How To Get Your Business To Rank First on Google

Every business wants to rank first on Google. Who doesn’t want that coveted position? And there are a lot of companies that will try to guarantee they can get you to rank #1 in a short period of time. This is just not true. Without a lot of work, time, and practicing good SEO tactics, there is no way to get there, let alone, no way to get there quickly.

There are many things to first think about when you want to rank first on Google. 

First of all, what I see and what you see are completely different. Google looks at many different factors when providing a search result. This can range from whether you are logged in or not as Google likes to only show you search results that are related to you, your location information, past search information, websites visited recently, and exact search terms. 

There are definitely some consistencies when searching between two users that they may see similar results, or even the same, but change one small aspect, and the results can vary greatly.  

Also, if a website consists of only a few pages, it will not show high search results as there is no content or quality to the site. Therefore, unless someone is searching for your company name specifically, there is no way to rank high organically. You will also tend to fall in rank if there are never any updates to the site and it sits for long periods of time.

So how do you get your business to rank first on Google?

The first thing you can do is make sure your current site is full of useful information to help visitors that reach your site. This can be done by making sure all your current pages are rich with information, providing good SEO tactics such as alt text on images, links for further content on your site, linking to outside sources when necessary, and having a well-written title and description tags that reference the information on that specific page.

Google has a great overview of Search Engine Optimization and how to get going on this, check out the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Start Guide for more information.

Next, optimize your site’s operation. Make sure your photos are compressed so that they look good to the user but load quickly. Load time is a big thing when it comes to how Google will look at your site’s performance and rank.

Also, make sure your website is mobile-friendly and shows on phones and tablets correctly. Google is moving to a Mobile-First set up this year in March of 2021, so ensuring your site has a mobile-friendly version is key to staying up in search results.

The navigation should be seamless and easy to move through without the user getting lost and frustrated looking for information. If your site is complex, the installation of breadcrumbs is a great way to help your users navigate around quickly. 

Finally, all pages opening with no navigation, such as pdf documents, should open in a new tab so that if the user accidentally closes the page, they are not leaving your site. You should never lose a customer because you brought them to another website.

How to increase content to increase your visibility

The next thing to do is add valued content. This can be done in many ways, but the easiest way is to blog.

Use this platform to write about your industry, projects you and your company have worked on, case studies, company news, information, and anything else that is relevant to your readers.

Make sure you add a blog subscription option for anyone that wants to keep coming back to learn more information. Do this at least once per week, more if possible. The more content on the site, the more keywords you can rank for.

If you are starting out with just a few pages, work with your design team to increase the pages on your site over time. Writing copy is another great way to keep increasing your search visibility. The more content you have on your site, the wider the net is for people to find you when they need your product or service.

Here’s a few other tips and tricks

Work on getting your information and links back to your site on good, high-ranking websites. You want others to organically link back to you, either by providing a review about your company or business or by writing about your company. 

Press releases are also another great way to get your information out on other well-ranking sites providing a link back to you. When you are able to do a press release, there are many publications that would be happy to provide a link back if you make the content shareworthy. 

Tools such as MOZ and Alexa are great to see who links to your site and what improvements you can make to help your site rank higher. Google Analytics and Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) are also great ways to get insight on what your company ranks well for, what users are doing on your site, demographics, interests, and to ensure there are no major issues with your site. 

These are only a few things to do, but they are some of the most important things to do. Does this guarantee you will make it to the top spots on Google? Definitely, eventually, but remember, this takes time. Do not expect this to happen overnight and be patient. Remember, everything good comes with a little effort.

Ready to get your business to be listed on Google’s search results? Contact us today to see how we at Small Hits can help.