A Hopeful Look at What it Means to “Rank’’ on Google and How to Make it Happen!
by Hope Elizabeth Dutton | February 24, 2022
Okay people…I can’t help but be a little excited about this!
Not sure what you are looking at?
You are looking at a Google search for “volleyball sport mom blog,” “volleyball mom mom,” and “volleyball sport mom.” All three searches RANK either number 1 AND number 2, number 2, OR in the top six!
Now you might wonder why this would be a big deal to me or to anyone?!?
Bloggers blog…WHICH MEANS WE WRITE…even side hustling bloggers write and quite literally, there are a SEA of us out there swimming the internet.
Google uses a pretty complicated set of algorithms to decide what website, or blog page or particular articles rank enough to BE at the top of THEIR rankings…
SOOOO…
What Does It Mean to “Rank’’ on Google?
Ranking a blog on Google means getting your website, or the website you “freelance” write or blog for listed in the search results when someone Googles a term, set of words or question.
That is difficult to accomplish, yet is the ULTIMATE GOAL if in fact you are writing for yourself or freelance writing for a client or company!
So to score a ranking in the top 10 search results (which are the ones that appear on page one) isn’t that easy and it’s pretty dang rewarding if in fact it’s your personal blog or one you freelance write for a company or product!!!
Ranking well on Google takes consistency; it means doing the right things over and over and hopefully becoming a reliable source of value for your readers or those searching.
It is a process, and if you follow YOUR process, OVER TIME you hope to find your articles may have claimed a coveted ranking in one of those top 10 spots on page one of GOOGLE.
How do You Make a Ranking on Google Happen?!
The biggest thing is to create helpful or valuable content!
Blogs can offer value to the reader for different reasons! They address difficult points, answer a question, entertain, or some combination of the three.
It’s a little bit science, a little bit mystery, and a lot of bit GOOD, SOLID story telling and getting real about that NICHE!
Every single “expert” says FIND YOUR NICHE! Sometime you fall into your niche on accident, sometimes you know what it is, sometimes it slowly evolves but once you understand your target audience and what they’re looking for, then you know what information they want!
Once you understand THAT – and IF you happen to be good at writing – you can create in-depth, layered content that will hopefully delight them!
Which is important because Google definitely pays attention to engagement in SOME KINDA way, and even if it didn’t, you still need engagement to turn clicks into something valuable for your website or your client!
You don’t want to offer thin content that doesn’t address people’s questions or help them solve their problems or bring them to a product they are looking for and while visuals and video’s enhance your site and product, that isn’t all people want!
Believe it or not, people still like a STORY too and they usually like a story they can relate to!
The way I look at it, if I’m going to take the effort to create content, then I want to go the extra mile to give it my all to make sure it IS helpful, relatable, entertaining and HOPEFULLY eventually gets a ranking FOR ME OR MY CLIENT!
After reading loads of “HOW TO’s” or “TIPS” from experts way BIGGER then me, I kinda picked out the parts I thought were relevant to me, realized I was already doing a lot of what they wrote about…and tossed the rest!
HERE are MY BIG TAKE AWAYS AND MY OWN KEY POINTS that I have developed over time…
1. Create original content and put your take on things! Don’t rehash old ideas. Yes there will always be some rehashing, because let’s face it, it’s hard to create completely NEW content – no matter how individual you are. Now in my case, I did rehash some old blog ideas because some of the content I used for my client Pura Vida Volleyball, I had in fact already written for my own Hopeservations years ago! Only BECAUSE I had, A. Still very relevant content, B. Built my own very large resource/library to pull and cull from when I needed and, C. Already had a LOT of practice with my very own Hopeservations blog that I felt confident to use it again and knew they would be fitting!
2. Headlines, headlines, headlines…Check this out, one of the very first things Mrs. Caine, my high school journalism teacher taught in newspaper class way back in 1984-1988, was HEADLINES ARE KEY to any article! Well guess what?!? A blog is an ARTICLE, so headlines are KEY! It’s a pretty simple science, make your headlines concise yet catchy and draw people in.
3. Make your blog actionable, meaning give people the information they need to take action, to do something or to think differently or in a new direction!
4. Provide answers!!! Providing good answers to search queries is the reason search engines send people to you. Google has gotten very good at determining trusted blogs and knows where to send people! You want to be that trusted site providing answers!!!
5. Be accurate with your information and sources and be thought-provoking! Believe it or not, I do a ton of research and I use that research! I also encourage people to explore subjects further or to think outside the box! Use the client or product to encourage the buyer, not JUST to buy but to have a take-away thought!
6. While people want you to get to the point, they don’t appreciate “THIN” content and yes, many of my blogs may seem “long,” only there is a reason! Experts have found that to rank well in Google, your blog posts should be about 2,000 words. Now for me, this is NO PROBLEM!!! Clearly I can write about dang near any experience!!! Case in point – I’m writing about this! However, my sweet spot seems to be somewhere between 1300 and 1800 words! Point of reference, THIS blog is 1384 words.
7. IT TAKES TIME! So hear me when I say this, consistently creating high-quality content isn’t easy! Not everyone can just snap their fingers and do it or has the time when they are running their business! TRUST ME…it doesn’t happen over night…and it takes PRACTICE and a bit of trial and error! Some topics require a ton of research and practice writing over and over as you formulate your voice. Other topics you may be so knowledgeable about you have no difficulty writing, and your voice simply shows up. Some topics require a technical spin with zero voice (this ain’t me). The deal is, nothing about this is FAST…even when you are GOOD!
However, if you own a product line, or a company and you have a website and you are looking to create a “voice” on the internet and CONTENT that creates more words on your site that make you easier to find and hopefully translates to thousands of clicks – you might want to consider a blog…or better yet a BLOGGER…and it just so happens, I know a girl!
Her name is Hope Elizabeth Dutton.
Because if you just read all the way to end OF THIS…about how a blogger blogs – then that means I held your attention about a topic you probably didn’t know anything about, may or may not have been interested in, needed an answer to, or told you a story!
Soooo…keep checking out the girl who writes about volleyball sport mom life, being hopeful and any other thing that occurs to her to write about!
PS – I actually have more blogs RANKING in GOOGLE TOP TEN than what I just wrote about and while I AM very selective about the clients I chose to write for, I’m looking to add to my client list! I invite you to email at duttonhope@gmail.com or find me through my social medias!
Let’s CHAT!
As always…
Go in love,
