Steps to take to maintain your position 1 ranking
Ranking high in organic search results is critical in securing traffic for your website and subsequently generating leads and sales for your business. The better your SEO strategy, the better your page will rank, therefore understanding how mobile SEO works is extremely important
Here at Embryo, we understand the importance of mobile SEO. One of the most important pillars of your overarching SEO strategy is your mobile SEO strategy, as that’s what’s going to get your brand seen by an ever-growing majority of online users.
In this post, we will offer tips and tricks on how you can maintain position 1 in organic search results. Things that we will cover include:
- Title tags
- Internal links
- On-page content
- Pagespeed
- Backlinks
Putting time and effort into each of these factors should enable your business to maintain its position 1 ranking. Let’s have a look at them in a bit more detail.
What can you add?
A title tag is arguably the most important on-page SEO element. A title tag tells the search engine and the user exactly what your page is about. If you change your title tag when your page is ranking at the top of Google, this is detrimental to your ranking position.
An accurate and relevant title tag is a ranking factor and can help Google to rank your website higher in search results. Ensure that your title tag summarises the contents of your page in a few prominent characters and makes it catchy enough to draw attention.
2. To rank high on organic search, your on page content must be excellent. However, don’t think that if your page is ranking #2 or #3 that you need to rewrite all of your content.
Simply evaluate the following things:
- Headlines and headers – are they compelling and consistent with the organic search?
- The layout – is the page designed to convert?
- The CTAs – are you leading your users in the right direction for conversion?
If you find that your content becomes outdated or irrelevant, then it is always best to update it to help maintain a #1 ranking. Otherwise, you might find that a competitor has a more accurate piece of content that knocks you off the top spot.
3. If your page is ranking #1 in organic search, then you have probably strategically linked your top-ranking page from other content on your website. If it’s in your main navigation and your footer, then you are on the right path.
Whenever you post a new piece of content that relates to your target keyword, you should link it back to that page. Make sure to keep adding internal links as they come up naturally, and this will ensure that your page is maintaining its top position.
4. A slow web page speed can be detrimental to your business and ranking position. If your web page takes a long time to load then this can indicate a server problem. Besides users not liking a slow website, Google does not tolerate a low page speed and your website’s ranking will be affected.
If your website takes longer than 0.4 seconds to load, then it is classed as a slow website. Therefore, having a quick page speed is crucial in order to maintain your position 1 in organic search.
5. Backlinks are probably one of the most important off-page factors when it comes to ranking highly in organic search.
If you are already ranking high, then we recommend to keep building natural backlinks to support your already strong SEO efforts. If a backlink opportunity presents itself, then take it.
We also recommend that you monitor your existing backlinks. If you lose any or find any toxic ones, then you should take immediate action.
Here’s what Ben Carter, SEO Account Manager at Embryo, also recommends:
Ben Carter
SEO Account Manager
"An important thing to do is maintain topical authority by ensuring you have content (structured in a logical, contextual way) about all the topics that relate to your business and industry. Additionally, ensure you have a technically sound website that loads quickly, has optimised imagery, and a strong internal link structure."
What impact does losing top SEO ranking have on your business?
If you find that you have slipped from position one to position two or three, then you don’t need to be too concerned about this.
However, when you’re at the top of search results, the impact of losing even one or two spots in rankings can have a significant negative impact on revenue earned from those pages.
Even between positions one and two in Google, the difference in organic clicks on average can be nearly 50%. Therefore, what seems like a small difference in rankings can actually lead to a dramatic drop in traffic.
Organic Lead at Embryo, Jamie Beatty, says:
Jamie Beatty
Organic Lead
"For any business that relies on leads, enquiries, inbounds, or people coming to the site to purchase products or services, a dip in rankings can hugely affect things. If your position, be it number one or page one, is replaced on a SERP by a competitor they become more visible to your customers. If that SERP is for a keyword that has high buying intent behind it, it could be even worse. Of course, there will always be fluctuations in rankings. As updates are released by Google, the sands of SEO shift but if your business practises ethical search engine practices, you should always be preferred as opposed to businesses that practise black hat techniques."
Maintain your position with the experts
Getting and maintaining a #1 ranking is never easy, but with a little bit of maintenance and routine care, you should be able to hold onto the top spot.
If you find yourself falling off, think about what steps you took to get there in the first place. A solid SEO strategy takes a lot of hard work, but we hope the content in this piece gives you the drive to maintain that top position.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our award-winning team today. Or, check out some of our similar pieces down below.
