When it comes to search engine rankings, position one is the gold standard everyone in digital marketing aspires to.
No matter how big or small your business may be everyone from large corporations to niche bloggers place priority on getting a high search engine ranking.
The reason why it’s so important to everyone can be summarized in one word – visibility.
This is essential for digital success because if people can’t find you online your brand or business will suffer.
Why Ranking At Number 1 Is Important
Realistically speaking, a website that isn’t visible on the first page of relevant keyword searches probably isn’t going to get much traffic from search engines. And no one wants that.
All digital marketers know that having your website rank at number 1 on SERPS is an incredible achievement for anyone with an online presence. Being at position 1 is extremely advantageous. It includes perks such as increased visibility and has a positive effect on your overall brand authority.
This is because most people associate high ranking websites with being reputable and trustworthy.And a positive image of your brand allows you to gain respectability in the eyes of potential customers, peers and even your competitors.
The Cost Of Ranking At Number 1
Achieving a number 1 listing can be difficult. This is why a lot of digital marketers opt for PPC (Pay-Per-Click) options.
PPC search (Pay-Per-Click) is a form of advertising strategy that allows you to pay for a spot on search engine results pages. But the cool thing about it is that you only pay for ads when someone interacts (clicks) with them.
PPC advertising campaigns mostly appear on two platforms – Google Ads and Social Media Advertising. PPC is very useful for small businesses that may not have the time to achieve an organic search engine listing.For a fee, you can ensure that your website is featured at the top of the SERPS.
So How Much Does A PPC Campaign Actually Cost?
There isn’t really a one-size fits all answer. Because Google Ads are so customizable you can control your PPC budget and increase or decrease how much you want to spend on ads at your discretion.
This is how it works…
You get to choose the keywords or phrases that will trigger your ads and set a maximum bid for how much you’re willing to pay each time a user clicks on your advert.
If your bid is very high for a specific keyword or phrase, it will appear at the top of the search results page. Like we mentioned earlier, you only pay when someone clicks on your advert. This makes PPC options rather cost effective.
How To Rank At Number 1 Without Breaking The Bank
If you’re on a budget it is still possible to earn a number 1 ranking without any cost. But it may take a little extra work. Luckily we have a few tips on how to do just that.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you’re aiming for a number 1 ranking on SERPS, a good SEO strategy is essential. Here’s why…
As we mentioned in previous blogs, SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of positively affecting the online presence of a website through the use of targeted keywords and phrases. Incorporating these words/phrases into your content helps search engines to crawl and correctly index the information on your website. So when a person searches for something that’s relevant to your industry, your website will appear in the search results.
A good SEO strategy is the secret to all things awesome in digital marketing. It has the potential to boost website traffic, improve your online visibility and does wonders for your credibility too. Most importantly all this cool SEO stuff gives your SERP ranking a major boost.
- Use Your Niche
To be successful in the competitive digital realm you need to use your niche to your advantage. It’s not necessary to compete with major organizations that have access to large marketing budgets. This is where your niche comes in.
Instead of trying to compete for popular keyword rankings; you need to choose keywords that are more specific to your brand/business. For example: Instead of offering general “beauty makeovers” at your beauty salon, you could consider specializing in “hair styling, nails and makeup”. These keywords are more specific and have a greater chance of a high ranking.
- Optimize Your Keywords
Once you’ve started using your nice to your advantage by choosing more specialized keywords and phrases you need to incorporate them into your website. While you definitely don’t want to overdo it with your keywords, it is important to incorporate them into your content, headings, titles and URLS.
- Fix Mistakes
Mistakes on your website can have a negative effect on your SERP ranking. Use a webmaster tool to find 404 errors, broken links, redirects, sitemap errors, etc and fix them as soon as possible.
- Link Building
Links play an important role in terms of SEO with inbound links being a key element in achieving a high ranking. Linking new content to older content that performed in the past can help to improve your search engine ranking.
