Do you want to be ranking #1 on Google searches?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the strategic and deliberate decision to align your website with the keywords your ideal audience is using when it searches Google to increase your visibility in search results. Google SEO is key to getting your website ranked.

In the world of Google Rankings, there is no question about it, you need to be near the top. The first five results receive 67.6% of clicks, whereas the remaining five just receive 3.73%.

Your target customers are using search engines to find solutions to their problems, the aim is to use a combination of keywords, content, backlinks and technical elements to put your company as high as possible in the results Google returns to its users. In turn, this leads to more visitors to your site and more inbound enquiries and potential sales.

So how do you reach the top?

I will break this down in a simple format that you can start using today, but if you want real, valuable results I would advise companies to invest in a team of SEO experts and create a repeatable process that will consistently create content and build links.

Your first step should be:

1. To make a list of what services you offer, and what it is that you are selling, and collate them into a list.

2. You can simply start by typing these keywords into Google to see what the results are like. However, I would recommend using Google keyword planner & SEMrush to reveal more refined, valuable results based on data and search volumes.

Then…

3. Make sure your website content is relevant to these search terms across multiple pages, don’t stop at your home page. Optimising all your web pages is a must to secure higher rankings. And remember, Google will penalise your whole site if it fails to meet quality and usability standards.

4. Your customers are going to have questions, be sure your website content answers them quickly and easily. Publishing detailed and useful content around identified keywords is an intelligent way to build long-term traffic growth and inbound enquiries.

Top Tip – Optimising your page speed and building an internal linking structure are both signals to Google that your site is worthy of being included in its results.

After that ideally you should…

5. Regularly update your site with well written content, blogs are perfect for this. When you publish pages on your website, make your URLs clear, simple, keyword rich, including the best keywords in your content is just one way to improve your rankings.

6. Do not neglect off-site optimisation, try and get yourself featured on other reputable sites to start building backlinks to your website, Google views links from another website to yours as a positive sign – but only if those sites are reputable.

Top Tip – The quality of the link matters – you need to get links from high-quality websites that also get links. Prioritise quality over quantity.

This is INCREDIBLY simplified but will work as a starting point.

SEO is ever changing. You need to monitor, measure and action – repeatedly. And if you’re thinking that sounds like a lot of work, even for the simplified version, you are right – it is!

Which is why I always suggest hiring a team of SEO experts, a team who will provide an end-to-end campaign with full research, analytics, and ideally on-going support so you will have access to key information regarding what is and isn’t working in order to double down on your success.

Making these changes will benefit your business in the long run, if you can adapt to these modifications, you will continually rank higher.