The Easy Way to Get to the Top of Google

admin Online Marketing, SEO, Small Business Tips
Image by Jeff McNeill
Image by Jeff McNeill

One of the absolutely most popular questions we get asked by CityMax.com customers is “how do I get on Google?”

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a complex game and sometimes it can take a while to get search engines like Google to notice you. It’s a delicate balance of targeting the right keywords, having the right content, using the right elements to build your website, and having the right sites link back to you – you can see how it can be challenging.

While SEO is definitely something you should focus on and ranking naturally through search engines is a fantastic goal, there’s a faster way to do it – it’s called advertising.

On most every search engine, you’ll notice groupings of links that look a little different than what you see down the middle. Sometimes it’s marked “Sponsored” or something similar and all those listings are paid for.

adwords

So how does it work?

Each search engine has its own advertising network, so for the purpose of this post, let’s talk about how to advertise on Google.

Google’s network is known as Google AdWords and here’s the general idea:

  1. You choose keywords that apply to your business/website
  2. When those keywords are searched, your ads are displayed next to the regular listings
  3. When your ad is clicked, you pay only the amount that you bid for your keyword. Your bid (or max amount that you are willing to pay), along with other factors, will decide where on the page your ad shows.

There is a bit more to the system, but that’s the overall idea.

What are the advantages?

The nice thing about this type of advertising is that when you have tracking and analytics set up you can really get a sense of what is working for you. You can see which ads are getting clicked and which clicks are resulting in sales, so you can really manage your results.

Just keep in mind that it can be easy to get carried away, so you’ll want to keep an eye on how much you’re spending. With CityMax.com you do have a little help though – each site comes with a $75 credit for Google AdWords, which should help you get started.

Have you advertised on search engines before? How did it work out for you?

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