Sunday, January 27, 2013

Answering The Question "How Do You Get To The Top Of Google"?

By Lucy Cho


An SEO firm understands Google's search results, but, if you are a "lay person" trying to understand, exactly how do you get to the top of Google? Let's try to make this light-hearted and somewhat entertaining. With that in mind, let's say you are searching for a recipe to make monster gut soup. (Now, this may be a highly prized secret recipe, so be ready to cut through some red tape and sign some contracts to get your hands on it!) After carefully considering all you might have to pay, you open the internet, you find your link to Google search and type in "monster guts soup" ... up within seconds are the search results.

The first thing that will shock you is: there are actually results when you type in monster guts soup! The first result is a recipe for split pea soup where the woman jokingly asks if maybe she'll be able to get her children to eat the split pea soup if she calls it something cool like monster guts soup. The next result (I know what you are thinking, more than one?), is from an urban dictionary for gut soup, a violent form of diarrhea. There are actually four results total, with the last two being another urban definition and a recipe for an appetizer for school functions around Halloween. Who knew monster guts were so popular?

Finding four results for something that I really thought would have no matches at all begs the question, exactly how do you get to the top of Google? A SEO firm might think that they can tell you the way to gain success. The secret to achieving what you are hoping for (and hopefully it's more appetizing than monster gut soup!) Drum roll, please, because here is the secret: content + relevance + popularity = top of Google rankings. I know what you are thinking: too easy, too simple. But, it really does work! Taking a closer look at each of these "ingredients" helps to reveal why this "recipe" really works and how it helps to achieve top rankings on Google searches.

Simply put, content is king (when you want to answer how do you get to the top of Google anyway.) When your site has regularly updated, unique content you have a very good chance of capturing a high Google ranking. "Optimization" is another word for relevance when we are talking about Google. Getting Google to understand and recognize keywords you've selected increases your search rankings and places you higher when your keywords are searched for. And let's not forget popularity (how well you play with others.) If your site contains quality links higher priority in Google search is the direct result. Answering the question "how do you get to the top of Google" is much easier when you remember your secret weapons: content, relevance, and popularity.

Let's look again at our example of monster gut soup. When you type in "monster guts soup", Google will first search based upon content, relevance, and popularity. Taking into account that monster gut soup is probably not a highly competitive search in terms of rankings, the principals mentioned would still apply. The four results displayed "ranked" in the order that they appeared because of the keywords chosen. The first result to display had mention of monster guts soup that most closely matched what we initially searched for and included all of the keywords. In terms of being relevant, the first result was the only result to contain an actual recipe for monster guts soup. And, noting that monster guts soup is probably not highly searched, the results yielded probably the only site which linked up to a recipe, which is what we were searching for. As such, the first result to pop up followed all the "ingredients" for a high ranking.

How do you get to the top of Google? You carefully choose your keywords for content, relevance, and popularity. Then, you consider utilizing the services of an SEO firm that can help you maximize your potential.




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