SEO: How to reach the first position on Google?

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The dream of any agency specializing in digital marketing is to achieve the top position on Google for its clients. After all, the most viewed links on the search engine are among the first search results. But what does it take for a website or content to achieve this space? SEO strategies , that's the answer!

SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization , which translates to optimizing websites for search engines. SEO is a set of techniques and strategies that seek to improve the visibility of a website on Google , generating increased organic traffic and authority, and best of all, for free.

SEO strategies are part of what we call SEM, or Search Engine Marketing , which encompasses digital marketing actions for search engines , such as sponsored links and paid media models. However, in SEO , the idea is not to pay to appear, that is, to make the content rank in the top positions based on the techniques used.

If you think it's a cake recipe, you're wrong. SEO involves finland mobile phone number strategies that go beyond well-written content or an attractively laid out page. It's necessary to combine several techniques and monitor their results .

What Google wants is to offer the best experience for the user and this is only possible through good SEO practices, which began to emerge in 2003, with the first updates to the search engine.

How did SEO come about?
In the 1990s, the first internet search engines appeared , including Google in 1997. But the idea was not just to present links to published content in alphabetical order, publication date or any other classification. It was necessary to organize it in a strategic and intelligent way.

That's when algorithms began to take shape and, based on them and specific criteria, content was classified. To ensure ranking security and prevent fraud, algorithms have undergone several updates over the years and, today, we already know some factors that contribute to ranking .

In this video, you can check out an official explanation from Google about how the algorithms work:





What are the ranking factors for Google?
It is believed that there are more than 200 factors that determine which pages should appear in the top positions of the SERP — Search Engine Page Results , the search results page.

For this to happen, the published content must be within what we call white hat . This practice values ​​the ethical use of tools and strategies for website optimization, without violating Google's standards.

Therefore, SEO optimization strategies must comply with on and off page factors .

On-page ranking factors are those optimized on the page itself with the aim of improving tracking and indexing by Google, in addition to enhancing the user experience. Off-page ranking factors refer to opportunities for improvements made outside of the pages, such as link building.

8 Google ranking factors that can impact your website:
Domain authority: pages belonging to a domain with greater authority on the internet have more opportunities to rank better. Some factors contribute to gaining authority, such as domain age, website reputation, quality links that point to your website, among others.
Backlinks: links from sites that have similar content help rankings . Furthermore, when a reference site inserts a link that directs to another page, Google understands that the target site is also trustworthy, contributing to rankings.
Keywords: Google uses keywords to identify which content is most relevant to users. Therefore, studying the most searched words and competition opportunities are fundamental strategies for placing content in the top positions of the search engine .
Content: Google wants to present results that best answer users' questions. Therefore, the algorithms give preference to quality content that is constantly updated.
Dwell time: the largest search engine on the internet pays attention to how long users spend on the page and how they interact with the content. Pages with a short dwell time tend to be less valued by Google .
Loading speed: the faster your page is, the better its ranking . According to a survey conducted by Google /SOASTA Research, 2017, the ideal loading time for a page is up to three seconds.
Responsive design : It is essential that the design of the pages adapts to any screen size, regardless of the user's device. In addition, it is important that all content is displayed in a legible manner and without cuts.
UX (User Experience) : Google values ​​strategies applied with a focus on user experience. Pages that exceed the use of any ranking factor may be penalized.
Google does not disclose all ranking factors , some are proven by studies and others are speculation. But it is the combination of all of them that generates success in reaching the top positions. What is not worth it is to sin by excess or try to outwit the most used search engine on the internet .


Black hat: what not to do in SEO
The terms white hat and black hat have their origins in classic American cinema. The idea comes from Western films, in which heroes wore white hats, while villains wore black hats.

Black hat is a set of ethically questionable page optimization strategies . Practices such as cloaking , keyword stuffing and link farms are the main actions monitored by Google . They represent, respectively, presenting one content to the user and another to the robots, excessive keywords and inserting only backlinks to other pages, without inserting internal links.

Since these actions only worsen the user experience, which is not good for Google , algorithm updates are aware of black hat. The penalty can be a demotion in the content ranking or complete elimination from the ranking.

How to start an SEO strategy?
The first step is to understand your target audience and what they want. This is essential to ensure that the content you publish is relevant to someone and thus generates organic traffic.