I get this question asked to me 342 times per day. “John, can you show me how to rank higher on Google?” Let’s break this down so you understand what rankings are and why companies rank and others don’t. Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is a key aspect of a successful website. The goal for your website is to reach the public as often as it can. There is a lot that goes into ranking higher on Google. The platform you use for your website, your website speed, the content on the website based off of the keywords you are targeting, high quality backlinks…I can go on. With all that being said, there are 3 things that stick out the most to focus on right away to help rank higher on Google.
Follow these steps, and you should see a major improvement on website traffic.
The 3 Steps On How To Rank Higher On Google
1. Content Is King
How to rank higher on Google? Have good content! There are a few questions you should ask yourself when you are trying to build up your website’s SEO. First, what is the main topic of your website, more specifically, the page you are working on?
Let’s say your website is about dog grooming. You would need to ask yourself, “What about my company would attract people to my website?” Is it because your prices are at a discounted rate compared to other dog grooming companies? Is it because your company is located in Atlanta, Georgia? Whatever it might be, you should build a list of keywords that people might type into Google’s search bar; this will attract the right customers to your website. This can be from a straight search or even questions in your industry.
Once you have have the list of keywords, you should be writing and creating good content around each one of the keywords. It can be a blog or a page, just make sure your call to actions are clear.
Fortunately, if you do not want to do this manually, there are tools out there that can help you find keywords that will boost your website. A great example is Ubersuggest or SEMRush.
2. Header Tags
Now that you understand that having keywords and great content can grow your website traffic, it is important to know about the placement of these keywords. It is important to know the two main types of keywords: Focus keyword and Primary keyword. The main difference between all of these keywords is simply their location on the website.
Focus keywords are typically your Header 1 (H1); therefore, it is typically the largest font on the page and it serves as the title for your content. Primary keywords are your Header 2 (H2), and they are typically your subtitle. Let’s say your Focused keyword is “dog grooming atlanta.” Then your Header 1 would be “The Best Dog Grooming Atlanta Has to Offer.” Your headers are very important because of its ability to rank you on Google Search Engine, so you should strive to have multiple subtitles that are relevant to your company.
3. Sound Natural With a Focus
Lastly, it is important to know that you should not overuse your keywords. When Search Engines first came into light, many people were stuffing keywords into their site in order for them to move up in rankings. At the time, this worked. However, now, Google will penalize your site if they feel that you are overly using the same keywords frequently. Google has moved stuffed websites down and ranking, as well as, removing websites all together. In order to prevent this from happening to you, just stick to one rule. Sound natural. If the reader can tell that you are repeating the same words then maybe you should tone it down a bit. By doing this, your website should be golden.
