How do I get my website to the top of google?

Updated 8/15/2018

The best way to get your website to the top of Google is to make your web page the most relevant to terms or phrases that a person types into Google search.  Google wants to make users happy by providing results that are most relevant to their search query. Google does this because it makes money when you use its search engine (and click on their ads), so it’s financially motivated to give you the best results.  If you don’t get the best results, Google fears that the next time you search you’ll use Bing, Yahoo!, or another search engine.  The question isn’t how you get to the top of Google, but rather how you make your website the most relevant to the terms and phrases that people enter in a Google search.

Once you get your site to the top of Google how do you convert visitors into leads?

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Who you are, what you do and why

The key to getting a website to be the most relevant to what people search in Google is to accurately say who you are, describe what you do, and show why you do it.

• Who You Are – The “who you are” section of your website is typically your homepage, about page, or any bio page you have. A visitor needs to know who you are and what you’re about as quickly as possible.

For example, on my homepage, you see a big picture of me (so handsome :p), our company logo, and a description of what we do.  “We Reduce Your Client Acquisition Costs and Get You More Leads.”

• What You Do – Content that breaks down the key components of your main service offering is your “what you do.” Describing the elements of your business or law practice is critical because Google often shows these pages in search results (versus your home page).
• Why – Showing “why you do it” is usually the most difficult aspect of establishing your online identity. How do you show your passion online?  You can’t write 100 times “I’m passionate about what I do.”  You need to show this passion by contributing both thought leadership pieces and generally helpful content on your website and other websites.

The terms that people search for matters. The way people describe “what you do” and the terms they use to search for the solutions your business or law firm offers are very important to understand, and more importantly incorporate, into your website.  For instance, when I first started, I called myself an “SEO architect”, which I thought sounded more refined than a “digital marketer”. However, in reality, no one searched for the term “SEO architect” so calling myself that wasn’t helping me rank in Google search.  I was focusing on the wrong keywords.  The key to SEO if finding the top keyword that you want your website to show up for.

Protip: Here is quick way to start building your keyword list.

Search term peoples use to find your website break down into three main tiers.  The first tier consists of your branded terms, meaning your business name and different variations of that business name. These are the “who you are” terms.  The second tier houses the “what you do” terms.  These are search terms that are relevant to what your business does; for example, a personal injury attorney website should have dedicated pages to each different type of case the attorney accepts (e.g., premises liability, car accidents, dog bites).  These are the pages that have the best chance to rank for  search phrase like “Chicago premises liability lawyer.”

The third tier of terms involves the “why terms.”   Your blog articles and long-form articles on your website that have very narrow topics, offer specific solutions, or show thought leadership are the pages that show up in Google for these types of searches.  For instance, a blog article about “How do I get my website to the top of Google” will rank higher in search engines even if it’s on a small website (cough, cough – I’m talking about this article) than a less specific article appearing on a bigger and more powerful website.

Most business websites answer the “who” and “what” questions successfully, but websites that answer the “why” questions get more traffic and more leads.

Why is another business’s website higher than mine in Google?

If another website is ranking higher than your website, it is because the Google algorithm determined that the other site is more relevant to the users’ search queries than yours.  This begs the question: “How does the Google algorithm come up with that answer?”  At least 200 factors are involved, but they all boil down to two things: content and backlinks.  If I have amazing content and great backlinks, an SEO Arch…Digital Marketer like myself can get almost any site to rank given enough time.  Backlinks are links from other websites back to yours.  The better the website that links to yours, the more impact the outbound link will have on your website.  In the world of search engine optimization, there are no real lasting tricks.  It all comes down to great content and having great links.

How do I make a website relevant to what people are searching for on Google?

The first step in getting high rankings is to breakdown your business or law firm into 5-12 main categories, label them with a key term, and then do “keyword research” to find similar terms that people use on Google.  If your personal injury law firm that mostly does car accidents, medical malpractice, and premises liability you’ll want to have dedicated pages for each of those practice areas and use multiple key terms on each practice area page.

Using your keywords, write great content with terms that you know people use in google searches.  The more information a webpage has for each specific business or practice area, the greater the likelihood Google will rank that webpage for search terms that can be used to describe that page.    There is an art to this – so whatever you do, don’t awkwardly stuff “key terms” into your article.  If it looks funny to a reader, it looks doubly funny to Google and it will hurt your rankings.

I have all of that, but I’m still not #1

The websites that rank well answer the “why” questions by creating GREAT content and then get backlinks have the greatest chance to rank in Google.  They have dedicated pages or blog posts explaining things like “6 Things to Do Immediately After a Car Accident”, “11 Tips for Documenting Your Slip and Fall Injuries” or even “The 6 Most Terrifying Medical Malpractice Cases Ever ” (if the site is for a personal injury law firm and not, for instance, a tax law firm).   People who spend the time and energy to commit to answering the “whys” will have the most success in ranking highly in search engines and getting quality leads online.  Well…all of that plus the right Digital Marketer to guide you to your number 1 rankings!