Richie ContartesiHave you ever asked yourself, or been asked, “How do I rank on the first page of Google?” If you are an entrepreneur or a business owner, it’s a pretty safe bet that question has come up at least once or twice in. So, what’s the answer to the question, you ask?
In short, the answer is that you can’t rank on the first page of Google.
Relax, and take a deep breath, before you come unglued at the cheeky answer and accuse me of using a misleading title just to get clicks. There’s more to the story. The reason I say that you can’t rank on the first page of Google is because that’s the wrong question to ask. The real question that you should be asking yourself how to rank on the first page of Google for specific long tail keywords?
I know, I know…that’s what you meant, but it’s important to make the distinction. The important thing isn’t ranking high on some random search results page, because that could mean showing up at the top of the list for search terms that have nothing to do with the business you are actually in. After all, if your Web page sells electronics, you wouldn’t want to show up in someone’s search results for organic foods, or another topic that does not promote conversions, right?
So, let’s look at the right question. Once again, that right question is “How do I get on the first page of Google for specific long tail keywords?” It’s not rocket surgery, fortunately. In fact, you don’t need a team of experts, a huge marketing budget, or even a lot of knowledge about online marketing. To be honest, the only thing you need to do is research those keywords and write. In regards to researching those keywords, this can be done using the keyword planner tool and using the Google suggest & related keywords.
Found at the bottom of Google search results
Write to rank on the first page of Google?
Yes, write, and write a lot. I’m not talking just random throwaway articles, though, I’m talking about focused writing that has to do with your business and with the topics your customers are going to be interested in. Before you give me the common excuse of “But I don’t have anything to write about,” I want you to think about your customers.
We all have that customer. You know the type; they ask hundreds of questions about your product or service, but never seem to buy anything. You can spend hours going back and forth through email or over the phone, answering every question imaginable, just to throw your hands up in frustration at the end of the day because that customer still hasn’t bought anything.
All of those questions, and all of that time spent answering said questions, should be leveraged as a source of inspiration for blog articles, instead of just the most frustrating part of running your own business. Turn those questions around into topics to write about, and you’re sure to find several years’ worth of weekly articles to generate. These questions are in the minds of most if not all your potential clients and you can use those question as article titles. This is a great place to start. You will find after you get started, topics will flow like a river.
The most important part about generating that content, though, will be going about it for the right reasons. You want to make sure everything you write provides value to your prospective or existing customers, not Google. Why does it matter? Quite simply, because Google can tell when you’re trying to game the system and write just to generate content. You can’t outsmart Google, so don’t even try. Just make sure you are opening a discussion with your audience on an important topic, provide answers to your customers’ questions, and just in general provide value to consumers.
Here’s a crucial side benefit to these articles: you’ll end up with plenty of material to share on social media, and that content will eventually become so good and valuable that people will share it on their own. That’s free advertising, bub, and it eventually lets you become an authority in the industry. Being an authority helps your business’s perception as professional, which gives you more trust, credibility, and even more business. Plus, you can refer your potential clients to articles that will help them and save you time.
Why does it matter, though?
If you think about a typical business website, you will see a number of static pages. You’ll usually find the following pages, other than the home page:
• An “About Us” page that gives a bit of information about the company
• A contact/locations page, letting your customers know where to find you
• A news page
• A gallery page or set of pages, showcasing your products
For most businesses, you’ll find between 5 and 10 different pages that get updated, at most, once a year. When Google’s crawler sees how few pages you have and how seldom they’re updated, your website will usually start dropping in the search engine results in favor of similar businesses that update more often.
When you start writing weekly blog articles, though, you can double the number of unique URLs for your site in the space of a month or two. Making sure that each article is geared towards one of your “specific long tail keywords”. This will help you rank for those keywords and provide authority for your website. If you publish more than once a week, you can generate even more unique URLs. Google’s crawler will notice that, and your site will return more often in queries and your ranking will usually go up. You just have to be patient, and realize that this process will usually take a few months of consistent effort to pay off. Do it for years and the payoff is priceless. You also have to make sure that once you start seeing the results you want, you don’t quit! If you stop generating content, you’ll eventually start to drop in the rankings again because of outdated content.
Don’t ignore the technicalities
I’m sure you’ve heard numerous times: Content is king, but you shouldn’t ignore some of the technical basics. You want to make sure your page loads fast, it uses valid HTML output, and images are properly named with captions and ALT tags. Missing out on these details makes it harder for Google to interpret your page, which can kill your search engine results. You can see an audit of your website regarding these issues by using a free SEO audit tool. You also might want to consider a website redesign if you do not have a blog or potential clients are coming to your site via your blog and are not converting into leads or sales. There are tons of web designers who can help, but here is an instant custom website design calculator to give you an idea.
Don’t try to outsmart Google!
I’ve already mentioned this, but it’s important to stress it in closing. There are various fly-by-night operations out there who promise to get you to the top of the Google search results overnight. Don’t believe the hype! The only way to get to the top of Google’s page for your keywords quickly is by using questionable ways of cheating Google’s search algorithms. This might work in the short run, but Google is constantly improving their indexing algorithms and eventually you’ll be penalized or even blacklisted for trying to trick the almighty Google. If you get yourself blacklisted by Google, I’ve got nothing for you…getting off that blacklist is difficult and will cost you $ $ $ $ $ big time.
Conclusion
Did this article help you understand how to rank on the first page of google? If not, please ask your questions in the comments below. If so, share with a business owner or entrepreneur you believe can benefit!
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