Search Engine Optimization and Ranking On Google’s First Page
Let’s face it, when any business owner thinks of what they’d wish for most when it comes to their online presence, it’s almost always to appear on the first page of Google. While this may be a lofty goal nonetheless, the bottom line is, it’s based in search engine optimization (SEO). Optimization plays a most critical part in “winning the world of Google” and it’s search engine results pages (SERPs). This is evident in the fact that U.S.-based businesses are projected to spend a staggering $80 billion in 2020 on search engine optimization. When it comes to creating the right SEO for your company, the answer is as individual to you as it is to any other organization — however it’s rooted in the same principals for all. Before I get into some of the things that will greatly improve your search engine optimization, let me first explain what most businesses focus on when it comes to what it is they want to improve the most.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
When a business wants to take quantifiable measures to improve their performance, they commonly look at a specific set of Key Performance Indicator’s (KPIs). For the sake of this discussion, a key performance indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving their business objectives. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High levels KPI’s may focus on the overall performance of a business, while low level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing, HR, support and others. It is important to have an understanding of KPI’s because they are extremely important when it comes to a business identifying their growth objectives.
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94% of Clicks Come From Google’s First Page
KPIs come into play when a digital marketer is using Google Analytics to measure the activity of a company’s website. Some good examples of this would be measuring the searches that people are using to bring them to the site (keywords and phrases they are typing into search engines which lead them to you), the pages that they land on, and how much time they spend on each page before ultimately either ”converting” (i.e. an established goal such as contacting you via a form, an email or a phone call, making a purchase, etc.), or leaving your site entirely. By and large, most peoples’ internet searches end on the first page of Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) — only 6% of clicks are ever generated from the second page or beyond. This means that if your business is not showing up on the first page of Google, there is a significant chance people will not find you.
Keywords and Key Phrases
So how do you keywords and key phrase phrases play such an integral part in SEO? The answer is inherent in a simple definition of what a keyword is.
A keyword (or a focus keyword as some call it) is a word or short phrase that describes the content on your page or post the best. It’s the search term that you want to rank for with a certain page. So when people search for that keyword or phrase in Google or other search engines, they should find that page on your website.
This being said, a keyword is relevant to one of the most important elements of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — page content. The more unique and relevant content you have within your website (and within other channels such as social media), the more effective it will be at garnering a high SERP rank by letting search engines know how your product or service solves a query.
It is critical to do the proper keyword research. The digital marketing professionals at Optimum180 have several tools which are quite effective at keyword research. However, if you would like to think about some of the things that could improve your website’s keywords, start by thinking about the way you use Google and other search engines. Do you type in entire sentences, or do you simply utilize a specific selection of words or phrases and let the “brains” of Google do the work for you? Most people do just that, and that is why it is important to know which keywords are being search for and which ones are not.
Of course, in the case of certain industries, simply including these keywords in your website will not be the ultimate answer. Keywords come in lots of shapes and sizes, and one of the most critical identifying issues is in their ”difficulty,” meaning just how hard it is to rank on the first page of Google by utilizing them.
As an example, perhaps you own a Nissan dealership in Teaneck, New Jersey. You can bet your bottom dollar that you will not be moving to the first page of Google, or anywhere near it, simply by using the search term ”Nissan” alone. Typing that word into a web browser will simply bring up the manufacturer’s homepage, their corporate social media pages, or perhaps even something like Wikipedia. You will never be able to outperform Nissan’s digital marketing strategies for your individual dealership. So perhaps an answer would be, try to target keywords and phrases that are specific to your Direct Market Area (DMA) — such as “Nissan Dealer in Teaneck,” “Bergen County Nissan for sale,” etc.
Are you wondering just how to do keyword research? Although it is not rocket science, it can be very time-consuming. And if you want to do it properly, you will need to use specific tools such as Google Ads Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer or others. The cost of some of these services varies, and while some are free, other more comprehensive ones can be costly — but an investment well worth it, considering the ROI which you may gain.
Content
Building content online is a constantly growing process, much like adding stories to a building which eventually lead to it being the tallest and most visible in the skyline. And because growth is organic, this is why SEO is referred to as the result of building “organic searchability” (meaning your content shows up prominently without the need for paid advertising, also known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), or Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC).
Building content could be achieved in several ways. Use relevant keywords and key phrases in your page copy that are highly pertinent to your business. These keywords should be used frequently throughout your website pages. Now of course, there comes a point where repeating keywords incessantly becomes not only redundant, but looks somewhat silly in the eyes of the consumer. That’s where other tools come in, such as having a blog page where you can generate a growing and unlimited amount of content without bunching superfluous amounts of keywords into the same subject. Other important tools which will greatly improve your audience and relevance in the “eyes” of SERPs include social media sites (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube). These content-building sources work by creating additional relevant links that ultimately lead the viewer to your primary website. I will get more into this subject in a subsequent article.
Check Up On Your Competition
In doing your due diligence during your quest for Google’s first page, make sure that you research your competitors. Do they appear on the first page of Google? Because if they do, this is great news for you! The bottom line is, by using some of the keyword research tools previously mentioned, it is possible to find out what content of theirs is providing this result. It is still possible to do this without the use of these tools, however it can’t be much more time-consuming. I would suggest taking a look through their content, more importantly their blogs, and try to see what is generating the most comments and shares. What are they providing to their readers that you simply are not?
Why Backlinks Matter
Before I expand upon this topic, let’s first identify what backlinks are.
Backlinks are links from a page on one website to another. If someone links to your site, then you have a backlink from them. If you link to another website, then they have a backlink from you. For example, these words link to YouTube, so they now have a backlink from us.
Search engines like Google look at backlinks as “votes of confidence.” Essentially, the more of these votes your site has, the more likely that you are to rank for search queries that are relevant to your business. In other words, if the Internet is like a roadmap to your company, backlinks serve us signs pointing your way. The more signs you have, the more Google rewards your searchers with exit routes to you as their destination.
So how do you achieve building backlinks (or link-building, as it is referred)?
Here are a few ways:
1.) Research blogs and social media “influencers” who regularly speak about your business or product. Many of these people are bloggers who will welcome a backlink to your site, and typically will offer a free one.
2.) Do you use the services of other businesses? Why not simply ask them if they would advertise you as a client or vendor, and then seal the deal with a link back to your site.
3.) If you don’t ask, you likely won’t get. So if a blogger or business happens to mention your company but doesn’t offer a link, consider reaching out with an email or phone call. Many are pleased to do so.
Site Speed Can Greatly Effect Your Google Rank
Is your website slow to load? Does your home page appear quickly, however other pages seem sluggish? Google is very attuned to this, and looks at us your site speed as a very relevant thing that impacts your ranking. In addition, if your site is simply slow, it’s going to frustrate users, ultimately causing them to abandon you and this will greatly effect what’s known as your Bounce Rate. For this reason, Google will be less likely consider your website a significant source of relevant information, and will be much less likely to serve it up for somebody’s search query. There are several tools that you could use to optimize the speed of your website, one of them being Google Optimize. It is free, and it will help you test and optimize your site, providing insights into how to change your layout, content and more, without needing any coding skills.
Here are a few simple things that can greatly improve your site speed:
1.) Compress the size of images and photos on your website. Although a great smattering of high-quality images is important to any website, you must take the time to make sure that they are compressed enough so that the data required to download them on the user’s browser is not unnecessarily large. If an image can be measured in megabytes as a post to kilobytes, that is a problem. Making this change will significantly impact your site’s loading speed.
2.) When it comes to web design, a widely-used acronym comes to mind: KISS — “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” The more complex your website design is (i.e. filled with images, transitions, effect, buttons, etc.), the slower it loads. This is especially important to realize when most searches occur on mobile devices, and many times when they are not connected to a Wi-Fi network.
3.) A shared hosting platform may not be right for you. Quite often, businesses will you switch known as a shared web hosting service. Well this can’t be considerably less costly than other services, what this means is that your provider hosts your website on the same server as many other websites. This can significantly inhibit the bandwidth capability, and that will cause your website to load much slower. If the two suggestions above or not resulting in a site speed that is desirable, you may want to consider migrating your site to a dedicated host.
Using Google Ads To Rank On Page One
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a fast way of using targeted keywords to get your website featured on the first page of Google search engine results pages (SERPs). Although it certainly is a technique which can provide instantaneous results, it may be more costly that some of the SEO practices which I have discussed in this article. In any regard, some businesses tend to use both.
If you are ready to turn your website into the business-generating machine that it is meant to be, feel free to reach out to us. Optimum180 Marketing is highly skilled in these practices, and we will be glad to discuss your needs in a FREE consultation.
