If you’re wondering how to get your website to the top of Google, here’s some insight. Getting to the top of Google is the intention of a lot of website owners. Not all of them can manage it – especially if they all want to rank for the same keywords! However, there are ways to to get found on Google for the “low hanging fruit“. That is, those keywords which are neglected by your competition, and which you stand a greater chance of ranking for.
These are keywords which have similar search intent to your main “seed” keywords, but which you have a higher chance of getting ranked on the top of the SERPS – the Search Engine Results Pages.
To find them, head over to Google’s keyword planner and type in your main website’s keyword phrase. What keyword sums up your services the best in as fewest words as possible? That is your main “seed” keyword. Now you can type that into the planner, and it will give you all the derivatives of that keyword. You’ll start to see the types of keywords which are being searched for already, for your particular business niche.
How To Get Your Website To The Top Of Google – #1
Now I know what you might be thinking. You want to get your site number 1 for your seed keyword don’t you!? While it is possible to do that for certain keywords and certain businesses, it’s a much longer job. Since some of the work you’ll need to do will be finding the low hanging fruit anyway, and building content for it, we might as well start there!
Look for a keyword which is suitable for your business with the keyword planner. Use your main keyword to do a search. Now you will find a list of related terms which are being searched for. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and find the longest possible keyword phrase. That is the one with the most words in it. This will likely have far fewer searches than you main keyword. But it also will have fewer competitive pages to rank against too!
If your business is in a competitive field, you’ll have multiple business owners trying to do the same as you – rank your website number one on Google! By finding the “low hanging fruit” keywords – the ones with multiple words within the phrase, you have a greater chance of ranking them when you create some content around those keywords.
How To Get Your Website To The Top Of Google – Next Step
The next step is to create some awesome content for your keyword. Use the keyword as your blog title, and write as many words as you can on the topic – the more the better. Google loves unique, high quality content. If you have a specific insight into your business, which I’m sure you will have, use that for your content. The more unique and specific it is to you, the better. If you write about certain customers, specific locations and have a unique knowledge of your topic, that’s much harder for someone else to copy or imitate.
Use a plugin called Yoast SEO. This plugin helps you write SEO friendly content which helps Google understand what the content is about. You can also plug in your keyword, and the software will let you know whether you have used your keyword phrase too much or too little throughout your article.
Please note, if I’m losing you here, I offer these services so you don’t have to do this personally! Give me a shout and we’ll work something out!
Identify Some Key Phrases Which Are Most Important For Your Business
When you start using the keyword planner, you should find a couple of key phrases which are being searched. These key phrases are the ones you most want to rank for. So if you have a shoe shop in Cambridge, for example, one of your main keyword phrases might be “Cambridge shoe shop”.
You can create a main page for your main keyword phrases, and link back to them from your blog posts. When you link back, use the keyword in your link text. This is known as deep linking. Deep linking tells Google the most important pages on your website and what they are about. So if you want to rank for a specific keyword, especially a competitive one, create a page for it which is of high quality and offers loads of content. Then start deep linking back to it from your blogs as you write them.
Over time, Google will see you have a main page (for your keyword) and multiple articles linking to it, with other high quality content. Each long tail keyword you choose, should relate to your main topic somehow. However, you have a greater chance of ranking for these longer tail keywords. When they do rank, they pass link “juice” (or SEO equity) back to the pages you want to rank for!
Ask Chat GPT
If you’re going to do some SEO yourself, chatgpt.com is a great resource. Not only can it write content for you, but it can help you understand how to interlink your content to the main pages you want to rank for. Chat GPT of course won’t know the specifics of your business like you might do. So it’s well worth using your expertise when it comes to writing in-depth articles. That knowledge shows you’re an expert in your field, and Google should eventually reward you for it – even if it steals it and presents it as its own with the AI!!
Use Local Place Keywords
If you have a locally placed business, use local place names throughout your content. Local place names are much easier to rank for so if you’re in a competitive industry, or niche. Go after the local search traffic rather than competing for generic keywords in your field. This is more relevant if you have a locally based business. Speaking of which, if you do have a physical business premesis, you should definitely have a Google My Business listing. It’s free and can give you a consistent flow of customers for very little work. See my post top tips for locally based businesses.
Rinse And Repeat
Once you have created a single piece of high quality content, find more keywords to do the same for. Link back towards your main pages using your keywords in the links. As your content grows, your authority with Google should also grow. Make sure you are providing high quality content and this strategy should push you up the search rankings in your niche over time. Of course there are often high ranking competitors who will outrank you. In certain industries, they will have thousands of back links and many pages of content. They might be decades old too. To compete with these high rankers is difficult, and might not be feasible for a small business. So go after the long tail “low hanging fruit” instead. Build up slowly, and focus on place names and your personal insights.
If you don’t want to go it all alone, drop me a message and I’ll take a look at your website.
Summary
To get your website to the top of Google can be a challenge. For some websites, in a competitive field, it simply won’t happen. Especially if your keywords are very competitive and your website is new. If you have a locally based business, it’s much easier to get at least one or two ranking keywords in your niche. Do this by using your place name in the content, and targeting the keywords which relate to your location.
You are also much more likely to rank for longer tail keywords – those keywords which have three, four or more words within the phrase. These kinds of keywords work better for SEO because there’s less competition for them and therefore you have a greater chance of ranking on the first page of Google.
As your content grows, your website should rise in authority in the eyes of Google. If you answer the questions your potential customers would likely be asking (using the keyword planner), and create content for these answers, Google will place the content in front of potential customers, bringing them to your website!