HowTo Dominate The First Page of Google
Hummingbird, the most recent update in Google’s algorithm, gives you a very clear sense of how the future of SEO may be impacted by future changes. First of all, you have to remember that the perspective of website owners is not what Google focuses on as an end user when planning improvements to its algorithm. The direction things are going is simple. End users should find the information they are looking for on the first page of Google without having to click on any links. Things have been improving consistently to serve this very purpose. I don’t have to click on any website to find out what movies are playing in my area… all I have to do is ask Siri “what movies are playing near me?” and Google will show me. Just like that. Let’s be honest… browsing the net makes people lazy. Waiting 20 seconds for a page to load is torture. Having to click around too many times just to find what I’m looking for is just as annoying, and that’s why it’s really cool that I can get the information I’m looking for right on the first page of Google. As for you, the website owner, this does not mean that SEO is dead. Not all topics have a clear answer that can be given on the first page of Google. Dominating the first page is still a good way to increase brand awareness to a targeted audience, and there’s a number of ways you can do it.
- Sustainable SEO puts branding before all else.
- “Legal” shortcuts to dominate the first page of Google include:
- Investing in PPC.
- Filtering down your core audience to specific demographics instead of trying to reach everyone.
- Eliminate most of your competition by defining a specific niche.
- Use Google Plus. (G+). I mean, actually use it.
- Connect your G+ profile with your blog to increase the ranking for each content you publish.
- Utilizing “first page solution” tools, such as claiming your Google Places listing to be displayed as a local result.
- Publish new content often. Not so often that your articles are useless, but enough that your website is active instead of stale.
- Use this tool to ping search engines every time you update a web page or publish a new article.
- Use external Google services that also dominate the first page, such as publishing videos on Youtube and optimizing images to display in Google Images.
- For ecommerce—offer your products through Google shopping.
