Here is the dream of anyone who has a website: rank on google’s first page or another search engine.
Google is the world’s most known search engine, and being on the first page is the same as being the first option for your future clients.
95% of the searches only got to the first page of Google. If you aren’t there, you are hiding from your customer.
Then, how can I be the rank #1 on Google?
It would help if you did Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO. But here you wouldn’t need to study all the SEO aspects to make the most significant improvements on your website. I will walk you through the most known things to do on your page to get better results.
So, let’s go to the topics:
- What is SEO
- Website Speed Improvement
- Keywords
- Backlinks
What is SEO
Search engine optimization consists in identifying
SEO is all about identifying all the points on your website and making improvements such as corrections so that it gets a special place on the first page.
Using to rank on Google
Search engines like Google use bots to crawl pages on your site. Daily these bots search the entire web, reading every page on the internet and assigning an index. This index is then analyzed based on hundreds of factors to determine which search engine this page will appear in.
After all, search engines focus on the user. What differentiates one tool from another is the ease with which the user finds the answer to his question, which made Google stand out in the golden age of the internet and become the giant it is today.
For organic search, you can’t pay to rank higher. Here everything depends exclusively on your website.
Site Speed
Why is speed the main factor for optimizing your website? Simply because it will determine whether or not the user will stay on your page.
Portent data shows that 0-4 second load time is best for conversion rates.
- The first 5 seconds of page load time has the biggest impact on conversion rates
- Website conversion rates drop an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time (between 0-5 seconds)
- Website conversion rates drop an average of 2.11% with each additional second of load time (between 0-9 seconds)
To know if your website is too slow to rank on google, there is the GTmetrix tool. It reviews and grades your site based on several factors, as well as describes the steps you need to take.
Choose the Keywords
Keywords are the words you want your site to be in search results. What would be a good keyword for someone who sells cakes to rank on google? Maybe “cakes”?
It is not that simple. Let’s take the example of our cake seller friend, if he were to just stay on that keyword, he would be disputing several search results, such as:
- how to make a cake
- My girlfriend gave me a cake
- Cake receipts
Few of these have anything to do with cake shoppers, do they?
There is also another problem that is trying to rank (go up in search positions) with words that are not very focused. By putting “sell cake”, you are competing worldwide with several other sites that have content related to the subject, in addition to a consolidated brand and authority on the internet.
But then how do you know which keyword to use?
Focus on your audience using long-tail words. This term means it will not be triggered by a simple search but by a large search phrase.
When we can’t find something, we start specifying on Google what we want, until we get the product we want.
How about “cake for a wedding party in São José dos Campos”?
A long-tail keyword is going to have a lot less dispute in searches and throw you up there. If you have no idea what words to use, you can count on the help of Ubbersuggest.
This tool helps by showing which words have the least competition and which sites are occupying the top positions for the term right now.
Let’s do a test with “wedding cake” to see their rank on google:
By clicking search, we have a prediction of the keyword’s quality to rank on Google, as well as interesting data to use in sponsored ads.
If you scroll down the page, you will see the keyword ideas section. Watch out for the SD index that shows how difficult it is to rank in the top positions.
The lower this number, the easier it is to go up in searches with that word.
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You can delve deeper into the tool and have many other insights, but only with a very superficial search can we already see several ways to improve our site just focusing on more words than simply “cake”.
But now, how to put these words on my website and rank on google?
If you use WordPress, some plugins help you show where to improve based on the word you chose to rank. Some examples are:
If you do not want to have a plugin for this, focus on some points that will help you, such as:
- Insert the keyword you want to focus on in the titles (h1) of the site.
- Repeat the term a few times within the content (without forcing).
- Bring the solution to those who are looking for the product/service.
Invest in Backlinks
Backlinks are links from one site to a page on another site. Suppose you have an article about how many liters of water to consume per day.
A nutrition page that is talking about healthy habits isn’t going to want to go too deep into each topic, so it will link to your site in case the person wants to know more.
Of course, this doesn’t work that easily and you must have extremely high-quality content. Backlinks work as if they were votes for your site, so the more Google or another search engine notices that your site appears on other sites, the more it will give you authority to rank on google and rise in search positions.
To get backlinks there are several ways, the first is by asking for an email.
This one doesn’t usually work out very well because you’re not offering anything in return, so the best solution would be to help the person too.
Look for sites in your industry that are talking about similar topics (without being a competitor, of course) and run an extension called Check My Links on the article you’re interested in.
With that, you will find broken links that are leading nowhere. It may be that you have exactly the content of that link, and if you don’t, it’s an opportunity to do so.
Then, create an email for the person:
Hello, [name of website owner],
I was searching for [Subject] today when I came across [Site].
I noticed that the link you are using is not working and I have a post that talks precisely about the subject that might be useful for your post.
If you like the idea, we can insert a link to your website in our article on [Subject] so that our visitors can also get a general idea about it.
Thank you very much,
Another way is guest posting, where you post on a site as a guest and leave a link to your site. That way you will be offering valuable content in exchange for a backlink.
Backlinks are a lot of work to build, but they are worth a lot. Although Google makes thousands of frequent changes to its algorithm, backlinks remain an important ranking signal to rank on google. It is sometimes the main factor for your site to climb the rankings.
Ready to dominate the internet?
Making your website is the tip of the iceberg, but all these optimizations to rank on google will bring incredible results for your company.