Getting that #1 spot or even just ranking higher in the search engines (especially Google) is no easy task.
Heck, I even thought it was impossible with all the competition out there.
However, I still dove right in, thanks to the awesome training and support at Authority Hacker.
With their claims of making a nice income on the internet with an authority site, I had to at least give it a try.
I chose one of the best niches, narrowed it down a bit, and created an awesome website around it.
Everything was falling into place until I saw what I was up against.
There is no way on Earth that I will be able to outrank any of the websites on even the first 3 pages of Google.
Doubt started to set in, and I was even more discouraged with this whole affiliate marketing thing.
Then I started doing more thinking.
- I have a website that I’m beyond proud of building.
- I’m with one of the best training platforms on the internet.
- I’m trained by some of the best in the world.
Oh, and I remembered why I set out to make money online in the first place.
That’s when I decided to go all in and learn what is needed to actually make real money online.
Through the training and learning on my own, I have managed to do exactly that.
From a complete newb that didn’t rank to outranking some of the biggest names in my niche.
Through some help and lots of self-teaching, I have figured out how to get ranked in Google.
Not just on page 1 but on that #1 spot with a website that was only 3 months old.
And guess what?
I’m about to show you how.
So How Do You Get Ranked in Google?
Well, there is no straight answer to this.
There are many factors that you need to put into consideration, and I’m going to show you exactly what they are.
Through 5 years of blogging and making money online, I always thought I knew what I was doing.
I wrote a blog post, and it ranked almost immediately.
What I didn’t realize was that it had to do mainly with one thing.
The fact that my site was old and trusted.
What I didn’t know was that the strategy I was using was really only temporary.
From getting thousands of visitors a day and absolutely crushing it with an amazing income soon dwindled to almost nothing.
That forced me to rethink things and do a whole lot of learning.
Remember now this is 5 years of great success within the online space.
Now, with the knowledge I already possessed, I added a whole lot more and did a complete overhaul of the way I went about creating content.
Within a couple of months, I was already getting more traffic than what my old site was getting when it was at its highest point.
As much as I would like to sit there and complain about the major hits my old site took, I like to look at things as more of a blessing in disguise.
Not only am I getting more traffic and making more sales but I have the knowledge that can get my posts ranked in Google a whole lot better.
With those rankings, of course, comes more traffic and more dough.
So, if you’re looking to get ranked in the search engines like a champ, here is exactly how I get it done.
1. Come Up With a Plan
If you just start blogging without knowing where you’re headed, your chances of getting ranked in Google are probably going to be very low.
Understand what you are doing, and the chances will go up by at least 80%.
Why?
Well, your overall site works as one.
If you are just going to publish anything and everything, you aren’t going to get very far.
Almost every new blogger fails to do this, and is probably the biggest reason why they aren’t seeing their rankings improve.
After you pick the topic your site is going to be about, you need to start building the structure.
Pick no more than four categories and start the construction.
Create blog posts that your site actually needs.
Forget about doing posts that get traffic or will make you money.
The beginning phase should be focused on building out your site so that it can work together.
Pick your niche, create some categories, and build it out until you feel that you have somewhat of a foundation going.
This is very important as it works hand in hand with my next tip.
2. Link Properly
When you hear of links and rankings in the same sentence, the most common term comes to mind.
Backlinks.
That’s not what I think, but it is what a huge majority of bloggers think.
Forget about that and hear me out real quick.
Getting ranked in Google does help with getting backlinks, but do not worry about that.
How about we get back to the foundation of your site?
Let’s talk about the right linking strategy.
For this, we are going to focus on your site and not worry about other sites pointing to yours.
Your site is going to need trust and credibility, of course, but what good are backlinks if you don’t have the right type of content?
Let me show you how you should go about dealing with the more important links ON your site.
Internal Links
Some bloggers fail miserably in this part.
They focus on nothing but money posts and realize that they don’t have anything to link to.
As a matter of fact, some don’t even care about linking to any other posts on their site.
Don’t be that person.
Build out your site with content that you can link to from future posts.
I don’t care what your niche is, you need to focus on providing information to your readers.
Build out your site this way, and the money will be sure to follow.
External Links
This is something that can be a little confusing to newer bloggers.
Why would you want to give traffic to someone else’s site, right?
Well, because Google likes that.
Not only are you showing that your site is actually legit and providing solid information but these other sites will see that you’re sharing the wealth.
Guess what ends up happening?
They might just link to you in the future.
It’s a win/win for everyone, so you should not be afraid to link to other sites.
Of course, you want to link to credible sources that are trusted, so don’t just link to any old site.
I usually add at least one external link per post, but I do provide the proper sources if needed.
Be natural, and let your linking strategy be as well.
3. Proper Keyword Research
Keyword research sounds pretty straightforward, but sometimes, you need to do a lot more in-depth thinking than you think.
Find the low-hanging fruit, they said, and you’ll get ranked.
Without even implementing the first two tips in this post, good luck trying to get ranked even for something with almost no competition.
Keyword research requires a lot more than just finding words and phrases that no one is writing about.
One big thing that you should focus on is who is actually writing on that keyword.
Not to say that you can’t compete but you just need to know what you’re up against and how to go about this battle.
Outranking them is not as hard as you think if you just take that extra step into your research.
If they did a thousand-word post, make yours 1500+ words.
If they are missing a simple word that can help you get ranked, use it.
Don’t focus on the numbers so much, as you’re better off getting 10 visitors a day with a less competitive keyword than landing on page 3 trying to fight with Mike Tyson.
Use good judgment with your keyword research and definitely target the low-hanging fruit.
Also, remember that Google picks up on many keywords, so you can and will most likely rank for the more competitive stuff later.
4. Give Your Site Some Action
So far, the stuff I just mentioned is about half of what I do to get ranked in Google.
These next points are just as critical, and you can not skip out on any of them.
Can you tell me why?
If you said, “Because your site works as one,” you can pat yourself on the back because you are right.
If you didn’t know that answer, now is a great time to stick it on your brain somewhere.
There’s one thing that everyone loves when it comes to rankings, and this means Google and actual humans.
We all like sites that are getting some kind of action.
Of course, your site is new, so how do you go about doing such a thing?
You share it.
This can be done through blog posts that have nothing to do with money but rather something that others are actually interested in.
The hottest topic, maybe?
Doing this will allow for several things to happen.
For one, you will take off the cobwebs from your site.
Secondly, you are showing Google that people are actually interested in what you have to say.
Lastly, you are giving your site a chance to get one of the best ways to see some action.
This simple but amazing thing is called comments.
Yup, that is probably the best way to show Google you are the real deal.
You can create engaging content, but with something like a comment thread, you can always get them a lot easier.
Trust me, it works.
5. Remain Consistent
Everything mentioned above is useless if you aren’t going to blog regularly.
Remember how I said your site works as one?
Well, it does, and it is something I can not stress enough.
By publishing content regularly, you are definitely a step ahead of the competition.
You don’t need to blog every single day (even if I think you should), but you should aim for at least 3-5 blog posts a week.
At the very least, 2 is what I recommend, but that is about as little as you want to do.
Imagine adding all the internal and external links, sharing your content, and posting on your site a lot.
You are starting to look like a real deal site that Google needs to recognize, and if you follow what I just said, they will.
Go through the month with just 2 posts, and you might as well tell your boss how much you love them because you are not going to find much success as a blogger.
6. Follow What Works
I don’t care what niche you decide to get involved with, there is most likely a site like it.
That is not a problem and probably better for you.
When you decide on what you want your site to be about, you usually go with your passion, correct?
Well, that’s not enough.
As you progress and grow as a blogger, you always want to get heavily involved with your niche.
Go out there and see what others are doing.
See how much traffic they’re getting and kind of model what they are doing.
I’m not saying to copy them, but just try to use them as some kind of guide for your site.
They are getting the kind of traffic they get because of what they do, you know?
So it makes perfect sense to follow them, just like I follow the best affiliate marketing blogs to help me with my site.
Once you get rolling, you will develop your very own style, and your brand will start to shine like it should.
This reminds me about how important it really is to come up with a brand that you are proud of.
So keep that in mind if you have not decided on a name for your site.
But for this tip, you want to read, watch, and do whatever is related to your niche.
If your site is on fishing, then you behind better be fishing.
Some niches are understandable, but I hope you get my point.
7. Grammarly
I can tell you to use proper grammar and make sure all that stuff is correct but I don’t think all that is necessary.
With an awesome tool like Grammarly, you should be able to craft a blog post like a champ.
Grammar issues are one thing and can be done with the little squiggly line that comes with any text/edit program.
Grammarly does a whole lot more.
When it comes to SEO and better rankings, you have to focus on things like passive and active voice.
Sentence and paragraph length.
Staying on top of that is no easy task, and that is why something like Grammarly is a must.
I took years before realizing that I needed such a tool, and I’m glad I’ve finally learned my lesson.
Even if it took 5 long years.
So do yourself a favor and get Grammarly, or you’ll be that much further away from getting ranked in Google.
What About Backlinks?
Some of you seasoned bloggers might be wondering why in the world I never mentioned anything about backlinks.
Wouldn’t that be together with “proper linking”?
Not so much.
This very site you are on has gotten thousands of visitors a month in just 3 months without building any backlinks.
It’s not luck, and it’s not that I’m any better.
It’s the fact that I’ve utilized everything I just mentioned above.
Too many new bloggers follow the gurus and fall for their marketing tactics.
They, of course, trust them because they are making millions of dollars, but they fail to understand some of the things that people like me do.
For one, these guys have been around since the beginning of blogging time.
And two, they are marketers that are trying to get as much money from you as possible.
Yup, that’s how they work and something you need to think about when you are out and about trying to win online.
So not only were they able to grow their following for decades but they also have some outdated strategies.
And yes, building backlinks is one of them.
Now, don’t get me wrong, backlinks are still a big factor in SEO but that does not mean you should focus on it more than anything else.
I know bloggers that literally spend 90% of their time trying to build backlinks.
Can you imagine what a site with 10 posts and a crapload of backlinks looks like?
Sure, you can get ranked from that alone, but your overall site is not working “normally.”
With some time and a lot of what I talked about in this post, backlinks will come naturally.
Not to mention that publishing regularly with the proper linking strategy is just as good as backlinks.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true.
Conclusion – Follow This Guide!
Everything I just mentioned in this post is what I have done to get ranked in Google.
I’m not here to brag, but you can pick and choose from the posts on this site, and you will see that they all have some decent rankings.
Most are on page 1, and a whole lot of them are in that #1 spot.
I don’t do any fancy tricks, and I definitely don’t request any backlinks from any other sites.
What’s even crazier is that I have not even looked at what sites are pointing back to mine in Search Console.
Pretty crazy if you ask me, but you can obviously see that this strategy works.
Now, the best part about all this is that this little “secret” I just shared with you is something that will actually last.
You can bet that your site will continue to grow, and you don’t have to worry about getting bit by any of the animals that Google releases.
Give these tips a try, and you will see that getting ranked in Google is not so hard to do after all.
Thanks for reading, and you’re welcome.