Here’s how to do it:
Then at the top, I linked “How to rank higher on Google” to #higher
But if you create video content on the topic, you could rank in the highest possible position for an organic result (because you’re not going to outrank Facebook).
So when you’re creating content on a keyword, Google it and get a feel for not just how important visuals are, but also which visuals are showing so you can align with searchers’ expectations.
Table of contents
How to rank high on Google
Okay so that’s how to rank high on Google. But maybe you’ve done all those things already. Maybe you’re already ranking sort of high and want to rank higher. If that is you, keep reading.
1. Target reasonable keywords
You can use Google’s Rich Result tester tool to see which content on your page is eligible for Schema markup.
So while you might go with something more colorful in your H1 title (the title that appears on the page itself), stick with 60 characters or less for your SEO title, front-load the keyword, and pay attention to modifiers that seem to be popular, like with the year in the title.
For example, our free Website Grader landing page ranks on page one for the keyword “website grader.” On initial glance, it may look like it doesn’t have much content. But scroll down below the fold and you’ll find a treasure trove of words in the form of FAQs.
- Volume: How many times a month the term is searched.
- Competition: How difficult it is to rank for that keyword.
- Your domain authority: Domain authority impacts how easy it will be for you to rank for keywords. If your site has been around for a while and you’ve been publishing quality content for that time, it will be easier.
- Relevance: No point in ranking for a keyword that isn’t going to bring qualified traffic to your site.
Now your blog template already creates a header image (like WordStream’s does), such that it would be redundant to put it at the top of your post, move it down to the end of the post. Or, see if your SEO plugin (we use Yoast) gives you the option to upload a social image. The image won’t appear in the blog post itself, but it will still be attached to that post and indexable in search results.
Now your blog template already creates a header image (like WordStream’s does), such that it would be redundant to put it at the top of your post, move it down to the end of the post. Or, see if your SEO plugin (we use Yoast) gives you the option to upload a social image. The image won’t appear in the blog post itself, but it will still be attached to that post and indexable in search results.
Now your blog template already creates a header image (like WordStream’s does), such that it would be redundant to put it at the top of your post, move it down to the end of the post. Or, see if your SEO plugin (we use Yoast) gives you the option to upload a social image. The image won’t appear in the blog post itself, but it will still be attached to that post and indexable in search results.
Video content is showing up more and more on the SERP, and in some cases, it is the only opportunity you have to rank higher for a topic. For example, take a look at the SERP for “how to advertise on Facebook.” Between ads, People Also Ask, Facebook’s organic result, and the videos, the “top” true organic page result is literally the last result on the page.
Keep the quotation marks, and if you use more than one word, separate them with dashes or underscores. Then at the top of your post, write out your table of contents and add a link to #section-title for each one:
9. Have a table of contents
A backlink is a link to your page from another website, and these are a heavily weighted ranking factor.
✅ Pro tip (aka plug 🔌 )
✅ Pro tip
Go into the HTML view of your post and above each of the H2 or H3s you want to create links to, insert this:
…said no one, ever.
Including images on your page can help it to rank higher in a few ways. First, it makes for more engaging content that keeps people on the page longer; second, regular search results are becoming more visual; and third, this gives your images a chance to also rank in image results.
In general, there are four main types of keyword intent: informational, commercial, transactional, and navigational. Now for SEO, you’re primarily looking at informational intent keywords. But even within your informational intent keywords, you need to drill down into exactly what kind of information the person is seeking when they search that keyword.
10. Borify your meta titles
For example, for this section of this post, I gave it this tag:
This is another strategy where you’ll need an SEO tool. If you really really really want to rank at the top a particular keyword, you’ll want to do a SERP analysis to see exactly what it will require—and if it’s realistic. For example, if I want to rank the highest in all the land for “small business ideas,” I can see that I’m competing with HubSpot—specifically, a page that has 4,589 backlinks from 1,100 different domains on a site with a domain rating of 93.
For ranking even higher, or for improving your rank for really hard keywords.
How to rank highest on Google
11. Get backlinks
For example, the SERP for “january marketing ideas” is not only very visual, but you can see that Google is giving preference to screenshots of January social media posts and event landing pages.
But for those blog posts that you want to rank higher, stock images and empty graphics are not going to cut it. You need images that illustrate concepts, add value, and match the intent of the keyword.
And that’s it. The SERP has come a long way from the list of 10 blue links. Google is prioritizing visual, excerptable, recent content to build rich SERPS that provide immediate answers. Use these tips to rank high, higher, and highest so you can build authority in your niche and meet your website traffic and conversion goals.
This section is mainly just the SEO basics for those of you who may not be as familiar with the world of SEO. Make sure you check off these boxes if you’re looking to rank.
12. Mine your search queries
<a id =”section-title”></a>
Note that I said in-depth long-form content. Google doesn’t like thin content, so skip the fluff and go right for the peanut butter.
13. Target how-to and tutorial keywords with videos
Here are the factors involved in identifying the best keywords to target for ranking on Google:
A lot of technical SEO is done at the site level, but there are plenty of page-level optimizations you can do in an effort to improve your ranking, like making sure your images are compressed and sized properly and that there are no indexation issues. You can check a page’s Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, and more right in Search Console.
For example “social media marketing” has a search volume of 32K (yow). WordStream is the number one result and Sprout Social is number two. But wedged in the middle of those two results is the PAA section. If a reader expands one of those questions, whichever page is answering that question now ranks higher than the #2 result in Google.
Yes, you read that right. Your SEO title, or meta title, is the title that appears on the actual SERP. And similar to headings, Google doesn’t give you a whole lot of room for creativity. More often than not, a title similar to what’s already ranking on page one is the way to go.
✅ Pro tip
14. Target pages already ranking
If I target that keyword with my website screenshots, it’s not going to rank. But if I target it for “website design ideas,” now that’s another story.
15. Do a SERP analysis
More and more, Google is focusing on providing answers rather than just a list of pages. Hence the term “zero-click search,” where a user can get the information they seek right in the results page without having to click into any one result. This isn’t great for those of us who want to drive website traffic, but if you can’t beat ’em (Google is like Goliath on ‘roids) join ’em, and being the source from which Google builds an answer is the next best thing—and your way to rank higher.
The best way to optimize for this is to make your content skimmable. This way, Google can extract snippets of your content to build answer-y results like with the Featured Snippet, Passage Ranking, and even meta descriptions. Here’s how:
16. Add Schema markup
Search Console will tell you what queries are leading people to see your page in search results and which ones are leading them to click. This can help you find additional headings to add to a page as well as additional keywords to target with their own pages. If you’re already ranking accidentally for it, then you’re sure to rank when you intentionally target that keyword.
Try out WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool >>
I mean, who doesn’t want a top spot on the top search engine in the world? Not only does ranking higher on Google drive more traffic to your site, increase your online presence and build your business’s credibility; it also just, feels good. Sort of like that Jackie Wilson song…
17. Check your technical SEO
This is an easy element to add to your blog posts that Google seems to really like. Oftentimes, you’ll see Google add those links right to a post’s meta description.
You can find out if you’re making any on-page SEO mistakes with our free Website Grader.
How to rank higher on Google: recap
You just never know what long-tail keywords Google will pull up in PAA, giving your post an opportunity to rank higher than the #2 results for a high-volume keyword.
-
-
- Target reasonable keywords
- Check the intent
- Write long-form content about it
- Do your on-page SEO
- Target long-tail, question keywords
- Make your information skimmable
- Make explicit statements
- Include meaningful visuals
- Have a table of contents
- Borify your meta titles
- Get backlinks
- Target your search queries
- Create video content
- Target pages already ranking
- Do a SERP analysis
- Schema markup
- Technical SEO
