So, you have a website. Fantastic! However, that’s just one piece of the puzzle. The next piece is getting visitors to your site.
One method that can make this happen is showing up in search engines, like Google or Bing.
Now you may be wondering: how do I make my website appear first on Google? Well, buckle in as we cover everything you need to know so you can start showing up.
Keyword Research
First and foremost, you need to be including keywords on your website pages. Search engines use keywords to understand what you’re talking about. And by including them, you’ll show up in search results for terms that relate to them.
But don’t go throwing hundreds in every page – although this worked back in the day, technology has advanced, and you’ll end up getting your site penalised.
If you’ve got a new website, you’ll want to target low-competition keywords. Otherwise, it’s unlikely that you’ll rank higher than well-established websites that Google trusts more.
Indexing
The internet is a massive place, and Google sits at the top of the tower; it gets around 80 billion total visits each month!
Now, Google has to crawl and index websites to see if they’re eligible for result pages. And sometimes, especially for new websites, they have trouble knowing they exist.
Thankfully, there are ways to help get your website noticed. Google Search Console can connect to your website, allowing you to submit pages that you want to index.
Ultimately it’s up to Google to decide whether the pages will be indexed or not (different things you do can influence this), but this will at least help the search engine know that your website exists, so you have a better chance of appearing.
On-Page Optimisation
You can use on-page SEO (search engine optimisation) best practices to help boost you through the ranks.
This includes implementing an internal backlinking strategy that effectively passes page authority from one page to another. This helps you appear more credible in the eyes of Google and other search engines.
Also, it’s a good idea to put the targeted keyword throughout the content. Following this, you should always place it within the first few paragraphs. The reason for this is that Google pays very close attention to the first 100 words!
Another good tactic is word length. Finding the best word length for a keyword will have a major influence on whether it appears high or not. A good starting point is to look at pages that are currently ranking and do something similar.
Off-Page Optimisation
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors when it comes to SEO. If you have backlinks from relevant sites in your industry, then search engines will trust you more.
That’s why many websites focus on intense backlink campaigns to help push their search listings above the competition.
Page Speed
No one likes a slow website. If you stumble upon one, you’ll probably get irritated and try another one.
Your site visitors aren’t the only ones that hate slow sites. Search engines also dislike them. That’s why page speed is included as a ranking factor.
So, basically, the slower your website, the lower chance you have of appearing first on Google.
There you have it!
We talked about some of the key elements when it comes to figuring out how you make your website appear first on Google.
The thing is, they’re easier said than done. If you need some professional help, contact us! We’ll even throw in a free website audit!