It’s no secret that SEO is one of the most important aspects of a website. However, what you might not know is how to get your site on top and stay there. It all starts with keyword research. We’ll help you avoid common mistakes by teaching you seven easy steps for ranking on Google’s first page, step-by-step. You’ll learn about everything from keyword research to link building, so let’s jump right in!
Seven easy steps for ranking on Google’s first page :
1) Keyword Research
Before you can rank anywhere, you must know what people are searching for online. The best place to start is the internet itself. You’ll need your keywords (which we’ll get to in Step 2), but first, you should learn about Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner.
Google Trends is a great way to see how much your chosen keywords are searched for monthly. You can also compare the same keyword with others, which allows you to spot trends in popular keywords or explore other search terms related to your topic. For example, if you’re looking for weight loss keywords, you may find that people searching for ‘diet’ often search for ‘lose weight.’
You can use the same keyword research process on Google Keyword Planner. The planner allows you to test how many people are looking for a specific term and where they come from. This way, you know what your target audience is thinking and your possible audience.
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2) On-Page Optimization
While you can’t control precisely where Google ranks your content, many on-page factors will help improve your rank. You may have heard of things like tags, meta descriptions, and keyword density. While they’re all important, I’ll walk you through the most common:
Meta Tags
These are important because they act as an introduction to your content. They should contain your primary keyword and a description of what’s on that page. Also, there are often duplicate meta tags and descriptions across different pages, so be careful when modifying them all. If you’re using WordPress, the Yoast plugin is beneficial. You enter the page you’d like to modify and select where in the code you’d like to modify. It’s as easy as that!
H1, H2 Tags and Page Titles
These are also important because they help describe what your page is about. If you’re using Yoast, you can enter a custom title and description. This is where keyword research comes in handy! But remember: don’t overdo it. The title tag should be between 50-60 characters or less and the description about 150. These are specifications for both Google and Bing.
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3) Off-Page Optimization
As I said before, the internet is a prominent place. The algorithms that Google and Bing use to rank sites aren’t just based on what’s on your site; sometimes, they take into account factors off your site, too.
Social Media
Social media isn’t just an outlet for sharing photos of your lunch or Twitter rants about politics: it’s also a great place to market your website! The easiest way to do this is by creating a social media accounts for your site. This allows you to share any new content that you think would interest your target audience and connect with those who have similar interests.
I can’t stress enough how helpful Twitter can be when it comes to promoting your content. Twitter is great for two reasons:
The first reason is that most people on Twitter have a genuine interest in their industry. So, for example, if you’re writing about SEO, then the people likely interested in your content are interested in SEO. The second reason it’s excellent is that your content will spread fast through retweets and likes.
Press Releases
A press release is a powerful tool when used correctly. Just like you would with your social media accounts, you want to make sure that the people on your mailing list are interested in reading about what you have to say. There are plenty of tools out there that allow you to create releases for free and distribute them online (and off).
Local Listings and Business Directories
Also, make sure that you’re listed on local directories like Yelp. Remember: people want to find businesses close to them to buy/have their product locally. So if your business or website is the only one that pops up in search results when someone looks for a local business or website, you’ve got a much better chance of getting those sales.
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4) Link Building
Back in the days of yore, link building was accessible: you could trick Google into thinking your site was viral by getting a ton of other sites to link back to it. Google figured this out and updated its algorithms so that any website with “no follow” tags or keyword-rich anchor text wouldn’t count as much as it used to. Nowadays, it’s much more challenging to rank a site just by getting links from other sites.
While “no follow” tags prevent others from following your link and give you less weight in ranking algorithms, they can still be helpful for internal linking and branding purposes. For example, if your website is relatively new or has an overhaul coming up, it’s a good idea to use no-follow tags on all links (aside from shared or canonicalized pages). This is because if that site fails, you don’t want it to bring your website down with it.
However, do not use no-follow tags if you’re doing link building for an established site and have been for a while. It’s essential to maintain an active link profile. Although they don’t count as much in the algorithms, Google still takes them into account.
Targeted Anchor Text
Using keyword-focused anchor text can be a great way of getting on those first few pages of Google. I recommend using targeted anchor text for blog posts that are related to your primary service or product.
Press Mentions and Interviews
Getting a press mention is an excellent way of showing Google that people think you’re fantastic! After all, if they don’t think you’re awesome, why would they write about you? Getting interviewed by someone can also suit your website because it shows Google that others in your industry think you’re legit. Google is always looking to improve users’ search experience, so they like to use third-party sources when determining what pages will rank well.
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5) Conversion Optimization
Conversion optimization can have the most significant impact on your website’s bottom line. How many times have you been to a website and thought, “This is amazing. I need that!” only to leave without making a purchase? Probably more than once. If you want your company to turn into a money-making machine, then you’ll need to figure out ways to get people to buy your products.
To do this, you need to determine what’s causing the number of conversions from visitors to customers to below. For example, one of my clients found that if they didn’t have an address on each page, then their conversion rate dropped by almost 50%. However, by adding a small sentence at the bottom of their pages that mentioned them having an address on file, they could increase conversions by 20%.
Conversion optimization doesn’t have to be as simple as contacting a web developer and working together to optimize your landing page. You can do it yourself with some basic tweaks. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can tweak your landing page for increased conversions, check out my article about conversion rate optimization.
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6) Reporting and Analysis
Reporting and analysis will ensure that your website is meeting SEO goals. For example, if the number one goal of your site is to rank on the first page of Google, then converting visitors into customers should be one of your secondary goals. Without knowing how many people visit each page, how many pages they view, or other information such as bounce rate (time spent on each page) or conversion rate, you will not be able to picture how well your website is doing accurately.
Reporting and analysis can also help you figure out what’s working best within your website. For example, one of my clients was having trouble finding good content for their blog. They decided that the best way to fix this would be to create their content. By utilizing the analytics on each page, they could figure out which pages got the most traffic and what kinds of posts people liked best.
Site speed is also a significant factor when it comes to reporting and analysis. This can have an enormous impact on your ability to convert visitors into customers. This is because users have higher expectations for loading times. According to a study carried out by Google, 40% of customers will abandon your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. In contrast, only 11% will leave if it takes less than 2 seconds.
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7) Managing and Protecting Your Site
One of my favorite parts about being a digital marketer is learning all kinds of new technologies. One such technology is SSL certificate management. An SSL certificate can help your website become more trustworthy and secure, which in turn improves SEO. It does this by making it so users’ information remains private when they browse your site. This prevents people from running spambots through your site to steal information.
Another great feature of SSL certificates is that they help protect against DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks overload servers with repeated requests, making them unable to function correctly and resulting in a significant loss of revenue for companies whose sites are targeted. If you want to learn more about SSL certificates, check out my article on how to set up a free SSL certificate.
One of the most important things you’ll need to manage and protect your site correctly is an online reputation management (ORM) service. There are two main types of ORM:
1) Monitor Companies: These companies monitor social media, such as blogs and forums, for mentions of your company. They then compile these mentions into an easy-to-read report for you to decide if any issues need to be addressed.
2) Engage in Rebuttals: These services contact those talking about your business on social media sites and try to work out a solution. This could include anything from mediation between your business and the other party involved to issuing an apology on your behalf or even removing the offending post altogether.
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Final Thoughts:
If you want people to take you seriously as a web developer, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First, it would help if you came up with a generic domain name, such as BusinessName.com or WebDeveloper.net. You should also choose a professional email address that is not your unique name (such as joe@website.com).
Also, be sure to create an About page where you can display information about yourself and include links to portfolio pieces or other websites you have made. The exact page can also be used for privacy policies, terms of service, and disclaimers. While it is essential to make sure your client knows what they’re getting into when hiring someone like you, you must also protect yourself from liability (or worse).
conclusion
Building a successful website is complicated and takes time, but it’s not impossible! You need to follow the steps outlined in this blog post. We’ve addressed all of the significant areas you’ll want to focus on when building your site: from keyword research to conversion optimization; we have something for everyone. Don’t forget about link building or managing and protecting your site either; these are two crucial parts of running an online business today. With our seven easy steps as a guide, you won’t find yourself lost any longer 🙂