How To Stay On Top Of Google

Running a business in 2019 can be one of the most rewarding things you can do in life and it is why so many people are keen to jump on board with it too. For those who have been running a business for a long time, you will have noticed how much it has changed in just a few short years.

The truth is everything is becoming digital due to its immediacy, efficiency, and the ability to reach more people, so naturally the business world must follow suit.

So, whether you are a new business owner or have been around for years, as the owner of the company it is your responsibility to ensure that you don’t get left behind and are aware of exactly what you can do to benefit your company and be successful enough that you can compete in an ever-growing technological environment.

However, trying to understand the intricacies of the Internet can be a struggle for those not knowledgeable in the subject, and knowing where to start can alarm many people.

This guide should help you learn the basics of how to stay on top of Google that will benefit your company in the long run.

Competitor Keyword Analysis

Whatever type of business you run, you will have competitors trying to sell similar products to yours. This is just a part of running a business as you may well know.

Competing against them means you want to ensure that you are visible online, and getting that top spot on Google is the ultimate goal, but how do you do this effectively? The answer is competitor keyword analysis.

What is Competitor Keyword Analysis?

The easiest way to understand what this is, is to break it up into something you might already be familiar with, which is competitor analysis.

One of the most effective ways to compete is to gain an advantage over your competitors, and you do this by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of what they are already doing to see how you could do it better.

Competitor keyword analysis is very similar except that you are narrowing it down to just looking at the keywords your competitors are using and seeing what is and isn’t successful. It is one of the best methods of competing, when you want one of the top spots in the search engine and want to stay there.

Choosing the right keywords are imperative; for example, if you sell clothes you need to find something specific in your niche because when someone types in ‘clothes’ it could bring up millions of sites.

By using the competitor keyword analysis and paying for these keywords through Google AdWords, you could find yourself pushing your way through and driving traffic to your site over a competitor.

Keep Up To Date With Google Updates

To keep on top of Google, you need to keep up to date and in sync with how they rank websites with their specific algorithms. Google will update very frequently, so if you have noticed a slight drop in the traffic that is coming to your website, it could be because Google has ranked important ranking factors differently.

The reasons behind these updates are because Google is constantly looking for ways to stop the low-quality sites pushing through into the top rankings to ensure that companies such as yourselves get the traffic you deserve.

The most recent update that they have released is all about having high-quality pages that are of a high level of E-A-T.

This new Google acronym stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.

Some of the things they expect you to have includes:

• Enough high-quality content
• A positive reputation
• Links to reputable sources
• Your website works efficiently and fast.
• Your website being maintained and updated regularly

Local SEO

It’s not just the algorithms that will affect where your website ranks, but also practising local SEO. Having a website that is SEO friendly is one of the key components to ranking high in Google but focusing on local SEO is very different and can be a very effective marketing method to gain more traffic, more customers, and ultimately help grow your business.

Most companies will have SEO practices in place so they can rank high, but having local SEO will ensure that when more specific searches are put in, i.e. if they search for ‘best coffee shops near me,’ you are found quickly and easily, and rank high in the Google search. By adding their location to the search, they have turned it into a local search instead of a standard one.

You should provide as much information about where you are based on your website so Google can pull this up quickly. People will make an instant decision on what they see and if you don’t give them easy access about who you are, what you sell and where you are based, you could be missing out.

Great Quality Content

When Google ranks your website, one of the vital things they will be basing it on is whether you have high-quality content that is regularly updated. When we say high-quality, we don’t just mean being consistent with spelling, grammar and formatting, but actually the topics you are writing about.

When choosing the topic to write about, you need to make sure that it is relevant to your company and what you are selling, but more importantly that what you are writing is by an expert.

People want to know what they are reading is 100% correct and you can only get this from getting in writers that know the topic extremely well.

You want what you are uploading to have a readability factor to it too. This applies to the actual content you are writing about and how long it is. For instance, you shouldn’t make it too short or too long, you want to get the right balance between keeping your readers attention and boring them because it is too long and wordy.

Your content needs to be:

• Original
• Relevant
• Effective
• Actionable
• Full of answers
• Accurate
• Thought provoking

One way you can increase the traffic to your website is by doing link building which is a type of marketing that will navigate the reader from one website to another through a hyperlink.

To find out more about link building and how you can improve your chances of ranking higher in Google and staying there, make sure to read our other blogs that will help you to use link building successfully. Be sure to contact us for more information on how to stay on top of Google.