Two things to keep in the forefront of your mind when exploring how to get to the top of Google:
- To get to the top of Google, avoid buying into any “expert” who guarantees you will get to the top of Google.
- The most important thing about getting to the top of Google is that getting to the top of Google isn’t the most important thing.
To elaborate:
- SEO is a science, but a very inexact science. It’s impossible to guarantee rankings because there are too many variables and too many unknowns. Google’s search algorithm has more than 200 ranking factors, and no two websites can possibly have the same starting point. To make matters more uncertain, Google does not share the specifics of its algorithm with the outside world, leaving SEOs to analyze, theorize and speculate as to the relative importance of these ranking factors — and what will happen if a given SEO campaign does a little more of this and a little less of that. People who say they know how to get to the top of Google with certainty are either trying to hoodwink you or do not understand SEO.
- Organizations sometimes become fixated on getting to the top of Google. While it’s true that having the number one position on Google can generate a massive amount of leads, keep this in mind before you build your entire SEO investment about getting to the top of Google:
- A number one ranking in and of itself does nothing for your bottom line unless it generates website traffic that converts into sales leads or online revenue.
- Make sure you have a solid business reason for aspiring to the top of Google for a certain keyword, and are not just doing it to satisfy your corporate ego.
- Many superb, high-ROI SEO campaigns are based on targeting many low-profile keywords with high conversion potential, rather than pouring all the resources into a handful of high-profile keywords that are ultra-competitive and/or have minimal conversion potential.
- There is no universal number one ranking on Google. Google delivers different SERPs (search engine results pages) based on a user’s geographic location, search history (if available) and other variables.
Tips for How to Get to the Top of Google
All this said, to improve your rankings for strategically important keywords and give yourself the potential to get to the top with a sustained effort, follow these guidelines.
- Build/bolster your backlink profile. The quantity and quality of links pointing to pages of your website have an enormous impact on rankings, because one thing we know about Google’s algorithm is that it has always weighted backlinks heavily. This makes sense because if a lot of good websites link to your website, it’s an indication that your content is accurate, useful and authoritative. Links pointing to your home page and product/service pages you’ve targeted in your SEO campaign are the most valuable.
- Have specific pages dedicated to your primary target keywords. If you’re trying to get more sales leads or online revenue for a specific product or product group, you must have a website page fully dedicated to that product (or service). The more relevant and specific your content is to the product/service (and its targeted keywords), the more likely Google will match that page with people searching for it. Plus, by driving organic traffic to that product/service page, you’ll shorten the path a user takes to ordering or inquiring — as opposed to driving traffic to the home page, where more clicks are almost always involved.
- Clean up technical issues on your site and keep checking for problems. Google sends Googlebots, or crawlers, to your website to determine how each page should be ranked. If your website has technical issues that inhibit Google’s ability to read, interpret and value your content, then you will never get to the top. Problems to look for include duplicate content, poorly written or absent Meta title tags, broken links, slow page loading, internal linking structure, Google sitemap problems, improper page redirects and confusing navigation. Problems can recur or crop up any time, so you should check your site regularly.
- Write high-quality content on your website, especially target pages. It’s not enough anymore to simply include the right keywords on your site content. In fact, putting in too many keywords can hurt you. On top of that, Googlebots are getting pretty good at associating your content with search query keywords even if you don’t use your target keywords word-for-word on the page. What does matter is that your content is free of grammatical errors, makes logical sense, is easily scannable and very relevant to your target keywords. Not only will Google notice well-written content, but such content will also convert better, giving you better ROI and your SEO campaign.
To discuss how to improve your website rankings in more detail, contact us now or call 855-883-0011.