What is the best way to hide a website so nobody can find it? By making sure it doesn’t get to the first page of Google search results.

It has been proven that almost no one looks beyond the first page of Google search results. This is because virtually all the relevant results can be found on that first page. What this means  for your business is that to own a share of your niche market, you cannot afford to have your website ranking on the second, third or heaven forbid, fourth page of Google SERPs. If you end up on any of these pages, you will not get enough traffic to make your SEO efforts worthwhile.

This is the reason why every business wants to be on the first page of Google search results. Unfortunately, not everyone can be there. There are countless numbers of bloggers and websites struggling to find a place on this page and this makes for very stiff competition. Luckily, there are a few techniques smart website owners can adopt to increase their chances of ranking high for organic search in Google SERPs. We will explore a few of these techniques in this article.

Before we proceed, it is important to point out that there are a few qualifications your website needs to meet before you can even begin to think of ranking high for search engines. These qualifications are known as ranking signals. There are more than 200 known ranking signals used by Google to determine if a website qualifies to enjoy a high ranking. However, here are some of the few you need to concern yourself with.

  • User experience
  • Mobile optimisation
  • Security
  • Quality and relevancy of content
  • Quality backlinks
  • Social proofs
  • Domain age and so on

Once your website meets the above criteria, you are already on the right path to high SERP page ranking.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in

Optimise for long tail keywords

Long tail keywords could be considered the future of organic search. That doesn’t mean short tail keywords are no longer relevant, far from it, but as customer intent develops, and search pattern changes, it is important that website owners and internet marketers evolve with it.

See this simple example:

Short tail keywords: “WordPress theme”

Long tail keywords: “Free premium WordPress ecommerce theme”

The truth is that users are more likely to be specific with their search and type in “Free premium WordPress ecommerce theme”, or something along those lines, rather than simply typing  “WordPress theme”. Using long tail keywords in your content makes it possible for you to modify your content around the particular search terms users are looking for. Long tail keywords help make your content available to a very specific search, unlike short tail keywords that cater to a more general query. This is why long tail searches account for a high number of search queries on Google.

Optimise for local SEO

Optimising for local SEO is one of the fastest and most effective ways to land on the first page of Google SERP. When users search for specific results, such as plumber or AC repairman, Google shows  the most relevant results based on the location of the search user. This means that as long as your website is optimised for local search, your content will appear on the first page of Google result when users search for the products or services you offer. You obviously have to own a local business for this to work properly. Apart from owning a local business, there are a few things you need to do, such as optimising your NAP in local listings. When you provide accurate NAP (name, address and phone numbers) and other details like pictures, reviews and business hours  in local listings such as Google my business, your website will consistently appear on the first page of search results as long as what your business offers is searched for.

It may also be necessary to have your website hosted in the region where your  target market is. This will help search engines easily identify you as a business that deals with local customers. Businesses targeting New Zealand can visit https://www.discountdomains.co.nz/web-hosting to compare opportunities.

Create more content

“Content is king” has been ruling the internet for years and will continue to do so. In order to improve your chances of ranking high on SERP, it is important that you up your content game. You cannot expect to do better than the competition if they are creating better content than you. Also, it will be difficult to craft a single piece of content around multiple long tail keywords. Even if you find a way, this will result in keyword stuffing, which is frowned upon by Google. This means you need more and more content to optimise your long tails with, and this content should exceed your 500 word average.

Websites that appear on the first page of Google SERP have been found to contain no less than 2000 words. Writing long-form content is easy enough, you just need to craft your content so it is easily understood by the reader and provides a solution to the problem they are seeking.

Optimise for voice search

The number of voice search queries has increased dramatically as more and more people turn to mobile devices for accessing content on the internet and carrying out searches. it is easier and safer for people to simply ask their phones for what they need and wait for the answer to pop up. Also, search engine giant Google is constantly updating its algorithm to understand complex sentences and superlatives. This makes using voice for searching easier. To rank well on Google first page, it is vital that today’s businesses optimise their content for voice search. The secret is to create content that answers questions or queries directly. For instance, content properly optimised for voice search will come up in SERPs for a query like, “Where is the best coffee shop in Queenstown?” It is also essential that your content contains a good number of relevant keywords. However, avoid keyword stuffing as much as possible.

Final words

The truth of the matter is that in today’s cutthroat business environment, it will take a lot more than having a great website and wonderful products to guarantee success. You need people to visit your website and that is where organic traffic comes in. However, I should point out that following the above techniques will not place you on the first page of Google search results overnight. It will, however, increase your chances of appearing there if you are consistent, work hard and have patience.