How to be Number One on Google (It's Easier Than You Think)

Wondering how to be number one on Google? For those of us in the business of driving organic traffic, Google is King, Queen, and Emperor all rolled into one. It crawls the web, selecting which pages are the most worthwhile and pertinent for its users for virtually any topic. We don’t just trust Google’s results, we depend on them.

When it comes to getting your content on the first page of Google, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, there are a few key things you can do to increase your chances of appearing near the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). In this definitive guide, we will discuss actionable items such as:

How to research keywords
How to create valuable content that people want to read and share
How to optimize your website for Google crawlers
How to create content suitable for both Google crawlers AND humans

By following the tips and tricks in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to first-page ranking glory.

Why You Should Strive for the First Page of Google

Working for a high ranking is well worth the grind, especially considering that traffic and click-through rate both fall off sharply as one works their way down the search results. Simply put, appearing on the first page of Google can mean the difference between getting noticed and being ignored.

After the first few results, traffic and engagement fall dramatically.

In fact, according to a study by Chitika, the first result on Google’s SERPs receives 33% of traffic, while the second and third results receive 18% and 11% of traffic respectively. The remaining 48% is split among the other 97 organic results!

Direct Benefits of Ranking on the First Page

Aside from increased traffic, there are several direct benefits of ranking on the first page of Google. These include:

Increased brand awareness and visibility: Appearing on the first page of SERPs helps increase your brand’s reach and visibility, which can ultimately lead to more website visitors, customers, and conversions. (You might even get featured in an answer box, or “featured snippet”! Featured Snippets are short bits of text that appear at the top of Google’s search results in order to quickly answer a searcher’s query.)
Improved click-through rates: In addition to increased traffic, ranking on the first page also leads to higher click-through rates. This is because users are more likely to click on results that appear at the top of SERPs than those that appear further down.
Enhanced credibility and trustworthiness: Users perceive brands that rank highly in search results as being more credible and trustworthy. This is especially true for users who are unfamiliar with your brand.

Now that we’ve discussed some of the reasons why you should aim for the first page of Google, let’s move on to how you can make it happen.

How to be Number One on Google

Getting your content on the first page of Google is no easy feat. However, by following the steps below, you can give yourself a better chance of ranking high in SERPs.

Do Your Keyword Research

Before you can optimize your content for Google, you need to know which keywords to target. This involves conducting keyword research to find the right keywords for your business.

There are a number of different ways to do keyword research, but some of the most effective methods include using Google’s Keyword Planner tool and conducting competitor analysis.

Google’s Keyword Planner is a free tool that allows you to find keywords related to your business and see how much traffic they are receiving. To use the Keyword Planner, simply create a free account with Google Ads and follow the instructions here.

Competitor analysis is another great way to find keywords that you can target. To conduct competitor analysis, simply enter a competitor’s URL into a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs and see which keywords they are ranking for. You can then use these keywords to optimize your own content.

Optimize Your Website for Google Crawlers

In addition to finding the right keywords, you also need to make sure that your website is optimized for Google crawlers. This involves a number of different factors, including:

Page speed: Google crawlers are designed to index fast-loading websites. As such, you need to make sure that your website loads quickly. You can check your website’s page speed using tools like Pingdom and GTmetrix.
Mobile-friendliness: In addition to being fast, your website also needs to be mobile-friendly. This is because more and more users are searching the web on mobile devices. You can check to see if your website is mobile-friendly using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
Site structure: Your website’s structure also plays a role in how easily it can be crawled and indexed by Google. A well-structured website is easy to navigate and understand, both for users and crawlers.

To learn more about how to optimize your website for Google crawlers, check out this guide.

Publish High-Quality Content

In addition to optimizing your website, you also need to make sure that you are publishing high-quality content. This means creating content that is:

Relevant: The first step to creating relevant content is to make sure that you are targeting the right keywords. Once you have targeted the right keywords, you need to make sure that your content is actually about those keywords. Write for the reader, not for yourself.
Useful: Content must be helpful and informative. The best way to create useful content is to think about the problems that your target audience is facing and then create content that solves those problems.
Readable. Nobody enjoys looking at a wall of text. Too much text without any headings, paragraphs, images, or lists tends to scare people off. Keep sentences bite-sized, complicated vocabulary words limited, and paragraphs short (no more than four or five sentences).
Engaging: Content must be engaging if you want people to stick around and read it. Engage your readers by using an active voice, telling stories, and using humor.
Shareable: People are more likely to share content that they enjoy. To make your content more shareable, make sure it is interesting, visually appealing, and easy to share (i.e. includes social sharing buttons)

Promote Your Content

Once you have created your content, you need to promote it. There are a number of different ways to promote your content, but some of the most effective methods include:

Creating social media accounts and sharing your content on those accounts
Creating a blog and including your content on that blog
Creating videos and uploading them to YouTube
Creating infographics and submitting them to infographic directories

Our Experts Can Boost Your Rankings

At D-Kode, we have an insider view of what it takes to make a website successful – one that drives more visitors to your business, converts leads into customers, and provides the ideal user experience. Want to know more ranking secrets? Let’s talk. Give us a call at (925) 477-5012 to schedule your free marketing consultation.