Managing your search ranking has never been so important for a business. In the past, being listed on the first page of Google would be enough to generate a good amount of traffic for your website. But that's not the case anymore. Now, it's all about getting on the first page and staying there. The competition is tough, and if you don't have an SEO strategy in place, you're missing out on a lot of potential traffic. It doesn't matter what industry you're in; if you want to be successful online, you need to be on the first page of Google.
For business owners trying to get organic traffic, Google is the ultimate solution. It crawls through the web, making decisions about useful and relevant pages for its users. We all tend to rely on Google's results. For a small business owner, it might be overwhelming to consider being ranked on the first page of Google. However, Google enables you to increase your search ranking for free.
If you're not ranked on the front page of Google, then you're missing out on a lot of traffic. A study shows that 41% of people use a search engine to find local businesses, and 71% do so for B2B services. So why are you not ranked? If you're not showing up on page one, it could be because your business isn't optimized for search engines, and you don't have an effective SEO strategy in place.
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The Importance of the First Page on Google
The number of searches on Google grows every day. Searchers will look for answers to their questions. If you are on a search engine and need an answer to your question, you’ll likely turn to Google. To make matters worse, most people will click on the first link that shows up on the search results page, which means that the top results are more likely to get clicked on by searchers. However, if the top results are not relevant to what the searcher is looking for, it can harm your business or brand. You want your website to be relevant to the target audience.
The first page of Google is important because it is the gateway to finding new customers. The easier it is for your potential customers to find you, the better. But, that doesn’t mean that every time someone searches for something, they only look at one page. Of 1 million searches, 50% of web users click on another website from the results page.
How Do You Get To the Top of Google?
It all depends on what keywords you are targeting and how much traffic there is within your niche. You can use many tools to help boost your search engine optimization (SEO).
The first page of Google is the most important for your business. This is where people search for things that they're interested in. The first page of Google is also critical to your SEO. If you are on the first page of Google, you will get more traffic from search engines and organic search results. The more traffic you have from search engines, the more exposure you will have to your target audience.
Organic traffic comes from the search engines based on the users' actions, not businesses. It's completely free, and it's an excellent way for businesses to generate leads.
The first page of Google search results fuels the majority of your traffic. If you want to make sure that your website is not left behind, you should optimize your website for search engines. The ultimate goal is to ensure that your site appears in the top three search engine results for relevant keywords. Additional benefits of being on the first page include:
Higher Click-Through Rate
Getting on the first page translates to a higher click-through rate (CTR). We all know that the first page of Google gets the maximum traffic, but it is interesting to know that the click-through rate also varies from top to bottom searches. The organic click-through rates by search position are as follows:
- The first result has a 36.4% CTR.
- The second result has a 12.5% CTR.
- The third result has a 9.5% CTR.
You need to be on the top page not to miss out on the clicks.
Indexed for Featured Snippets
The featured snippets, also known as rich snippets, are excerpts from your web page that appear in Google Search Results to answer a user's query promptly. A rich snippet can be in the form of a table, steps, definitions, or lists.
The best way to keep your website on the first page is to win a snippet box. A snippet box is an app that organizes your snippet codes. You can easily win a snippet box by answering some common questions in your target audience or having a title with a common question. The answer can be given in rich snippet format, like a step-by-step guide or a table.
Being featured in a rich snippet gives your business increased visibility and credibility.
Increased presence and brand authority
When a search term is searched for, Google will display ten ads from AdWords on the search engine results page (SERP). Additionally, there may be organic search results from other websites and blogs. The organic will also be displayed on the first page and the second page of the Google SERP. As you move down the SERP, paid ads begin to take over. These ads will come from AdWords and other ad networks like Bing Ads, AppNexus, AOL, etc. If your website has quality content, it can appear on the first page of Google.
Being in a top position gives approximately 36% of the traffic share to your website.
Why Does Your Business Need to Rank on the First Page of Google?
As a business owner, you set goals for your business. Being on the first page helps you get one step closer to accomplishing those goals.
Increase your visibility
Being on the first page of search results is like having your business location at a prominent spot on the road. The increased number of views generates more brand awareness. Higher brand awareness translates into conversions.
Improve Lead Generation
One of your business goals is to answer queries that your target audience is searching for. In this way, you can be found on the first page by visitors browsing to engage or buy. These people are more likely to be your leads.
Enhance Engagement
The majority of consumers do online research on Google before making a purchase decision. With the "People also ask" section, answer boxes, and displaying company information like location, contact information, descriptions, customer reviews, Google maps, and ratings, visitors can get all the information about your business by viewing the Google search results. This information lets them engage and compare your business with others even before they click.
Increase Authority
Creating high-quality content is one of the factors that can keep you on the first page of Google. Content creation can be time-consuming, but it does translate into increased search traffic and building trust. Informative content that is related to your industry attracts more readers. Keep your content updated according to the changing needs of the readers and their interests.
It is beneficial to be on the first page of Google as it creates a strong knowledge base for your business to stand on firmly.
Build Trust
If your quality of content is high, Google will place you on the first page. Google's ranking algorithm detects suspicious and low-quality content and discourages the display of such content in search results.
Create an Audience Base
The audience base for your business can also be increased by the type and quality of content you create. For example, using long-form content and avoiding a small piece of content can spike your audience base. This content can then be utilized for social media marketing by repurposing and redistributing it across social networks, paid ads, and emails.
Gear up sales
Google has enabled information to be available at your fingertips. Now, customers can easily search for and compare several products online before making a purchase decision. In addition, being on the first page of Google attracts leads from the top of the funnel and converts them into sales.
Ways to Get On the First Page of Google
Google prefers quality over quantity, making it feasible for even small business owners to appear on the first page. In addition, Google's algorithm offers some free-of-cost ranking factors to help crawl up the search engine results. There are many basic ways you can start with, such as:
- Your website or blog posts about your business can get you organic search results.
- Having a Google My Business account and optimizing the listing will make your business appear in local queries. The Business Profile enables your business to appear in Google Search and Maps.
- Snippets as described above can be included in the answer box, and the "People also ask" section. It generally consists of a URL or a title.
- Landing Pages can provide additional insight into your target audience, thus helping in increased conversions. Unlike other ranking factors, this one is not free, but it does play a significant role in search engine rankings.
How to Get On the First Page of Google Through Your Website
We have all heard about Search Engine Optimization; it is simply the practice of making your website in line with the ranking factors. A lot of planning goes into determining the following factors:
Keywords
A "keyword" is a search query that describes your website's content and allows you to rank in the search engine. A target keyword can be in a word or a search phrase that visitors use for an online search. Therefore, it is advisable to create a list of keywords for all your web pages.
Having a strong keyword strategy and using competitive keywords is a sure-shot way to gain a first-page position on Google.
Allow Google to scan keywords
As Google processes millions of web pages for ranking, your goal should be to place your keywords in prominent positions for Google to scan easily, such as:
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The URL is a source for retrieving published resources on the internet, as the URL is composed of several parts like the scheme, authority, and path to the resource. In addition, a keyword in your domain name helps Google identify your page faster. Furthermore, the URL forms the center part of your title and meta description; thus, having a URL that represents your page title builds trust and credibility.
Meta Title
The title tag, or meta title, is used to describe the topic of your web page. It appears as a header at the top of your page and in that page's listing for search results.
Meta Description
This brief description appears under the meta title, providing an overview of the topic. This helps visitors click only if it is relevant to what they are looking for. It is a great way to rise to the first page of Google with the correct target audience, and they help keep your page in the first position.
Alt Tags
These are alternative texts for images or visuals on your web page, making it convenient for Google to scan for your website faster. In addition, it makes the content more relevant and encourages Google to place you on the first page.
Create Relevant and Viral Content.
You get more exposure for your company online when visitors find relevant content. You should use informative content that provides solutions to your customers' needs rather than keyword stuffing. The content should naturally utilize keywords in the topic of discussion. If you opt for keyword stuffing, you might lose the opportunity to be on the first page as Google can detect it.
Your content should be viral. For example, you can use Google Adwords or Facebook ads to promote your business, or you can even do a video on YouTube to increase visibility.
Focus on Location-Based Queries
Another way to crawl up to the first page is by clearly mentioning your physical location. You can do so through service pages, contact pages, and blog posts. Always keep your information up-to-date to allow Google to pick your website when people search for you in the near me section.
Create a mobile-friendly website
Your website should be responsive to any device and screen size. Google will keep you on the first page only if your website is responsive and maintains functionality on mobile devices. You can always look into the settings to provide a seamless experience for mobile users.
Create a user-experience
Nowadays, it is not enough to have great content and be mobile-friendly. Your website needs to focus on creating a user experience for internet users. It needs to have clear and easy navigation, call to action (CTA) buttons, and a seamless check-out experience to retain its position on the first page.
Use Business Listings to Get To the First Page of Google
Have a Google My Business Account
If you are a local business aiming to rank higher, creating a Google My Business account is the ideal thing to do. It is free and gives your business more online exposure. Through your local listings, also known as a "business profile," you can easily be found on Google Search and Maps. It is advisable to claim and verify your listing once you have created it to optimize it.
Optimize your local listings.
Creating a listing is not enough; you will need to optimize it for better search engine ranking. For this, you should take the following steps:
- Add information about your business.
- Be consistent with your business name.
- Keep all the information up-to-date.
- Add Reviews
Having customer reviews on your website makes it more credible, thus taking it to the first page of Google. Although you should be responsive to positive and negative reviews, having more positive reviews makes you crawl in the search engine rankings.
List on other directories
Although having a Google My Business listing is an ideal way to reach the first page, having a listing on other platforms like Yelp facilitates the ranking. Therefore, keeping all the information updated is important, even on other directories. In addition, the reviews and link-building strategies of Yelp help your business show up in relevant searches.
Why Choose Osborne Digital Marketing?
Osborne Digital Marketing helps you improve your Google search rankings. We take care of the basics and the technical aspects of bringing you to the first page of Google. In addition, our team provides search engine optimization SEO and manages your online reputation.
We are a reputed digital marketing agency and offer digital marketing-for-startups and inbound marketing services.
Conclusion
Google receives over 3.5 billion search queries each day, making it the most popular search engine in the world. Each year, Google handles more than 95 billion search requests. And this number keeps growing. So how can you get there? It’s a good idea to repurpose your content and create new content with similar titles and topics. If people like what you have to say, they will continue reading and sharing your content with their peers.
It’s no secret that being on the first page of search results is important. However, many don’t understand why it’s so important. The main reason is that if you’re not on the front page of Google, you won’t be found by potential customers that are looking for your product or services. Therefore, it’s essential to be on the first page of Google if you want to generate traffic and leads for your company.
