How to Get My Company Higher on Google: 3 Ways to Increase Website Rankings
Are you someone who has been wondering how to get my business higher on Google?
There are many ways to increase your ranking in Google places, like maps and organic search results. Unfortunately, most companies don’t understand Google places ranking factors or don’t have the time to optimize them on their own.
However, it’s vitally important to rank on the first page (or near the top of the first page) of Google in order to capture large amounts of search traffic.
If you’re a business wondering how to improve your business on Google search or how to get on the first page of Google maps, then keep reading.
In this article, we’re sharing an expert answer to the question, “How do I rank higher on Google?” You’ll learn the top three ways to optimize your online presence and increase your organic traffic.
Why Ranking High on Google Matters
Before you know how to rank in Google maps or on the first page of Google, it’s important to know why ranking high on Google matters.
Your website and Google My Business listing are two powerful tools that can drive organic traffic to your website. Organic traffic can then turn into new leads, clients, and increased revenue.
But can these potential clients/customers find your website when they search on Google?
Take a moment to review these statistics:
The first five organic results on Google account for 67% of all clicks
It’s estimated that the number one organic spot on Google can result in a click-through rate (CTR) of 34.2%
24.4% of all clicks go to the first result of local business searches
Here’s the bottom line: if you want to drive organic traffic to your website and generate more leads, you must do everything you can to rank near the top of Google’s first page.
So, how do you increase your website ranking?
How to Get My Business Higher on Google
Now that you know why ranking in Google’s places like maps and search results is valuable, let’s get to the meat of this article: how to show up first on Google maps and search results.
Here are three areas to target if you’re wondering how to improve your business on Google searches.
1. Google My Business Listing
Whether you’re a local or national company, you can get access to a Google My Business Listing (GMBL).
Interestingly, many companies don’t realize they have or can get a GMBL. Those who do, often don’t know how to optimize it. But if you want to know how to show up on Google maps and how to rank in Google local searches, it all starts with improving your GMBL.
How to Optimize Google Maps by Optimizing your GMBL
If you haven’t already claimed your GMBL, then that’s the first step you want to take in ranking in Google’s local places.
Once you’ve claimed your business, you’ll want to optimize your GMBL by:
Entering your business’ correct information, especially its name, physical address, and phone number (NAP)
Verifying your business’ location(s)
Update your hours for accuracy
Manage and respond to reviews
Add photos or “posts” regularly
It’s also a good idea to manage and update your local citations on prominent websites like Yelp, FourSquare, Better Business Bureau, etc.
Putting all of these tips into action will greatly improve your Google maps listing SEO.
And, speaking of SEO…
2. Website SEO
In addition to claiming, managing, and updating your GMBL, Google also takes a company’s organic web results rankings into account when determining your ranking. So, another necessary piece of the puzzle is to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is the process of ensuring that your website (and all of its pages) follow Google’s best practices for organic ranking. Companies that actively invest in SEO strategies often rank higher on Google and receive more organic traffic than their competitors.
For those wondering “how to improve google search results for my business using SEO”, here are some factors to consider.
Header Tag Hierarchy
Header tags tell Google what a web page is about. They’re coded pieces of text that should go in sequential order from 1 to 4.
When it comes to using header tags, your website should have one and only one H1 tag. Then, it should contain a few H2 tags followed by H3 and H4 tags.
Unfortunately, most websites don’t follow best practices for header tag hierarchy, and therefore, Google has a hard time understanding the site’s content.
Title Tags
Second, you’ll want to optimize each web page’s title tag.
A title tag (URL slug) is usually invisible to users but does show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) and at the end of the page’s URL.
Like header tags, title tags are very important to Google because they tell Google more about the page’s content. So, you want to choose a title tag that’s relevant to your industry and also the page’s content.
Blog Content
Another necessary area of SEO is regularly publishing blog content. You can write a blog once a week or once a month, but the important thing is that you do it.
Writing good blog content that ranks often requires creating a:
Content calendar: a list of different topics and when to publish them.
Keyword strategy: relevant search phrases that you include in your blog.
You can also increase the effectiveness of your blogs by following the header tag and title tag best practices mentioned above.
Most companies overlook the value of blogs. But the businesses who blog regularly often see greater increases in organic traffic and leads.
Technical Website Issues
Lastly, every website will have optimization issues that arise and need to be addressed. There are three main types of technical issues that will arise:
Errors: these can cripple a website and need to be fixed immediately.
Warnings: these are less serious than errors, but should be fixed if possible.
Notices: these are the lowest priority issues and can often be disregarded until errors and warnings are taken care of.
You’ll also want to make website adjustments to ensure fast load speed.
If you’re wondering “How do I rank higher on Google?”, then investing in SEO is one of the best answers. Though SEO is a longer-term strategy that can take up to six months or more to start seeing results, it can yield consistent results month-over-month once the snowball gets rolling.
3. Google Ads
A third way to rank higher on Google is to run Google Ads.
Google Ads (pay-per-click ads) can help you immediately rank at the top of the first page of Google. However, you have to pay Google for these ads—and these costs can quickly add up if you don’t know how to optimize your ads.
Here are some of the pros of Google Ads:
Quick and easy to set up
Highlight your website on the first page of Google
Highly specific targeting
Fast, short-term results
Control over your campaigns and budget
But for all of the pros, there are also some cons:
Need to constantly monitor and optimize your campaigns
Must pay every time someone clicks your ad, even if they aren’t in your customer demographic
High-quality keywords can be expensive
People often trust organic search results more than ads
Google Ads can get you to the top of the search results page very quickly. However, you need to know how to set up and constantly optimize your campaigns. Otherwise, you’ll be spending money without getting a high ROI.
But, if you can implement Google Ads well, then it can be a valuable source of leads and sales.
Begin Ranking in Google’s #1 Spot Today
In this article, we looked at the questions “Why is ranking high on Google important?” and “How do I rank higher Google?”
Ranking high on Google’s first page is necessary. Research shows that 91.5% of Google traffic stays on the first page. And more specifically, the first five search results get the bulk of the clicks. So, for those wondering “how to get on the first page of Google maps” or “how to get my business higher on Google,” we listed three of the most important places to focus your attention:
Managing and optimizing your Google My Business Listing
Investing in ongoing search engine optimization (SEO)
Considering running a Google Ads campaign
But you’re busy and it can be tough to prioritize these areas, especially when you don’t know what to do or where to start—that’s what we’re here for.
At Veivos, we help businesses increase their Google ranking and generate more online traffic through ongoing SEO and Google Ads services.
We take a holistic approach to SEO to ensure that every webpage is fully optimized, blogs rank for relevant keywords, and website issues are handled every month. With Google Ads, we take the time to analyze thousands of industry-specific keywords, A/B test ad copy and make custom landing pages so that you get the best ROI possible.
Are you ready to reach the top spot on Google? Schedule a 20-minute call to learn more about how SEO can improve your Google ranking and lead to increased revenue.
