Do you have a website but can’t get it on the first page of Google? For any business, be it small, medium, or large, appearing on the first page of Google is the primary SEO goal to get leads and conversions. Alas! It is not a straightforward process. So many factors come into play to get your website ranked on the first Search Engine Result Page (SERP). On the top of that, Google ranking algorithm keeps evolving which makes this goal even more challenging.
That’s why there are countless SEO pros and digital marketing agencies around the world working relentlessly to help you get on the top. However, only a few can provide you with a Guaranteed Google Page 1 Ranking.
But that should not stop you from trying different techniques because aiming for the first-page ranking is difficult but not impossible. To get on the first page of Google in 2021 is indeed a tangible goal that you can achieve if you persistently make efforts in the right direction. You have to start somewhere, sometime to give your business website a push towards higher positions on the search engine.
In this interactive guide, you will learn different ways that can help your local business website rank on Page 1.
- Step #1 Do Intensive Research to Find the Right Keywords for Your Site
- Step #2 See What Your SEO Competitors Are Doing Different
- Step #3 Select or Create Page that Best Suit the Search Intent
- Step #4 Place Your Keyword at All Places Where Google Expects You to Do
- Step #5 Earn Quality Backlinks through Authority Websites
- Step #6 Create Your Google My Business Account
Before you start following them, just ensure that your site meets the following criteria which aren’t mandatory but extremely important in improving your site’s rank.
Your Business Website Should Be:
- Mobile-friendly because Google has announced to roll out mobile-first indexing for the whole web by March 2021.
- Fast loading because as page loading time increases from 1 second to 10 seconds, the probability of site visitor bouncing increases by 123%.
- Easy to navigate as navigation bounces are indicative of bad experience and poor site structure.
- Secure since Google considers HTTPS as a ranking signal and encourages site owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.
- Compelling and interactive as no one wants to spend time on a dull, boring, and soulless website when there are plenty of options out there.
Creating a New Small Business Website? Check out Website Design Tips for Small Businesses.
The importance of these factors can be estimated by the fact that even premium SEO service providers will not assure you of guaranteed first page ranking unless your site meets the above criteria.
Now, let’s come to the steps you should take to improve your site’s rank on Google or any other search engine.
Steps to Get on the First Page of Google at Zero Cost
Step #1 Do Intensive Research to Find the Right Keywords for Your Site
- Your keywords may be single words or phrases. The easiest keywords are usually your services’ or products’ generic name for which you may or may not have competition on the web.
- To find keywords that help you appear in search results, you need to decide which queries you want to answer through your web pages as well as which queries your customers tend to ask about services, products, and brands similar to yours.
- The best keywords for your site are the ones that people usually type in or speak while searching for products, services, or information they need.
- Include location in suitable keywords. Using keywords with location will allow you to search for location-specific searches as well. Incorporate them in your blog posts and also product/service pages.
Example: Suppose you run a salon and provide haircutting services in Delhi. In this case, your keywords could be haircutting services, haircutting services near me, best haircutting services, cheap haircutting services, best hairstylist near me, best salon near me, cost of haircutting in Delhi, best hairstyles for men, best hairstyles for women, best haircutting services in Delhi and so on.
You can also use keyword planners available online for free.
Note: Each webpage should target different keywords, though it can contain keywords that are similar and refer to the same thing. Try to incorporate high-volume keywords, high-competition keywords, as well as low-competition keywords. Doing this will increase your chances of ranking.
Step #2 See What Your SEO Competitors Are Doing Different
Before using keywords in your content or anywhere, check out the websites of your competitors to see how they are doing things differently.
- What is it that they lack? Make their weaknesses your strengths.
- Are they using different keywords than yours? If yes, include those keywords (that are relevant to your business) in your list too.
- Check out where they have placed their keywords and how. The deeper you dig, the better insights you will get for your keyword planning and use.
Note: Remember that just like it would be hard to sell groceries near a Supermarket, it would be difficult to compete with bigger brands ranking on top online. To get a guaranteed 1st Page Google ranking, you must be aware of whom you are competing against.
If you don’t know how to analyze your competitors, then A Definitive Guide on SEO Competitive Analysis will come in handy.
Step #3 Select or Create a Page that Best Suits the Search Intent
Now the time comes to use all your research on keywords and competitors ingeniously while writing content and incorporating keywords within it. Write the content in
- the way that it aligns with your search intent
- the way people want or like to read
- the type Google wants to rank for your target keyword
You can write content in different formats, such as:
- Product Page
- Category Page
- Blog Post
- Articles
- Press Releases
- How-to Guides
- Tutorials
- Reviews
Tips on Content Creation
- For some topics, you can also create video content. For a better response, we would recommend you to post the video and provide the text content as well so that the people who are not interested in watching a video can also benefit from your content.
- Make sure the topic you write feels complete and delivers the purpose – problem-solving, information sharing, updating, or whatever your heading represents.
- If seems suitable, create location-specific pages with localized content so that when people search for businesses like yours along with your location or city, Google can scan that information and show your site in results for location-specific queries and near me searches. Also, make sure that you clearly and accurately mention contact details on the Contact Us page.
- Focusing on location in the content will greatly help because even if people are not using location or near me phrases in their search query, Google will still show geographically relevant results based on their IP address. So, use this opportunity to your advantage while creating content.
Note: Don’t stuff keywords unnecessarily. Use them intelligently where they make the most sensible meaning because you are ultimately writing for humans to read and not for Google bots. Besides, in today’s time, even Google can detect keyword stuffing.
Step #4 Place Your Keyword at All Places Where Google Expects You to Do
Google typically works by scanning indexed data rather than the whole web to provide results in the blink of an eye. Thus, use your important keywords at all those places that make it easier for Google to scan, index, and retrieve your site page.
Important Yet Often Overlooked Places for Keyword Placement Are:
- Meta Title
- Meta Description
- URL
- Alt Tags
Google can detect the relevancy of images only if it has an alternative text.
Example: <img src=”img_girl.jpg” alt=”A Girl in a Black Leather Jacket” width=”500″ height=”600″>
Here, you can easily see that alt text provides context to the image and thereby, will help Google to scan images better and display them in Google Images results as well.
There is one more advantage to using this tag. In case your image fails to load for any reason, the alt text appears beside the image icon.
Thus, it will also help readers to get a more precise idea of what that particular image represents without actually seeing it.
Step #5 Earn Quality Backlinks through Authority Websites
Backlinks are important not only for ranking purposes but also for cultivating a positive relationship from which every industry benefits.
Here are a few ways to build backlinks:
- Create content for Guest Posts on trending topics and get them post on high-quality and authority websites that are relevant to your industry and where you expect to find potential customers.
- Get local news and magazine websites to publish about your business and link to your site.
- Create amazing content so that authority and other popular sites would themselves want to link to your website.
- Leverage links from old and outdated resources – sites that have changed names, moved to a new URL, or stopped offering a service/product that your business still offers. Reach out to people that still link to the outdated resource, inform them about it, and then gently suggest adding your link to their site. That’s tricky but effective and worth trying.
Note: Don’t try to create a hundred backlinks within a short time. Instead, create a few quality backlinks from time to time. While the quantity matters, quality matters more in this case.
Step #6 Create Your Google My Business Account
Having a profile on Google My Business is extremely important. That’s why when it comes to rank locally, we always recommend this step. It is a quick and easy way to appear in local searches because both Google Search and Google Map pull information from Google My Business accounts to provide local listings.
- Once you create your business profile, optimize it. Add your accurate and precise address with pin code, contact information, hours of operation, and business description.
- Upload high-quality images and videos of your premises for your potential customers to take a virtual tour.
- Encourage your customers to post reviews and provide ratings and reply to their reviews whether they are positive or negative.
- Keep your business name consistent across all platforms. Don’t make even minor changes in the business name, such as writing ‘co.’ instead of the ‘company’ at some places.
- Complete your business profile as much as possible because people tend to click more on complete listings rather than incomplete listings.
For more help, here are Guidelines for representing your business on Google.
Note: Listing on other popular directories in your state or country is also important because online positive reviews and links from trusted sites send signals to Google that will reflect in your ranking.
Our 8 Best Tips on How to Improve Local SEO in 2021 will also greatly help you if you have a specific goal – “to rank with local SEO”.
Lastly, we would advise you to be patient because getting Page 1 rank is tricky and mostly, takes a lot of time.
To Sum Up
If you rank beyond Page 1, believe us, your business is invisible to millions of Internet users who don’t bother to go through results after Page 1. If you don’t have time or skill to reach this goal, just find a reputable guaranteed page 1 rank provider company as soon as possible because you are already missing out much more than you think or can imagine. So, better start now than later.