest move available and the one most people skip.
4. Schema. Tell Google what you are, not just what you write about.

Then: visibility off your own site

1. Google Business Profile. Filled in completely, with photos, opening hours, a service list and regular posts. For local search in Iceland this is often the single biggest factor.
2. Reviews. How many you have and how recent they are affects your ranking in map results directly.
3. Listings and mentions. Ja.is, the association for your trade, suppliers, partners. Every mention with the right information helps.

Finally: the content

Write a page that answers a question customers actually ask. Not ten articles on general topics but five that answer the real enquiries you get on the phone.

How long this takes

What no longer works

• Repeating keywords. Google has understood context for years.
• Buying links. The risk is higher than the reward.
• Writing two thousand words when three hundred will do. Length is not a mark of quality.
• Hidden text in the same colour as the background. People still try it and it costs them visibility.

Frequently asked questions