Getting A Page One Listing At Google

There is marketing power in a top page listing at Google. Recently we were able to obtain a top page, free listing for a single-word search term for one of our clients. 1.8 million people see this search page monthly. There are 44 million web pages competing for this top page placement.

We're in business to help people and placing a business on a web page with 1.8 million monthly viewers (with only 9 other listings) is real help.

Results like this are rare. Here are 6 things that got us there:

1. Deploy several small single-topic independent web sites about individual products or services. Google seems to recognize a synergy that comes from a collection of sites, instead of just one.

2. Use style sheets (CSS) with your HTML to get rid of font tags. Google likes clean code. They detest code junked up with redundant tags. Look at your HTML. Make sure it's clean.

3. Include real information on the subject matter. Make a genuine attempt to impart knowledge. Act like you're writing a term paper. Marketing babble doesn't impart information. Information on a subject - even if it doesn't make sense in terms of selling - is what Google wants.

4. Use keywords throughout the site but don't overdo it. The optimum ratio is 4%. Repeat your keyword 4 times for every 100 words of text. If you go too far (called keyword stuffing) you'll drop out completely.

5. Keep working the site. Google wants to see you updating your site with new information. If you don't care about the site, they won't either.

6. List all sites with Google.com/webmaster. Upload XML sitemaps so Google knows what pages are there and how to access them. A collection of 4 or 5 related sites in Google Webmaster console seems to work well.

Small (3 or 4 pages) product oriented, keyword specific web sites perform well at Google. We have dozens on the first page. Moreover they seem to bolster the ranking of the main site too. Keep registering keyword domains and keep putting up content.