Google (Go͞ogəl), what does that company name mean to you when you hear it? Leading Internet search engine? A large corporation?
To me it meant, a challenge.
Many consumers have Google set as their home screen, preferred search engine, or even linked to their email. So what does this mean for us as marketers? It means that Google is an attractive way to be seen by new consumers, customers/clients, future employers, and we need to utilize it!
So how does a Senior Marketing Major in college get ranked* on the first page of Google search results?
As a search engine, Google has a top-secret algorithm that they use to determine the order of the search results that go with a specific term. We know that Google has "spiders" that are continually crawling the web searching for keywords that are in your search. Keywords are things such as alternate text on an image, words that make up content written in articles, and any significant word or phrase used on your website. This all happens within milliseconds when you click the search button on Google. Another factor that goes into these results are what sites are getting the most traffic.*
I took what I knew and I applied it. I added keywords to all: captions on my pictures, alternate text, and content on my website.
In addition, I also increased my presence professionally and socially through various social media platforms. I began actually using the posting feature on LinkedIn more and shared relevant marketing content frequently.
Below you can see what my results were:
I was so thrilled and excited to share this! The fact that my LinkedIn profile ranked was the most exciting because it is great for a potential future employer to see. If they are Googling me and their search results yielded my LinkedIn profile, they can then click on it to learn more about me.
Overall if your site is using search engine optimization with the use of keywords, receiving a good amount of website traffic, and promoting its' content, then you should be ranked right? If only it were that easy.
All of these things are called organic results. Google also has paid results called Google Ads which, is a very useful tool. However, those are not results that are organically generated. Adwords can enhance your already organic results that are displaying. However, they will not change what the "spiders" or web crawlers are finding organically when that search button is clicked on the Google search engine platform.
I believe understanding the knowledge on the back end of Google helped me better know how to make my chances greater at being ranked on the first page fo results. If your goal is to get ranked on Google, then it is essential you understand how the search engine itself works.
Update: As of 6/13/18, my Twitter is also ranked on page one of Google search results.
Have more questions on how I made this happen?
Send me a message through the Contact tab on my website.
1*ranking refers to what result number you are when you search something on the Google homepage. For example, if you Google "LinkedIn" and the first thing that appears in results is LinkedIn.com then that means that LinkedIn.com is Ranked #1 for that search.
2*traffic the amount of people who are visiting your site, clicking on links, and interacting with your website's content.
Note: My search ranks all came organically and not from the use of Adwords. The Google results were from a point in time so current search results may vary.
Source: Google Adwords Certification Modules - greatly recommended to a future marketer