How to Get to the Top of Google Search Results (10 Tips)

Appearing prominently in Google’s search results increases visibility, website traffic, and sales. 

Google crawls (find), indexes (store in a database), and ranks (determine what shows and where) webpages using complex processes. But there are plenty of straightforward ways to rank in search results—even if your site is new or small. 

By the end of this guide, you’ll know specific steps to improve your site’s rankings.

Let’s begin.

How to Get to the Top of Google Search: 10 Methods

Here are 10 ways to get your pages to the top of Google search:

1. Target the Right Keywords

Focusing on keywords that are relevant to your business and that you can feasibly rank for gives you the best chance of reaching the top of Google’s results. 

Use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to identify the right keywords. 

Simply launch the tool, enter a seed keyword (a broad term related to your business), select your target country, and click “Search.”

You can also enter your domain to get personalized metrics.

Next, you’ll see potentially thousands of keywords related to your seed keyword. 

And metrics like:

• Volume: The estimated number of times a keyword is searched for per month. You want to select terms that get at least a reasonable number of searches. 
• Potential Traffic: The amount of traffic you could attract if you obtain your maximum predicted ranking
• Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %): A score that indicates how hard it would be for your specific website to rank in Google’s top 10 results for a term. A lower score means a greater chance of ranking.
• Search intent: What searchers are hoping to achieve when using a specific keyword. The main intent types are informational (I), transactional (T), navigational (N), and commercial (C).

One particularly good way to find great opportunities is to filter for terms with low Personal Keyword Difficulty scores. Especially if your site is new or on the small side.

Choose the “Personal KD %” drop-down, set a custom range from 0 to 29, and select apply. Which will then show you only keywords that you stand a good chance of ranking for. 

Study the narrowed list to find terms most relevant to your business. Use them to inform your content.

Ranking for easier terms can build authority and help you tackle more competitive keywords later. 

2. Create Quality Content

Publishing high-quality content that’s genuinely useful and aligned with what searchers are looking for gives you a good chance of ranking highly because that’s the type of content Google wants to show.

First, study search intent beyond identifying the basic type (informational, navigational, commercial, or transactional). 

You can do that by searching the term to see what type of results you see.

For example, the term “face wash for acne” primarily shows a popular products carousel and product pages. Which means you should create something similar. 

Then, consider Google’s guidelines on what constitutes high-quality content that deserves to rank. Those guidelines discuss Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).

E-E-A-T is part of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines—the handbook that quality raters (people who work for Google) use to measure the quality of search results.

Here’s what each part means:

• Experience: The author’s first-hand experience working with the topic
• Expertise: The author’s knowledge on the topic they’re writing about
• Authoritativeness: The publication’s reputation in the industry
• Trustworthiness: The degree to which the content is accurate and cites trustworthy sources (among other factors)

Google’s helpful content update also provides concrete guidance on what helpful, satisfying content looks like. 

Content should include:

• Original information, reporting, or research
• A comprehensive overview of a topic
• Substantial value in comparison to other search results
• Correct grammar and spelling

3. Optimize for On-Page SEO

On-page SEO involves making webpage adjustments that help Google understand your content and match it to user queries.

Here are some on-page SEO elements to optimize:

Title Tags

A title tag is HTML that specifies your title for search engines and may show in search results, meaning it can be the first thing about your page that searchers see. 

A clear and compelling title tag can improve your search engine rankings and click-through rates.

Like this one:

Here are some best practices for writing title tags:

• Use a unique title tag for each page
• Include your target keyword naturally
• Keep it under 60 characters 
• Avoid generic titles like “Home”
• Make it compelling without using clickbait language that misleads searchers

Meta Descriptions

A meta description is HTML that provides a brief summary of your page and can show in search results.

Meta descriptions aren’t used for rankings, but they can influence clicks when displayed in search results. 

To optimize your meta descriptions:

• Write a unique description for each page
• Use keyword variations naturally
• Keep it under 105 characters
• Entice users with click-worthy details (e.g., “Free template,” “Free shipping,” etc.)

Heading Tags

Headings give structure to your content, making it easier to scan and helping Google understand the key topics covered on your page.

Here are some best practices for heading tags:

• Use only one H1 per page
• Add keyword variations in H1-H3 tags
• Keep a clear hierarchy (H2s under H1, H3s under H2s, and so on)
• Match headings with what the section is about

Multimedia

Images and videos make your page more engaging and can lead to more rankings—if they’re optimized for SEO. 

Here’s how:

• Add descriptive alt text to all images. This brief description ensures images are accessible to all users (like those who rely on screen readers) and that search engines can understand.
• Compress images for faster loading times. Google prefers faster loading times. And your users might not stick around if your site takes too long to load.
• Choose file names for your images that include valuable information relevant to the image’s content. This can help search engines understand and index your visuals effectively.

Internal Links

Internal links point from one page on your site to another to help users navigate your site, enable Google to find your pages and understand how they’re related, and distribute ranking authority. 

So, review your blog articles, product pages, and other important content. To see where you have opportunities to link to related content on your site.

Then, make sure you link to pages that are contextually relevant. It’s also a good idea to prioritize pages with valuable information that need a traffic boost. 

Use Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker to find internal linking opportunities. 

Follow the prompts to configure your project.

Once you’re on the “Overview” tab, click the blue number to the right of “Technical SEO Ideas.”

Go through the list of pages by clicking the “# ideas” button next to each.

Scroll down to the “Technical Issues” section. And see whether the message “Add internal links that point to this page” appears. 

If so, work to link to that page from other relevant pages. 

4. Set Up Your Google Business Profile 

If you’re a local business, using Google Business Profile (GBP)—a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps—allows you to optimize your listing to increase local visibility. 

For example, you can appear in Google’s local pack. Which displays top local businesses in Google search results alongside a map.

Follow these tips to optimize your Google Business Profile:

• Complete your profile. Fill out all important details, including your business name, address, phone number, website, hours, and category
• Add high-quality photos and videos. Upload clear images and videos of your storefront, team, etc., to build trust
• Post updates regularly. Share news, promotions, and events to keep your profile active
• Use the Q&A section. Answer common questions, so potential customers can more quickly get the information they need 
• Keep your business hours updated. If your hours change for holidays or special events, update them to ensure customers always have the correct information

5. Get Other Citations

Local businesses can go beyond using Google Business Profile to get other listings—this helps you reach more potential customers and can even help Google verify information about your business. 

Plus, different search engines pull local search results directly from other citations.

For instance, Bing uses listings from sites like Facebook and Tripadvisor.

Ensure consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) across all listings to avoid confusion.

You can do this manually, but Semrush’s Listing Management tool lets you automatically distribute your business details across key directories. 

6. Get and Respond to Customer Reviews

Reviews matter for local search, so encourage customers to share feedback on Google. 

You can make this easy by including links to your Google reviews in confirmation emails, QR codes at your physical location, etc.

Google also encourages businesses to reply to customer reviews, whether they’re good or bad.

Why? 

Because it:

• Shows customers that you value feedback
• Builds trust and credibility with prospects

So, make it a habit to respond to every review on your GBP.

To easily manage reviews across multiple directories, use Semrush’s Review Management tool. 

You can also respond directly to Google reviews directly within the tool.

Here are a few tips to respond to customer reviews:

• Say thank you. Always start with gratitude. A simple “Thank you!” goes a long way.
• Be polite. Even if the review is bad, stay respectful and professional
• Keep it short. Short replies are best. If you’re dealing with a substantial issue, provide a way for the customer to contact you directly.
• Acknowledge any issues. If the customer has a problem, address it. Show that you care.
• Invite the customer back. Encourage happy customers to return for another positive experience. Also encourage return visits to those who’ve left bad reviews and offer to rectify bad experiences.

7. Build High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks (links on other websites that point to your site) from trustworthy websites signals that your content is credible. More credible sites linking to your can improve your rankings. 

This is because Google sees it as a trust signal when reputable sites link to your content. And may view your content as valuable and worth showing to users.

Creating high-quality content is a great way to attract backlinks naturally. Particularly content like research resorts, infographics, free tools, and in-depth guides. 

Here are some other link building tactics:

• Create guest posts: Write articles for other trusted websites in your industry to possibly earn backlinks in return
• Do broken link building: Find broken external links on target websites and suggest your relevant content as a replacement.
• Find unlinked brand mentions: Discover mentions of your brand online that don’t include a link and ask for one

Streamline your link building efforts with Semrush’s Link Building Tool.

To get started, enter your domain and click “Start Link Building.”

Follow the prompts to set up your project. Which involves adding your keywords and competitors.

The tool will take a minute or so to collect and analyze the data. Once it’s done, go to the “Prospects” tab to view a list of websites you can reach out to for backlinks.

From here, click “To In Progress” next to any website you want to contact. You can then craft and send a personalized email directly within the tool. 

For more guidance on how to reach out, check out our full guide to link building. 

8. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Google prioritizes the mobile version of your website when indexing and ranking pages, which means it’s critical that your site be optimized for mobile devices. 

To check if your site is mobile-friendly, use Semrush’s Site Audit tool. 

Simply enter your site in the search bar and click “Start Audit.”

Follow the prompts to configure your crawl—you can even leave the default settings in place.

Once the audit is complete, go to the “Issues” report and search “mobile.” 

This will highlight mobile-specific issues. Like viewport meta tag errors.

Click “Why and how to fix it” next to any issue to learn more and how to resolve it.

Work through resolving every error and warning. 

9. Improve Page Speed

Keep your page load times as fast as possible because Google uses page speed as a ranking factor—and because it’s better for the user experience. 

To check how fast any page on your site loads, use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

Enter a URL and the tool will provide a full report with performance scores and a list of issues to address.

For a more holistic look at how your site performs, use Semrush’s Site Audit tool and select “View details” under “Site Performance.”

You’ll find your average page load speed in seconds. 

In general, aim for a page load speed of no more than a few seconds. The faster, the better.

10. Fix Other Technical SEO Issues

Fixing technical SEO issues related to crawling and indexing can improve your site’s performance in search results.

Think of it this way:

If Google can find and understand content, your pages are more likely to show in search results.

To identify technical SEO problems (in addition to mobile- and speed-related issues), run your website through Semrush’s Site Audit tool. 

To find what to fix, go to the “Issues” tab.

You’ll see a list of the errors found on your site. 

Start with errors (the most severe issues that need to be quickly resolved). Then move on to warnings and notices.

If you’re unsure of how to address any issues, work with a developer.

Track Your SEO Performance

Now that you’ve learned how to get to the top of Google, take action.

That might mean implementing a few of these tips. Or all of them.

Either way, you’ll need the right tools. And Semrush provides a wide range of options for everything from keyword research to technical audits.

Sign up for a free trial to explore the platform.