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Many of my posts rank on the top spot on Google, which means lots of free traffic comes to this site. To get your site ranked high in Google's search results, keep reading to understand how to increase your odds of hitting those coveted spots.
Here are ten things you can do to get ranked at the top of Google's search results.
Perhaps the easiest way to hit the front page of Google is to pay them to display your site. With Google Ads, you can pay them to display your page at the top based on specific keywords. That's those results marked Ad on any search, and for businesses who get customers from searches, it's a straightforward way to hit the front page. Ranking organically is much more difficult. That's what we'll discuss in the rest of this article.
When people get what they search for upon hitting your site, the search engine will keep sending people your way. That means that if you want your business to pop up in search results, consider what people search for when looking for your products or services. Like hitting the front page of Reddit, getting your business on the front page of Google does not happen accidentally.
For example, when people nearby search for a business coach or consultant, they find my business. It's the same with my wife's cleaning business and my IT company. That's because when people land on my business page, they find what they were searching for.
No one wants to wait around on a slow website. That's why I use SiteGround to host this site. Coupled with Thrive Themes, our pages load quickly, which search engines love. Speed is critical for improving your search rank, according to the Google SEO Starter Guide.
Be sure to check your site speed with Google PageSpeed and GTMetrix as well once you're on a decent host. Speed is a major factor in your page rank as no one wants to wait around on a slow website.
You may wish to enlist the help of a developer as well since additional seconds lead to bounces. I hired one from Fiverr, and the speed improvements dramatically increased the conversion rate in our store and helped me climb up the ladder in Google's search results.
Use properly formed headers (H2, H3, H4) and numbered lists if you want search engines to index your content. For search engines to understand images, be sure to add alt and title tags to any pictures. Labeling helps with your rank on Google and makes it easier for visually impaired people using assistive technologies to read your articles.
You must have excellent content and a great user experience to rank high in Google's search results. Think about searching from a user's perspective. When you search for something, click on it, and then get ads in your face, or the website takes forever to load, do you continue or close the page?
Give your users what they are looking for immediately when they click on your link, or you will not rank very high with Google. Make sure your website is fast, looks professional, and gets the users the information they are looking for quickly.
Use the tools provided by the various search engines to ensure your shows up properly in Google's search results. Here are a few of the major ones you should be familiar with.
Throughout this article, you'll notice that I've linked to authoritative sites with additional information on ranking high on Google. If you search for the query you want to rank with, you can get a list of top-ranking sites and include those in your article. For example, here are some additional articles you may want to review.
People love images and video. So do search engines! Consider including a video and some pictures related to your topic to rank higher. Below is an example video that describes a few more ways to improve your SEO.
It takes some time for articles and pages to rise to the top of Google or any other search engine. Take the steps mentioned in this article, then wait. Unless you're willing to pay, you'll have to have some patience for this to work.
Providing value to your readers over the long haul is ultimately the best way I've found to hit the top spot on Google. At the end of the day, search engines want to know your site is fast, stable, and answers users' queries.
About the Author
The Personal Growth Channel founder, Don Smith also owns a technology company, has served on the board of directors for multiple companies, and enjoys seeing people achieve their goals. Happily married with five children, he lives in Springfield, Illinois.
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