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Search engines, especially Google, is the place where everyone turns to if they want to find out about something, whether it is an unknown topic or a specific business they are looking for. With such a powerful tool that has the potential to open a thousand doors for your business, it’s not only an option but a necessity to take the right steps towards making your business show up on Google search, that too on the first page.
Why showing up on Google’s first page is (very) important
It’s a well-known fact that the first page on Google is like the prime real estate that is forever in the spotlight of potential customers and hence is always in demand by businesses, big and small alike.
A study suggests that even if you do show up on the first page, the positions of the search results aren’t weighted equally. While the very first result on the search results page garners 36.4% clickthrough rate and the second one gets a lesser 12.5% CTR, the third gets a least out of the three: 9.5% CTR. This metric declines sharply as you move further down the list.
That said, if you have a small business and a humble or no marketing budget, that doesn’t mean you don’t stand a chance of showing up first nonetheless. Of course it’s a tough road out there but it’s not impossible to navigate, especially with local SEO in your arsenal, which is but one of the many easy steps you can implement to up your chances of showing up first. Let’s take a look at them.
Method one: use your website
It goes without saying that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the need of the hour if you want to stay in the game of Google search ranking. Hence, it’s essential that your website is aligned to SEO standards, which you can do page-by-page in small steps.
1. Guide Google through your keywords
Analyse which queries on Google you will want your website to be linked with. These can be short or long queries that are known as keywords. When you’re just starting or you have enough businesses competing with you in the market, it’s strongly recommended that you prefer long-tail keywords as opposed to short-tail ones, as there would be quite a few businesses already competing for the latter.
Another thing to keep in mind is to structure your web pages in such a way that no two pages are competing for the same set of keywords. You don’t want to be your own rival!
2. Help Google index your website
You have to make it easy for Google’s crawlers to scan and index your website. Here are some places where you can strategically place keywords for Google to notice them:
A. Meta Title
Every blog post such as this one has a meta title that exists as the header of the page and also as that page’s title in the search results.
B. Meta Description
Meta description is the description that appears beneath the title shown in Google’s search results.
C. Alt Tag
The images on your website should have their text descriptions, i.e., alt tags that describe what the image is about and the elements in it. If your images don’t have this, then Google will simply not be able to read those images.
Method two: Optimise your website for crawlers and humans alike
Don’t focus so much on making your content crawler-friendly that you forget your main goal: Being relevant to humans! Even if your website is highly optimised but the content doesn’t seem that helpful to your readers or they’re not clear on what the call-to-action is for a specific call-to-action, then all your effort would go in vain.
With that being said, it’s strongly recommended that you avoid stuffing keywords in your web pages and blogs, or anywhere on your website. Aim to add keywords in a ‘natural’ way such that their placement doesn’t seem forced and at the same time you get to utilise them as well.
Local SEO is the way to go
If your business caters to the locals in your city, region or state, then local SEO is your blessing in disguise. This, as the name suggests, targets search engine queries that are location based. For this to really work, aside from the services you offer on your website, don’t forget to indicate your location. If a local searches for “your service” + “your city/state,” Google will show your listing in the near me section.
Method three: Optimise and make use of your Google Business Listing
Your Google My Business listing is one of the most powerful ways to bring your business on the map. Get to know how it works here. You can find out how to create and update your listing here, and how to make the most use of your Google Business profile here.
Wrapping up
The steps mentioned here will definitely give you a headstart towards building your business’s online presence as well as potentially making it show up on Google search. However, a lot more goes into successfully doing it. Contact us here for a free SEO audit and let’s get started.