5 Tips To Help Your Business Show Up on The First Page of Google
The goal of every business owner is to be on the faces of prospective customers when the problem they provide a solution to is googled.
Imagine visiting an area for the first time and really need a place for a quick bite, the close to natural response is to quickly search Pizza/Pastry shops near you and in no time the first page of Google appears, and you see a business listed with all the information you were seeking instantaneously: the hours, the phone number and some Google Reviews from real people verifying that the pizza is tasty and reliable.
Will you choose the first business to come up? The second in the list? The third? Or will you scroll to the second or third page?
Most likely the previous.
Appearing on the first page of Google can mean life or death for a business. In order to do so, you need to improve your search engine optimization or SEO.
Here are three quick facts to further buttress this point:
- 75% of people never look past the first page of search engines.
- 70–80% of people ignore paid search results, instead of clicking on organic search results.
- 87% of smartphone users use search engines at least once a day.
In order to improve your business’s website for SEO, I will be sharing with you in this blog 5 tips that once completed, grants your business a better chance of being featured on the first page of Google, with readily available, easy-to-access information. This will help your business not only get discovered but drive sales.
- Create a Google My Business Account
The first thing you want to do is to create a Google My Business account for your business. According to Hootsuite, customers are 70% more likely to visit businesses with a Google My Business listing.
Creating a Google My Business account is FREE, and after a few simple steps, your business will show up with all its most important information when people search on Google. The sign-up process takes you step-by-step and verifies that you are the owner.
The best part about this process is that even creating a Google My Business account improves your local SEO, which means your business is already more likely to appear on the first page of Google.
This listing will include contact information, business hours, Google Reviews, an about section, and even space for customers to ask questions. You also have the ability to post if there are updates to your business such as temporary closure, new hours, or special events.
2) Improve Your SEO Through Reviews
After you have established your Google My Business profile, the next thing you want to do is to get as many reviews as possible (positive reviews by the way)
Every month, Google reports there are over 5 billion searches on Google for restaurants, 3 billion searches for hotels, 1 billion searches for clothing stores, 600 million searches for hair and beauty salons, and 5 million searches for coffee shops.
How do you stand out?
Reviews!
People always want to know what makes your business different from others.
Here are a few ways you can get reviews for your business:
i) Ask loyal customers to leave you a Google Review and make it easy for them to do so.
A simple way to share the link with your customers is to do a Google search of your own business, click “write a review” as if you were going to write one, then copy the URL. Then, when a customer or client clicks it, it will lead them to the forum.
ii) Add a link in your business’s newsletter.
iii) Run a contest
iv) Give a discount code or a small prize to everyone who leaves a review.
v) If you are a brick-and-mortar shop, ask customers in-person to leave a review as they are checking out. Hand them a card with information that makes it easy for them to do so.
Also, make sure you respond to the reviews people do leave, this helps to show responsiveness and great customer service.
3) Improve The UI/Ux of Your Website
According to Google’s SEO Starter Guide, the best performing websites have a straightforward, intuitive, and hierarchical designs.
A website that is exceptionally logical makes more sense to search engines and humans alike. When the search engines can interpret your site easily, it improves the chances that your business will appear on the first page of Google.
Ensure that the user interface and experience of your website is top-notch.
Make it really easy to access the most critical information: the about section, the contact information, and a list of your products or services. Use simple, easy-to-read language. Communicate the topic of your company’s products or services so that even an algorithm could understand. Speaking in flowery or metaphorical language will not serve you well in SEO. Think of your subheads as if they were descriptive labels in a paper outline.
Also, ensure that your website is optimized for mobile. Google will interpret your mobile site, too, so ensure that your website reads well on both desktop and mobile versions for better SEO.
Lastly, ensure that the URL can easily be read and isn’t a series of random numbers and letters. The URL should read as words with dashes instead of spaces.
Choose Strategic Keywords To Improve Your SEO
4) Use The Right Keywords
Keywords are words or phrases that boil down the essence of your business. When people conduct a search, these are the words they would choose to look for in your company. Choose simple, nontechnical, and practical words and phrases for your keywords.
In the words of Moz, “Keywords are as much about your audience as they are about your content.” You need to understand the language and phrasing that your audience would use, rather than how you might describe your own business or content. After all, they are the ones conducting the search queries.
How to generate the right keywords
When conducting keyword research, it is important to choose words and phrases that are being searched in high volumes.
There are a number of free keyword research tools at your disposal on the internet. Here are a few examples:
· Google Chrome Extension: Keywords Everywhere
5) Build Authority Using Content Marketing
Content is the game-changer for every SEO, It shows that a brand is backed by experts and therefore the highest quality possible. The search engine algorithm agrees with this notion. The more relevant content you have on your website, the higher your chances of being featured on the first page of google. You can do this by sharing valuable and relevant content on your company’s blog.
Creating valuable content makes your content shareable, gets more views, and improves your search engine optimization.
Moz has developed a program that indicates how well your website will perform on search engine results pages (SERP). It is referred to as “Domain Authority (DA).” A score ranges from one to 100. The higher your score is, the better your SEO, and the better you are predicted to perform in search engine results. The tool is free and all you need is the URL. Try it out here.
I know I said that I will be sharing five tips but what is SEO without backlinks?
Backlinks are links from outside domains that point to pages on your domain; essentially linking back from their domain to yours.
Having a high number of backlinks can also improve SEO, you can do this by linking your domain to other domains with higher authority by affiliate marketing, sharing links to your websites across your social media platforms, and lots more.
Getting to the first page of Google is the heart desire of every business owner, inasmuch as this journey is a marathon and not a sprint, these tips shared can help make the whole journey easier.
Do you find these tips complicated?
My team at Futuresoft is always there to help point you in the right direction and make your SEO journey as seamless as possible.
Remember, sharing is caring, do well to share this blog with your friends and loved ones.
