How To Get Your Website At The Top Of Google
Many company executives know they should "be at the top of Google." Your company cannot be on the "top of Google." However, a page on your site can only appear on a search results for a specific search. Success is all about a specific search. There are millions of searches. The key is to know the words your potential customers are searching for.
That is where "keywords" are important. I spend a great deal of time researching what "keywords" your potential customers are searching for.
Football Rankings and Your Business
You've seen the standings in college football each week. The rankings show which teams are at the top of their league. Your industry has a ranking system on the Internet, too. That ranking system is called the "search engine results." The results are shown each time someone types in words related to your product category and clicks "search."
Improving those results can increase your sales drastically. Moving from #17 in the results to #3 can more than offset the cost of a staff time for a search engine optimization program.
How to Know if Your Company Is "Benched"
You know that customers are searching for your company name. If you are not already #1 in the results for your company name, something is wrong. (A common problem is that a company's programmers, IT staff or graphic designer have too much control over their online marketing efforts. Remember, in this day and age, getting new customers through the Internet is about being found easily, not about having a "pretty" website.)
Worrying about how "pretty" your site looks is similar to choosing a team based on how nice the player's uniforms look. Start being concerned about improving where your company's website is shown in the results.
Online Advertising (Pay-Per Click Advertising)
The orange section (above) is called the paid listings (or sponsored results). You can get at the top of the orange listings immediately - within two days - simply by paying more than everyone else. However, as soon as you stop buying advertising, you lose your ranking in this orange section.
My Experience in Strategic and Managing Advertising
I am allocated a budget and spend my time choosing how to best spend my ad budget. Read more about my duties as an SEM Manager.
Search Engine Optimization
The blue section is called the "organic results". Appearing at the top of the blue section is free, but you "pay" in other ways: staff hours in work aimed at improving rankings. You earn a high ranking in the blue section over time (perhaps even a year or longer, depending on the competitiveness of your industry). If it was easy to achieve a high position in the blue section, everyone would do it. However, once you earn a high ranking, you usually only need to expend minimal man hours to maintain your position and don't really need to pay for an expensive consultant.
My Role in "SEO"
I help company's get to the top of Google by providing recommendations that are implemented by their internal staff.
On a monthly basis, I provide recommendations aimed at assuring that a company's page achieves the highest possible position in search results for the company's keywords. Then IT staff or graphic designer implements my recommendations and reports back to me when and if a recommendation was implemented.
However, getting to the top of "earned" results takes time. Con artists will tell you they can get your company to the top instantly. This is bull. Google is a very smart company that cannot be fooled by a fast-talking individual. If instant results were possible by writing a check, everyone would do it. If you demand instant results, consider allocating your budget toward an online advertising campaign.
Playing Catch Up to Your Competition Takes Time
I meet many companies who want to play "catch up" to their competition who has been "doing it right" for years. Often the problem is that the company has delegated their "control" of their website to a graphic designer - a professional whose role is to make things look pretty. Google does not reward sites for being pretty and most customers what useful information - fast. They want substance over style.
Consider the learning curve, obstacles and hard work your competition has done since they began their website. You can beat them, but not in 2 weeks, or even a month. But you can start today!
Types of Recommendations I give include:
A1) Website structure analysis: Making sure your graphic design is not holding you back.
A2) Competitive Analysis: What is your competition doing right? How can you "beat" them?
A3) Keyword research: What words are potential customers searching for? Does your company publish at least one page on your site that is shown in the search results for those words?
A4) Looking at how your company is "seen" in the results. Do the search results attractive to web surfers? When you appear in the search results, will people click on a link to your page? If not, I supply text for title tags, meta descriptions, meta keywords, and content/header tags for each page on the website.
Tip: If every page on your site has the same "page title" or is missing a meta description, it is sure sign that whomever is maintaining your site is lazy.
Recommendations are Implemented by IT or Your Webmaster
After testing the results of the changes by checking analytics and search rankings, I supply new recommendations the following month.
After several months, a company's website should advance to the highest possible position in the search results. From there, I use advanced tactics I have learned over the years to achieve even higher rankings.
After six month to a year (depending on competitiveness of the company's industry) the company can do minimal work to maintain its standings in the search results.
Aiming for Both Organic and Paid Results
TIP: Most companies desire to appear at the top of both blue and orange because people who see their company at the top of both results will perceive it as an "implied endorsement."