How Google Ranks First Page Results and How You can Get There

As a digital marketing agency, we get a lot of customers saying they want to rank in the top spot on Google. For many, their goal of having a professionally created website is to magically make their way to the first page overnight (or within a few weeks). While it’s great that people have such high aspirations for their company’s digital marketing campaigns, it’s not quite as easy as it sounds to show up on the first page of Google.

This is something we explain to our clients time and time again. We understand that Google is a tricky business, and it’s ranking system doesn’t always make sense to those who aren’t involved in digital marketing. That’s why we make it our goal to explain those first page results, as well as how a marketing strategy can help your website rank higher.

Here’s how Google ranks content on the first page, and how to work your way up there.

Simply put, the very first listings Google shows are those who pay to be there. These are the listings that show up in the top several spots and say ‘Ad’ next to them. If companies are willing to pay money to appear first on the first page, Google will gladly rank those pages higher than those who aren’t paying anything.

As The Joker famously said in The Dark Knight , “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” In the world of search engine results, Google definitely adopted this saying by ranking those willing to pay for top ranking spots above those who aren’t. Sure, Google doesn’t make everyone pay to show up, but for those who are really determined to make it to that coveted top spot, the search engine is going to make you shell out a little bit of cash.

How to get here: The only real way to make it to those number one spots for certain search terms is to invest in a PPC (pay-per-click)campaign. This involves paying Google a certain amount to show up first (or second or third, depending on who is paying the most) when people search for specific keywords. Everyone wants to organically show up as the first option, but the fact is, more and more business owners are opting for paid ads because they’re more effective. And when it comes to showing up for the right keywords and location, PPC advertising is your best bet.

As a business owner, the easiest way to rank in the top spots without paying for ads is by using Google My Business to claim your local listing. If you aren’t quite sure what your local listing is, it’s the box of information that appears on the right side of the screen when you click on a business’s profile. It gives specific details about your business, including business hours, location, description, photos and a link to your website.

How to get here: Start by claiming your local listing on your Google My Business account—something all business owners should have. By claiming your local listing, you can make sure that the information is totally accurate. Additionally, you are guaranteed to have a top spot in Google rankings when your business shows up as a result.

Now on to the meat and potatoes. After paid ads and local listing results, Google shows organic, unpaid results, based on keywords and information on the pages that the search engine recognizes as the most relevant to the topic. Of course, one of the most important ways to show up on Google’s top page is to rank organically from SEO-friendly keywords on your page. This means Google has deemed your page the best option for searchers.

This is what everyone wants to rank on the first page for, because people trust that Google is giving them the best possible answer to what they’re looking for. It’s also the reason it’s important to have keywords that are optimized for popular searches (i.e., using popular keywords and phrases that people will be searching for to land on your website). Chances are, you probably already have these keywords throughout your website.

Incorporating an SEO strategy in your website content is what makes your site appear in relevant Google searches, whether that’s on the first page or later pages. It’s important to understand that SEO is one of the many keys to a successful website and organic first page rankings, but it won’t get you there immediately.

How to get here: The hardest part about organic rankings is that they usually take a while to get you to the first page. Google takes authority into account when selecting rankings, which means your site has been around for a while, has provided helpful content for other users and gets a decent amount of traffic. This established credibility develops over time, so the longer your SEO strategy is in place, the better your chances are for landing on the first page.

Here’s a few of the most important features your website will need to rank on the first page organically:

• Relevant content
  
• Popular keywords
  
• Meta descriptions
  
• Responsive web design
  
• Headlines that use keywords and attract clicks
  
• Internal links
  

Think of your website as a sandwich: with just one or two of these key ingredients, you don’t really have the end product you want. But the more quality ingredients you use, the better your results will be.

Ranking organically on this first page will take a bit of time (it’s hard to say how long, because it’s different for everyone), but it’s where you want to be.