First Page Ranking

Getting First Page Ranking the Right Way

Google something. Bam! Lots of results pop up on precisely what you’re looking for. But the best results and top websites don’t always have what you’re looking for. Or do they? You scroll through the first page and click on a few websites. Now you’ve found the information that you need. Do you ever wonder how that happens? Or how that works? What makes pages appear on the first page? And why is this important?

Small businesses need SEO and digital marketing knowledge, especially when generating traffic and ranking. After all, this, in turn, results in more sales and exposure.

Have you looked beyond the First Page of a Search?

When you google something, do you ever look past the 2^nd page? 75% of people won’t even scroll past the 1^st page. You would need to have an excellent website to get a first-page ranking. Also, many essential factors help web pages and websites rank higher.

The first-page ranking or getting a website ranking higher is a must for any business to compete online. Even though a company may be advertising via Google Adwords, SEO is still necessary. Getting a first-page ranking can be an impossible and challenging task as Google’s adopting machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. But, with the help of SEO experts, it’s possible to get any website ranked higher.

The process of SEO and First Page Ranking

first-page ranking

With so many websites already out there, it would be a safer bet to try and win the lotto than create a popular website. A first-page ranking is the process of search engine optimization (SEO) and adequately developing your website’s metadata to increase the number of visitors received. In a way, this is parallel to a business in real life. Do you want prime real estate with good visibility to any potential customers? Be prepared to pay the price. Now that you know what first-page ranking is, there are certain things you must research and learn before jumping into the world of search engine optimization.

Is Page Ranking worth it?

Is first-page ranking worth it or not? Like anything in life, it isn’t as black and white as it would seem. Many of these 45 billion websites are defunct and rarely updated or visited, pushing them to the bottom of indexing services. Chances are, if you are developing a new, relevant website, you will already be ranked higher than most.

Content helps Page Ranking.

Content is the main element of a good website and helps with ranking. You’re going to need to do a lot of research. You’re not going to have good content if you have no idea what you’re writing about.  Whenever you’re writing, it’s best to be fully detailed. It’s also best to write original things. Google algorithms notice when content is being plagiarized, thus hurting rankings. Hence, careful planning and exact content will provide better outcomes. 

Keywords for better First Page Listing

Many people don’t know that their website contains metadata or keywords in layperson’s terms. These keywords are what search indexes and web crawlers use to index and rank your webpage. That means if you have a website called my blog with only pictures of bikes tagged as things like pic-1 and pic-2, nobody looking up bikes on google would ever find your page! Now, the main problem is these services don’t see the web page as a human would. Instead, it analyzes the website’s code and determines to what degree it relates to the search term, how many keywords it ticks off, and the frequency of those keywords.

Relevant keywords

Without relevant keywords, your webpage is essentially invisible to the demographic you are trying to reach. Hence, search engine optimization should be the basis for creating your web page around quality keywords. But, before anyone gets carried away and starts signing up for any first-page ranking services they can find, you must realize these are not the same thing. A first-page ranking is to search engine optimization of what the Tour de France is to a casual cyclist. Optimization is taken to an extreme in the pursuit of being the best, or in search engine terms, being on the first page, and like the Tour de France, pursuing the first page isn’t viable for the average joe.

Are all keywords alike?

BE AWARE! Not all keywords are alike. Zack’s zany zebras are bound to bring up your page at the top if your name is Zack and you post about your zany zebras. But how many people are looking up those exact terms combined? A common trick used by first-page ranking services is to promise first-page rankings. Still, If an SEO company ranks your business’s website on the first page for five keywords that no one is searching for, even if you rank in the top position for those keywords, you won’t get many visitors to your website.  Another good takeaway from that quote is that the first-page ranking is too broad of a term, and you should instead focus on the number of unique repeat visitors.

Long-Tail Keywords

When choosing keywords, try to put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. What kind of things would they type if they wanted to find something? Keywords are critical to the websites traffic you get on your website. There is also a term called “long-tailed keywords,” an extra descriptive search. Say if someone wanted to buy shoes, many listings pop up. Then if you were to type in women’s running shoes, you’d get a specific search result. This is considered a long-tailed keyword. Hence focusing on long-tail keywords on a website is paramount when targeting particular customers. Ref: https://neilpatel.com/blog/long-tail-keywords-seo/

Organic and sustainable First Page Ranking

There are other organic ways to promote growth on your website that is more sustainable and free. On the other hand, if you are an online business that can offset the cost with increased profits from the first-page ranking on a search term like ‘online bike store,’ it could be the right decision for your business.

Increase search engine ranking vs. 1st-page ranking

Your position on the first page also severely impacts the effects you see from a first-page ranking to complicate things even further. A study by AWR determined that the first result on a page saw 27.51% of the traffic from a search on a desktop, while the tenth result only saw 1.11%. This means that if one of your keywords received 100,000 searches, the difference between first and tenth place would be getting 27,510 visitors in the first place or 1110. This is where the faults of being promised a coveted first-page ranking start to surface. Hence, less emphasis should be placed on a first-page ranking and increasing search engine optimization and visitors. Doing so results in a specific increase you can calculate and see if you will see a return on your investment.

Business is business

To put it bluntly, if you aren’t a company that already offers quality services and is seeing growth, the gains you will see from enlisting the first-page ranking will not be worth it to you—most of the services you can do on your own and see similar results. A business is a business, and no matter how much your page is visited, your page/business will not see a sustainable increase if you don’t have the complete package. Even if you reach the top 10 rankings, if your web page lacks the ease of use and professionalism of the other candidates, your page will be skipped out or never returned.

Domain Authority

DA or Domain authority is the definition of how strong your website is. It’s a metric system created by Moz (Moz.com) to measure websites by their rating. For example, a website that rates 100 would be considered the strongest. It would mean the lowest instead of having a rating of 1. Also, domain authority can determine the strengths and weaknesses of a website compared to the competition. Although Google doesn’t specifically use this metric system to choose the ranking, increasing your domain authority will improve the quality and strength of your website, which generally leads to a better ranking. Like SEO, domain authority has different ranking signals, 40. These include: linking root domains (backlinks), MozRank, MozTrust, quality of content, and user interaction that tie back to each other.

Cross-Linking / Backlinks

The basic algorithm behind the ranking system is simple. The more your page is linked to, the more relevant the web crawler assumes it. Repeat customers that talk about you will push your relevance higher. This means the internet’s version of word of mouth through review sites such as google maps and yelp are some of the best ways to ensure you get the amount and type of attention you want.

Having relevant backlinks is when another website has a link that leads to your website. It’s like when someone shares your story or post on Facebook or Twitter. It’s like being accredited. Google will identify relevant content and push higher searches for every relevant backlink generated. Of course, this is one fact of many regarding page ranking.

Now, there are also such things as bad backlinks. Good backlinks are linked to trusted websites with high authority. For example, a government website or Huffington post are credible websites. On the other hand, bad backlinks are untrusted websites or unrelated to your website. Bad backlinks will hurt your SEO and make your website drop from its current ranking.

Blackhat vs. White Hat SEO

The problem with this system is that sometimes first-page ranking services delve too deep into reaching their desired position and stoop to unethical tactics. There are two forms of SEO. There are black hat methods and white hate methods. A black hat is unethical and against the rules in SEO, and a white hat is the allowed method. Most black hat methods include spamming your website around the web to simulate relevance. Luckily search engines have caught on to this and have implemented ways to catch the spammers. Unfortunately, sometimes-unknowing page owners contracting out to front-page services sites get caught up in this. Companies have taken a zero-tolerance approach to this, which usually results in the website being permanently banned from the search engine.

Steer away from harmful practices

Another problem with these SEO companies is that they often try to sell you snake oil. Most individuals that do not know how the internet functions overuse buzzwords to make it seem like they have a secret trick that will increase your visitors triple-fold in days. These are the companies you should be wary of. The companies you want to pick are companies that lay out exactly what they will do and what kind of gains they expect and are willing to explain it all to you. Therefore, when using search engine optimization services, you must use them to your advantage instead of letting them take advantage of you. There are many ways to grow your site, and a quality product mixed with exposure will ensure your growth.

Summary of first-page ranking

There are definite benefits to first-page rankings. However, for most, the drawbacks will overshadow those benefits. You can essentially negate the need for any of these services with a good understanding of your web page, how search engine algorithms work, and good business practices. The plethora of online information makes it possible to stay relevant without using a great website. The only downside is a learning curve that many will never get over. Finally, reaching that number one spot will take time and effort. Hence, hiring a professional website developer or web design company with an SEO specialist will be the best option.

Be it a WordPress or PHP website or any other business website such as an attorney, online store, vet, or dentist with a private practice. We are certified in SEO and Yoast. We can build fully functional responsive websites and take care of your search engine marketing. Call us at (425)-336-0069