Rank #1 in Google - All Questions Answered

[alexbbbh]

How do I rank #1 in Google for my chosen keyphrase?

This is a question that I often get. And I don't see many places where you can find a good answer. I am talking about a real blueprint of what's working in SEO. That's where this thread comes in. I'm going to try and share my experiences on what is really needed in order to rank #1 in Google. No matter the niche or market. Even highly competitive ones.


Why would you trust me?
Simply, you do not have to. As with anything in life, take my advice with a grain of salt and make your own decisions. I am not the best seo professional out there by any means. That being said, I make a nice income as a result of my seo efforts. Similar results have been achieved by people that I've worked with so everything here can be replicated by anyone that is willing to put in the required time.


Let's get to it then. Where do you start?


The most important thing is having a clear picture on what seo is and what needs to be done in order to rank #1. Seo really boils down to onpage optimization and off page optimization. While the first one is related to optimizing the page that you're trying to rank locally, on your own site, the second is about getting links or the process of link building. Onpage optimization is a process that takes a few minutes up to a few hours while offpage or link building is a continual process.

OnPage Optimization

The most important parts of onpage optimization are url structure, title, description and of course the content of the article/page. The type of site that you have and the monetization that you will implement will also influence both onpage and offpage strategies. More on this later. For now, let's take some examples

In google, exact match domains are golden. There is a clear and I might say unfair advantage that exact match domains have. Let's say I would like to go after the keyphrase "solar panel", I would first try and register one of the exact match versions: solarpanel.com, solarpanel.org, solarpanel.net, solarpanel.info. If neither was available I would go for plurals or keyphrase+suffix.com. In this case, solarpanelcenter.com solarpaneldirect.com, solarpanelworld.com etc.

In these examples what I'm doing is trying to rank using the root domain of the site. For larger sites if you're trying to rank for a keyphrase that is going to produce revenue you will create a specific page targeted to that keyphrase. Example greenenergy.com/solar-panels( in this case greenenergy would be a big brand type site and you would create the solarpanels page within it). Or greenenergy.com/solar-energy/solar-panels(here we inserted it into an appropriate category). Creating relevant categories will boost the power of individual pages from within that category but as a general rule the closer to the root domain the better. There is a tradeoff between seo, navigation and usability but most times the page should not be further than 3 clicks from the homepage.

The title and description should be created with the idea of getting a click from google's listing. Let's say you were on position #4 in Google for solar panels. A good title and a good description will increase your listings click through rate. This way it is possible to get more traffic than someone who is on position #3 for example. Of course - the keyphrase should be included in both the title and the description. Also write these according to the monetization strategy that you're using. Examples of titles and description:

monetization used - ebook or cpa offer
Solar Panels - Complete DIY Guide
Solar Panel Info: Learn all about solar panels, solar panel installation, where to get solar panels, and how solar panels help the environment.

physical product
Solar Panels For Sale | Buy Solar Panels Online
Solar panels and solar power kits for homes, commercial, offgrid. Solar panel systems at guaranteed lowest prices. Free tech support.

The content of the Article/Page

This one is a biggie. Simply put, your article should be the best amongst the other ones from Google's first page. Here is why. Once you get to page1 you will get links organically, without any extra effort if the article/page contains every bit of information that the potential visitor might be interested in. This separates people that know what they're doing from the ones that will never reach #1 or the ones that get there and then get knocked off. $3 articles are nice but if you're building a long term project/business you will probably need to pay more along the lines of $100 articles. More on this later.

I'll update the thread with linkbuilding techniques, observations and tips in later posts. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions regarding your particular situation or add comments.


Alex,

[spesialis]

what's the reasonable time frame to rank on the 1st page of Google?

3 months? 6 months?

Let's say that example of yours, solar panel (not too competitive, but moderate searches/month)

And let's say I'm diligent and never give up (keep building backlinks, week by week, day by day)

[Sayed]

No specific time to rank #1
It depends on competition and how many backlinks do you have and if they are powerful or not

[markowe]

I have had cause to wonder about exact-match domains lately - I know they were very powerful, I had great success getting things to rank with them over the last year or so, and the Xfactor and Clickbump and many other schemes have made much of them, rightly so. But my recent experience has been a poor performance by EMDs - it wouldn't surprise me at all if the 'G' has reduced their weighting in the ranking algo. Or maybe I have just had bad luck with a few recent niche choices - what's your take on that?

[Linda Hepworth]

MARKOWE - what are EMD's ?

[markowe]

Originally Posted by iamasuccess

MARKOWE - what are EMD's ?

Sorry, Exact Match Domains I have been hanging around the WF too much!

Exact match domain as in, WhitePoodleTraining.com

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by iamasuccess

MARKOWE - what are EMD's ?

>I have had cause to wonder about exact-match domains lately

[FrankBowman]

Originally Posted by L41db4ck

>I have had cause to wonder about exact-match domains lately

If I may interject. Google is always messing around with their algo. EMDs are good, they may be given less weight in the algo from time to time, but they certainly can't hurt.

In fact in a small niche they really are golden.

[OnlineMarketingSys]

Originally Posted by alexbbbh

$3 articles are nice but if you're building a long term project/business you will probably need to pay more along the lines of $100 articles.

This is great! I want to meet the guy that sold you on the idea that his 500-1000 word article was worth $100. Because that really is a good one.

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by OnlineMarketingSys

This is great! I want to meet the guy that sold you on the idea that his 500-1000 word article was worth $100. Because that really is a good one.

It's called marketing, you either have it or you don't

[flx89]

I did it for a 300.000 competition with exactly domain name in 2 months

Originally Posted by spesialis

what's the reasonable time frame to rank on the 1st page of Google?

3 months? 6 months?

Let's say that example of yours, solar panel (not too competitive, but moderate searches/month)

And let's say I'm diligent and never give up (keep building backlinks, week by week, day by day)

[scott g]

These threads are both good and bad IMO. Every niche, every keyword has different competition thus the difficulty to rank is going to be unique for every search term.

ONE article for $100 bucks is pushing it. I'll PROUDLY endorse Billy Rey's work - the Hoist Packages (http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...of-inside.html) and his article creation (***[CREATIVE + PRECISE = WE ARE NOT CHEAP...WE ARE BETTER] Content You Can Proudly Call Your Own!). The article he provided me with was simply SUPERB. I turned it into a press release - Paid press release.

I've ranked #1 for terms with strong competition with superb on-site SEO and little off-site SEO in a month. I couldn't break page one for certain keywords that should be easier to get on page one with for 6 months+ with insane and diversified off-site SEO.

The on-site SEO is 10% of the battle IMO.

All in all good thread. Do your keyword/competition research and work work work... Don't let the Google dances get you up in arms! Patience and persistence are virtues that hold true to IM/SEO/SEM.

CHEERS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[alexbbbh]

Originally Posted by spesialis

what's the reasonable time frame to rank on the 1st page of Google?

3 months? 6 months?

Let's say that example of yours, solar panel (not too competitive, but moderate searches/month)

And let's say I'm diligent and never give up (keep building backlinks, week by week, day by day)

I consider 3 months a fair amount of time to get to page1 in most niches/markets. From then on, working your way to #1 depends on the linking profile of the site situated on position1 and how powerful it is.

Originally Posted by markowe

I have had cause to wonder about exact-match domains lately - I know they were very powerful, I had great success getting things to rank with them over the last year or so, and the Xfactor and Clickbump and many other schemes have made much of them, rightly so. But my recent experience has been a poor performance by EMDs - it wouldn't surprise me at all if the 'G' has reduced their weighting in the ranking algo. Or maybe I have just had bad luck with a few recent niche choices - what's your take on that?

I still see exact match domains performing extremely well in a lot of different niches. Indeed Google might reduce their weight in the future but then again, they might not.

Originally Posted by OnlineMarketingSys

This is great! I want to meet the guy that sold you on the idea that his 500-1000 word article was worth $100. Because that really is a good one.

Look at wikipedia. Why are they ranking for thousands and thousands of keyphrases and usually on #1?

The site is build with the end user in mind. The content is exactly what the visitor is looking for. Is your content better than the one from wikipedia? In my experience in more than 90% of cases, the answer is no. It's not enough to get to position 1. You need to maintain it. Excellent content maintains the position without the need of extra work. You get links naturally because your page, being the best, gets referenced by other sites.

If you're building a long term business, $100 is peanuts.

[Etailer]

I started a new website and the search term was in the domain name. 6 month later I am on page 1 on Google in position 4. The domain name was Interior Designer Colorado dot com. It does seem to help a lot having the keywords in the domain name along with keywords in the url.

TNT Internet Marketing

[Bragah]

100$ for a 500-1000 words article ?
Where do you find this cheap writers...

With 100$ i could rank a mini niche websites with just About Us and Contact page ^^
For god sake... i hope you bank well from this website of yours ...

[Mike Grant]

$100 per article? lmao.

My content writer is an American who is a published author and he charges me $5 per 500 words for an optimized article.

[Jonas B]

Originally Posted by scott g

These threads are both good and bad IMO. Every niche, every keyword has different competition thus the difficulty to rank is going to be unique for every search term.

ONE article for $100 bucks is pushing it. I'll PROUDLY endorse Billy Rey's work - the Hoist Packages (http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...of-inside.html) and his article creation (***[CREATIVE + PRECISE = WE ARE NOT CHEAP...WE ARE BETTER] Content You Can Proudly Call Your Own!). The article he provided me with was simply SUPERB. I turned it into a press release - Paid press release.

I've ranked #1 for terms with strong competition with superb on-site SEO and little off-site SEO in a month. I couldn't break page one for certain keywords that should be easier to get on page one with for 6 months+ with insane and diversified off-site SEO.

The on-site SEO is 10% of the battle IMO.

All in all good thread. Do your keyword/competition research and work work work... Don't let the Google dances get you up in arms! Patience and persistence are virtues that hold true to IM/SEO/SEM.

CHEERS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

so what about the other 90%?