SEO For Beginners: How To Rank On Google First Page!
‘The best way to bury a dead body is on the 2nd page of Google'
That's 100% true!
Most web visitors only visits sites that are on the 1st page of Google.
It's very rare to see a user going to the 2nd page – since most of their queries are answered on the 1st page.
Thus, you should definitely aim for the top positions in order to get visitors to your site.
But the question is;
How can you rank your content on the first page of google?
That's what will be discussed in this post.
I have selected some 7 strategies which l believe are helpful in ranking your content on Google's 1st page.
These includes:
Without further ado, let me jump straight into more detail.
1. Choose Low Competition Keywords
As obvious as it sounds, most people do not take keyword research serious.
I’ve heard some people complaining that their content is not ranking on Google – and when l check their target keywords, they're very competitive.
It's surprising to see how people with lower DR sites trying to compete for high competitive keywords – and expecting to outrank bigger sites.
If you're one of them, you might need to change your strategies.
Try to find low hanging fruits which are easy to rank for.
There's a ton of non-competitive keywords which are easy to rank for – you just have to spend some time doing your keyword research.
And the beauty part is that some of these non-competitive keywords have high search volumes – meaning you'll get massive traffic with minimum efforts.
Thus, if you want to increase your odds of ranking, try to find low hanging fruits.
2. Long Form Content
As we all know, Google favours long form – detailed content over thin content.
For every search query, Google tries by all means to find websites which has thoroughly answered that query.
Thus, websites with long form content have higher chances of ranking than sites with thin content.
However, most people makes the mistake of writing a bunch of useless staff – just for the sake of having more words.
But keep in mind that Google is also concerned about relevancy i.e. how relevant is your content to the search query.
Yes – you might have longer articles, but if you spend time waffling a bunch of irrelevant staff, you might fail to rank.
With that being said, most people always ask;
‘What's the minimum expected length of a standard article?’
This question is difficult to answer since it varies from one situation to another.
For some keywords, l have managed to rank with just 1 500 words – whilst in some situations, l have to write 3000+ words in order to rank.
It really depends on how much your competitors have written.
If your competitors have written 2 000 word articles, then you might need to write 2 500+ words.
However, if they write something like 800 words, then you might easily outrank them with a 1 500 word article.
Thus, you need to check how much your competitors have written – using tools like Word Counter.
3. Build Social Links
As we all know, social signals are also used as a ranking factor.
Social shares acts as votes that people are loving your content – thus, Google will try by all means to push your content up the rankings.
This can be anything like Facebook shares, Pinterest, Twitter, or LinkedIn shares.
Thus, it is important to promote your content on social media – so as to boost your social signals.
You can also use a tool like ‘Viral Content Bee' – which is a platform where bloggers can share each other's content.
That way, you can easily build your social links.
Also, it is important to embed social sharing tools on your website – so as to allow your readers to share your content on their respective social accounts.
This is a great way of getting free social shares – since you’ll be leveraging your visitors to get more shares.
Another thing to note is that content with more infographics gets more shares than content with few visual elements.
For this reason, you should try by all means to create some infographics for each piece of content that you create.
That way, you can get more shares to your content.
4. Use Exif Data In Your Images
Most people do not utilise this feature – but it is also a crucial ranking factor.
Exif data can be in the form of Alt text or Captions.
Exif data helps Google to understand your images better – since Google sometimes fail to get the meaning of normal images.
Thus, it is important to add Alt text and captions to your images – utilising keywords that you want to rank for.
Also, Exif data also helps to rank in Google Images – which might help you to get additional traffic to your site.
5. Optimise Your Site For Speed
As we all know, Google loves fast websites.
Speed has a direct implication on user experience – since most internet users wants to access information in as little time as possible.
Statistics shows that websites which loads in under 3 seconds has higher conversion rates – since most people are patient to wait for 3s or less.
However, any additional delays beyond 3s may reduce user experience – since most visitors clicks away if a site takes longer to load.
And when a site receives high bounce rates, it gives negative signals to Google that your site has poor user experience – thus, affecting your rankings.
Thus, it is important to optimise your site for high speeds in order to increase your chances of ranking.
You can use free tools like GTMetrix, Batch Speed, PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, amongst other alternatives.
These tools will give you an overview of how your site is performing – as well as actionable steps that you can take to improve your site's speed.
Still on the same note, Google is doing another algorithm update (May 2021) – whereby they're now considering some Core Web Vitals like First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Thus, you should also research about these factors since they're now considered as ranking factors.
6. Correct Use Of Fonts
When it comes to SEO, correct use of fonts also comes into play.
You should know how to utilise H1, H2, H3 headers – since Google also looks at these in order to better understand your content.
The font of your Title should be larger and bolder than the font of your headings & sub-headings. Whilst the font of your headings should be quite larger than the normal font of your content.
It is key to know this hierarchy of fonts – so as to know ‘which’ font fits ‘where'.
And the beauty part is that most content management systems clearly differentiates these different types of fonts.
Thus, you don't have to stress about figuring this staff on your own.
7. Build Backlinks
Although it is a long term strategy, link building is also an important factor when it comes to SEO.
As we all know, websites with a high DR tends to outrank sites with low DR.
The reason being that sites with a high DR are regarded as authoritative websites – thus, they're given some priority on search engines.
On another note, low DR sites are regarded as low authority sites – thus, they are less trusted by search engines hence leading to lower rankings.
For this reason, you should focus on building backlinks to your site – so that your site becomes more competitive on search engines.
Also, high backlink profile helps to compete for high competitive keywords in the future – which is unlikely when you have a low authority site.
Although link building takes time, it is important to incorporate it in your content marketing strategies.
👉You can read this article if you want to learn more about link building.
Wrapping Up
This wraps up this post!
These are some of the techniques which you can use to rank higher on Google.
Obviously, Google has many different ranking factors which are used to determine the SERP of each site.
But in my opinion, l think that these are the major factors which you should focus on.
Thus, it is advisable to take action and start implementing these techniques ASAP!
