When you create your site with Portmoni, we submit it to Google Search. Because of this, you will already appear for searches for your domain name, and for some of the keywords that you use in your content. However, most of us also want to show up on Google for specific keywords our clients are searching for. So how do you do that?
In this guide, we will first explain how Google decides which sites it shows when people make a search, and then how you can make your site appear on Google.
How does Google decide which sites will show up on Google first page
As a Google user, if you search for the keyword “website builder South Africa“, what do you expect the results to be? You expect to find the most interesting and relevant pages for that keyword. Google’s objective is therefore to provide the best results it can find. Indeed, Google wants to satisfy its users, so that they come back and consume their products.
So, as a website owner, if I want to show up on Google for the keyword “website builder South Africa”, what I need to do is to create a page that Google will find relevant for this keyword. This way, Google will want to show it to its visitors. When this happens, Google will put my page in the top results, and I will have succeeded!
So, how do you create a page on your website that Google and Google’s users find interesting?
You too want to be in the top results of Google? Keep reading!
How to appear in Google Search
You want to appear for specific keywords that you think your clients are searching for. But how? Here is a 5-step method to create a page that Google will want to show its users:
1. First, decide and write down the keyword you want to be linked to. A keyword can be composed of one or several words. For instance, a keyword could be “website builder South Africa,” and another one could be “website builder.” In this example, we will select “website builder South Africa”
Note: “website builder”, “website builder Cape Town”, “website builder South Africa” are 3 different keywords! You should pick a very specific keyword, and focus on it exclusively. You will be able to create multiple pages, each targeting a different keyword, but you should not mix everything together, or Google will be confused and you will not reach the results you expect.
2. Search the keyword you selected in Google, and look at the top 5 websites that appear. Read the content, look at how they are structured. Notice if they are articles or product pages, and how long the content is. If Google likes these pages, we want to create a page that has the same characteristics, but is even better!
3. Create a specific page on your site to target the keyword that you have selected in step (1), and include the keyword in the title of the new page. This page could typically be a blog article in the “News” section of your site, or a specific service in the “Services” section.
For instance, let’s create a new blog post with the title “Choose the best website builder in South Africa” (as you see, the title includes the keyword “website builder South Africa”)
Create a new Post with a title that includes your target keywords, here “website builder South Africa”
4. Write an interesting article on the topic of your keyword, between 300 words and 1,000 words long. Here are a few tips about writing the content of your article:
- Remember, Google does not care about what you want as a website owner; it cares about what people searching on Google are interested in. So you need to write an article that is interesting and brings value to the people who will visit your page.
- To write an interesting article, think about what you would like to find if you were searching for this keyword on Google.
- Include your keyword not only in your title, but also in the first paragraph, and in 2-3 other locations on your site (but no more). Why? Google looks for keywords, so your page needs to include the keywords you target.
- Use the research that you have done in step (2) to create your content in a way that you know Google will like (like the length, the type of content…)
5. Add this content to your site in the “News” or “Service” that you created in step (3).
Congratulations! You have just created an article that your visitors will like, and that Google will consider showing for your selected keyword.
Your new post “Choose the best website builder in South Africa” is now published and ready to rank
How long will it take for my website to appear on Google?
Once it is published, your new article will be picked up by Google, and start ranking. Google checks every site on the internet every week or two weeks, so it will be picked up quickly. But it is competing against all the other articles on the same topic on the internet, so you will need to be patient to see results. It can take weeks or months to see your article climb in the ranking.
How long does it take to create an article like that?
As a subject expert, you probably know a lot about your industry, and what your clients are looking for and expect. This should allow you to write interesting articles quickly, and over time you will be able to do it faster and faster.
But it is true that appearing on Google is very competitive, and it requires work. At the beginning, it can typically take several hours to write a 300 to 600 words article. Remember that you are competing with all the other companies that have a website, and that also want to rank for the exact same keywords! This is why you need to create content that it better and more interesting than theirs, so that Google shows your site in the first results. If you have reached that point in this guide, you are already on the good track 🙂
In summary
- To rank on Google for a specific keyword, you need to have content on your site that Google wants to show to its visitor who search for that phrase
- To create such content, you need to (1) select the keyword you want to target and (2) identify which other content on this specific topic Google likes. Then, (3) create an article that uses the keyword in the title and (4) write a 300 to 1,000 words article on this topic that includes your target keyword in the first paragraph, and then a few more times in your article.
Now, time to get your first article done and show up on Google!