Getting a top spot in Google for your chosen keywords is all about following the right steps. Being in the number one spot for multiple keywords is a great way to prove your worth as an online marketer. But how do you get there? What is the best strategy? How can you improve your odds of appearing at the top of the heap?
While there is no one-stop-shop guide that will make your ascent to the top of Google’s search engine rankings, there are several guidelines you can implement that will help you rise above the competition.
Focus On All Keywords
You should not limit yourself to using just one keyword to target your ads or relying on a single SEO tactic to propel your website to the top of the search engine rankings. Your aim is to rank for as many relevant keywords as possible so your website will appear high up on the search results for any search engine user who types in those search terms. To see if a keyword is relevant to your website, add it to the end of your website’s URL and click on the “Get Details” link. Then, look for the words “organic” and “SEO” inside the description.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
When someone types in a keyword or phrase and lands on your website, it is important to ensure that the user has what they are looking for and that they continue to stay on your website for a relevant and interesting experience. To do this, you can use Keyword stuffing or keyword repetition because these techniques help ensure that a user stays on your website for as long as possible. Long-tail keywords are all those words, phrases, and sometimes even entire sentences that are used as a key to find a product or service on a search engine. When someone uses a long-tail keyword on your website, they are usually looking for broader results and don’t necessarily want to click on the first 20 results in Google.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing involves using as many keywords as possible in a row in a piece of content without necessarily meaning what you’re using the keywords for. For example, if you are trying to rank for the keywords “gym shoes”, you could write an entire blog post on the topic and cram in as many instances of the keyword as you can while still maintaining the quality of your writing. However, if your aim is to rank for the keywords “gym shoes”, you’re better off choosing a topic that isn’t already saturated with content, such as a news story about a famous sports figure who recently bought a pair of gym shoes.
Avoid Cloaking
If your site uses “cloaking” – which consists of adding additional content to your site that appears to be unrelated to the website’s actual purpose – then Google may consider this to be a violation of the webmaster guidelines. The key to avoiding cloaking is to make sure that your site’s content is relevant and adds value to your target audience. If your site’s content is unrelated to your chosen keywords, then your site will not be seen as relevant by the search engine and you’ll find it harder to rank highly in the search engine results.
Avoid Poor Grammar
English is not a flawless language; it can be tricky to spell some words correctly while others can be difficult to understand when spoken. One common mistake that people make is using the wrong verb with their adjective. For example, instead of “the attractive woman,” you could write “the attractive girl” or “the attractive woman.” Choosing the right verb makes a world of difference and can help give your writing the right flavor.
Avoiding grammatical errors is also extremely important for your SEO efforts, especially since Google’s “cursing demon” – aka, the grammar cop – is still on the lookout for websites that break the language rules. If you want to rank highly in Google, you must avoid using slang or outdated words, and you must use the correct verb with your adjective.
Avoid Using Link Spinners
“Link spinner” is a term used for software that automates the process of making a backlink – or in other words, a link that points to your website – for a particular piece of content. The term was inspired by Richard Spencer, strategist at DeepRoot Digital who said, “There’s a lot of software that will spin web content for you. If you’re looking to get links to your website, put in the work and learn to do it the right way. Otherwise, you could be handing over your website to an automated program that will do all the dirty work for you.
The issue with using a link spinner is that it can cause Google to consider your site unnatural because all the links on your site will be identical. When users see hundreds of identical links, it can lead them to believe that you’re trying to trick them or use any means possible to get Google to rank your site higher in the search engine results.
Use Additional Strategies
Even if you follow the guidelines listed above to the letter, you might still find it harder to rank highly in the search engine results. That’s because there are a number of other factors that could be hurting your ranking at this point. To find out the bottom line, you’ll have to perform a web search for your chosen keywords and see what websites come up in the first few pages. When you find them, take a look at the backlinks – or in other words, the links that lead to your website – and how many other pages they have. Then, check out the overall design of the website and whether or not it’s mobile-friendly.
Even though the above guidelines should get you pretty far, the fact is that SEO is not an exact science and it’s very difficult to know exactly what will and what will not work for your website. You will certainly need to try out various SEO tactics and measure how effective they are before you can say for sure which one you should use.
With these tips, you’ll make sure to send customers to your website. By ranking for these keywords, you’ll make sure they find what they’re looking for easily. In other words, if someone types in “gym shoes”, they’ll find your website and easily be able to learn about your products. Just remember the rules above and you’re sure to see improvements in no time.