How I got a blog post on the first page of Google

There are a number of reasons for having a blog on your website. I’ve mentioned them before. You probably already know them.

One of them is getting ranked on Google. That’s where we’d all love to be, right?

It’s the gateway to the internet. It’s where people get answers to their questions. It’s the first port of call and so if you can be visible on there, you really ought to be.

But really, we’re talking about the first 2 pages. Ideally, the first page. Because let’s be honest, who goes beyond there?

For many search terms, getting ranked on Google for your site as a whole is going to be pretty impossible but you could get there with a blog post.

The uncool but reliable brother of the content marketing family

Blogs are just one form of content marketing and have a purpose distinct from other forms such as video and images.

These are great, powerful tools for sharing on social media. In the short term they’re great for engaging people in your brand. In the long term however, blogs have the high ground. 

The staying power of a blog post on your site means that they could potentially be an effective lead generation tool for your business, long after you’ve posted it.

A blog post that went further

I have managed to get one of my blog posts to the front page of Google for the search term that it’s relevant to.

(Small caveat: The exact ranking does fluctuate because SEO is a strange beast but last time I checked it was up there.)

A while back I wrote a Brand Review of the notebook brand Field Notes, who I tagged when I shared it. Unbeknownst to me initially, they picked it up and included it in their monthly newsletter or Dispatch as they are called.

This of course was a pleasant surprise in itself but also meant that as well as my usual social media traffic, I had an influx of traffic from Field Notes Dispatch readers.

It’s gone on to be my most popular blog post but it also still gets visitors through Google from around the world.

So how did it get there? 

This isn’t a technical, step by step guide to writing a blog post and getting it to the first page of Google. I’m not sure such a things exists. It’s not an exact science.

There are of course technical things you can do to improve your search engine ranking but believe me, there’s plenty of resources out there on that.

I’m more interested in pointing out that even for a small site, it is possible and suggesting some ways that will make ranking higher a whole lot more likely. These are those ways.

#1. Make some noise

It’s essential to get some traction early on and share your content. If you don’t get traffic to your blog post through the means of social media, you’re unlikely to get it via Google.

The search engine needs to see that a page is active for it to be seen as a useful source of information and therefore worth ranking.

If you can get some extra help there’s nothing wrong with plugging your stuff. If it’s about a brand then tag them in it. There’s no guarantee but they may see it and share it themselves.

The key to sharing stuff ‘enough’ is sharing it more than you think is socially acceptable. The chances are you probably have a barrier in your mind as to what is an acceptable level of sharing, based on our own perceptions of social media. 

The reality is people care a lot less than you think about you sharing your stuff. If they’re not interested, they’re unlikely to get offended and will just scroll on by. Those that are interested will need reminding if they’ve only seen it once. So, keep posting.

#2. Make it good 

Obviously for it to rank highly it needs to be good. Arguably less important than simply being read but nonetheless essential for its longevity.

It doesn’t have to be the best researched or most comprehensive piece in the world (but if you can get something like that produced, that attracts an audience, it has the potential to be incredibly valuable) it just has to be useful to some people. 

If something is useful and informative on a particular topic, people will refer back to it and maybe even share it themselves. If it’s not worth a second look from your current audience, again, it probably won’t be to Google either.

#3. Make it niche. 

To increase your chances of moving up the search engine rankings your post needs to hit a niche.

Certain topics will have been written about extensively and the search results for them will be saturated with numerous blog posts, essentially saying the same thing.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t write about stuff that other people have written about. Those posts are still useful to a more localised audience within your own network and if done well, could go further.

But if your goal is to get on Google, it’s better to focus on something that doesn’t get talked about as much.

Topics that have some interest but are not as widely written about will have less results. There’ll be less people searching for it too but it’s much more likely that they will be engaged interested readers.

By writing something within a niche, you’re increasing the chances of someone who’s interested in that niche and also in need of a _____ visiting your site.

Content writing with a purpose

Getting on Google isn’t the be all and end all. Getting there is a slow and painful process and is why investing in SEO support is definitely worth it. You can definitely grow a business without it but it’s an undeniably useful tool if you can make the most of it.

A big part of effective SEO is regular blog content and building traffic to your website. In many ways getting on Google is a potential by product of that.

By doing the former, which is an end in itself, you are working towards the greater end of prominence on the gateway to the internet.

The only thing you can do is give it a try. Experiment and track the results using Google Analytics. You never know what might happen. All it takes is one post for you to get a recurring stream of leads.