How to Get on the Google Top 10 List

A question I am often asked by new clients is why do some websites rank higher on Google than others? This question can be difficult to answer due to the number of variables involved and the fact that Google’s search algorithms keep themselves secret. However, there are a number of rules that apply to all websites, regardless of their theme, purpose, or age. I recently acquired a client who had a website built for her business a year ago. On-site optimization had been poorly done and no other direct efforts were made to promote the site. She was frustrated that her search for her top keywords landed her on page 3 of Google and his company simply didn’t exist on Yahoo and Bing.

Many business owners are frustrated with search engine rankings because it often takes 3-6 months to achieve measurable results, even if the job is done by a professional SEO consultant. On closer inspection, the reasons for this become apparent, but this is little comfort to a start-up struggling with cash flow and brand promotion. Customers want to know how to get past the millions of other websites that are struggling to get their keywords to the top of page one on Google.

Sometimes I find it best to answer this question with an overview I’ve created of the process:

1. Submission of the URL(s) of the website to the main search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).
2. Search engines process the URL submission (this can sometimes take weeks).
3. Search engines include the URL in their list of websites to crawl (this simply means that the search engines formally acknowledge the existence of the website).
4. Search engines visit the site and index its content based on URL, page titles, meta descriptions, individual page content, and other unknown criteria.
5. The website begins to display and search live based on the criteria in step four after running it through its algorithms in an attempt to return relevant results to the search engine.
6. Search engines then start tracking the click-through rate of human visitors to the website from the search results.
7. Finally, search engines start to track the quantity and quality of backlinks to the website (these are links placed on other websites that point to your website and quality here means how closely related the content of the site is website of the link with the information of your website). )
8. A period of time elapses (usually 3-6 months) and all of these steps combined produce an overall page rank for your site on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

After this, the next question is usually something like: “Okay, so how do I get more clicks and backlinks?”

The answer to this question is much easier to explain. Simply put, you need a lot of well written content that changes frequently, in a lot of relevant backlinks from other high page rank websites. The reason why do-it-yourself SEO often fails is not because it’s black magic, but because it takes an incredible amount of time to find quality backlinks and set them up. Another bottleneck is the fact that most business owners are focused on running their business and do not enjoy writing content and articles. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but in my experience, most business owners prefer to assign this task to an employee or outsource it entirely.

So how much content and how many backlinks?

Static pages on your website, such as the home page, about us, contact, etc. it can be created and rarely changed. However, having a new company section and blog with frequently changing content is a must for higher search engine rankings. Each of these entries creates another entry point for a potential customer to find your product or service. You also need to create a large network of microsites pointing to your main website. Examples of useful sites are howto.com, Facebook, Blogger, yelp.com, and the list goes on and on. When choosing a website to use, remember to determine the site’s page rank. Any related backlinks are good, but as a general rule of thumb, you should try to build microsites on 3+ page rank websites. The higher the page rank, the more link value will be transferred to your website. When I create content for my clients, I try to do a minimum of 2 blog posts per week and 100 microsites the first three months of service. This level of content and backlink creation is a solid foundation for future efforts. For clients in industries with highly competitive keywords, such as real estate, insurance, etc. I often recommend a daily blog post and 200-300 microsites. These numbers may seem staggering at first, and require an enormous amount of effort to set them up. However, at the end of a campaign like this, it’s not uncommon for a website to rank several top 10 spots on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

A word about Copy and Paste/Rotate items

The number one goal of search engines is to return organic search results that are as relevant as possible to the search engine query. Their entire business model is based on this goal and they take it very seriously. The bottom line here is that Google hates stolen content or articles that have been slightly tweaked to look different. Search engines operate programs that look for this in the value of these links accordingly.

So, to run a successful initial SEO campaign, you need to create original content and backlinks from sites that are relevant and likely not to be classified as a source of spam. Ask your SEO company for a list of the sites they intend to use for your campaign before they start. If they are unwilling to provide this information, or if they keep their methods secret, then it is likely that they are either lying to you or charging an extremely high price for the services they provide. The mark of an expert SEO Consultant is transparency. His talents will be writing and patience rather than self-proclaimed superhero powers to get his site to the top of Google.

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