If you are reading this blog, you are probably already a success. Your website has achieved the desired number one spot in the search results for its targeted keyword. Now, when people type in what you want them to type in, the first thing they see is your website. Yes, it must feel really good, but does it mean that your job ends here? Certainly not! Even if you have reached the top, you must maintain your SEO rankings by digital marketing and this still requires a lot of work.
Your rankings will always require attention and this is exactly why we have decided to provide you with 10 useful tips about maintaining them at the top.
- Use Google analytics intelligence events to track the visitors on your website: If you have a website and are ranked number one, you surely know about Google Analytics. However, you may have heard of this tool but only the most experienced marketers know everything it offers. Google Analytics has a feature called Intelligence Events. This feature will allow you to monitor the changes that occur in your analytics and will virtually alert you if your traffic has changed. Additionally, Intelligence Events has the ability to let you specify your own alerts. Now you get the chance to configure a program to notify you if your revenue changes.
If you wish to stay number one, you have to use this tool. Not only it is helpful in noticing and notifying, but you need it to proactively monitor the website and its key metrics. You cannot respond to a negative change if you do not act immediately, so if it crucial to take the appropriate action at the appropriate moment. When you are at the top, many want to be in your shoes and can even try to black hat the SEO that shows you there. This feature has the advantage of spotting these efforts at the beginning and you can do something about these problems before they destroy your success.
Also Read: Lead Magnets: A Modern Way to Generate Quality Leads
- Judicious internal linking: When you lead your website to the top, you must have spent a lot of time on internal linking. Now you probably have a post or two that are ranked extremely high for some particular keyword and this is why you have to link to your content yourself.
When doing this, make sure that you don’t overdo it. Google tends to see the overabundance of links as an unnatural thing and may penalize you for it. The best strategy to use is the one that seems most natural. This is why you should use every chance to link back to the post in the number one position when producing new content but remember to mix the anchor text in order to not use the same word or the same phrase when linking back.
- Maintain the site speed: Rankings depend on site speed (Check your site speed here) and you already know it. A part of the reasons why you are so high in the SEO list is undeniably the speed of your site. But, as you get on a higher level, your site is growing too and more and more plug-in, content and widgets are added to it. Do not lose the top spot by overwhelming your website and slowing it down. Make sure that the technology you are using is caching in order to prevent reloads and help speed up site load times. Also, your images have to be optimized for websites. Use Photoshop to save images that are optimized.
If you want to get information about the speed of your site, use Google Analytics and the Google page speed tool. This can also provide you with some advice on how to speed up your site.
- Keep your site the authority recourse for the keyword that you are ranked for: If you managed to be ranked to the number one spot, do your best to keep that spot. How to do this? Produce other content that is related to the keyword you are awarded for. Write about it. Produce a large amount of content related to this keyword and you being on the first place.
- Optimize your title and description: When on the top, make sure that no one brings you down. Make sure that your link is more clickable than those of your competition and do this by analyzing your click-trough-rate. There is a tool to help you do this and its name is Google Webmasters. If you notice that the CTR for a certain keyword is dropping, there is a chance that your rank will drop too. This is why you optimize your title and the meta description.
- Learn that social shares increase rankings: You might have not noticed that this is true, but social shares tend to generate buzz nowadays. But in order for people to share the content you provide, it has to be an easy thing to share. Place some social share icons alongside it so that people can see them and increase your rankings. You can place these both at the top and the bottom of the article.
- Focus on user-generated content: User-generated content is the content that appears in the forms of reviews and feedback. Try to encourage this because it builds loyalty to your site and people tend to re-visit a site they started a discussion on.
- Maintain the back linking status: If you are at the top, you have done a lot of jobs to get backlinks. Meeting your goal does not mean that your job ends here because even so, you have to keep looking for new people who offer backings to your site
Also Read: What You Need to Know about Link Building in 2016
- Watch your top terms and keywords: Use tolls like SEM Rush to keep track on your rank tracking tools. These will show your visibility index and the moment when it starts slipping. If this happens, you need to use traditional SEO methods to get back at the top.
- Pay special attention to your fans and customers: Even people at the top of the world know that being at the top depends on the people who put you there. Do not forget your fan base and try to be present and active on the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc.
Also Read: 10 easy ways to outrank your competitors on Google Singapore
You have already managed to get to the top of the search engine results. Now is the time to follow these simple guidelines and continue the efforts to stay on the top. Do not let all that work be for nothing.
You can check out our SEO Service for more details.