For businesses who are leveraging online marketing and looking for ways to drive traffic on their site, Google has got them covered. It is the world’s largest search engine with 90% market share and crawls the web and determines which web-pages are most relevant for users on the SERP.
With so many features and power, getting your business website on the first page of Google is not that easy as it seems.
A lot of hardwork, patience and skill set is required.
So, if you are struggling to get your web-page on the first page of Google then read this blog post till the end. In this post, I have covered 10 surefire tips that will land your website on the first page of Google for sure.
However, you need to put a lot of hardwork and effort to achieve this.
Before going ahead let us understand why is it important to get on the first page of Google?
Importance of first-page ranking:
Increase In Traffic:
Billions of search take place on Google every day. With so many searches per day, it is surely worth getting ranked on the first page of Google. Not only this, but getting ranked on the first page will also give you maximum clicks and organic traffic on your site.
As you can see from the above image that better rankings on Google means more clicks and more traffic.
One of the research shows that:
- First result on Google gets 30% clicks approximately.
- The second result gets 15% clicks.
- The third results get 11% clicks.
This clearly means that getting on top of Google is extremely important.
Get good exposure and brand awareness
The other reason why getting on top of Google is important is that it gives you good exposure and brand awareness. The web-pages that get featured snippets on Google get decent brand-awareness and catches more eye-balls.
Improves visibility
Imagine this: You want to build a shopping mall. If you want to choose the location of your shopping mall that goes through the urban city or quiet place, which one would you opt for?
Of course, it would be an urban city is more crowded as compared to a quiet place.
With more than billions of searches every day, getting on the first page of Google is somewhat similar to setting up your shopping mall in the busiest cities of the town.
Get on top of Google will help you in getting more brand awareness and exposure.
Get more leads
Another reason why getting on top of Google is important because it will help you in generating leads. I already mentioned that the first page results get more clicks and better brand visibility.
This clearly means that one can also generate leads if their web-page appears on the first page of Google.
You just need to carefully target keywords and get your web-page ranked.
More engagement
According to several research, 81% of online shoppers will do product research prior to purchasing it. And when it comes to doing research on the internet, Google remains the number one spot.
With a variety of search results on the first page including featured snippets, people also ask section and local results, Google search results help the users to learn more about any business even before clicking on any results.
This not only satisfies the query of users but also enables them to create of good engagement.
Drive more traffic
In order to create a successful online business, you need tons of traffic on your site. Website traffic will help you in getting more sales, leads, a conversion which will increase the overall profit of your business.
The number one position on Google gets more than 30% of overall traffic for any search query. This clearly means the web-pages ranking on the top spot will get more visitors on their site followed by other results.
Increase your trust and credibility
Getting on the first page of Google requires a lot of time, hardwork, patience and effort. You need to create high-quality content. When you start creating quality content, Google will increase your site’s ranking and eventually rank you on top of organic listings.
When your site is ranking on top, people will start visiting it and will develop trust and credibility towards your business.
Earn trust
Google’s algorithm is designed to detect low-quality content and spammy websites. There are hardly any results on the first page of Google that contains thin or low-quality content.
Hence, when you start creating high-quality content, you’ll earn Google’s trust and Google will reward you by improving your SERP rankings.
How many ways are there two get on the first page of Google?
You might be thinking that there is only one way to get ranking on Google which by creating quality blog posts. However, this is not the case. Google SERP is dynamic with different kinds of results showing on top.
There are Google ads, local listings, organic listings, featured snippet, knowledge graph and a lot more.
Let us discuss it one after one.
Google ads
These are paid ads that appear on top of SERP.
You pay a certain amount to Google, targeted keywords you want to rank and get first ranking.
Google ads will give you instant ranking, traffic, sales and better conversions.
Local listings
Next to Google Ads, local listings are another result that appear on SERP. these results occur when businesses create account on Google My Business and get it verified.
Organic listings
Organic listings are those listings that occur on Google without paying a penny.
These are the best results that get the majority of traffic, clicks and conversions as well. Getting on an organic listing takes time but it gives long-term results.
Featured snippet:
Featured snippets will give a short summary of the web-page on top of SERP for any query. These results attract more clicks, traffic, leads, sales, conversions and lot more.
Now that you might have understood why it is important to rank on Google, now let’s understand 10 ways to get rank on the first page.
- Determine your keywords
The very first step that you need to take in order to rank on the first page of Google is to target your keywords. Keywords are the foundation of every SEO strategy. Without proper targeting keywords, you cannot think of better rankings on Google.
So, start by creating a bucket of keywords that you want to target and get ranked for.
For example;
You run a tech company in Bangalore, then following are the keywords that you can think of targeting.
- Cheap stand up paddle boards
- Best cheap and budget paddle boards
- Best paddle boards for dogs
- Best paddle boards for lake use
These are the best suitable keywords that you think of for your business.
- Tell Google what keywords you are targeting
After targeting keywords and creating a bucket list, you need to tell Google what keywords you are targeting. In order to do so, you need to optimize your title and meta tags.
Title tags are the results that appear on SERP in light blue colour which is followed by meta tags in below. Google crawls meta and title tags to know which keywords a particular web-page wants to rank for.
Apart from title tags, you can also include your keywords in heading tags, URLs, content and images.
- Write for users
The next tip that will help you in getting top listings on Google is by creating content for users.
Here’s the thing:
Google will love you when other people love your content. So, start creating content that satisfies the need to users and gives value to them. Don’t focus on satisfying search engines.
If people likes your content, Google will take notice of it and will give a boost in your rankings.
- Create more local content
In the recent past, there has been an increase in the number of local searches as compared to generic ones. In fact, search queries with “near me” has seen an increase of 900%.
This clearly means that you need to focus more on creating local content. Also, because Google’s Pigeon update, local business websites and sites with more localized content have seen better rankings on Google.
Hence, your primary task should be to create more content with local keywords.
For example;
You run a digital marketing agency in New York.
Then target keywords like:
- Top digital marketing agencies in New York,
- Best digital marketing agencies in New York.
- Digital marketing companies in NYC.
- Marketing firms in NYC and so on.
Gettings rankings for these keywords is not only easy but beneficial in long-run as well.
- Optimize your site for mobile
Yes, mobile responsiveness is utmost important if you want to get quick rankings on Google.
Google already knows the fact that mobile internet users are increasing day after day. Taking this point into consideration, Google has started giving more preference to websites on SERP that are mobile friendly.
So, make sure that your website is responsive on all devices like computers, laptops, desktops and other smart devices.
- Create more backlinks
Backlinks are nothing but hyperlinks that points from one website to another. To date, backlinks are the top most ranking factor that Google takes into consideration for ranking any web-page.
Hence, you need to focus on creating more backlinks in order to get on the first page of Google.
When a particular website links to your website or any content, it also passes on the SEO link juice. This link juice helps your site in increasing its domain authority and positioning on Google SERP.
Many so-called internet experts or online gurus feel that more backlinks = better rankings.
However, this is not the case.
It is the quality of link that always matter. Instead of getting 100 links from a low authority websites, it is better to get 2-3 links from high DA PA websites.
- Focus on speed
If you are serious about getting on the first page of Google then you cannot ignore your website speed. Speed has become a ranking factor and Google has made it official. If you don’t believe me then check the the image below from developers.google.com
So, if your website is not loading under 3 seconds then Google will place a small penalty on your site.
To put it in a nutshell: Google will not show your site on the first page. Hence, it is of utmost importance for you to optimize the speed of your site.
- Improve user experiences
The tip to get on the first page of Google is by improving your website’s user experience. Creating a mobile responsive website is not enough, especially in 2021. You also need to focus on improving the user experience and website design in order to get better rankings on Google.
Google is working towards taking page experience as a ranking signal.
Hence, make sure the UX and UI of your site is top-notch.
