Ranking #1 on Google

You can’t deny every business wants to rank number one on Google. It’s like being number 1 on the official top 40. Google is an extremely powerful and useful tool for any business trying to drive traffic organically. It crawls the web looking for useful pages that are relevant for virtually any topic you can think of. Being at the top of Google or any search engine, would mean an increase in potential sales via higher website traffic, visibility, engagement and more. However, high rankings don’t just happen by chance. Even the most skilled marketers can struggle reaching that desired spot. So how can you achieve this? It’s not guaranteed, but there are strategies that you can use to increase your chances of getting to that #1 spot. 

What a high ranking does for your business? 

Improves visibility

With over 100 billion searches per month, getting on the first page of Google is like owning a business on the busiest street in London. The majority of people don’t venture past the first few pages of a search engine. Therefore if you have a high ranking you are more likely to be found and the more people that see your website the more brand awareness you will gain. 

Generates leads 

If you are on the first page for questions/keywords related to your business you are going to be discovered by customers who have the intent of buying or engaging with your product or services. These people are more likely to convert into leads and customers for your business. 

Increases engagement 

Your businesses engagement can be increased by Google’s search engine results page alone. Google search pages, especially local results pages include contact information, maps, ratings and reviews, which gives consumers an idea of what your business is about. Searchers are able to learn about, compare and engage with your business even before clicking on your link. Ranking highly increases who sees your website, who clicks on your website and therefore engagement. 

Drives website traffic

Roughly 71% of web traffic is captured on the first page of Google, maybe even more. So from ranking highly on Google, you are automatically increasing and driving traffic to your website. 

Earns trust 

Consumers are more likely to trust you if you are on the first page of Google. Google uses an algorithm to recognise suspicious, spam like, low-quality content. If you are consistently on the first page, it means Google sees you as a trusted source of information and if Google does, so will your customers. 

How to reach the top? 

Search engines are a competitive place in the marketing world, and to succeed you need to understand this. If you are a small business you do not want to be competing with larger organisations who will likely have higher marketing budgets. There is still a chance you can outrank them, but you will more likely waste your time and money. Instead of trying to compete with these bigger companies for the ‘big’ keywords, which tend to be more general, try and find some more niche keywords. This may mean shifting your focus from more general to more specific products or services, but using more specific keywords will make it easier to rank. 

Almost anyone can get to the top of Google if they target the right keywords. If you choose obscure words, it’s easier to rank. However, it’s unlikely you want to rank for obscure keywords, you want to rank for words people actually search for. Try and select more specific keywords, then once you are ranking more highly you can move onto more competitive words to increase your website traffic. Once you have chosen your keywords, it’s time to put them to work. It’s all about balance. You don’t want to overuse your keywords, but it’s important to use them in a variety of ways within your content. Google tends to favour in detail content that is on topic. So only use keywords that are related to the topic in hand. 

The majority of companies now use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. This involves using content such as blogs, newsletters, social media etc, to attract customers. If you want to reach the top on Google, you need to be adding regular content to your website. Don’t just add it for the sake of it, make sure it is relevant, informative and adds value to your customers. Your content will help you boost your rankings for two reasons. Firstly, more content means more keywords, and therefore more chance Google will add your site to the search results. Secondly, with more content, you will generally have more links included. Links play a crucial role in search engine optimisation (SEO). Using inbound links in particular are an important part of achieving high rankings. They take people to specific landing pages and therefore increase the time visitors stay on your website. 

There is no definite way to reach #1 on Google. Nevertheless, targeting the right keywords for your business and audience can significantly increase your chances. Do this alongside your optimised content and you are on your way to ranking highly and maybe even reaching that number 1 spot. If you have any questions regarding SEO or need any help with defining your keywords, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email on info@ellis.digital, or give us a call at 01483912900.