Do you want to get more traffic to your website?
Then you need to find a way to increase your web page ranking. Ranking high for your major keywords is crucial if you:
- Want to get organic traffic from search engines
- Want to remain competitive and increase your visibility by dominating the Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP)
and
- Want to remain in business.
Theoretically
Higher ranking = Definitely More Traffic which may or may not = Higher Revenue
Since revenue is at the end of the spectrum, let us focus on how you can increase your website ranking by following some proven steps.
It is important to note that today’s online searchers are impatient and do not search past the second page of the Google search engine result page popularly described as SERP.
If a searcher uses a “keyword” to search for any information and the expected result can not be found on the first page, they usually do two things
- Go to page two (which is very rare)
or
- Rephrase their keyword
You therefore need your website to rank on first page or better still the first position for your major keywords.
Assumption:
Before you continue this exercise, it is assumed that you have scientifically picked the right keyword to rank for. Choose the wrong keyword and you will be wasting precious time and attracting the wrong traffic to your website. So conduct your keyword research first. Let factors like volume, relevancy etc to your business play a crucial role. You can learn more about keyword research from the resources listed here:
Now that we have that sorted out, let’s get started.
Step 1:
Identify your competitors:
Do a Google search incognito and identify the current SERP landscape. You need to know
- What is the search engine result page landscape like?
- Who are those currently ranking for the same keyword you want to rank for?
It is of primary importance that you understand the SERP. Here is a sample SERP when I search using the keyword “party supplies”.
From the result above, we can see that local citation, in this case Google map, is playing a key role in the type of results that is being shown.
Quick Win: By studying the SERP, you can gain valuable insight into what you need to do to have your own space in the SERP.
Step 2:
Create an excel sheet where you write down all the websites that are currently ranking for the same keyword you want to rank for.
Look for the following SEO onpage SEO factors:
- How is their keyword placement in title tag, alt tag, H1, content etc
- What kind of content do they have on their webpage?
- What other signals are they using? You want to check for social signals and trust signals like testimonies etc.
Now check where you have the missing gap and fix it.
Step 3:
One of the most crucial elements that determine your website ranking is the quantity and quantity of links you have. There are lots of link profiling tools that you can use. We will take a look at Opensiteexplorer popularly referred to as OSE because it is just as good as the other tool and best of all, it is free. If you love the tool, then you can pay for a pro version account so you can use other metrics to complete your analysis. But for our exercise, the free version is just perfect.
- So navigate to OSE.
- Setup an account or use your MOZ account if you have one already.
- Type in the URL of your competitor
- Export your result to CSV.
- Order your result by DA.
- Delete or ignore all website with DA less than 20
Step 4:
Go through the CSV. Check out the websites that are linking to your competitors. Look for easy wins like directories you can get on, resource pages, guest posting opportunities and most importantly websites that you can start building relationships with.
Conclusion:
Dominating Google SERP is easy. All you need do is fix your technical SEO, get your local citations in order and have better links than your competitors.
PS: Ready for some high power backlinks to your website? Sign up for our link building services.
Latest posts by Adegboye Adeniyi (see all)
- SEO For Law Firms – Complete Guide to SEO for Lawyers - March 31, 2021
- Link Prospecting: A Guide to Beginners - March 28, 2021
- 5 E-commerce SEO Metrics and How to Improve Them to Double Your Sales - January 9, 2021