Not everyone knows this but how you rank on Google search engine results can really affect how many people visit your website and in turn, affect how many people get the opportunity to make the most of your products or services. There are some tried and tested techniques to help you get to the top of Google. How fast you get to the top depends on things like your competition in New Zealand, your willingness to create great, regular content, and of course, the quality of your website and content.

Let’s get to it.

Here are 4 key steps to climbing Google’s search engine rankings:

1.) Determine the keywords you want to compete and rank highly for

Have a think about what search term your ideal customer would type into Google to find your website. Have a go yourself. If you are in the market for a new pair of running shoes for example, what would you type into Google to find the best pair for you? Probably something like “running shoes online” or perhaps “best running shoes for women”. The likelihood is, that you’ll click on the top 1-5 results. Those websites that are in the top 1-5 results have optimised their websites for the keyword/phrase “best running shoes for women”. You need to do the same for your primary keyword or phrase.

Narrow down the competition by including a location or more specific services and products. The more you can narrow down the keyword, the quicker and easier it’ll become for you to be ranked highly for it.

2.) Optimise your website for your keyword or phrase

Now you have your primary keyword, you need to optimise your website for it. This tells Google that you offer, or are talking about what you are stating in your keyword. Each page on your website should include the following elements along with a single focus keyword. In this case, your primary keyword:

• Page title with under 70 characters
• Page or Meta description with under 150 characters
• Your page headings (H1, H2, H3 etc.)
• Your Alt text for images to help people with accessibility issues

This might all sound confusing. We explore some of these in our other blog posts. Check them out here.

When writing any content it’s important to remember that you’re still writing for humans and not to trick Google. Don’t stuff your content with keywords thinking that will get you ranked higher. Google is too clever for that.

3.) Stragetigse with a blog campaign

Now you’ve optimised your existing web content with your primary keyword, it’s time to create more content. What better way to do that than with a blog. Here at Broadbelt Digital, we write a blog to help people who are interested in SEO. A great side effect of that is that it helps us rank for a few of our keywords. Creating engaging and helpful content that includes your focus keywords will be rewarded by Google.

Creating a blog can be your first step to creating a content marketing strategy. Posting once a week, or even every two weeks about things you think your potential customers will be interested in will help you reach those potential customers. Just make sure you include a call to action on every blog post. It’s great to attract potential customers but if they have no way of approaching you then it’s pretty pointless.

Every new blog post means a new page and content indexed by Google. Use your social media to brag about your blog and the blog posts to drive even more traffic to your website.

Need help strategising your content or creating a blog? Contact Sam at Broadbelt Digital.

4.) Analyse and repeat

SEO is not a one-and-done thing. Fresh, engaging content always wins which means you must be creating new content week in, week out. This takes some commitment but it should be enjoyable. Take the time to think about your potential customers, and write great content for them.

Analyse how your website is performing. There are lots of free SEO tools out there to help you analyse how your Google ranking campaign is going. Data doesn’t lie and that’s why it’s vital to use free reporting tools to your advantage.

Remember, things take time with SEO so if you don’t see results in the first 3-6 months, don’t be disheartened. If you follow best practices and write for humans then you’ll get there.

Broadbelt Digital can help your website climb Google. Contact us to find out how or request your free SEO audit here.