Outrank your competition with their 5 key ways to rocket your website to the top of Google!
Build it and they will come. Sounds great! Just create a website and new customers will come flocking, but before customers can engage or buy from you they have to find your website first. Today, if someone is looking to buy a product or service, they’re going to either ask friends and family or search on Google.
If you treat customers well, then hopefully the first part takes care of itself – those customers, their friends and family become evangelists for your business. It’s Google that’s the bigger challenge.
With 85% of all buying decisions beginning with an online search, ranking your website highly is critical, it provides that most precious of resources; buyers who are specifically searching for your product or service.
The majority of business owners aren’t really sure where to start when it comes to getting to the top of Google’s search rankings. They either think that having a website will be enough or worse, they think that only companies who pay Google directly enjoy the top results.
The fact is that your business can reach the top rankings within Google and other major search engines, and enjoy an incredible uplift in new business enquiries.
Outbox 4 specialise in ranking the most competitive keyword terms with a first page or it’s free guarantee. However if you have the time and your niche is not super competitive here are five techniques you can use to help get your business’s website to the top of Google rankings:
1. Choose the right keywords.
If your goal is to get to the top of Google, you need to be sure that you are targeting the right keyword terms. Your focus should be on the terms that your buyers are typing into Google when they are looking for the products or services that you provide.
This process is fairly unique to each business and if your business has a physical location, it may be that the outcome you want is different from a purely online company. You may want to focus on geographic keywords or on certain brands that you carry.
You need to find keywords that fit your business but that aren’t so competitive as to make ranking impossible. Don’t ignore keyword research; it’s the building block on which high website rankings are built upon.
2. Devise a local search marketing strategy.
A location focused search marketing strategy can be an easier goal to achieve than getting into global search engine rankings. Indeed this is where local businesses might have an advantage over big brand names.
Clearly it is going to be easier to rank for the keyword term “restaurant Ayr” or “restaurant Kilmarnock” than the generic term “restaurant” – also the geographically tagged term is more valuable, because people looking to eat in these two towns, will search using the town name. It’s a buyer specific keyword term.
When building your website be sure to use geographic keywords in page titles, tags and throughout your content.
Claim your Google Places page.
This is huge! Go on to Google and look for your map listing and claim your Google places page – it carries weight in the rankings. Without it, your chances of ranking within local search results are reduced.
Additionally, get listed in local search directories, not so much for the listing (although this helps) but due to the fact that Google and many other search engines use these directories to verify your physical address. This could be as simple as registering with Yelp.com and your local Chamber of Commerce website.
Today, more than 50% of buyers looking for a local product or service turn to Google. Getting ranked for local search terms will boost your business.
3. Focus on great content.
Google has stated for some time now that its objective is to give searchers the most useful and relevant results possible.
Creating well written, quality content means that your website not only becomes a trusted authority in the eyes of the search engines but that buyers of your product are more likely to find and stay on your site.
Whether your content is written, visual, video driven or simply by way of shared posts and information, you should try to ensure that it is truly useful to your visitors. This in turn can also help your site to gain inbound links, which have a huge effect on ranking in Google.
It sounds obvious but make sure you’re using good grammar and spelling. Learn how to produce web specific content, which means shorter paragraphs and sharp sentences.
4. Generate backlinks.
This is still the big one when it comes to being visible on the first page of Google for high value search terms. Getting other website owners to link to your site isn’t easy, but it’s fundamental if you want to rank well – especially in competitive niches. As well as creating great content, networking with other website owners and content generators in your niche is vital.
Avoid backlink schemes and paid backlinks too. Google is getting smarter at spotting manipulation and will drop the rankings of sites they believe are engaging in obviously contrived SEO practices.
5. Utilise social media.
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are a good source of organic traffic. Google is also giving credence to these social signals when it comes to search rankings. Aside from SEO, it is a good idea to have a cogent social media strategy in place in order to better engage with customers in your geography and industry.
Getting to the top of Google isn’t easy, but it’s achievable if you have a well planned and executed SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy. Follow these techniques and you’ll see your website rise up the search engine rankings.
Barry Duddy heads Outbox4 Marketing – an online marketing company, with a unique pay on results model that helps businesses attract more traffic, enquiries and sales.
Their pay on results search engine optimisation gives you the surety of ranking first page on Google and other major search engines for your important keyword phrases or it’s free!
Contact Barry today for a free website optimisation health check and find out more about how they work to position your website at the top of the search rankings.
www.outbox4.com
T: 0844 474 1234