Learn the latest SEO strategies to rank on Google’s first page this year. Discover the most effective techniques to improve your website’s visibility, grow traffic, and generate more leads. Get started with this comprehensive guide.
In today’s digital age, being on the first page of Google search results is crucial for businesses to attract more visitors and generate more quality leads.
EdgeBright found that 68 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. Also, the study revealed that approximately 53 percent of all website traffic comes from organic searches, meaning an effective inbound strategy can grow your traffic by over half.
And the good news is SEO leads have a 16.6 percent close rate.
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However, ranking on Google’s first page in 2024 isn’t a walk in the park. For ten slots on the Google front page, you’ll compete with thousands of websites, including established brands.
But following the tips in this guide can help you pull it off. So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Perform Site Audit with SEO PowerSuite
Website SEO audit helps you identify technical issues on your website.
Addressing these issues can help optimize your website structure, speed, and indexability, improving your ranking chances. We strongly recommend SEO PowerSuite for technical SEO.
And here is how you can use the tool:
- Use the Site Auditor tool to identify any technical SEO issues on your website, such as broken links, missing alt tags, and slow page speed, and optimize them.
- Assess and fix the mobile-friendliness issues.
- Use the Visualization tab to improve your internal linking.
- Print the report to guide your technical SEO optimization.
Pro Tip: SEO PowerSuite has a free version. Download the software and start with this plan. Only upgrade when necessary.
Go for the Low Hanging Fruits
Long-tail keywords offer you low-hanging fruits to build from.
These keywords are less competitive, and targeting them helps your business gain immediate results. Also, the good thing with these keywords is that they let you target customers at every stage of their buying cycle.
For example, someone Googling “affordable graphic design laptop shops in Tempe” is at an advanced buying stage, while those searching “best laptops for graphic designs” is at the product consideration stage.
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Building your SEO around this strategy can help you rank on Google’s first page for several relevant keywords. Thankfully, SEMrush can help you identify these long-tail keywords effortlessly. It provides a list of expanded search words based on the keyword you enter.
Pro Tip: Use SEMRush’s Keyword Magic Tool and adjust filters for keyword volume, difficulty, and other factors to find long tail keywords.
Peek Over your Competitors’ Shoulders
One of our best SEO approaches is reverse engineering competitors’ SEO strategies.
We call this the “Lazy Man’s approach to search engine optimization.”
Knowing what your top competitors are doing and besting them can help you outrank them and dominate the competition. We use Marketing Miner to achieve this.
It’s an SEO tool for data-driven marketers. The tool provides us with actionable data on our competitors’ marketing strategies, including content they produce, keywords they rank for, their backlink profiles, and other powerful insights to beat them at their games.
Pro Tip: Marketing Miner is available for free. Use the free credits to get ahead of the competition. You can upgrade later.
Create Better Content With Surfer SEO
Content is king.
You’ll need tonnes of it to rank on Google and dominate the competition.
While you’re at it, we recommend using this pillar-cluster content marketing model to transform your blog for higher SERP rankings. Also, leverage internal links to spread your page authority and improve discoverability. They also help with your Google ranking.
For better results, we advise that you link the pillar content and each cluster content to the landing page you wish to rank, if any.
Surfer SEO can help you create better search engine-friendly content, and here is how to use it:
- Keyword research: Use Surfer SEO to find keywords related to your topic and identify the best ones to target relative to search volume and competition.
- Competitors analysis: With Surfer SEO, you can analyze the top-ranking pages in your target niche and see their strategies.
- Content optimization: Use the insights from Surfer SEO to optimize your content, such as using the right keywords, writing a compelling headline, and creating engaging and informative content.
- Monitor your progress: Surfer SEO can help monitor your content’s performance, so you can make necessary improvements to boost your rankings and channel more traffic to your site.
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Establish Authority With External Links
Building external links are vital to ranking on Google’s first page.
It demonstrates to Google that people endorse your content, boosting your domain authority and impacting your rankings. Backlinks are one of Google’s most important ranking signals, and getting as many of them as possible can put you ahead of the pack.
However, acquiring authority backlinks can be a hassle. You could consider using Link Management as a short-term solution to rank your pages quickly. Their backlinks come at a small fee. But do note that Google frowns at link buying, but many people have seen results using them.
If you decide to proceed, we recommend using their article backlinks. Ensure the links come from reputable sources, and don’t forget to drip them.
For a much better and long-term backlink-building option, guest post on authority websites and reach out to reputable blogs for collaborations. You could also use Adsy to discover relevant guest posting opportunities. The service can scale your backlink profile massively.
Pro Tip: Use Adsy and Link Management to get high-quality backlinks and automate the process. Also, SEO PowerSuite has a built-in link prospecting tool.
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Get Ahead With Structured Data
Using Schema structured data is one of the trending SEO best practices.
Structured data helps search engines understand and interpret your website’s content, helping them to index your site better and present your content in search results pages. It also lets Google display rich snippets alongside your organic results.
These snippets help customers find the information they’re seeking conveniently. They can boost your relevance and increase your organic click-through rate when tailored appropriately.
We have seen massive ranking boosts implementing just LocalBusiness and FAQ schema on clients’ websites. Schema structure data works. Sadly, several businesses find integrating structured data into their SEO challenging.
Taking the first step can put you well ahead of the pack.
Pro Tip: Use this technical SEO tool to generate the appropriate schema for your pages. Afterward, add it to the page’s HTML with Google Tag Manager.
Boost Ranking With Videos
You can boost your ranking by embedding YouTube videos on your pages.
Many SEO professionals agree there is a correlation between having a video on a page and seeing improved search ranking. We tested this claim, and it worked for us. Since then, we have added videos to clients’ websites to improve their ranking.
Some of the tools we use are:
- Lumen5
- Biteable
- Canva
- Animoto
- InVideo
Pro Tip: Create a less than 60 seconds explainer video and embed it on the page you wish to rank and markup the video. Alternatively, source relevant videos from YouTube and embed them on your blog posts.
Ranking on the First Page of Google: What Next?
Ranking on the first page of google is the dream of most businesses.
It might take a lot of work, but it is doable with the correct methods and techniques. And that is what this article is all about, and following the tips here can help you pull it off effortlessly.
When the traffic start coming in, we recommend you use our favorite lead generation tool, Collect.Chat, to convert the visitors to paying customers and automate your lead generation processes.
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First Page Google Ranking Frequently Asked Questions
What Tools Do I Need to Rank on Google?
Several online tools can help you rank on Google. Here are some we’ve used and recommend for you:
- SEMRush
- SurferSEO
- LinkManagement
- Collect.Chat
- Marketing Miner
How Many Backlinks Do I Need to Rank On Google First Page?
The number of backlinks you need depends on keyword difficulty and your domain authority.
However, these factors will only make a difference if your backlinks are from authority websites.
So, focus on the quality of your backlinks first. Afterward, you can use a tool like SEMRush to help with backlinking.
Can Google Ads Help Improve My Search Ranking?
No, using Google Ads does not directly improve your Google search results ranking.
However, having a well-designed and functional website can boost your score, and advertising can increase site visitors, indirectly affecting your ranking.
What Activities Can Damage My Performance in Search Results?
You can damage your performance in search results by overloading a web page with keywords to manipulate its search engine ranking, creating duplicate content, spamming blog comments with links to your website, or violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. Other activities include:
- Link buying or selling
- SEO cloaking
- Using hidden texts or links
- Over-optimizing anchor texts
- Using doorway pages
- Manipulating metadata or rich snippets
How Does Content Affect My Google Ranking?
Content affects your Google ranking in several ways, including:
- Relevance: Your content must be relevant and match what users seek for
- Keywords: Use relevant keywords and phrases in your content
- Quality: You must produce high-quality, informative, and well-written content
- User engagement: Time spent on site, clicks, and other metrics indicating user engagement
- Freshness: Google favors regularly updated content
- Link popularity: Quality and quantity of other sites linking to your content.
How Long Does It Take to Rank on Google’s First Page?
It can take three to six months with regular work to rank on Google’s first page, although this time frame can vary.
Several factors can influence how quickly you rank on Google’s first page, including how competitive your keywords are, how well-written your content is, its relevance, your website’s architecture, and how strong your backlink profile is.
Can Social Media Help Improve My Ranking?
Yes, social media may improve your website’s rank in search results.
Search engines may consider social media signals a ranking factor since they might show how well-liked and credible a website is (via likes, shares, and follows).
Furthermore, having a significant social media following may increase website traffic and boost your rating.