I've put together a PowerPoint presentation and also a video on How To Get Ranked Higher on Google. I think it's important for people to have an understanding of the process and how overly complicated that people make it. While it's not an easy thing to do considering how many people want to be the top search result for one particular search keyword, it's not hard to do the things that only you can do. Google relies on people who visit your site to tell them if your site is relevant to the search; this means you need to get everything as right as possible on your end before you can then leave it to visitors to clue Google into how relevant you are.

1. By Joseph Dowdy, Owner of
ElectronicWordOfMouth.com

2. Google Indexes
Websites To
Determine the Most
Relevant Matches
O 150,000,000 Websites
O 63,200,000 results for “chiropractic”
O 1,410,000 results for “Raleigh chiropractic”
O 1,000,000 results for “Raleigh chiropractor”
O 1,686,000 results for “Raleigh chiropractor Tom Ayres”

3. Google Measures
“User Experience”
Using Several Factors
(Over 200 of Them!)
O GOOD: User visits several pages of your site.
O GOOD: User spends time on pages on your site.
O GOOD: Natural success factors (such as links).
O BAD: If someone clicks browser “back” button.
O BAD: If someone searches for same term again.
O BAD: Faking your success factors.

4. Google Monitors
What Goes With Good
“User Experience”
O For example, Google checks to see how long
your domain name is registered. Sites that have
short registration periods tend to be fly-by-night
or dummy sites. Sites with longer registrations
show a commitment or investment on your part.
O Google measures what natural success looks
like and measures your site with these factors.
O Let’s call these “search factors.”

5. The Most Important
Search Factors?
O Links to your site.
O Good SEO (keywords, title, etc.)
O Links to your site.
O Site administration (no errors).
O And, oh yeah…Links to your site.

6. Not All
Links Are
Created
Equal
O Links from sites with more traffic
are worth more (big Google love).
O One high-traffic link done well is
worth dozens of low-traffic links.

7. Only You Can Do
These Things
O Be valuable to those looking to link
you. Bloggers and reviewers and
sites are looking for sites to link.
O Remember what Google looks for:
Linking without SEO = SUCCESS
SEO without linking = WANNABE
(Google ranks linked sites first!)

8. How Do I Get
Links To My Site?
O Invite.
O Trade.
O Buy (Yext, for example).
O Make it easy (use social media).
O Put your link everywhere.

9. SEO (Search Engine
Optimization)
O “Good SEO” means you are mimicking
“success factors” by using keywords
correctly with good site administration.
O Fake “success factors” and black-hat
SEO will get you banned from Google.
O Google is constantly validating and
testing “success factors” and improving
based on “user experience.”

10. How Does Google Determine
“User Experience”
O Google tracks what you do after you type
a keyword and uses timers.
O What story does this tell for your site?
Address 123.456.789.0 searches for “back pain”
Address 123.456.789.0 goes to your back pain remedy site
Address 123.456.789.0 does nothing on your site
Address 123.456.789.0 searches for “back pain remedy”
Address 123.456.789.0 goes to another site
Address 123.456.789.0 looks at 10 pages for 5 minutes
Address 123.456.789.0 puts a link to this site on their blog
Multiple addresses click that link and spend time there

11. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O SEO is largely use of keywords.
O Good SEO largely means to use
a tool which is easy to use and
gives you keyword mastery.
O Free is just fine if it’s something
like “WordPress SEO by Yoast.”

12. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O No need to pay someone for SEO
when getting linked by good sites
is by far the best way to do it.
O Stay away from anyone making
promises about getting #1 spot.

13. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O Think strategically about SEO.
O Do you have a solution? If so,
then someone is searching for
you. How will they find you?
O What search words will they use?

14. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O Good SEO actually starts BEFORE you
get your website. For example, The top
search result for “Raleigh Chiropractic”
is RaleighChiropractic.com because the
keywords are in the domain name.
O Good SEO is using keywords in titles!

15. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O Each URL should solve a specific
problem. Domain solves a broad
problem. Each article title should
solve a specific problem.
O Categories in URL also help.

16. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O Update your site. Blogs are best.
Once a week is enough. Google
measures “freshness.”
O Avoid unnatural writing so that you
don’t “stuff keywords” into your text.
O Use your exact keyword for every
two paragraphs.

17. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O SEO Self-Test… Ready?
O Just use the 5-Ws to clarify what
your site is about and what kind
of SEO or other things you need
to do that ONLY you can affect.

18. How Do I Have
“Good SEO”
on My Website?
O Who? Are you listed on Google+?
O What? What is your best keyword?
O When? Do you update your site?
O Where? Listed on Google Maps?
O Why? Do people spend time on
your site and link to your site?

19. How Do I Have
“Good Site
Administration”?
O Use Google’s tools such as
Google’s Webmaster Tools, Google
Analytics and evaluate all tools that
might be useful. Eliminate errors.
O Maximize “PageSpeed”
O (My clients are covered.)

20. By Joseph Dowdy, Owner of
ElectronicWordOfMouth.com