This is the question most businesses would like the answer to, how to get to the top of Google listings.
The answer is to have to have SEO work done on your website. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is work that makes Google rank your website higher, more important than others, against certain keyword searches done through its search engine. So if you get your website ranked higher for a keyword search, that will get you to the top of Google.
The bigger question is what work needs to be done to do this and who should you choose.
The SEO agency you choose will put together a plan of work that will get you to the top of Google. SEO will not get the best results instantly, but if done correctly over time it definitely will. Which is why SEO is often done regularly each month on a website.
This is why many SEO agencies like ourselves offer SEO packages which are affordable SEO packages providing SEO work on a month to month basis.
However there are are some basics to SEO that may get you instant results. In fact we have found over the 20 years that we have been providing SEO some things that will have an instant impact on a websites search results.
Start with what is basic SEO
1. Claim Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business Listing, or GMB listing)
Claim your Google Business Profile listing straight away, it is instant free advertising. Here is the link to start https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/business/
Complete your listing as much as possible, adding your NAP details (name, address and postcode), business description, upload your logo, photos of your business and so on.
Fill in as much as you can! Google will walk you through the process step by step. It may seem like a lot to do, but it’s well worth the reward.
You need to write a concise business description making sure you explain exactly what you do.
There are optimisation techniques that can be done to really boost your Google Business Profile listing as Google increases new fields to complete on this listing.
2. Register Your Details on Online Directories
Again this can be done by the business owner, but what are the main business listing directories? You will need to do your research. Make sure you complete the listing fully, particularly the ones that ask to list your services. Some even ask for photos of the services. Make sure you do this! We have had amazing results from doing this correctly using the 100 business listing sites that we use.
3. Gain Online Reviews
It is believed Google ranks sites based on the experience and quality of information on the website and reviews can re affirm this to Google.
Having lots of positive reviews shows potential customers and Google that your business is good quality and trustworthy and will do the same for your website.
You can get reviews through your Google Business Profile account as well as well known review websites like Trustpilot. There is also business to business online directory Clutch which verifies and confirms all the details given in a review, usually through a telephone call.
You can read an SEO review of ours here https://clutch.co/profile/core-design-communications#reviews
The more reviews the better, so you may need to actively ask for them. So create an email with your reviews url’s in and simply send to your customers asking for a review and wait for the reviews to come in.
4. Local SEO
Local SEO involves work that optimises a website in order to increase traffic, leads and brand awareness from local searches.
If you are a local business rather than a nationwide one, you want to connect with customers in your local area or local areas.
Local SEO can be defined as SEO for companies who have customers that come to them, or they go to them.
Local SEO is optimising for keywords related to your local area like SEO agency Coventry or SEO Birmingham.
Technical SEO
1. Research Your Keywords
You can use the Google keyword planner for free, it will give you an estimated amount of searches against a keyword. It also lists other alternatives.
One thing to look out for also is the competition that keyword has. Google keyword planner tells you if the competition is high, medium or low.
This should be something you take into consideration when putting together your list of keywords.
When researching your keywords you need to make sure your website has these keywords in its content. If not, make sure you will be amending your content so it does.
You need to choose a mix of short keywords and long-tail keywords.
For example, if you are landscape gardeners in Leicester, then you will want to rank for shorter keywords like “landscape gardener” and “garden landscapers” as well as lengthening it to “garden landscapers Leicester”.
Of course there will be so many options. If you are trying to do it yourself, it will make sense to limit how many keywords you choose so you can get good results on these to start.
2. Website Optimisation for Your Keywords
As mentioned now you have your keywords, it is important to add them to your website.
Each web page should be optimised for a specific keyword and its associated keywords.
This will help Google identify which pages of your site are related to those keywords, so they can show the right pages to those searching online for terms and related terms to your business.
One way to do this, as an example, if you were a landscape gardener, is to create a page about each landscape gardening service such as patios, block paving, garden redesign etc, these being
search keywords.
You see if you put everything on one page, and don’t have separate pages dedicated to your most important keywords, your page may not rank as high.
This is down to a few factors but mainly what is the searcher actually looking for.
Google wants visitors on websites to stay a decent amount of time, if they leave quickly it will assume the content and the experience was not good.
If they had been served a page that was clearly related to their specific search query, they would have been more likely to stay longer.
If Google sees visitors leaving pages quickly, then it’s going to be harder to get that page ranked high.
3. Improve Your Meta information
Your websites pages Meta information is very important to tell Google what the content on the page is about.
We have found more and more that both the Meta title and the Meta description plays a very important part in SEO.
The Meta title should definitely include your keywords for that page. It should be made up of the primary keyword, secondary keywords and your company name.
There is a restriction to the amount of characters that can be used but don’t worry too much if there are a few characters too many. Always make sure sure it sounds natural in the way you write.
The page’s Meta description should include the keywords but include positive reasons why someone should be searching for that keyword.
For example our SEO agency will help you get to the top of Google search results is a good example for an SEO agency.
So think what the searcher will want to see and write your Meta description about this.
4. Create a Plan or Strategy for Your Content
Write good content based around your keywords. Content is king and has never been more important than now. Create individual service pages and make sure you optimise these around the keywords.
If you cover different geographic locations make sure you write a page that will work for the keyword and location.
If you are a specialist UPVC painting company and cover 5 location areas, your keywords, as well as being UPVC painting company, will also be UPVC painting company Birmingham, UPVC painting company Leicester etc.
A strategy used for some keywords is to create blog pages around common questions asked. However the most important page to start on is the home page.
The home page should be a good summary as to what the website is about.
Going back to the landscape gardener example, the home page will explain about landscape gardening and the different aspects and services that it includes.
It would then link out to these different aspects and services which would be the other keywords that you have listed.
5. Create and Use a Blog
Creating blog posts and pages are an excellent way to get to potential searchers.
As mentioned, creating posts around keywords and questions that people may ask about them is very good.
Google will like this because the website will come across as knowledgeable and helpful.
Being helpful is great for getting to the top of Google. This is because visitors will be spending time on your website reading the posts and this will be a positive signal to Google.
Make sure you tag your blog post because this is another way of signposting Google to what the content is about.
Finally, don’t forget to make sure you include a link to make an enquiry or to make a sale from your Blog post because that is the aim after all.
6. Obtain Quality Backlinks
Backlinking is when a website links back to a page on your website. This is great for your SEO.
It is seen as good because it looks like that website wants to share the information about one of your services or product.
This is good for you because in essence you will get extra traffic to your website’s page from this linkback.
Having this extra traffic and clicks will be seen by Google as a very positive thing and will influence it to show your websites page in its search results.
Another reason it helps your ranking is by Google seeing high quality websites linking back to your website, it can only assume if those websites are linking back then this page has great quality information and we need to start sending our searchers here as well.
Backlinking can be done in many different ways and requires a plan to follow. Just getting backlinks ad hoc will not really have this desired effect.
We recommend using an SEO agency like ourselves to set up the SEO plan of backlinking and to do it. This is because backlinking can be very time consuming and you really need to have knowledge of what you are doing. This is important because gaining too many poor quality backlinks could actually penalise your SEO work.
If you are looking for an SEO agency that will get you to the top of Google call us on 024 7660 1351 or email info@core365.co.uk and we will show you how.
