Ranking Page One on Google – Sooner or Later

Is it worth the efforts?

It would be wonderful – if our page appears on page one when someone search for some keywords related to our product or services. All SEO agencies hope to do that for their clients. And all clients hope to achieve that too. But we know that the road to ranking on page one takes a lot of efforts. But is it worth all the efforts? We think so…

Why? Have your ever Google searched for one keyword and if you did not get what you are looking for, you will look at page two, or three or beyond? You probably changed another keyword no? That’s the behaviour of users nowadays. We all want instant gratification. We just lack the patient to look into page two of SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Therefore ranking on Page One of Google search is more important than before. It’s a long worthy road!

Know where you are

By this I do not mean you start googling up keywords and see where your website is ranking now. Whether it is at page two or page 20, it does not make any difference. I mean knowing where you are in terms of the works you have done on your website so far. We often miss the point to know the website is probably the only online asset that we really own. We spend time building our Facebook fan page and Instagram followers, but have you really spend much time taking care of your website? It is important to know that whatever you have done on your social media platforms can only indirectly and minimally benefit your website in terms of ranking for SEO.

So knowing where you are is to know if you are ready to beef up your website. To commit to making sure it is updated, professional and as a tool to continue to engage with your current clients or future alike. It all starts with a decision and your commitment follows.

Finding your niche

You may be in a competitive market. For example you could be in the florist industry. But can you still beat your competitors and rank better than them? Well, nothing in life is impossible. It is just how probable. But if the lessons from Art of War is correct, then I would rather not go head-on with a strong competitor. This is where keyword research becomes very important.

What you are searching for is a niche that you can dominate. A niche that you know your competitors are not focusing on ranking and claim that position. Of course that niche must also be a commercially viable niche. Search volume is one of such considerations. This could be one of many niche you can find. Then the rest will be hard work in claiming that niche.

If you are lucky to be in a not-too-competitive market, your chances of ranking would be much higher. As soon as you know you market is not too competitive, you should quickly work on your website and claim the position as soon as possible. First mover still has its advantage. With time, your site will be known and still rank because it has established some sort of expertise and authority with Google.

But how do you know if the current market you are in is competitive? This voice down to how to go about researching. Keyword research is only one of the means. Industry knowledge, identification of trends etc are other important research too.

On-page or off-page SEO?

Many have asked this question: Should we focus more on on-page or off-page SEO? Which is more important? The true answer to this is: It depends! First you must know what is within your control and what is not. On-page SEO is totally under your control. Off-page your depends on others to have a backlink to your website. Below is a table highlighting the difference.

Each has its strengths and dangers. I think one should first focus on on-page SEO as it is totally under your control. In fact, with a good on-page SEO, your ranking should be adequate for your to start talking to parties on backlinks. Who does not want to link to a powerful site? It voice down to your value proposition for back linking.

But which is more important? On-page or off-page SEO? The honest answer is: off-page. But provided your back link is from an authoritative source. A strong back link is probably better than a lot of contents you write. Having said that, it is a catch 22 situation. If your website is not done properly (on-page), how would an authoritative source want to give you that authority? But in the long term, when all businesses will get more competitive, there is just so much you can do for your on-page SEO. You may keep writing blog posts and articles. But it will come to a saturation point. At that point onwards, it is probably off-page SEO through back linking that will push your site to page one.

Why sooner or later?

I think all sites can be on page one. But wait. If all sites can make it to page one, then there would be more than 10 listings per page. But in reality, how many companies really put efforts in SEO? Or how many effective SEO agencies are there to help companies put their website on page one for that matter?

You will get to page one if you have done it right for on-page and off-page SEO. The sooner is for those who are in the less competitive domain. They probably can do it with on-page SEO alone. Getting to page one later are for those in a more competitive domain. And Google just got to take some time to establish that you are an expert, authoritative and trustworthy enough to put you on page one. Later also means if you have good backlinks to your site. But it takes time to establish trust with others for them to put your links on their website. Note that I am talking about proper SEO here. No black hats SEO.

Summing it all up

To sum up, it is still worth all the efforts getting to page one on Google. And you can do so by doing a proper on-page SEO first. Off-page SEO helps if the backlink is from an authoritative source where they pass you their authority. Getting to page one is sooner if you are in a less competitive domain. You get to page one later if you are in a more competitive domain.

If you need any assistance to rank your website, do contact us. We are a web design SEO agency that work on a different model for SEO with our clients. Do read our working model for SEO. You may contact us at admin@crunchstudio.com.sg