Do you ever feel like everyone is paying more attention to Google than you are? Maybe it’s because they are. Most businesses don’t pay enough attention to how their website, and the sites of their competitors, are performing in search engines. Whether you have a website or not, people are using Google to find information on businesses, brands, and products. If you want your business to succeed, you need to make sure that Google can find you when users look for something that your business offers. You may already know that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization; but do you know why this strategy is so effective? It’s because Google uses crawlers and algorithms to rank websites in its search engine results pages (SERPs) based on certain criteria such as keywords, backlinks, page authority, and so on.
Know Your Audience
The first thing you need to do is learn more about your audience. What words will they use to search? What are their interests? What are they looking for? For example, if you are a roofing contractor, you probably want customers searching for roof repair, roof installation, roof cleaning, roof replacement, roof repair contractor, or roof repair near me. There are many more terms that people searching for roofing services would use, but these are a good place to start. Now, you need to figure out where people are searching for these terms. You can do this by creating a free account on Google’s Search Console, which will let you see what terms people are using to find you. You can also download Google Analytics on your website and see what terms people are typing into their browser when they get there.
Build Quality Backlinks
The backbone of any SEO strategy is acquiring backlinks to your website. Backlinks are links that point to your website from external websites. They are an indication to Google that other reputable sources are linking to your website, thus making you more authoritative. For a business, the best place to get backlinks is from authority websites relevant to your field. You can usually find these websites by doing a Google search for “link building” + “your industry”. For instance, if you run a roofing company, an authority website that you may want to get a backlink from is the American Roofing Association. You can find the contact information for these websites, and other external websites that you’d like to get a backlink from, by doing a quick search on Google. You can also use a link building tool, like Authority Links, to help you find and connect with relevant websites that you can get a backlink from.
Write Blog Posts
Another fantastic way to attract new customers and rank higher in Google is to write blog posts. There’s no better place to get content ideas than by looking at the terms that you want to rank for with Google. For example, if you run a roofing company, you may want to write posts about how to get a roof replacement and what to look for in an insurance company. By writing blog posts that attract customers and direct them back to your website, you will increase the number of links to your site from other websites. By getting links from other authority sites that are related to your industry, you can also increase your authority in Google and increase your chances of ranking higher.
Create Video Content
You might not have thought about it before, but video has become a very important aspect of any SEO strategy. For example, if you are trying to rank for roofing companies near me, you may want to create a video that shows how your company performs roofing services. By creating quality video content, you can create links to your website, as well as create backlinks from other websites that may want to use your video content. For example, if you create a roofing tutorial video, other websites may want to use your video on their website with a link back to your website. Video content also seems to rank higher in Google than other content types, so it’s a great way to attract new customers.
Utilize Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a platform that allows you to create ads for your business. These ads will then appear at the top of Google’s search engine results pages, as well as on certain websites across the internet. If you want to increase your presence in Google, one of the best ways to do that is by creating a Google AdWords campaign. For example, if you run a roofing company, you may want to create an ad that attracts customers looking for roof repair or roof replacement companies. By creating an ad and setting a budget, Google will show your ad to people searching for roofing companies in your area. AdWords is a great way to attract customers, but it’s also a great way to rank higher in Google.
Use Unique Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable text that appears next to a link to another website. For example, if you were writing an article about roofing companies near me, you may write something like “roof repair in New York”. For the link that goes to that article, you could have the anchor text “roof repair New York”. This is a common strategy that many websites use to help their customers find them in search engines. In many cases, Google won’t like this and will penalize your website. To be safe, you want to make sure that your anchor text is original and not something that lots of other websites are using.
Grow Your Brand’s Presence On Social Media
Many businesses make the mistake of neglecting their social media presence. However, building a social media following is a great way to rank higher in Google. For example, if you run a roofing company, you can use social media to create more backlinks to your website. By inviting other roofing companies, roofers, and roofing associations to follow you on social media, you can get links from their website back to your website. By creating more posts and attracting more followers on social media, you can also attract more traffic to your website.
Take Care Of Your Website’s Structural SEO
The last thing you want to do to rank higher in Google is to take care of your structural SEO. By following some basic SEO rules you can help your website rank higher in Google. Here are a few to start with: - Create a sitemap - Create an index - Keep your site fresh - Develop a link-building strategy - Be consistent with your branding - Use keywords throughout your website - Use high-quality content - Optimize your images
Conclusion
If your business is not showing up in the first pages of Google, you’re missing out on a ton of new customers. Ranking higher in Google is not something that happens overnight, but by following the tips we’ve listed in this article, you can make it happen a lot faster. With the right SEO strategy in place, you can expect to see results in as little as three months. That’s when Google will start to rank your website higher, which can lead to a lot more traffic to your website. You’ll also see an increase in conversion rates and new customers. SEO may seem like a complicated and tedious process, but trust us, it’s worth it. With the right SEO strategy in place, you can expect to see results in as little as three months.
