15922227 SEO A Guide to Top Google Rankings
Search Engine Optimisation
A Guide to Top Google Rankings
www.writum.com
ABSTRACT
This brief report will guide you through the basics of Search Engine
Optimisation and the methodologies used.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
2|Page
Table of Contents
LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING.........................................................3
What is Google?.................................................................................................. .3
Why is it important to be on the first page?........................................................3
WHY IS GOOGLE THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE OF CHOICE?...........................4
WHAT’S IN IT FOR GOOGLE?....................................... .............................5
HOW IT USED TO WORK........................................... ...............................5
MYTHS OF SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING................................................ ...6
KEYWORD RESEARCH............................................................................ ..7
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAY PER CLICK AND SEO.................................8
HOW MANY FACTORS DOES GOOGLE RANK UPON?....................................9
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR RANKING......................................10
LOCAL BUSINESS RESULTS............................................................. ........10
THE BEST APPROACH TO TOP RANKINGS................................................11
Good Website Optimisation...............................................................................11
Good Inbound Links...........................................................................................11
Online Press Releases.......................................................................................11
Monitored Approach..........................................................................................11
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RANK........................................... .............12
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
3|Page
LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING
What is Google?
I’m sure you have heard the word ‘Google’ already and you may be using it to find
information from the Internet. Google is the best search engine on the Internet, which
continuously enhances the quality of services they provide.
If you perform a simple search for a keyword or a phrase, Google will give you
thousands to millions of results based on how many web articles, websites and other
resources are available related to the word or the phrase that you looked for.
Everyday, there are millions of people looking for information in Google. If you want your
business or company to be found by millions of people for potential business
opportunities, Google is the best tool to go with.
Why is it important to be on the first page?
Imagine the following scenario;
You simply want to find the best, but free e-card website available on the Internet. You
will simply go to Google and type the phrase ‘best free e-cards’ and press enter. Google
will give you about 92,000,000 results (as of the time this article is written) ordered by
the relevance. The first page usually contains about 10 results that are considered the
most relevant to the phrase searched for.
What will you do now? Will you be starting from somewhere in the middle of the results
or will you click on the first result given on the first page? Obviously, it will be the first or
the second result in the first page.
This is how a normal user behaves. If he/she searches for something in Google, he/she
will be most likely to settle with information available on the first page.
Have you ever heard of ‘heat maps’? Heat maps are generated to identify the areas of a
web page that users mostly look at. Sophisticated cameras are used in order to
generate this map, to track the eye movement of users. Following is a heat map
generated for a Google search result page.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
4|Page
The red area indicates what
the users most frequently look
at when a Google result page
is loaded. The orange and
yellow areas are looked at
less intensively while; green
and blue areas get even
lesser attention. The red
horizontal line in the middle of
the page denotes the page
fold. The section below the
page fold is what users do not
see at one glance therefore,
users will need to scroll down
in order to read what appears
below this line.
If you carefully inspect this
image, you will see that;
1. Only first two results
are seen by almost all
users.
2. Only about 60% of the users have looked at the third and forth results.
3. Users rarely navigate to the lower part of the results page located below the page
fold.
If you want to make your business visible to millions of Internet users everyday, then
your website should be listed within the first five results of the Google search page!
Period.
WHY IS GOOGLE THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE OF CHOICE?
There are dozens of search engines available on the Internet facilitating users to find
information they search for. But extraordinarily, Google is preferred by a majority of
Internet users. Let’s explore the reasons behind this choice.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
5|Page
First of all, the results given by Google are the most accurate. Just as an experiment,
you can simply run a search in Google and any other search engine of your choice.
Simply compare the results and you will be amazed. Google always gives you the most
relevant results for your keyword or key phrase.
How does Google give results so accurately? The well known secret is Google’s search
engine algorithm. It is the most sophisticated algorithm used in sorting and ranking
search results. I will not attempt to explain what the Google algorithm is because it is a
domain of its own.
Next, it is hard to fool and trick Google into ranking you. This simply means that you
cannot easily be ranked at the top by spending money. Since Google does not
compromised the search results for financial gains, users are always given the best
results determined by rankings, alone.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR GOOGLE?
Have you ever wondered what’s in it for Google while they give their search service for
free? I’m sure no one will run a business for charity purpose.
Google runs many initiatives that they have launched to run behind the curtains of the
search engine. The main revenue generation is done by millions of search engine users
who visit the search engine everyday. Google has initiatives such as Adwords and Payper-click for business advertising. I’m sure you have noted Google ads in the results
pages and in many websites.
HOW IT USED TO WORK
Since Google ranking is one of the major factors that attract potential customers to
businesses, various businesses and individuals tried to trick the Google ranking
algorithm using many techniques.
Hiding keywords and Meta tags was one of the famous methods used by these parties
to obtain higher rankings. Keywords and Meta tags are two main parameters used in
the Google algorithm when generating the page rank. The more relevant keywords and
Meta tags you have in your web page, the more likely you are to get higher rankings.
Using this scenario, some people tried to stuff web pages with keywords and Meta tags.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
6|Page
Since this looks unnatural to users, the keywords and Meta tags were hidden making it
visible only to Google algorithm.
After this trick was exposed, Google became strict with hidden content of the web
pages. At present Google algorithm will not count hidden content for search engine
rankings and if caught red handed, the website will be banned from Google search
results.
MYTHS OF SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
1. Guaranteed NUMBER ONE ranking
You have seen many SEO companies guaranteeing number one ranking for your
business. In search engine rankings, you cannot guarantee to become number
one. If someone makes such claims, then watch out for possible rip-off.
Search engines do change their algorithm and parameters time-to-time. You can
optimise your website for the algorithm and parameters that is valid for today. But
what will happen tomorrow when the search engine changes its parameter
priority or the algorithm? You will have to start all over again!
People who guarantee to take you to the number one position do not own the
search engine. Therefore, you cannot trust those words at any cost. So what you
should do is, without trying to tweak your website everyday to match search
engine requirements, try to optimise your website to add value to visitors. That is
what is counted by the search engine algorithm.
2. Once you are at the top, you can be there permanently
As I have already mentioned, search engines may change the way they rank web
sites from time-to-time. Although you are at the top at one point, you will
suddenly loose your position after some change.
In addition to that, there are other competitors who compete for the same
position where you are right now. If they constantly add value to their website,
they may get a higher rank, pulling you down in the ranking list.
Therefore, you cannot secure a permanent position in search engine results. To
be at the top, you will have to constantly improve and monitor your website.
3. You don’t have to change the website to get higher rankings
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
7|Page
A ranking is given to your website. So, it is your website that needs to go through
changes to achieve higher rankings in Google. Some SEO companies incorrectly
confirm that you can get to a higher ranking by link-building and through other
external activities (off-page optimisations).
If you want to achieve a good rank in Google, your website will have to be
changed and optimised!
4. SEO leads are not quality as traditional leads
There is no quality difference in the leads you get from SEO and from the
traditional way. Both types of leads (or visitors) to your website look at the same
content; Therefore, there is no difference felt by these leads (or visitors) at the
end of the day. The reality is that SEO leads are among the most effective leads
that can be gained by a company.
If you try to trick the search engine, but does not actually offer quality services,
as per your website optimisation, you will end up gaining leads but your leads will
not become your customers when they find that you don’t offer what you appear
to offer. Therefore, you should enhance your services while investing on SEO.
5. Sub domains can boost your rankings
Of course sub domains can help to increase your ranking, but it cannot
automatically boost your ranking. You will have to constantly monitor and
optimise your primary domain as it contains almost all your important content.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
In the month of August 2008, there have been 11.7 billion searches performed online.
For sure, 11.7 billion keywords have been used to retrieve information from the Internet
for that month. At present, the Internet population should have grown more than that.
The right keywords are the magnets for your website to attract correct type of potential
customers. If you have the right keywords in your website, people who are looking for
the same keywords will easily find you.
If you are looking for the right keywords, there are many ways to get them. First of all,
you can come up with keywords that you think are the best. Although you think they are
the best, the reality may be far different. In order to find real keywords, you will have to
use live data that illustrate the real user behaviours.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
8|Page
There are many websites include Google’s own keyword research tool
(https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) that can help you to find
proper keywords. These tools contain live data and advanced algorithms to predict the
correct keywords. You can either enter a description of your business or the URL of your
website to get the tool to easily predict the appropriate keywords.
Simply, Google for the keyword ‘keyword research’ and you will find plenty of tools. Isn’t
it ironic?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAY PER CLICK AND SEO
You may have noticed that there are three sections in a Google search results page as
indicated below.
The sections highlighted in orange colour are the pay-per-click advertisements and the
section highlighted in blue is the normal search results (organic results).
Follow are the differences between SEO and PPC (Pay per click).
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
9|Page
HOW MANY FACTORS DOES GOOGLE RANK UPON?
There are many factors that are accounted for when Google’s algorithm decides your
website’s ranking. Here is a list of some of the most important factors;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Keyword usage in header, body, and other places of the web page
Quality and consistency of navigation links (internal and outgoing)
Top level domain name extension, hyphens in the URL, and URL length
Web page file size
Freshness of the pages and frequency of content update
The size of the website (number of pages)
Website age
Age of website Vs age of the files and content
The quality and quantity of incoming (inbound) links
The number and the quality of the directories where the website is listed
The site map
Page traffic
Bookmarks by users and frequency in which they are added and removed
Domain registration time (calculated using domain expiration date)
Server location
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
10 | P a g e
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR RANKING
Out of all the factors that affect your website ranking, there are a couple of factors that
really matter.
When it comes to on-page optimisations (optimisations done in your website), the
keywords play the key role. As we have already discussed, if you can employ the right
keywords for your business, you can get a top rank in Google results.
When it comes to off-page optimisations (optimisations that take place outside of your
website), link-building plays a major role.
Link-building is the process of creating incoming links to one’s own website. These links
can come to your website from blogs, article directories, website directories,
newsletters, etc. When you have more links and when they come from sources with
good Google ranks, you automatically get a higher rank for your website.
LOCAL BUSINESS RESULTS
Have you ever noted that sometimes when you search Google, you are given results
with a map? If you click the pins of the map, you will be taken to a bigger Google map
where it lists the local businesses related to your search keyword. In addition to that,
you will get a list of business names, website URL, and their contact numbers in the
Google search result page.
This is one of the latest features added to Google search in order to make everybody’s
life easier. This way, users can simply find the best local businesses that they are
looking for, including the map and directions to the location.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
11 | P a g e
If you want to have your business correctly listed in Local Business Results, check to
see if the pin points at your correct address. If not, simply find the relevant pin in Google
maps and move it to the correct location. In addition to that, you can include your logo
and other relevant details. Once you are done, Google will validate your claim to ensure
that you are the rightful owner of the business.
THE BEST APPROACH TO TOP RANKINGS
If you are keen in getting top rankings to your website, you will have to follow a
structured and a methodological approach. Trying to do everything suggested in Internet
forums or claimed by SEO companies will be a waste of money and time.
There are four elements in the process of approaching the best Google rankings.
Good Website Optimisation
As we have already discussed, good website optimisation is the place to start. This
process will make the website search engine friendly while adding a lot of value to
website visitors.
Good Inbound Links
Link-building is what gives quality incoming links to your website. This directly increases
your search engine rank. Apart from that, more web pages will have reference to your
website, generating more Internet traffic.
Online Press Releases
This is a great way to let the Internet users become aware of what you are up to.
Placing your press release somewhere that thousands of people visit everyday, will
definitely pump you a lot of traffic.
Monitored Approach
After performing the above three steps, it is then time to monitor the search engine page
rank constantly. It takes some time for the website to go up in rankings. Watch out for
the competitors and how their ranks change overtime. If you feel like you are not
catching up as fast as you anticipated, then go through the same cycle of optimisations
again to fine tune your end.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
12 | P a g e
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RANK
This is one of the most popular questions asked by website and business owners who
are yet to go through SEO.
If the search results are uncompetitive, then you will be able to get a top rank within
even a month’s time. But if it is otherwise, then it will take longer than that, based on
many other factors.
If your website is brand new, then you have a disadvantage over the older competitors.
If the competitors are older than you in numbers of years, then it will take at least one
year for you to get on top rankings unless competitors are bad in marketing and linkbuilding.
If you find the best keywords at once, then the time it takes for you to reach the top will
be less. Trying with multiple keywords and finding the best keywords a little later down
the journey will only delay your progress. But in most of cases, the latter scenario has
been the incorrect, but the commonly used approach.
If you have started link-building with an older website, then you can aggressively build
inbound links without getting penalised by Google. This will rapidly boost your Google
rank as well. If the site is relatively new, then your link-building exercise should be
methodological and consistent. In the latter case, the website owner will have to wait
more time than the former case to get to the top.
When considering the factors involved in Google rankings, it can be safely assumed
that it will take from one month to one year to get on top of Google search results.
Remember that, it all depends on how optimised your website is and how competitive
the others are!
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
A Guide to Top Google Rankings
www.writum.com
ABSTRACT
This brief report will guide you through the basics of Search Engine
Optimisation and the methodologies used.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
2|Page
Table of Contents
LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING.........................................................3
What is Google?.................................................................................................. .3
Why is it important to be on the first page?........................................................3
WHY IS GOOGLE THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE OF CHOICE?...........................4
WHAT’S IN IT FOR GOOGLE?....................................... .............................5
HOW IT USED TO WORK........................................... ...............................5
MYTHS OF SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING................................................ ...6
KEYWORD RESEARCH............................................................................ ..7
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAY PER CLICK AND SEO.................................8
HOW MANY FACTORS DOES GOOGLE RANK UPON?....................................9
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR RANKING......................................10
LOCAL BUSINESS RESULTS............................................................. ........10
THE BEST APPROACH TO TOP RANKINGS................................................11
Good Website Optimisation...............................................................................11
Good Inbound Links...........................................................................................11
Online Press Releases.......................................................................................11
Monitored Approach..........................................................................................11
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RANK........................................... .............12
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
3|Page
LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING
What is Google?
I’m sure you have heard the word ‘Google’ already and you may be using it to find
information from the Internet. Google is the best search engine on the Internet, which
continuously enhances the quality of services they provide.
If you perform a simple search for a keyword or a phrase, Google will give you
thousands to millions of results based on how many web articles, websites and other
resources are available related to the word or the phrase that you looked for.
Everyday, there are millions of people looking for information in Google. If you want your
business or company to be found by millions of people for potential business
opportunities, Google is the best tool to go with.
Why is it important to be on the first page?
Imagine the following scenario;
You simply want to find the best, but free e-card website available on the Internet. You
will simply go to Google and type the phrase ‘best free e-cards’ and press enter. Google
will give you about 92,000,000 results (as of the time this article is written) ordered by
the relevance. The first page usually contains about 10 results that are considered the
most relevant to the phrase searched for.
What will you do now? Will you be starting from somewhere in the middle of the results
or will you click on the first result given on the first page? Obviously, it will be the first or
the second result in the first page.
This is how a normal user behaves. If he/she searches for something in Google, he/she
will be most likely to settle with information available on the first page.
Have you ever heard of ‘heat maps’? Heat maps are generated to identify the areas of a
web page that users mostly look at. Sophisticated cameras are used in order to
generate this map, to track the eye movement of users. Following is a heat map
generated for a Google search result page.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
4|Page
The red area indicates what
the users most frequently look
at when a Google result page
is loaded. The orange and
yellow areas are looked at
less intensively while; green
and blue areas get even
lesser attention. The red
horizontal line in the middle of
the page denotes the page
fold. The section below the
page fold is what users do not
see at one glance therefore,
users will need to scroll down
in order to read what appears
below this line.
If you carefully inspect this
image, you will see that;
1. Only first two results
are seen by almost all
users.
2. Only about 60% of the users have looked at the third and forth results.
3. Users rarely navigate to the lower part of the results page located below the page
fold.
If you want to make your business visible to millions of Internet users everyday, then
your website should be listed within the first five results of the Google search page!
Period.
WHY IS GOOGLE THE BEST SEARCH ENGINE OF CHOICE?
There are dozens of search engines available on the Internet facilitating users to find
information they search for. But extraordinarily, Google is preferred by a majority of
Internet users. Let’s explore the reasons behind this choice.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
5|Page
First of all, the results given by Google are the most accurate. Just as an experiment,
you can simply run a search in Google and any other search engine of your choice.
Simply compare the results and you will be amazed. Google always gives you the most
relevant results for your keyword or key phrase.
How does Google give results so accurately? The well known secret is Google’s search
engine algorithm. It is the most sophisticated algorithm used in sorting and ranking
search results. I will not attempt to explain what the Google algorithm is because it is a
domain of its own.
Next, it is hard to fool and trick Google into ranking you. This simply means that you
cannot easily be ranked at the top by spending money. Since Google does not
compromised the search results for financial gains, users are always given the best
results determined by rankings, alone.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR GOOGLE?
Have you ever wondered what’s in it for Google while they give their search service for
free? I’m sure no one will run a business for charity purpose.
Google runs many initiatives that they have launched to run behind the curtains of the
search engine. The main revenue generation is done by millions of search engine users
who visit the search engine everyday. Google has initiatives such as Adwords and Payper-click for business advertising. I’m sure you have noted Google ads in the results
pages and in many websites.
HOW IT USED TO WORK
Since Google ranking is one of the major factors that attract potential customers to
businesses, various businesses and individuals tried to trick the Google ranking
algorithm using many techniques.
Hiding keywords and Meta tags was one of the famous methods used by these parties
to obtain higher rankings. Keywords and Meta tags are two main parameters used in
the Google algorithm when generating the page rank. The more relevant keywords and
Meta tags you have in your web page, the more likely you are to get higher rankings.
Using this scenario, some people tried to stuff web pages with keywords and Meta tags.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
6|Page
Since this looks unnatural to users, the keywords and Meta tags were hidden making it
visible only to Google algorithm.
After this trick was exposed, Google became strict with hidden content of the web
pages. At present Google algorithm will not count hidden content for search engine
rankings and if caught red handed, the website will be banned from Google search
results.
MYTHS OF SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
1. Guaranteed NUMBER ONE ranking
You have seen many SEO companies guaranteeing number one ranking for your
business. In search engine rankings, you cannot guarantee to become number
one. If someone makes such claims, then watch out for possible rip-off.
Search engines do change their algorithm and parameters time-to-time. You can
optimise your website for the algorithm and parameters that is valid for today. But
what will happen tomorrow when the search engine changes its parameter
priority or the algorithm? You will have to start all over again!
People who guarantee to take you to the number one position do not own the
search engine. Therefore, you cannot trust those words at any cost. So what you
should do is, without trying to tweak your website everyday to match search
engine requirements, try to optimise your website to add value to visitors. That is
what is counted by the search engine algorithm.
2. Once you are at the top, you can be there permanently
As I have already mentioned, search engines may change the way they rank web
sites from time-to-time. Although you are at the top at one point, you will
suddenly loose your position after some change.
In addition to that, there are other competitors who compete for the same
position where you are right now. If they constantly add value to their website,
they may get a higher rank, pulling you down in the ranking list.
Therefore, you cannot secure a permanent position in search engine results. To
be at the top, you will have to constantly improve and monitor your website.
3. You don’t have to change the website to get higher rankings
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
7|Page
A ranking is given to your website. So, it is your website that needs to go through
changes to achieve higher rankings in Google. Some SEO companies incorrectly
confirm that you can get to a higher ranking by link-building and through other
external activities (off-page optimisations).
If you want to achieve a good rank in Google, your website will have to be
changed and optimised!
4. SEO leads are not quality as traditional leads
There is no quality difference in the leads you get from SEO and from the
traditional way. Both types of leads (or visitors) to your website look at the same
content; Therefore, there is no difference felt by these leads (or visitors) at the
end of the day. The reality is that SEO leads are among the most effective leads
that can be gained by a company.
If you try to trick the search engine, but does not actually offer quality services,
as per your website optimisation, you will end up gaining leads but your leads will
not become your customers when they find that you don’t offer what you appear
to offer. Therefore, you should enhance your services while investing on SEO.
5. Sub domains can boost your rankings
Of course sub domains can help to increase your ranking, but it cannot
automatically boost your ranking. You will have to constantly monitor and
optimise your primary domain as it contains almost all your important content.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
In the month of August 2008, there have been 11.7 billion searches performed online.
For sure, 11.7 billion keywords have been used to retrieve information from the Internet
for that month. At present, the Internet population should have grown more than that.
The right keywords are the magnets for your website to attract correct type of potential
customers. If you have the right keywords in your website, people who are looking for
the same keywords will easily find you.
If you are looking for the right keywords, there are many ways to get them. First of all,
you can come up with keywords that you think are the best. Although you think they are
the best, the reality may be far different. In order to find real keywords, you will have to
use live data that illustrate the real user behaviours.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
8|Page
There are many websites include Google’s own keyword research tool
(https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) that can help you to find
proper keywords. These tools contain live data and advanced algorithms to predict the
correct keywords. You can either enter a description of your business or the URL of your
website to get the tool to easily predict the appropriate keywords.
Simply, Google for the keyword ‘keyword research’ and you will find plenty of tools. Isn’t
it ironic?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAY PER CLICK AND SEO
You may have noticed that there are three sections in a Google search results page as
indicated below.
The sections highlighted in orange colour are the pay-per-click advertisements and the
section highlighted in blue is the normal search results (organic results).
Follow are the differences between SEO and PPC (Pay per click).
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
9|Page
HOW MANY FACTORS DOES GOOGLE RANK UPON?
There are many factors that are accounted for when Google’s algorithm decides your
website’s ranking. Here is a list of some of the most important factors;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Keyword usage in header, body, and other places of the web page
Quality and consistency of navigation links (internal and outgoing)
Top level domain name extension, hyphens in the URL, and URL length
Web page file size
Freshness of the pages and frequency of content update
The size of the website (number of pages)
Website age
Age of website Vs age of the files and content
The quality and quantity of incoming (inbound) links
The number and the quality of the directories where the website is listed
The site map
Page traffic
Bookmarks by users and frequency in which they are added and removed
Domain registration time (calculated using domain expiration date)
Server location
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
10 | P a g e
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS FOR RANKING
Out of all the factors that affect your website ranking, there are a couple of factors that
really matter.
When it comes to on-page optimisations (optimisations done in your website), the
keywords play the key role. As we have already discussed, if you can employ the right
keywords for your business, you can get a top rank in Google results.
When it comes to off-page optimisations (optimisations that take place outside of your
website), link-building plays a major role.
Link-building is the process of creating incoming links to one’s own website. These links
can come to your website from blogs, article directories, website directories,
newsletters, etc. When you have more links and when they come from sources with
good Google ranks, you automatically get a higher rank for your website.
LOCAL BUSINESS RESULTS
Have you ever noted that sometimes when you search Google, you are given results
with a map? If you click the pins of the map, you will be taken to a bigger Google map
where it lists the local businesses related to your search keyword. In addition to that,
you will get a list of business names, website URL, and their contact numbers in the
Google search result page.
This is one of the latest features added to Google search in order to make everybody’s
life easier. This way, users can simply find the best local businesses that they are
looking for, including the map and directions to the location.
Copyright
www.writum.com 2009
©
11 | P a g e
If you want to have your business correctly listed in Local Business Results, check to
see if the pin points at your correct address. If not, simply find the relevant pin in Google
maps and move it to the correct location. In addition to that, you can include your logo
and other relevant details. Once you are done, Google will validate your claim to ensure
that you are the rightful owner of the business.
THE BEST APPROACH TO TOP RANKINGS
If you are keen in getting top rankings to your website, you will have to follow a
structured and a methodological approach. Trying to do everything suggested in Internet
forums or claimed by SEO companies will be a waste of money and time.
There are four elements in the process of approaching the best Google rankings.
Good Website Optimisation
As we have already discussed, good website optimisation is the place to start. This
process will make the website search engine friendly while adding a lot of value to
website visitors.
Good Inbound Links
Link-building is what gives quality incoming links to your website. This directly increases
your search engine rank. Apart from that, more web pages will have reference to your
website, generating more Internet traffic.
Online Press Releases
This is a great way to let the Internet users become aware of what you are up to.
Placing your press release somewhere that thousands of people visit everyday, will
definitely pump you a lot of traffic.
Monitored Approach
After performing the above three steps, it is then time to monitor the search engine page
rank constantly. It takes some time for the website to go up in rankings. Watch out for
the competitors and how their ranks change overtime. If you feel like you are not
catching up as fast as you anticipated, then go through the same cycle of optimisations
again to fine tune your end.
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12 | P a g e
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RANK
This is one of the most popular questions asked by website and business owners who
are yet to go through SEO.
If the search results are uncompetitive, then you will be able to get a top rank within
even a month’s time. But if it is otherwise, then it will take longer than that, based on
many other factors.
If your website is brand new, then you have a disadvantage over the older competitors.
If the competitors are older than you in numbers of years, then it will take at least one
year for you to get on top rankings unless competitors are bad in marketing and linkbuilding.
If you find the best keywords at once, then the time it takes for you to reach the top will
be less. Trying with multiple keywords and finding the best keywords a little later down
the journey will only delay your progress. But in most of cases, the latter scenario has
been the incorrect, but the commonly used approach.
If you have started link-building with an older website, then you can aggressively build
inbound links without getting penalised by Google. This will rapidly boost your Google
rank as well. If the site is relatively new, then your link-building exercise should be
methodological and consistent. In the latter case, the website owner will have to wait
more time than the former case to get to the top.
When considering the factors involved in Google rankings, it can be safely assumed
that it will take from one month to one year to get on top of Google search results.
Remember that, it all depends on how optimised your website is and how competitive
the others are!
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