Get Your Website Ranked on the First Page of Google
Getting your website ranked on the first page of Google's search results is a very daunting task, and one that many consider to be the "holy grail" of internet feats. The question is not so much whether or not you can get ranked on the first page of Google, but rather what keywords do you want to be ranked for? This article explains a very powerful tip on getting your website ranked on Google's first page.
Instructions
1. As with anything worthwhile, this will take some time. Any company or so-called "system" in a $35.00 e-book claiming to be able to get your site ranked on Google's first page (for any keywords that are at least halfway competitive) within a week's time are more than likely lying or promoting techniques that can get your site banned from Google in short order. Be prepared to spend some real time doing this, upwards of three to six months to be more realistic about it.
2. The first question you need to ask yourself is what types of keywords do you want to be ranked for? You have to have some idea of what people are searching for when they use Google, or you will spend your time trying to get ranked for keywords that nobody uses when they type their query into Google's search engine. For example, if you have a website about dog breeding, the keyphrase "dog breeding" would be the most obvious starting point. The only problem with this is, there are about 4.5 MILLION competing web pages in Google's index for that term. So, you may well rank on Google's first page for "dog breeding" one day, but it won't be any time in the very near future. So while you don't want to toss the primary keywords out, don't start there. Find variants of the keyword, which actually happens automatically now when you type the keyword into Google's search box--Google will GIVE you some other popular keywords you can focus on. In this example, you may want to focus on ranking for "dog breeding games", or "dog breeding tips", or "dog breeding for beginners"--I got all of these keyphrases from simply typing "dog breeding" into Google and looking at the list of related phrases it provided for me. It's a very good idea to check out other free keyword research tools such as the famous Adwords Keyword Tool (just type that into Google and it will be the first result) or Aaron Wall's Keyword Tool on SEObook.com. Type the main keyword you want to focus on and they will provide you with lots of valuable variants of the keyword, with the search volume to boot. So what do I mean by "focus on"? Read the next step to find out more.
3. Ranking on Google's first page through proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes down to one thing and one thing only: ANCHORED LINKS. And what I mean by "anchored links" is inbound links pointing at your web page, and that contain the keyword(s) that you're trying to get ranked for. People can argue and fuss about it all day long, but the bottom line is that Google gives weight to authority sites in their search results, meaning your site must carry a certain level of authority for the keywords that people are using when they query Google's search engine. And the primary way that Google determines whether or not your website is an authority for whatever topic (keywords) you're trying to rank for is by how many anchored links CONTAINING THAT KEYWORD are pointing at your page. An anchored link is simply a link to a website that contains keywords that describe what the website is about. For instance, instead of seeing a link with "click here" as the text, or with just the website address as the text, you may see a clickable link that says "dog breeding games" as the text. This means that "dog breeding games" is the anchor text for that link. Those types of anchored links are the ones that Google uses to determine whether or not your website is an authority for a given subject. Those anchored links tell Google "Hey, THIS is what my website is all about, and these are they keywords you should rank me for."
4. Focus on building links using variations of your main keyword as the anchor text. Use every method of link building known to man. Get as many links from as many different places as you possibly can. This includes article directories, website directories, social bookmarking sites, commenting on other people's blogs, Squidoo pages, Hubpages, free blogging platforms such as Blogger and Wordpress, related sites via link exchanges, free websites such as GeoCities, ANYWHERE you can get an anchored link, man, get one! And don't worry about the "value" of the link, or which one has more "weight" and all that stuff...a link is a link is a link! If you need help on build links, just Google "link building" or "build links", and you'll have plenty of references to pull from to help you in your link building efforts.
5. Install some type of statistics or visitor tracking code on your website, preferably one that will show you how people are coming to find your site. Any visitor tracking software worth its salt will show you the referring search engine statistics, meaning what search engine the visitor used AND they keywords they used to find your site. Try Google Analytics or StatCounter--both of them are excellent.
6. Take a look at how your visitors are arriving at your site, and pay close attention to what type of keywords you're ranking for in Google. Believe me, you will start with "trickles" of visitors from Google at first, but the more you build links, and the more you use the keywords that people are using to find your site as the anchor text in your links, the more visitors you'll get and the more credibility you'll build in Google's eyes. You will also begin to rank for more variants of the keyword as well, as you continue to anchor your links with the keywords that Google has ranked you for (according to your web stats).
7. That, in a nutshell, is how you will begin to rank on Google's first page for your desired keywords. Don't start with the "big Kahuna". Build up to that level using other related keywords that don't have quite as much search volume, but will help you build authority for the main keyword you're aiming for. This is a VERY simplified version of the whole process, and again, this takes TIME. Eventually though, with enough hard work and plenty of anchored links, you'll find yourself on Google's first page with the big dogs.
Tags: Google first, keywords that, your site, Google first page, first page, Google search, into Google