This article is to give you a very basic understanding of search engine optimisation and what it actually means to get your business on page one of Google.
Google is the ultimate way that businesses can find new clients and for new clients to find businesses. Let us say for example that you are a plumber in Cheadle and when someone types in the query ‘Cheadle plumber’ or any other variation to this, you want to make sure that your business is listed on page one. This is because if your site is appearing on page two, three, four and so on, you stand very little chance of finding any new clients as less than 15% of searches go beyond page one. Search engine optimisation is all about getting you on page one.
You might be asking yourself the question what did other businesses do to get on page one whereas other businesses are appearing on page five? Are the plumbers on page one better at plumbing than those on page five? The answer to this is no, but what has most likely to have happened is that the businesses that you find on page one have implemented what we call a search engine optimisation or SEO campaign.
Now there are a lot of factors that go into SEO and getting onto page one, but I will not be able to cover them all in one single article. But I will go over some of the basics. Firstly your website needs to be optimised for Google. When it comes to a website, there are certain things that Google will look for. This will include page titles, use of keywords and a good description tag. These are the basic areas that need to be covered and are quite straight forward.
There are some things that people tend to forget about and the main one is the importance of content on your website. You need to be engaging the viewers of your website. Your content needs to be relevant to what they are looking for. Google has actually started paying attention to various metrics on your website such as how many times people comes to your website and leave without going onto a second page. This is known as bounce rate, and if yours is high then it will prove more challenging for you to rank on page one.
So let us say that someone has typed in ‘plumber Cheadle’ and they visit your website but 70% of people do not go past page one; this means your website is not really relevant for that particular keyword that you are hoping to rank for. As a result of this, Google will push your website further towards the back. Your website needs to be highly relevant and it needs to be compelling. You need users to come to your website, read one page and to visit as many other pages as possible. My message to you is to content and to add it constantly.
The next part is all about building links to your website and your content should hopefully be good enough where users will be linking back to you from their website. Link building is what will tell Google just how important your website is. If you have a lot of other websites linking back to you, your website will be considered highly relevant and Google pays attention to this.
It is also very important that you are in the social media game. This means that you have accounts with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc and you are frequently using these sites as well. Google is taking all of this data to generate information on businesses and in particular which businesses are relevant for particular searches. If you are not utilising these free services then you really need to as the impact on your SEO campaign can be dramatic.
What does it actually means to be on page one? Well just imagine potentially hundreds or even thousands of free leads every single month. The businesses that are listed on page one of the organic listings are receiving free traffic. Just imagine a high traffic key phrases that is driving potential customers to your site and remember you do not have to pay for this traffic. In the long term you are generating more leads, more business and more revenue than any of your competition on page two and beyond.
This was just a sample article covering SEO and the essential key elements that you must take on board if your aim is to be on the first page of Google and to also stay there.
Author Bio:
Sadhiv Mahandru has been developing websites and optimising them for over a decade. Specialising in Search Engine Optimisation Manchester and provides a high quality service throughout the UK. You can read a lot more about SEO, Link Building and Social Media by reading my personal blog which is frequently updated.