How SEO Works on Google

Have you ever received one of those spam emails, calls, or messages through your website from someone claiming that they will get your site or service ranked number 1 on the Google search page, or at least onto the first page of results? These people promise instant, seemingly magical and miraculous results, but you shouldn’t pay attention to them.

A man sipping on coffee and working on SEO

Getting to the higher ranks of Google is a question of good Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and in today’s blog I’ll be explaining how to achieve this without having to spend huge sums of money.

Let me say straight away, it does take time, but it’s also not as complex as you think.

What is SEO?

A man sipping on coffee and working on SEO

Step 1: Getting Yourself On the Map

The first and most important area to explore with Google in your quest for better search rankings is creating and enhancing your Google My Business account --- now more commonly known simply as a Google Business Profile. This will help your business appear in Google’s map listings, which are prominently displayed at the very top of the first results page.

These map results are often the creation of common searches such as “Mobile Detailing Services in Richmond, VA.” Including terms like “near me” or “in Virginia” or “around Richmond, VA” for example all help Google to narrow down customers’ search area and locate specific businesses near to them.

To secure your place here, you need a solid Google Business Profile, with as much complete and accurate information as possible: telephone contact, working address, opening times, etc. It also allows you to feature products and services, display posts, show customer reviews, not to mention frequently asked questions. The more you do, the better you’re likely to rank.

Step 2: Get Yourself Into Directories

Also prominently featured on the Google results page you’ll find entries supplied by directories like Yellow Pages, yahoo.com, Bing, Yelp, and others. The first link might be “Best Auto Detailing in Richmond, VA” for instance, as recommended by Yelp. Some of these directories do cost money to list with them, but you should consider it an appropriate investment since they remain highly trusted sources of information to potential customers.

Step 3: Keywords

Including certain keywords in your blog posts, web copy and other sources is another good way to help climb the ladder. Using tools like Surfer SEO, you can quickly learn what kinds of keywords are effective for your particular product or service, and then you can be sure to include them to a saturation point of about 1 percent in your various content in the future.

Step 4: A Mobile-Friendly and Prominent Online Presence

Being active on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms will also help you feature more highly in Google rankings. For instance, if you create a series of how-to videos on your YouTube channel, people will find your company via your video content. The same goes for Facebook and Twitter. The larger and more organic your online presence, the more likely the Google algorithm is to identify you as a service that this customer could benefit from using.

Step 5: Stay Current on Google’s Evolution

Finally, be wary of “silver bullet” solutions and shortcuts to increase your rankings. The Google algorithm is smart and evolving. Old tips and tricks such as setting up additional URLs to link to your main website no longer work as they did. In fact, Google increasingly penalizes those who use these kinds of methods, instead rewarding those who seek a more organic path to SEO growth. Read up on Google’s search patterns, and stay informed.

SEE OUR OWN RESULTS:

Look for Wings Mobile Detailing on google by typing:

"Mobile Detailing in Richmond,VA"