Did you know that only 8% of all search engine users go beyond the second page of Google search results? That means if your website is not ranking on the first page of Google, you will struggle to get organic website traffic, inhibiting your business growth.
So, here’s a short guide on how you can get your website ranked on the first page of Google. If you follow these steps, you might even get your website to rank in the first position!
Why is Google Ranking Important?
In the digital marketing world, three things are vital for your website’s online presence: ranking, ranking, and ranking!
The position of your website on the search engine results page (SERP) is crucial to your website’s performance, and it can affect the success of your business. A higher SERP ranking means that your website generates more click-throughs, bringing in many potential leads that are actively looking for the services or products you offer.
For this reason, the importance of being on the first page of Google must never be underestimated, especially if you are selling an online service or product.
Generate Significantly Higher Click-Through Rates
Since only 8% of search users go past the second page, websites that rank lower on search engines do not enjoy a high click-through rate.
For example, if your website is ranking on the third page of Google, you may get only 100 visitors every day, but if you are ranking on the first page of Google, your website may get 10,000 visitors a day.
This is because, when users search for information online, they do not want to waste their time going through dozens of websites—they are more likely to click on the first few links presented to them on the Google search results page.
How Does Google Decide Which Websites Appear in the Top Search Results?
Google is the leading search engine, and its goal is to offer users the best information almost instantly. To do so, it uses over 200 ranking factors to rank a website; the higher the ranking, the further up the Google search results the website will appear.
The most common factors that affect Google SERP ratings include the use of relevant keywords, page load time, user lingering time, click-through rate, and bounce rate, to name a few. Google uses spider bots that crawl through your website regularly to analyse the SEO and SERP factors and rank them accordingly.
What’s more, Google is constantly updating its SERP algorithms to filter out the websites that use blackhat marketing strategies—SEO techniques that try to exploit ranking algorithm.
So, if you want to rank higher on the search engines and appear on the first page results, remember to optimise your website to be in line with as many Google algorithms as possible, without trying to manipulate them.
Websites that use deceptive techniques to exploit the algorithms will be blacklisted and lose their SEO ratings, negatively impacting their web traffic and business.
Here is How to Get Your Website on Google’s First Page
When you type a keyword or search term into Google, you may see millions of web pages appear in the search engine results. This can be overwhelming and may make you think that it’s impossible to get your website to rank at the top.
But that’s not the case at all. With a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that includes Google Ads and/or SEO, you can improve your website’s ranking and visibility, making it more likely to appear higher in the search results.
Here’s how you can outrank your competition on Google and drive more traffic to your website.
Google Ads
One of the quickest ways to get to the front page of search results is via Google Ads, where you pay to be on the first page of Google.
Here, all you have to do is pick relevant keywords with the highest lead-to-opportunity ratio and start pushing out ads for them. So, every time someone uses that specific keyword, your ad will appear above the regular search results. Google Ads is a terrific way to get quick traffic from Google search results.
However, Google Ads can be quite expensive in the long run, as you have to constantly run and spend money on ads in order to maintain your position on the Google search results page.
Hence, it doesn’t make sense to invest in it as a long-term digital marketing strategy. Instead, use Google Ads to push your website to the top whenever you face low organic traffic or when your website is just starting out so that you can promptly increase visitors to your website.
Search Engine Optimisation
What if we told you that you could get to the top of Google’s search engine results pages for free? That’s where search engine optimisation comes in.
SEO is a strategy for optimising your website to be in line with the latest Google SERP algorithms. With SEO, you can make your website more easily readable for the search engine, so that it will automatically start listing your websites on top.
The only downside to SEO is that it is a long-term strategy—after you apply proper SEO and technical implementation, it takes at least four months, on average, to start seeing the search engine results. But it’s worth it as it brings your website on the first page of Google without any capital investment in ads or paid keywords.
We recommend search engine optimisation as the most effective way to get to the first page of Google. While paying to be on the first page with Google Ads might work, SEO is a better option if you want long-term benefits for your web traffic.
Here Are A Few Basic Things You Can Do To Improve Your Website’s SEO
Local Business Listing
The first thing you can do is set up your Google My Business account. GMB’s business profile is a terrific advantage for your local online business for various reasons.
The most important reason is that it lets Google know that you are offering specific services to a local region where people are using your relevant keywords on search and Google Maps.
Your business profile also brings all of your website content, blog posts, services, contact information, location, etc., in one place on the search engine, serving as a hub for your web presence.
Plus, if you have local business listings, but other local business owners don’t, it gives you an edge over your competitors by showing your business on Google’s search results when the user makes a local query for a particular keyword search.
Therefore, GMB is crucial if you want to get to the first page of the search results using SEO.
Finding The Right Keywords
The next part of your SEO strategy should be to find the right keywords. Keywords are the pillars of your SEO strategy; if you use the wrong keywords, your website won’t rank for the terms that your target audience is searching for.
On the other hand, if you use high-competition keywords, your website will have to compete with hundreds of others that are using the same keywords, making it difficult for you to outrank bigger sites that appear on the first page.
Using various keyword research tools, like Ahrefs, AskThePublic, or Google Trends, you can find specific keywords that are relevant to your website.
Start by picking the keywords that have a high search volume but low competition. This will make it easier for your website to reach the first page of the search results, as such keywords have the most potential to rank your website higher on SERP.
In order to rank higher in Google’s recently updated SEO algorithm, you must also focus on long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are more natural-sounding keywords that people tend to use in their regular Google searches and in everyday life (e.g., “How to get website on Google first page”). These keywords also rank higher on voice search, which more and more people have been using for local searches.
High-Quality Content
Content is king when it comes to digital marketing, so the next step to improve your Google rankings is to produce high-quality content for your website.
High-quality content, especially blog posts, will contain the right keywords at the right frequency (usually 1-3% keyword density). But that’s not all – Google also prioritises content that delivers valuable information in the right manner.
To create high-quality content that ranks well, you must use the right formatting for your content, including the H1, H2, H3, and other title tags, along with an introduction and conclusion. Your information should also be relevant and valuable.
This will increase the time audiences spend reading your content, which positively affects your website’s linger time and SEO ranking.
Don’t forget to include the right image tags, meta description, page title, backlinks, hyperlinks, etc., to further improve your SEO score and make your content more suitable for Google to promote on the first page.
Mobile-Friendly Website
More and more people are using their mobile devices to look up information on Google. For this reason, you need to make sure that your website loads quickly and shows all the content properly on smaller screens.
An intuitive, mobile-friendly website will not only make your website easier to navigate for your audience, but it will improve your website’s click-through rate and reduce bounce rates.
You can use various tools to analyse your website for mobile-friendliness. The easiest one to use is Google Search Console, which looks at various SEO factors to analyse your website and score it.
Using GSC or similar tools will help you identify areas where your website can improve, making it easier for you to implement strategies to rank on the first page of the search results.
Backlink and Internal Link Building
Google ranks all websites based on many factors, but one of the important factors is their domain authority, which is a measure of how popular and authoritative a website is in its respective niche. The best way to improve your domain authority is to optimise your link building network through strategic internal and external linking.
For instance, featuring internal links from one page on your website to another relevant page in your domain will help search engines understand the structure of your site, making it easier for Google’s bots to crawl. Internal linking can also improve the flow of traffic between pages, creating a more seamless user experience.
External linking, which is when you link from your website to another domain or vice versa, can also be beneficial as it shows search engines that your site is connected to other high-quality websites, which essentially allows you to piggyback on the domain authority of other websites.
It is important to remember that not all links are created equal, so you should only link to high-quality websites that are relevant to your industry.
Using a mix of internal and external backlinks is a proven way to optimise your link building network and improve your domain authority, which in turn boosts your website’s ranking.
Be Patient
Finally, you need to be patient. Search engine optimisation is a long-term strategy, and you will only start seeing results after a few months. Due to the organic nature of SEO, it pays well to be patient and committed to the strategy through the seasonal ups and downs for your website.
Getting your website to be listed on Google’s first page may sound daunting, but if you have patience and play the right SEO moves, the first page of Google can be yours within a year! And then,
So, start investing in a good SEO strategy today. Keep up to date with us for more tips on how to boost your website’s ranking and reach your business goals.
Frequent Ask Questions
Why my website is not showing on Google?
Google has over 200 ranking factors for websites, so it is difficult to pinpoint exactly why your website is not showing on Google.
For starters, it may be because your website is not indexed yet; you can use Google Dashboard and Google Search Console to push Google to index your website.
It could also be because you are targeting the wrong keywords, in which case you’ll need to perform keyword research to identify the specific search terms that your audience is using and target these instead.
How do I increase my visibility on Google?
The best way to increase your visibility on Google is by practising a smooth and well-researched SEO strategy. SEO is an inexpensive and organic way to drive website traffic that offers long-term benefits unlike anything else.
As mentioned earlier, paid ads are terrific to get your website on the first page of Google, but they are not a viable and cost-effective long-term solution. Instead, an organic SEO campaign will offer much better Google search engine results over time.
How many results show up on the first page of Google?
Google shows thousands of results on its search results pages, but it only shows the top ten websites on the first page. To show up here, you need to practice good SEO strategies so that you boost your website’s SERP rankings and start dominating your niche’s search results.
How much does it cost to get on the first page of Google?
It depends on your strategy. If your business implements SEO itself using free online keyword research tools, the overall cost will be lower. However, if you choose to outsource your SEO to a trusted company, you can expect to pay more but should also see more reliable, sustained results.
Paid ads can also be an effective way to get on the first page of Google, though it should be noted that this strategy can become expensive over time. Ultimately, which strategy your business chooses should depend on what your marketing budget can afford and what type of results you are hoping to achieve.
References:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/30/the-value-of-search-results-rankings/?sh=2129748244d3
https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
