How to Get to the Top of Google Search Engine Results in 5 Steps

You’ve invested an incredible amount of effort crafting your website copy. And you want to ensure that as many people see it as possible. That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.

Whether you want your website to create awareness or generate leads, SEO can help get the results you need. Some writers don’t bother with SEO, and it is a huge mistake. Billions of people use Google’s search engine everyday. But, most of them will not go past the first page of their Google search results. So, if your page does not show up there, your hard work will go to waste.

Although SEO sounds complicated, it is not. SEO is actually a simple process that can get you to the top of Google. And you can get it done in five easy steps.

Step 1: Keyword Research

What is the difference between an attorney and a lawyer? When it comes to SEO, word choice is everything! And you can use the Google Keyword Planner to see which words your audience is searching for. To do keyword research, type in a word or phrase that describes your business. This tool will display keyword ideas. These “ideas” are keywords that other businesses are paying big bucks for on AdWords.

For example, I did keyword research for a Sight Programs page using the phrase saving eyesight. The Google Keyword Tool not only showed me that a paltry 46 people search for this phrase monthly. It also showed me that 6,600 people search for a similar phrase, prevent blindness. So, I used prevent blindness as my keyword phrase to attract a lot more traffic.

Once you have your keyword phrase, the next step is revising your page layout to use the best HTML tags.

Step 2:  Update Your HTML Page Title Tag

Ever wondered how Google determines the text that shows up on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP)? You can control the hyperlink text on the SERP by making a simple edit to your HTML Page Title tag. For best results, put your keyword phrase at the start of the tag. Then, type a pipe (|) followed by your company name. As noted above, I optimized a page for prevent blindness. To do this, I entered the Page Title as Prevent Blindness | Your Company Name.

The next step allows you to control the other half of the content that displays on the SERP. Your page description.

Step 3: Update Your HTML Page Description Tag

The HTML Description tag controls the description that displays on a SERP. (This is the block of text below the hyperlink). So, write something catchy that will make visitors want to click! And be sure to include your keyword phrase (from step 1).

Once you’ve updated this HTML tag, the next step is editing your page text.

Step 4:  Edit Your Page Heading

The page content that visitors see is also critical to SEO success. Be sure to add your keyword phrase to a Heading 1 on your page. It is best to add it to the first Heading 1 on your page. But adding it to any Heading 1 on the page will work.

Now, you only need to add your keyword phrase to one more area, and your SEO work is done!

Step 5: Edit Your On Page Text

Last – but not least – you need to include the keyword phrase in your web page text. You can add the keyword twice per every 100 words on the page. But, I suggest starting out with one time for every 100 words. This is usually enough to get the job done.

I have had great success with this approach. In fact, many pages I’ve used this SEO strategy on have reached the top spot on page 1 of Google. But what if these steps do not get you there? Well, there are a few more SEO tactics you can use to give your page a boost.

• Add internal links that include your keyword phrase. For my site, I added the phrase prevent blindness to a few related pages on my site. Then, I linked the newly added phrase to the Sight Programs page.
• Increase keyword density. Adding your keyword phrase to your page text a few more times is another tactic you can use. Just be sure to keep the keyword density below 2 percent.

Both of these strategies have helped me move a web page up to page 1 on Google within a few days or weeks.

Whatever SEO tactics you use, keep the reader in mind. Be sure your SEO edits do not decrease the readability – or value – of your page.

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