When I first started my online business, the holy grail of Online Marketing was “How to rank your articles on the first page of Google.” Back then there was no social media and YouTube hadn’t yet been invented! (yes, I’m that old!)
To be successful at ranking your articles, you need to produce good content and have sound knowledge of SEO – Search Engine Optimisation.
Content will always be king, and the principles you’ll learn in this article are relevant to all types of content including YouTube videos.
This article sets out what you need and how to rank your article on the first page of Google. How to improve Google search results for your articles, and how to improve Google search ranking overall.
How To Rank Your Article On The First Page Of Google In 24 Hours
Typically at the time of writing, my articles rank on the first page of Google within 24 hours. Articles I wrote months ago still rank on Google.
What this means from a business perspective, is that once an article is written, optimized, and monetized, it is your own Online Real Estate that keeps working for you, generating income for months and years to come.
How To Increase Google Ranking For Free – On-Page SEO
While FREE is a word I don’t like to use, understanding the basics of effective SEO does come for free – (at least if you’re reading this article..!)
Let’s have a look at what those basics are and how to improve Google search ranking.
- Offers
- Keywords
- Relevancy
Offers
I start with offers because each article you write must have an intention in mind. Ask yourself –
Who are your readers? What pain points do they have and what solutions can you provide with your article?
What do you want your readers to do?
Maybe it’s to sign up for training, buy a product, or visit your social media page. Whatever it is, you need to determine the outcome and structure your article in the right way.
By understanding your target market you’ll have significantly more success in all your marketing.
Keywords
Part of understanding your target market is understanding what they are searching for. By researching keywords in a free tool like the Google Keyword Planner Tool, you’ll be able to research keywords.
When researching your keywords you need to pay attention to high search volume and low competition keywords. In addition to that, separate your keywords into three of the following categories –
- People who know about your product
- People who are looking for solutions that your product can solve
- People who don’t yet know they have a problem
The Google Keyword Planner Tool
After you have selected the relevant keyword to use, head over to Google and type it into the search box.
At the bottom of the page, Google will suggest alternative (secondary) keywords that people are also using that are relevant to you. Copy these keywords, and use them naturally throughout your article while adding them as tags on your WordPress site.
Relevancy
Keyword relevancy is important for two reasons:
If you optimise your article for the keyword “how to improve Google search ranking” and your article is about fishing, you’ll have a high bounce rate by visitors to your site. In addition, Google will de-rank your website in Google ranking. Just remember this is all about getting your website to the top of Google so keyword relevancy is important.
While much of this may seem basic, it’s amazing how many people fail to research anything before writing an article. This is how to get better Google search results…
How To Rank Your Article On The First Page Of Google In 24 Hours – On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the method of structuring your article in such a way that it’s easily read by search engines. On-page SEO is also how to improve Google search ranking.
Once you have carried out your research, you’ll be in a position to begin writing your article.
Tags
There are 3 tags that you need to know about :
- H1 Tags
- H2 Tags
- ALT Tags
H1 Tags are the main title tag. Check to see that your website is using them on your site by checking the source code.
The title of your article (the H1 Tag) should contain your primary keyword
H2 Tags are the sub-headings and should include your primary main keyword or suggested secondary keywords obtained from Google Suggest
Alt Tags are the Tags associated with your images, and like H2 Tags they should contain your primary and secondary keywords to improve your Google ranking. Search Engines cannot see images but they can read the alt tags. So if your articles are image-heavy and you have no ALT Tags in place, that may be a reason your articles aren’t ranking as you would like.
Good On-Page SEO should include the primary keyword in the first paragraph, bold keywords, and keywords placed in “inverted commas.”
One thing to note is that whether you’re looking at how to increase Google ranking for free, or how to improve Google search results, you must write naturally and for your target audience.
Conclusions
Search Engine Optimisation is what I call the ‘long game’. SEO takes time to master, and it can take time to rank, but when you get things right, plan and prepare correctly you will develop a secure online business with a larger ROI because you have less advertising spend.
This article is an introduction to how to improve Google search results, remember that the key to building any successful online business is understanding your target market and providing solutions for them.
