Why you probably struggle to rank on the first page of Google anytime soon but the good news is, all is not lost!
Sad but true, 75% of people will never scroll past the first page on a Google search. That means you can’t afford to be ranking on the second, third, or fourth page. You just won’t get the clicks and traffic you need to make SEO worth your time and money.
And you need that organic traffic because 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. On top of that, there are over 1 trillion searches every single month!
A good SEO presence has the power to drive inbound traffic that could grow your business for years to come. But the average website owner doesn’t have the power to rank on the first page of Google for the best keywords.
There are already countless high-profile websites capitalising on the top industry keywords. And there are thousands of other bloggers/site owners trying to rank for that keyword as well.
But all is not lost!
Beginning of this year (2020) we were approached to take over a site for a client who had paid over £4k for the site design & build AND paying £135 PER MONTH for hosting/servicing yet the site could not be found on Google (unless you searched for their company name which is next to useless in most cases).
The client told us that getting on the 1st page of Google for their chosen keywords (which is their main product) would be the goal but felt it would not be possible because all the ‘big boys dominated’. We were honest & up front with them and explained we would do our best to get them listed as high as possible
So in March, we set about rebuilding the site and relaunched it end of April. Today if you search their product key phrases the site appears on 1st page of Google. 4th organic listing to be precise. AND they are also on page one for another key product they sell. Result!!
How much did this sparking SEO transformation cost them? Nothing. Yes, correct… nothing.
Now, we achieved this with no magic potion, no jiggery pokery, nothing Google will penalise us for (we have NEVER used such methods) but good honest site building with SEO at its base.
Of course, some keywords are not going to yield such results. Take our business for example. If you search ‘Web Designers’ you are not going to find Online Design..ever!
But search for any of the following:
website designers derby
web designers derby
Custom Web design
web design derby
web hosting derby
ecommerce website derby
website design derby (and a few others)
and you will see us on page one.
Now, you will notice a theme going on in that a geo location ‘Derby’ is used in the search since most of our web enquiries come from local business searching for a local supplier. But check out the random one I added in that list – ‘custom web design’ – with no geolocation mention at all.
Why we use this key-phrase is best illustrated with a simple graph (taken from leading SEO guru, Neil Patel) which shows how ‘long tail’ keywords or phrases are often more productive than going after the impossible.
In our own case, ‘custom web design‘ is just that a long tail key phrase.. and we have been on page one of Google for that phrase longer than I can remember.
So, how’s it done? A few easy steps:
1. Make sure your own target words, key phrases that are not impossible to rank for. Go for long tail stuff that can be vey lucrative.
2. Make sure you use the keywords in your page titles & descriptions as well within the page content
3. Post news articles covering your keyword/ phrase matter on a regular basis. Google loves fresh content. Don’t have a blog/news section? Get one immediately!
4. Use your keywords / phrases in your page URL’s for example:
https://www.onlinedesignuk.co.uk/custom-website-design/
If you need help with any of the above, just get in touch, advise if friendly and free!