FIVE FACTORS TO HELP RANK FIRST IN GOOGLE
Nowadays there's no way to guarantee that a page will rank #1 for the specific keywords you're targeting, but there are ways to maximise the chances of that happening. Once you become familiar with the features that all top-ranking pages have in common, it's possible to develop a knack for being able to tell whether a page is going to be successful before it is even published based on a few simple attributes. Here are 5 factors that make a page more likely to reach the top spot.
Address And/Or Answer A Popular Question
Try to come up with a solution to a popular problem or answer a common curiosity in a way that none of the other top ranking pages have. Even if the question doesn't have a definitive answer, address the topic as thoroughly as possible and follow the other tips below to put your page in an ideal position to rank well.
Choose Non-Competitive Topics
Even better than outdoing the competition is choosing a topic that has very little competition, or putting a unique spin on it to ensure that it has zero competition. As with the rest of the methods on this list, reducing competition has a lot to do with finding phrases and terms that aren't yet covered by mega sites that might be difficult to outrank regardless of how great your content is.
Closely Match A Google Suggest Phrase
This is a powerful factor that is often overlooked yet highly effective at ensuring organic search traffic. You know that auto-complete feature that fetches a list of suggestions when you're in the process of typing in a search phrase? That's called Google Suggest, and any phrase it displays is worth targeting because you can be sure that plenty of people are searching for it.
Provide Useful, Actionable Advice Without Filler
Aside from the inherent content features like the title and targeted keywords, the quality of the piece itself should be great enough for readers to want to share and like. Google has developed algorithms that can detect the presence of filler (content that doesn't contain any useful information) and typically penalises such pages with poor rankings. On the other hand, pages that are loaded with actionable advice, statistics, and links to other reputable sources are typically given the opposite treatment.
Professional Formatting And Metadata
Finally, the greatest written content in the world won't go far if it is poorly formatted and contains other on-page errors related to metadata and design. People tend to judge the authority of a page by the way it looks even before they begin reading, and many visitors will leave at the first sign of an amateur site, thereby hurting your click-through rate.
In conclusion, although covering all of these factors can certainly help improve your chances of gaining #1 rankings in Google, keep in mind that the overall authority of the site that the content is published on will also play a role in whether the page is able to quickly reach the #1 slot and stay there. Fortunately, continuing to develop pages with the above criteria in mind will ensure a gradual increase in your site's authority.
