Ranking On Google Page 1 is not Rocket Science| Here is How to do it

Ranking on the first page of Google is not rocket science, it’s rather easy. Find out how to rank on the first page. I said it’s not rocket science but never said it’s easy. It will take time and effort to make it happen. Read more to know how to do it.

Don’t listen to SEO Gurus who try to tell you ways to hack Google’s algorithm. You might succeed, but that success will be short-lived. With technologies like BERT and MUM being pushed into core updates, these hacks will be short-lived.

What will always work? — Great Content.

Here is the sure-shot way to rank on the first page of Google Search Results:

Create Pillar Content for your domain!

I have done it at Slang Labs, (Slang Labs builds the most accurate in-app voice assistant) and I can swear by the results. I wanted to make sure whenever someone started their buying journey, they would go through Slang Labs. I set a target to Rank 1 for “Voice Assistants” and “Voice Assistant”.

Comprehensive Guide to Voice Assistants ranking on Page 1 of Google

Here are some insights I gained while building my first pillar page, Comprehensive Guide to Voice Assistants:

Why did I choose this keyword?

I chose to rank for this keyword because voice technologies are still in their infancy and mental models for how people search are not very clear.

Ranking for a broad category keyword was a necessity. After a lot of research, I found that the best way to do so was to create a Pillar Content Page.

Tips to Create a Pillar Page:

1. Long-form Content: Your target should be to make this page “the best resource” on the internet for the topic you choose. Go in-depth write more than 3000+ words. Become the gateway on the internet for that topic.
2. Choosing the subtopics to write on: Blank page might feel like Everest but let the data guide you. Look at keyword data, Google Trends and content on the top ranking website for each of these subtopics you want to write on. Prioritise. Prioritise. Prioritise.
3. Focus on Readability: When you are writing 3000+ words, we often ignore how easy it is to read the content. Breaking it down into easily consumable fashion is critical. Having short, readable sentences will improve readability.
4. Don’t forget Scannability: With great content comes great responsibility. Make it easy for the reader to scan your page. Small paragraphs with short sentences are the way to go.
5. Structure maketh article: Have a well-defined structure to your article. H2, H3, and H4 tags help you to do that. . If you don’t have a definite structure for your article, how do you expect your readers to understand your article?
6. Add a table of contents to make sure readers can get to the desired subtopic with just one click. Remember you are creating the “Gateway for XYZ” on the internet. What good is the gateway if a people cannot find the way after going through it?
   Pro tip: Use Google Docs to create the draft. It automatically generates a table of contents based on the headings used. You can replicate the structure that’s created by it to your page.
7. Add External Links: Add relevant outbound links and references to subtopics and datapoints wherever necessary. You can also add a UTM parameter to these links, so the webmaster of the external site knows where the traffic is coming from.
8. No Backlinks? No worries: Create excellent content, and the rest will follow. The external websites you linked to, many of them will link back to you. With time, a positive feedback loop kicks in. Your Google ranking will inch up and, more and more websites will link back to you, which will help increase ranking on Google.
9. Hub and Spoke Model: Use analytics to know the most important subtopics on your page. Write separate blogs on it (spokes) and start creating internal links between these pages(hub and spoke). Get that juicy link equity to more pages of your website.
10. Images, Images, Images: Dumbledore once said, “You can never have too many socks”, just like that, you can never have too many images. They are great for readability and scannability. They also can help with getting a lot of traffic. If someone picks up your image, they might link back to your article as a courtesy. I call them “Backlink Generators”. Don’t forget to add alt description to these images. Use JPGs or newer formats to keep the file size low.
11. Keyword Credibility: Does your website already have content that ranks in the top 10 pages for the topic you are writing on? If yes, then it should be easier to rank on Page 1 with this. If not, don’t worry, cheer up! It’s perfectly fine!
12. Don’t forget the boring stuff: Meta description, Alt tags, Intra page links, No 404s, fast page load speed, responsive design, adding schema markup, and experimenting with the right title. Some things never change. Don’t forget to play around with these.
13. Update your article continuously: I cannot stress this enough, constantly update your article with more subtopics, the latest data and numbers. Keep modifying it and making it better. Look at the data to help you prioritise which sections to focus on. After each update, let Google know that article has been updated in the schema.

Last but not least have patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Give things time, it takes time to rank on the first page of Google.

I write about marketing related stuff on Substack and Medium, under Minimum Marketing. Follow me on Twitter and Linkedin to read more such articles :)