Have you ever searched your own website and found that you’re not on the first page of Google?

Frustrating, isn’t it?

There’s a way around this, however; with a clever search engine optimization strategy.

What tricks can you implement to get yourself on that all-important first page, and consequently attract customers to your business?

It’s all in the Domain Name

This is a starting point, and a crucial one.

Ideally, fitting your main keyword into the domain and choosing .com (a top-level domain) is a simple way of getting yourself onto that first page of Google.

Name the pages of your site descriptively, including relevant wording in the URLs so that Google will know precisely what they are.

Don’t use phrases like Page 1; an example of effective page labeling for good SEO results might be a shopping service naming a sub-page ‘/personalshopping’ if they offer that as an extra.

Use Sitelinks

Sitelinks will essentially make your Google search result stand out more when you appear on the searcher’s screen.

It also gives your official site prominence above any ‘unofficial’ connections, such as Wikipedia.

It’s actually quite rare for site links to show up in a Google search, but you can do a few tricks to get them out there.

Construct an XML sitemap and send this to Google, but also work on your site so it has a clear placement of pages and sub-pages.

Including pages such as About Us, Contact Us and Privacy Policy will help with this as well.

The Google Knowledge Graph

This is when Google collates the data out there about a particular company/person/event etc and creates a box on the first page of Google that will appear with the results of a search,

This all tends to be more likely if you have a Wikipedia page and are well known but they are actually becoming more common now for small businesses. Knowledge Graph responses are now, in fact, applicable to one out of five searches.

It’s also important to ensure your contact details are correct here and that you verify your location info on Google Maps.

Be Mobile Friendly

In October 2016, mobile web browsing overtook desktop for the first time – with phones and tablets reducing desktop searches to 48.7%.

So – it goes without saying that you must make sure your site is optimized for mobile browsing.

Think of it this way – on a mobile device, the first page of Google is even smaller – so aim for the top spot.

Images

Visuals attract customers, and with more eye-pleasing imagery comes more clicks, and with more clicks comes a higher Google ranking.

The trick to beating competitors here is to generate your own original content when it comes to images – and ensuring they are of excellent, professional quality.

Bad images are as useful as no images.

Stay on the First Page of Google

For further advice on SEO and landing that coveted spot on Google’s first search page, consider RedBox SEM.

Every one of our services is geared towards helping business owners reach their target market through a platform that is often mysterious and intimidating to many outside the industry.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you be the master of your business niche.