The value of a site’s ranking in search engines is not even disputable at this point. Common sense tells us that being one of the first few results in the search results gives us infinitely better chances of getting web traffic.
If you’re wondering “how to make my website show up on Google search,” you’ve come to the right place. The process of finding your way to Google search rankings is often a challenging one.
We’re going to lay out the process of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the method by which websites find their way to the top of the Google search. Let’s get started:
How to Make My Website Show Up on Google Search
The best-known method of achieving higher Google rankings is using search engine optimization. Barring the chance that something you post goes viral or you’re subjected to some sort of marketing miracle, your best bet is going to be the process of SEO.
In order to make waves by optimizing your site, you’ll need to understand the search engine, the ranking factors, and how to optimize for those ranking factors.
Once you’ve got a solid understanding of optimization and the work that it takes, you can make an informed decision on whether to hire an SEO agency or not. We’ll start with a brief summary of how the search engine works.
Search Engine Basics
To really grasp search engine optimization you have to understand where the search engines are coming from. Their goal is to provide a competitive service and retain user traffic.
If Google starts to provide weak search results, users will naturally migrate toward Bing or Yahoo, for example. So, it makes sense that search engines would focus intensely on the method they use of creating search results.
Highly sophisticated algorithms emerge out of the competition between search engines, and there are now over 200 ranking factors used to determine which sites are relevant to a search.
While we know which search factors are most important, search engines often change their formula and keep SEO professionals guessing. It makes sense that they would do this, too.
When people start to catch wind of how the algorithm works and identify methods of easy optimization, search results will begin to lose value. Sites that are created simply to generate traffic are less valuable than those that actually provide meaningful information.
The goal for Google is to lay out the most meaningful results, not the best-optimized ones.
Important Ranking Factors
Because search engines seek out meaningful sites, you can put faith in simply doing your best to regularly make valuable material for your site. If your efforts are providing value to your customers in earnest, you are probably doing things that help your optimization.
Not everyone can rank in the search results, though. There are a lot of site owners that genuinely try to provide value to their users but don’t rank. You also have to put in the legwork for optimization.
It would be impossible to optimize for each ranking factor on your own, though. Luckily, you don’t have to.
There are a couple of essential ranking factors to think about if you want to see lasting results.
1. Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is a pretty involved process. There are a number of steps that you follow in order to see the final results.
Start by identifying your target audience and your niche. Once you know those things, you can identify where your target audience is spending time online, what they’re searching, and what sort of questions they want to be answered.
Understanding the activity in your niche also helps you to answer these questions and have a better idea of which keywords are being searched and why. When you know the keywords going into the search bar, you know which searches to optimize for.
There are a number of keyword research tools you can use to find high-volume keywords in your niche. When you find the keyword, you can move on to our next ranking factor: content creation.
2. Content Creation
Your goal should be to create regular content that’s centered around the keywords and phrases that you’ve found in your research. Generally, the more content you produce, the better so long as it is quality.
Put yourself in your users’ shoes and ask yourself, “what would I want to find if I were searching those keywords?” In other words, what questions do your users need to be answered?
You can then base your content around that keyword while covering something in the same category of information. Let’s use an example.
Say that you’ve found a high-volume, low-competition keyword to go with. This essentially means that a lot of people are searching that term while there are few other sites optimizing for it. If you optimize well, you’ll likely rank highly for these terms.
Let’s say that the keyword is “bicycle rain gear.” That keyword could produce any number of blog posts. You could create a piece on the precautions that bikers should take in the rain, the year’s best tires for wet terrain, or something else bicycle related.
You would make sure to place the selected keyword in a number of specific places. The volume of keyword placement and the specific placement will depend on the sort of content you’re creating as well as the medium.
There’s a Lot More
Researching keywords and creating content are by no means the only things needed to optimize your site. Each measure you take will push you further along toward ranking highly.
With that said, it’s a difficult process to get to the top. In fact, it’s a full-time job for some people.
Think You’ll Need Help?
Hopefully, you have a better answer to the question, “how to make my website show up on google search?”
SEO is a process that gets more effective as you put time into it. Additionally, it doesn’t yield results right away and requires a good deal work on the front end to be effective.
Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to get a little help with the process. Explore our site for more information about SEO and how to move forward.