How to Improve Your Google Rankings Fast: 9 Steps to Rank Higher Using Analytics

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SEO is slow. It can take years to build your authority and rankings. Search engine optimization is the slowest form of marketing I know of. It really is.

But there’s one big shortcut.

The key is to focus on the right pages and phrases. You likely already have pages that rank, but don’t yet rank high. If you use Analytics to find a page with “striking distance” keyphrases, then you can update that page and improve the rank very quickly.

Here’s the quick summary, then we’ll go into detail.

• Find the phrases for which you almost rank high.
• Confirm the ranking in Google search results.
• Improve the page by making it more focused on the phrase.
• Wait three days. Check the rankings!

This post is our step-by-step guide to improving your Google rankings and search traffic fast. It’s the only SEO short-cut that I know of. I’ve done it hundreds of times for dozens of clients and I’m happy to share it with you.

If you’ve never done this before, there may be huge opportunities to improve your Google rankings waiting for you in your Analytics.

There is no need to?research keyphrases, because Analytics will give you the phrase.

There is no need to check the competition, because it’s already ranking in Google.

That’s why this is the shortest path to increase Google rankings with the smallest possible effort. The entire 9-step process will take under ten minutes. Sound good? Let’s go!

1. Take a look at the “Queries” report

First, you need to find all the keyphrases that you’re almost ranking high for already. The data is in Google Search Console, but you can access it from within Google Analytics here: Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries. This report shows:

• All the phrases your website rank for (search queries)
• The number of times you’ve appeared in Google for each phrase (impressions)
• The number of times your site has been visited for each phrase (clicks)
• Your general ranking for each phrase (average position).

Note: If this report is blank, you haven’t connected Google Search Console to Google Analytics yet. This article and video show the process. Or you could do everything in Search Console, but the tools in Analytics are probably more familiar to you. If you’re not familiar with Search Console here's our beginner's guide .?

If there isn’t much data here (impressions for each query are very low) then set a longer date range. Keep in mind that this report shows no data for the last two days.

2. Set an advanced filter to see the striking distance keyphrases

You’re looking for the best opportunities for higher rankings. That means phrases for which you rank, but not that high. So you need to filter this report.

Because you need to filter for the Average Position column (which isn’t the first column) you have to use an advanced filter. We love advanced filters. They’re an easy way to get to the best insights fast. Click the “advanced” link next to the filter box at the top of the main data table.

You’re going to tell this report to show us all the phrases for which we rank high on page two of Google. So we’ll set the advanced filter to include queries when the average position is greater than 10. Here’s what that filter looks like.

Where’s the best place to hide a dead body? Page two of Google.?

No one wants to rank on page two, but the good news is, high on page two is almost page one. You’re right below an important SEO threshold. This is the low-hanging fruit.

3. Sort the report by rankings

Click the column header “Average Position” to sort the report. Actually, you’ll have to click it twice so you can see the 10s and 11s at the top.

ProTip! Save this report.

Save your filtered, sorted Queries report so it’s easier to get to next time. Just click the Save button above at the top (next to the floppy disk icon), name it and click OK. Now the report will be available anytime in the Customization > Saved Reports section at the top of the left-side menu.

4. Scan through the striking distance keyphrases

You’ll quickly notice some strange phrases. Every site ranks for weird, seemingly-irrelevant phrases. Just scan past them and keep looking. You can add to your advanced filter to remove some of these queries if you’d like.

Ideally, you’ll find some nice, transactional keyphrases. Remember, there are three kinds of keyphrases that indicate three types of intent.

1. KNOW?(informational queries… aka question marks)
2. These people are just looking for information. They have an idea or question, but no plan to buy anything.?Example: “why does cold water hurt my teeth?”
3. DO?(transactional queries… aka dollar signs)
4. These people are researching a product or service. They know they need something and they may be ready to act.?Example: “emergency dentist chicago”
5. GO?(navigational queries)
6. These people are really just trying to get to a website. The company name is all or part of their query.?Example: “Happy Smiles Dentistry”

We’re really looking for the?KNOW?and?DO?phrases, which are usually aligned with the blog posts and service pages. Obviously, the transactional queries are the most valuable.

Continue to the full article.