Google is all-powerful for those in the market to generate organic traffic. It crawls the internet to find the most valuable and relevant pages for searchers on nearly any topic. We don’t only trust, but we rely on Google’s answers.

With so much power and authority, putting your small business on Google’s first page may seem unattainable. But, Google’s biggest strength makes it easier than ever for small and locally owned businesses to rank high in search results—free of charge!

In this post, I’ll go over a few concrete steps you can take to help your company rise to the top of the first page of Google utilizing two free strategies: website optimization and listing optimization. I’ll start with the importance of Google’s first page, then move on to the tactics, which comprehend:

Including keywords in strategic locations on your website
Creating content for people, not search engines
Emphasizing the importance of location
Updating and maintaining your Google listing on a regular basis
And there are plenty more.

It’s self-evident that ranking on the first page of Google is a worthwhile (if not essential) goal for any company, but let’s look at the specific benefits first, as this can help you know what to prioritize in your strategy.

Why is Google’s first page important?

Knowledge Panels, answer boxes, expandable related questions, local results, and more are all part of Google’s search results. Optimizing for top ranking is well worth the trouble, especially since traffic and click-through rate both drop rapidly as one moves down the search engine results.

A higher click-through rate is associated with landing on the first page.

Although it’s common knowledge that Google’s first page attracts the majority of traffic, did you realize that the click-through rates for the top vs. bottom results vary significantly? According to one study, the following click-through rates vary depending on Google position:

The first result is a clickthrough rate of 36.4%.
The second result is a clickthrough rate of 12.5%
The third result is a clickthrough rate of 9.5%.

The CTR for the 10th result has dropped to 2.2% (there are generally only 10 organic results per page, and even fewer now with local results, advertisements, response boxes, and other new features). You’re missing out on a lot of clicks if your website isn’t at the top of Google’s search results.

Get noticed right away

Top Google search results are now displayed in “Position Zero” answer boxes, often known as highlighted snippets.
Earning a top Google ranking could lead to your business being included in a featured snippet, giving you rapid exposure and enhancing your trustworthiness.

According to another survey, the top Google result receives 33% of all search traffic. The higher your website ranks on Google, the greater your search visibility and brand authority will be.

What are the advantages of ranking on the first page for your company?

It’s critical to comprehend the various objectives that achieving a top Google ranking might assist your company in achieving.

Make yourself more visible

Let’s pretend you have a physical site. Which would you choose if you had to choose between locating your business on the main thoroughfare or a quiet side street? Of course, we’re talking about the main thoroughfare.

Getting on the first page of Google is like putting your business on the busiest street in town, with 167 billion searches every month. The more people who visit your website, the more people are aware of your brand. Consumers will be more open to conversion activities if they are familiar with your brand.

Increase the number of leads

What if you had to choose between a diversified town’s main street and a town with ideal customers? There are as many Google first pages as there are Google search queries. Your goal is to appear on the top page of Google for searches made by your ideal customers. As a result, people searching online with the purpose to buy or engage with you will find you. These are the people who are most likely to become leads and customers for your company.

Do you want to know what SEO keywords people in your niche are looking for? Try our Keyword Tool for Free!

Boost participation

According to Adweek, 81 percent of customers perform internet research before making a purchase, with Google being the most popular option. Google’s search engine results page alone enables people to learn about, compare, and engage with your business before ever clicking on your result, thanks to answer boxes, the “People also ask” area, and local results that include contact information, maps, reviews, ratings, and descriptions.

People Also Ask A People Also Ask segment about how to get on the first page of Google.

Increase visitors to your website

Only so much information can be provided by snippets and answer boxes. While a search engine results page might occasionally provide all of the information a user requires, there are still some inquiries for which users will undoubtedly visit a website. Remember that it takes multiple contacts with a company before a client becomes a customer, therefore interactions with your website are crucial.

Not only can being on the first page of Google improve traffic to your website significantly, but not being on the first page of Google has a significant drawback. In actuality, Google’s first page attracts at least 71 percent of web traffic (some sources say as much as 92 percent), and the second page is far from a close second: it only receives 6% of website hits. This dramatic drop in online traffic demonstrates the significance of Google’s top page.

Strengthen your position in the business

To rank on Google’s first page, you must consistently provide high-quality content that Google recognizes as meeting the needs of its users. This will take some time, but the increased traffic and trust that will result will be well worth it.

Furthermore, blogging often about your industry and business will need being up to date on what your target audience wants to know as well as the current industry news. Appearing on Google’s first page is significant since it makes it easier to build and maintain a solid knowledge base on which your company can rely.

Earn people’s trust

The Google algorithm is programmed to detect spammy, suspicious, and low-quality content. If you constantly appear on Google’s first page, it signifies that Google regards you as a reliable source of information, and people trust businesses that Google regards as reliable.

Expand your audience

As previously said, ranking on Google’s first page necessitates the creation of high-quality, evergreen content. This form of material may be repurposed and spread across a range of marketing channels, including social media, email, and sponsored advertisements.

Your content-driven efforts to rank on Google’s first page will give you more content and opportunity to engage with your target audience, nurture leads, and stay top of mind.

Shorten the sales cycle

Consumers today have a plethora of options to pick from, as well as access to all of the information and resources they need to find, vet, and decide on a company. Where do they begin their investigation? Google! Getting on the first page of Google will help you attract top-of-funnel leads and kickstart your sales cycle.

How many different approaches are there to get on Google’s first page for free?

Getting on the top page of Google is a frequent ambition for small business owners, and it’s also a fairly attainable one. Google is more concerned with quality than with quantity. As a result, having a larger company or a higher budget does not guarantee first place. There are a number of elements that go into Google’s algorithm, and because Google’s results page has so many diverse components, different sorts of media can gain first-page rank. They are as follows:

• Website pages and blog posts (in organic results)
• Your Google My Business account (located under local/maps)

When you optimize your Google My Business listing, your business and its ratings will appear in local searches.

• Content snippets from your website (in Google’s several search results page elements, such as “People also ask” and the answer box).

• The landing pages on your website (This is done through the paid ads section, which is not free but worth mentioning.) Go to this post on Google Ads tutorials for further information on using sponsored tactics to get on the first page of Google.)

Now let’s return to the two free methods for getting to the first page.

How to leverage your website to rank on Google’s top page

Search engine optimization is the process of matching your website with search engine ranking factors (SEO). You don’t necessarily optimize your entire site at once; rather, you optimize each individual page on your site. Here’s how to go about it:

Choose your keywords

Decide which search queries you want Google to respond to with your website pages first. These are referred to as keywords, which can be single words or phrases.

Keywords include the following:

• “tenant laws in Massachusetts” • “salon near me” • “brunch Boston” • “air conditioner repair Brighton” • “how to fix a leaky roof” • “how to get on Google’s top page”

Each page on your site should focus on a different set of keywords so that they don’t compete with one another.

The proper keywords for your company are those that your ideal customers use to find the items and services they require. Try our Free Keyword Tool for assistance in selecting keywords for your business.

To identify high-volume keywords for your niche, use Ahrefs or SEMrush.

Inform Google about the terms you’re employing

Google crawls the internet, ranks the millions of sites it finds, and stores them in an index. When a user conducts a search, Google can swiftly retrieve relevant results by scanning its more organized index (rather than the entire web).

As a result, making it as simple as possible for Google to scan, index, and retrieve your site is another crucial step toward appearing on the first page of Google. Place keywords in the following areas to do this:

Meta title

A meta title can be found on every blog post and page on your website. This title appears as a header at the top of your page, as well as the title of that page’s listing in search results (depending upon your CMS settings).

Description (meta)

In Google’s search results, the meta description is the short text that appears beneath the headline.

How to Get a Meta Description on the First Page of Google
The meta description not only tells Google what your page is about, but it also tells a searcher what they may expect if they click on it, increasing the number of relevant hits to that page. As a result, the meta description aids Google in placing your business on the appropriate first page for the proper searches and keeping it there for Google searchers.

URL

Your URL is made up of your domain name (for example, wordstream.com), a forward slash, and text separated by dashes.

If you include keywords in your URL, Google will be able to figure out what your page is about faster. In search results, the URL shows between the title and meta description. Users will find a clean URL that matches the page title more appealing and trustworthy, and it is more suited for first-page appearances.

Alternative tags

Images can only be seen by Google if they have a text alternative (aka alt tag). If your alt tag contains keywords, Google will be more likely to consider that page to be more relevant and place you on the first page of search results.

Write for people

Of course, the most crucial location to incorporate the keywords you’re attempting to rank for is in the body of your page’s content. It is critical, however, that these keywords are not added methodically or excessively, but rather organically. In reality, Google can now detect term stuffing, and if it does, you’ll be relegated to the second page of its search results.

The secret to ranking on Google’s first page is to provide valuable, trustworthy, easy-to-read, yet educational content that keeps your target audience on your pages and returning for more. It’s also free and simple to share the knowledge you already have in your head in a conversation. Just keep in mind that if you want to rank on Google’s first page for a specific term, your page must deliver the content, not just the keywords, that visitors are looking for when they input that search into Google.

Stress on location

Targeting location-based inquiries is another free strategy to get your website pages on Google’s first page. Make sure your website’s contact page, as well as possible blog entries and services pages, explicitly state your city and/or geographic location. When users search for “your industry” + “your city,” Google will pick up on this information and display your firm as a “near me” search result.

Even if a person does not search with a specific area in mind, Google will still return geographically relevant results based on their IP address, thus local SEO is not only free, but also crucial (even during a pandemic).

Make your site mobile-friendly

You will not find a responsive website at the top of a Google search. Phones and tablets are being used by consumers more than PCs and laptops, and mobile devices are used for the bulk of local searches. As a result, Google promotes websites that are mobile-friendly. In reality, mobile-first indexing is now used to index all websites.

Responsive design is good since it adapts to any screen size while maintaining functionality. If you don’t have a responsive website, there are several changes you can make to ensure that a mobile user has the best experience possible.

Place an importance on customer experience

A website’s mobile-friendliness isn’t enough. It should also be appealing and easy to use. Visitors will stay on your website longer and return later if it has straightforward navigation, clear calls to action, and answers to their most pressing questions, which Google will notice and rank you higher for. The better your ranking, the more traffic your site will receive and the more probable it will appear on the first page.

How to leverage your company listings to rank on Google’s first page

Your online business directory listings, in addition to your website pages, may appear on the first page of a Google search. This is what you must do:

Create a Google My Business account for your company

Google My Company is quickly becoming one of the most powerful (and free) tools available to local business owners. Google Maps and Google Search both use Google My Business to generate local listings (known as Business Profiles). Adding extra information to your Business Profile through a Google My Business account is a quick and easy approach to help it appear on the first page of Google Maps and Search (in the local results section)h. Make sure you complete the process of claiming and validating your listing so you can keep track of it and enhance it.

Improve the visibility of your Google business listing (Business Profile)

When it comes to optimizing your listing, I think of it as a different strategy since, while having a Google listing can help with visibility, it can only go you so far in terms of ranking. Optimize your Google business listing for optimal visibility rather of producing a bare-bones listing and hoping it shows up for one or two searches. Here’s how to do it:

Make sure you fill out every element of your profile

The more information you submit in your Google My Business directory, the more likely it is to appear on the first page of search results. Complete Google My Business listings receive 7X more clicks on average than incomplete listings.

Keep your name the same

At all times, use the same exact name for your company. Google isn’t fond of inconsistencies, even if they’re as tiny as “Co.” vs. “Company.”

Keep your information up to date

Not being able to find your business, arriving to find it closed, or receiving an operator when calling can not only put a customer off, but also cause them to distrust your company and leave a negative review. Keep an eye on your Google listing and make any necessary edits or modifications so that it can be trusted to be at the top.

Add images to your listing

Google My Business aims to provide customers with as much information about a company as possible before they interact with it. This includes what it’s like to work there, so make sure to include images of not only the items and services your company provides, but also the ambiance and people who frequent it.

Collect feedback from customers

Google users are eager to learn what others have to say about a company, so it’s no wonder that firms with the most positive Google reviews appear first. Customers should be asked in person, and a review shortcut link should be created so that you can simply encourage feedback throughout your web channels. While this technically falls under the category of Google My Business improvements, keep in mind that there are a slew of additional review sites to consider, each of which has an impact on your ranking.

how to be on Google’s first page and earn reviews a neighborhood pack
Reviews can help you get into Google’s “Local Pack,” which appears at the top of the SERP.

Add your company to other directories

Although Google My Business is effective, you should also develop and optimize listings on other prominent directories such as Yelp. For starters, because Yelp has a significant volume of traffic and is well trusted by Google, your company’s Yelp page is likely to appear on the first page of Google for related searches. Second, having a quality listing with positive evaluations boosts your overall web presence. Google receives signals from online reviews and links from other reputable websites, which are factored into its ranking algorithm.

Make sure the rest of your online directory entries are thorough and correct, consistent across platforms, updated, and that you are gathering and responding to reviews, just like your Google Business Profile. Remember to include images in your online listings as well.

Getting on Google’s first page is a measurable goal

Even for tiny businesses, getting to the top of Google, or even just raising your ranking, is very possible. It takes time and effort, but it is one of the most crucial things you can do for your company. You can get your business the publicity it deserves by learning where and how to make changes. Here’s a quick rundown of the strategies:

Create a keyword strategy that focuses on the terms that your target buyers are looking for.
Incorporate keywords and HTML tags into your website’s content.
Write for people (not search engines).
Searches that are focused on a certain location.
Make your site mobile-friendly.
Concentrate on the user’s experience.
Make a Google My Business account for your company.
Improve your company’s profile.
Obtain feedback from customers.
List your company in online directories.

Want to learn how One SEO can help you rank on Google’s first page? Check out our marketing services and get in touch with us right away.