This guide is about you learning how to get your website found and notice on the top of Google.
Ask yourself: do you ever settle for second-best?
You are an entrepreneur who created your own business, and you did it because you know that your ideas stand out from the crowd. The only problem? The entire crowd is online now!
The key to website success is getting noticed via Google searches. And you don’t want to settle for being buried deep in the results. Instead, you want to be the very first result for user searches!
Wondering how to get your website on top of Google? Keep reading to discover our top tips!
Find the Right Words
When it comes to getting to the top of Google, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that it will take many steps and a lot of time. The good news is that the steps are small and easy to get started.
For example, your rise to the top begins with choosing the right words for your SEO Strategy. You can’t be the top search result for every possible search term. Instead, you need to focus on certain keywords that your demographics will be searching for.
Finding these exact keywords may be a matter of “trial and error” at first. You may need to scope out the competition for inspiration (more on this in a minute). And you’ll need to constantly study analytic data to further narrow your SEO strategy down.
We won’t lie: this first step isn’t very exciting and it will quickly turn into an ongoing process. But if you don’t get the SEO right, the rest of your strategy will quickly fall apart.
Get On Google’s Radar
Most of our guide focuses on improving your SEO and moving your way up the search rankings. But there are a couple of easy steps you need to take to land on Google’s radar in the first place.
The first step is to submit your sitemap to Google via the Google Search Console. Doing this speeds up how quickly a new site is “noticed” by Google because you don’t have to wait for their automated bots to find your site.
The second step is to create more links to your new site from other places. You can place links from your social media accounts and/or other websites. You can also network with people and have them mention your website on their sites, blogs, and social media.
When Google sees multiple links pointing to your new site, it can raise your online profile. This moves you closer to the first page while also promoting your new site when it needs it the most.
Getting Meta With It
Having the right words for your SEO is only the first step. The next question is whether you are using those words in all the right places.
You should use your keywords in the appropriate meta tags for each of your pages. You’ll want those keywords in places like the title and the meta description.
It’s easy to overlook that meta description because its content does not appear directly on your site. However, SEO in the meta description and other meta tags helps move your webpage up the Google search rankings.
If you should end up doing an SEO audit at some point, checking for SEO in the meta description and tags should be one of your highest priorities.
Scope out the Competition
Sometimes, a business gets really lucky and creates a brand new niche for itself. That means that, for at least a period of time, you’ll be the only name in town for your particular products and services.
Most businesses have competition right out of the gate, though. And even niche trendsetting businesses will eventually have competition nipping at their heels. When it comes to such competition, you can either resent them or learn from them.
For example, you can conduct basic keyword searches for the types of products you sell and see who is on the front page. This gives you an idea of who the “brand name” in your field is and who you will eventually need to outrank.
If you’re redesigning your site anyway, you can use this as an opportunity to reverse-engineer competitor websites. What are they offering in terms of content and SEO? And how can you either offer something similar or set yourself apart?
You can go even further and discover the exact keywords your competition appears to be using. This can serve as inspiration for what not to do while also giving you an idea od where to start.
Why just reinvent the wheel when you can look at the competition and build a better car?
Focus the Rest of Your Site
Earlier, we talked about developing the right SEO and using it in places like your meta description. However, it’s vitally important that you focus your website by deploying those keywords in several other areas.
Start by putting the keywords in a short site title. Next, make sure the keywords appear in your onscreen title and a header or two (use the H1 and H2 tags, respectively).
Make sure all of your images have alt text. Alt text optimizations can improve SEO and enhance the user experience, but using secondary keywords in this text is even better.
Finally, don’t forget to use your primary keyword in context at least once on the page. You may want to draw attention to it by putting it bold or turning it into a hyperlink.
Mobile Optimization
In researching how to get on top of Google search, you’re putting a lot of work into redesigning your website. But have you considered where your users are going to be actually browsing that site?
It’s a rookie mistake to design your site with only desktops in mind. That’s because the majority of your users are going to be browsing the site via smartphone instead of desktop. And because of that, Google factors mobile-friendliness into how high your site will rank.
Arguably, the biggest step you can take towards mobile optimization is incorporating responsive design into your site. Responsive design basically resizes the screen for whatever size the user has. In other words, the site will look just as good on a widescreen monitor as it will on a smartphone.
You should also consider mobile optimization when it comes to your actual site design and layout. You shouldn’t have pages cluttered with images that are distracting and take a long time to load. Instead, consider a streamlined approach to text and imagery that is easy to scan on a smartphone.
As a finishing touch, consider using mobile-friendly website buttons. As an example, you can let interested customers call you with a single touch of a button!
Align Pages With Search Intent
This next step is deceptively simple, but you’d be surprised how many businesses overlook it. You need to choose specific pages and then align them with specific search intent.
For instance, we mostly think in terms of customers landing on our business homepage. But Google will rank any page that has the right SEO “secret sauce” that we’ve been describing.
This means you can try to rank different pages on your site for different sets of terms and different kinds of search intent. What does that mean? Simply put, you should create or tailor your content to what your demographic is searching for.
Maybe you want to rank a page for a single product. If this is your signature product or your best-selling product, it makes sense to feature it. On the other hand, customers searching for a complex solution to a problem they are facing may prefer a category page that helps you showcase multiple related products.
If customers need ‘how-to” information, they’re mostly going to look for blogs and videos. On the other hand, if they are looking for “best of” kind of information, they’ll expect a curated list that they can quickly scan.
While content is still king online, you can’t rise to the top of Google without tailoring specific content to specific audiences.
Create an Online Marketing Strategy
We’ve hinted at this a few times, but let’s be explicit: everything you do to propel your website to the top should be part of a coordinated online strategy.
Everyone who works on your online content should be working towards the same KPIs throughout the year. Ideally, your online strategy should align with your overall marketing and sales strategies for the company.
Getting the entire business on the same page can be an annoying and time-consuming process. However, this is one of the best ways to improve your site rankings.
Plus, coordinating every department helps turn those increased site visits into increased conversions. And improving your bottom line is the ultimate goal for any SEO strategy!
Don’t Forget the Local SEO
So far, we’ve focused on SEO tips to attract customers from all throughout your country. But it’s important that you don’t overlook the role that local customers and local marketing plays in your national and global success.
That’s because locals increasingly rely on local SEO to find the products and services they need within their own neck of the woods. And you can take advantage of this by providing your relevant company info to your Google My Business site.
As SERP strategies go, this one is a winner twice over. First, providing more information about your business to Google helps move you higher in the search results than others who don’t take this step. And second, you’re making it that much easier for locals to find your business.
Local success leads to online “word of mouth.” In this way, a local focus can play a major role in your national strategy.
Make Content Thorough and Relevant
Content is key to Google search rankings, but not just any content. Instead, Google’s robots prefer “high-quality content.”
What does “high-quality” mean in this context? The short answer is that your content must be thorough, relevant, and filled with the right measure of pertinent keywords.
In some cases, you can get ideas for good content by researching the competition. If all of your competition touches on a particular product or strategy, you’ll need to touch on it as well.
The hard part, then, is standing out from those competitors when all of you feature similar content. Your only real strategy is to go deeper into the topic than your competition. This might include more research, more authoritative links, more high-quality images, and so far.
This is basically the “if you build it, they will come” SERP strategy. By creating the most authoritative sites on particular subjects, you increase the odds that Google acknowledges your authority by ranking your site higher.
If you’re low on time, but high on knowledge, you’ll find a great deal of value and ROI with our SEO content writing services.
Getting Backlinks “Just Right”
Backlinks are a mysterious part of SEO for many businesses. While we know that they are a requirement for a site to rank highly, it’s not always easy to get the backlink strategy “just right.”
That’s because there is not a magic number for how many backlinks you need. There is simply the number that your competition is using.
A good SEO consultant can help estimate how many high-quality backlinks you’ll need to land on the first page of a Google search. Furthermore, they can help you build and incorporate those backlinks in an organic way that enhances your website.
Play the Waiting Game
Our final bit of SEO wisdom comes straight from Tom Petty himself. And here it is: “the waiting is the hardest part.”
Getting to the first page of Google, and especially to the very top, is not going to happen overnight. Even if you get everything right on the first go, it’s going to take time for your different strategies to get results.
And realistically, you’re going to make a few mistakes here and there. While this gives you a chance to improve analytics and SEO and try again, it does increase your wait time for tangible results.
Don’t forget that a professional SEO consultant can help you get results much quicker than you would get on your own!
How to Get Your Website on Top of Google: The Rest of the Story
Now you know how to get your website on top of Google. But do you know who can help you every step of the way?
We specialize in Google SEO, local SEO, content creation, and much more. To see what we can do for your business, contact us today!
