Have you got your eye on a keyword? Want to have your website appear for a particular search term on the elusive first page of Google? Make yourself ready: It won't be simple unless you're Wikipedia or TheNew York Times. But nothing is impossible.
The ten steps to ranking for a keyword in Google are listed below.
1. Create the Foundation
Actually, this is more of a preliminary step than a first one. Before you can even begin hope to rank higher on Google for any arbitrary keyword, you'll need to have some fundamentals in place. Among these prerequisites are:
- A reliable website - The more time your website has had to build up links and authority, the better. Additionally, your entire website must adhere to SEO best practices. Start with Google's Webmaster Guidelines if you're unsure what this entails.
- A network to draw from - To rank highly for a keyword, it's constructive to have a built-in network to share new content. Examples of this network include a blog audience, a following on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and email contacts you can occasionally ask for assistance with links. It's time to start thinking of link development as connection building if you don't know what it implies.
In your pursuit of online riches, take your time with this. You'll have to do things again if you don't do them correctly the first time.
2. Perform preliminary keyword research:
Even if you might believe you know the keyword you want to focus on, double-check your assumptions. Before you decide on a keyword, use a few keyword tools to get a sense of the competitiveness and search traffic for the keyword. Your primary concerns should be:
- Selecting a keyword with adequate search volume, but not excessive search volume - In general, you don't want to target a phrase with low relative search traffic if there is an equal term that is significantly more popular. For instance, " jobs" are typically searched for more than twice as often as " careers." Don't, however, always choose the keyword with the greatest volume or difficulty.
- Choose a term that is relevant to the idea of your business; if it applies to both your website and your operation, your chances of ranking for it are higher. Additionally, you have a greater chance of seeing some genuine results from your ranking. Rankings alone aren't all that beneficial unless they generate quality leads and visitors. As an illustration, a party planning company might target "how to prepare for a party," but "how to cook rice" isn't really going to be pertinent to them or their target audience.
You should also compile a list of your major keywords near variations at this point in the process. These will be useful later on when writing and optimizing your content.
3. Observe the competition:
After choosing a term, look it up on Google and a few other search engines to discover what your rivals are currently doing. Pay attention to in particular:
- How many domains have precise matches? Does each of the top 10 URLs contain the keyword?
- How do the title tags incorporate the keyword in the titles?
- Product pages are the type of material that is ranked. blog entries? Videos?
- Are there any well-known brands among the firms that are ranking? small companies? website news?
- The age of the top 10 sites, the size of their link profiles, and other factors can be checked using a plugin to determine how reliable those sites are.
You're trying to find ways to set yourself apart. To outperform your rivals, you must put up at least as much effort as they do. Ideally, you ought to be working harder and accomplishing more.
4. Keep Intent in mind:
It is simpler to determine the searcher's purpose and to serve up the content that they are likely seeking when the keyword is more specific (consider long-tail keywords). In search marketing, "intent" refers to our best estimation of what the person who entered the search query actually desired. As you move down the list, notice how much simpler it is to determine the intent just from the words themselves when you use the following keywords:
- paints
- water paints
- color paints
- best paints for art
The creators of Google have stated that the ideal search engine would simply provide one result. To prevent the searcher from returning to the search results in search of a more appropriate response, you want to be the one result that meets their needs.
5. Develop the Content Concepts
Make a plan for the content you will really develop that will, ideally, rank for your selected keyword next. There are a variety of ways to rank for a keyword, such as but not limited to:
- In a piece
- A blog entry
- A catalog page
- An index or link directory (to other pages on your site or around the web)
- A trustworthy manual
- A graphic info
- A movie
How much time will the content creation take? Who is to design it? Will you hire outside help or do everything yourself? Are you equipped with the necessary funds and resources? Refrain from giving up: You have the power to write a blog article, regardless of your budget or size. More resources will be needed for content like infographics and videos. Using a tool, such as a mortgage calculator, can occasionally be the best method to respond to a search inquiry. You will require engineering resources if this is the situation.
6. Execute:
Where the rubber hits the road is right here. Put your plan into action. Again, you shouldn't rush any of these processes, but it's crucial to take your time with this one in particular. Search engines are increasingly looking for high-quality material that helps the searcher rather than spam with lots of keywords or pages with simply your benefiting adverts. Look into PPC if you'd rather spend money on traffic than put in the time and effort necessary to get "free" organic search traffic. Your motto needs to be "SEO isn't easy."
7. Search for your keyword:
Rather than adding optimization after the fact, optimize your content as you are writing it. The list of keywords you created in step two will be useful in this situation. That you can in your material, incorporate those keywords, but not to the point where you come off as a crazy robot. Keep in mind that there are numerous "invisible" locations for keywords; I'm not referring to utilizing white text on a white backdrop or doing anything else that goes against Google's policies. I'm talking about things like image file names, which consumers won't see if they aren't looking for them but which can improve your keyword ranks.
Visit SEOmoz's guide to the "ideal" page for an exhaustive list of on-page optimization elements. It's also a good idea to mimic Wikipedia, whose pages typically have excellent on-page optimization.
It's wise to rapidly review your keyword research once more before pressing "publish." Making ensuring that the keyword and content are still in harmony may be necessary if your material has changed during the development and creation phases.
8. Publish:
The time has come to distribute your content to the public. You might need to be cautious about scheduling this step depending on the type of content it is. This isn't typically a factor for evergreen material, but it may be for content that is connected to the news, an occasion, or a trend. When launching material for a new product or service, for instance, you might also need to work with PR or other interested parties at your organization.
9. Enhance:
This step is crucial and needs to be taken as soon as the content has been published. For lengthy pieces of content, it's even better if you can reach out to the media in advance. Before it even has a chance to rank for the term, make sure to take all the necessary steps to get your content in front of as many eyes as you can:
- Use the social media accounts for your company, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, and others, to share your content. Do this through your private accounts as well, if you can.
- To encourage independent sharing, add social media icons or widgets to your website. Make it simple for readers and viewers to continue the chain. If all they have to do is click a button, they are more likely to share your article via Twitter or Facebook.
- Construct links to your stuff. Link building is still a vital component of SEO, regardless of what happens to PageRank (even if it is the most annoying part). If you're interested in learning more about link building, browse our blog archives on the subject.
10. Explore:
Last but not least! It's never too late to improve your material for the web because it's a dynamic medium. Using a rank checking tool or manually reviewing your keyword ranking, make sure you're not signed in and aren't receiving results that are highly tailored. The keywords your content is actually ranking for may not be the ones you originally targeted, so use your analytics to find out. If, after a few weeks, you're still not showing up for the proper keywords, you still have work to do. Be certain that your content:
- Is it really optimized?
- Is it genuinely high-quality?
- Is it clearly evident?
It's also conceivable that the keyword you choose is overly competitive, in which case you should temper your expectations. Until you've gained authority, try targeting less competitive keywords.
That's about all. This is the procedure we use to rank for hundreds of search marketing keywords. Whatever your business niche, the same technique may be used for it.
Thanks for Reading!
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