Every website owner who is concerned with search engine optimization (SEO) wants the coveted Page 1 ranking. And it’s fair to say few realize just how much it takes to achieve such a lofty goal. Page 1 of Google’s Search Engine Results page has about 8 – 10 organic positions on it. So that makes SEO a competitive game. You can bet your bottom dollar that there are a ton of businesses in most industries vying for those few spots.
Given that competitive nature of search engine strategy you have to look at the factors that contribute to search ranking. There are more than 200 ranking factors search engines examine that help determine indexing. Some factors are more potent than others. There’s no magic pill that gets you to Page 1. It’s more of a cocktail. And with 200 factors at play, that cocktail can look very different from website to website.
Not only does Google examine your website, it compares it to others in the space. So developing a Page 1 strategy must involved examining where your site currently ranks,which websites rank ahead of yours and what their SEO strategies look like, what holes exist in their strategy (where are they lacking in their optimizations) and how can your website capitalize on those holes and shoring up your own website’s optimization inadequacies.
So SEO strategy is a very custom approach that involves close examination of your own website’s SEO health but also those around it on the index.
From there you can begin to develop a strategy to move beyond the websites that are ahead of you. With a bit of effort your site can move past dormant websites online. It often takes an aggressive approach to breeze past active websites. Pushing past competitor sites that are forging strong SEO campaigns will take a major investment of time and energy.
But once you get that strategy in place, the biggest challenge is getting past the guys on Page 1. If your industry is one that is searched for frequently online, you can be the websites on Page 1 of Google Search got there with a complex and consistent SEO strategy. So any Page 1 strategy will have to involve examination of those websites’ SEO health and developing a plan that will improve upon their efforts.
So with 200 factors at work in ranking evaluation, that cocktail of potential factors may look pretty complex, but the one factor that will always be most important and most potent is the publishing of good, well-written and useful content that addresses the distinct needs of the audience you seek to reach online.
(Read: How to craft Easily Readable, SEO-Friendly Content)
Content has always been king with SEO management and it likely always will be. So if you don’t have a ton of time and energy and a boatload of cash to hire an SEO agency to develop a custom strategy for your website to get you to Page 1 of Google search, focus your efforts on develop great content that your audience needs. That will take you in most cases at least 70% of the way you need to go.
Post it frequently, optimize the page title and the content with high-volume and relevant keywords and stay away from spamming your audience. With that as a goal, you’ll be on Page 1, in most industries at least, in no time.
If you would like to know how a comprehensive SEO audit can help ferret out any issues that can contribute to a high bounce rate on your site, call Proctor Digital at 773.664.5819. We’d love to help!