Keyword by keyword, you can get your site onto the first pages of Google that count

The way to understand search is to understand one example. What does it mean to rank in position 23? Does the date matter? Does your location matter? And what about the keyword, or “search term” itself? Which ones matter the most? In this video, we’ll take you through a “Keywords Analysis” done by hand, one keyword at a time. Don’t be psyched out. It’s easy to understand when you’ve built one yourself, step by step, keyword by keyword. Remember to Subscribe to this playlist. And learn more by visiting HomeServicesDigital.com.

Video Transcript:

Michael Byrd here with Home Services Digital doing video number 12. We are talking about organic search and we gave a look at the competitive landscape. That’s one of the first things that I would advise that you do. We use the Maps section to see how many competitors you have in a specific region and we use the example of a flooring company.

We also looked at the basics, the fundamentals, about your website. Do you have a website? If so, is it responsive? And number three: What is the page load speed?

And we also talked about What is the age of your website? If you have an older website that’s actually good. You probably have some good search engine “juice” which also means search engine results or search results, more properly.

I want to talk about, I want to talk today about teaching you about the fundamentals of understanding what a good search result is and what it means to be on the first page of Google. (And I did the air quotes again because the first page of Google is a real thing but there are a number of qualifiers for that first page of Google.) The biggest — one of the biggest, well one of many — is that there are many first pages of Google. There are millions and billions and trillions of first pages of Google and it matters pretty substantially which first pages you’re on. You want to be on the ones that count. You want to be on the ones that are going to make the phone ring for you and your company. That’s really the point of all this. This is all a means to an end. It’s not an end in itself. You want the phone to ring so you can go do your plumbing job or your painting job or your flooring job. You want to keep your trucks busy. You want to keep your crew busy. You want to be getting the business. You want to be landing those fish.

So let’s look at how to understand this from a fundamental basis because what I don’t want you to do and — I’ve said this earlier — I don’t want you to get psyched out. I don’t want you to believe that it’s not something that you can understand and some whiz-bang digital person comes in and sells you some “package” (again the air quotes. Sorry. There’s a lot of BS going on out there. Part of the … part of my passion about this video series is to cut through it. And you can cut through it).

If I’m a resident, for example — I’m just gonna throw out an example — if I’m a resident, for example I don’t have to be a plumber to know that my I know the difference between a pipe that’s leaking and not leaking. And I know the difference between a toilet that’s flushing and not flushing. And you can know the difference between good search results and no search results.

We’re gonna start with them to tell you that you can understand this. I’m using one of my favorite things, the legal pad, but because I can’t show this very well I’m gonna show you using a Google worksheet. And I’m gonna start with a blank worksheet so you can understand it like a an artist with a blank canvas. (I’m not saying that I’m an artist!)

All right, so what does it mean to get a good search result that’s gonna work for your business? I’m gonna switch over to my screen now and use the example of a painter. I’m gonna do a mini keywords analysis one word by one word so here we go. Switching over to the screen — and we’ve gotten pretty good at this. Quickly, OK, now let me just show you one of the things you’re gonna be able to see. You’re gonna be able to find some … You’re gonna get a sort of a rough idea of search volume just by typing in words that are relevant. And you can you can get some of the better words just by using common sense.

We’re gonna use the example of house painters I’ve already got queued up here but I’m going to show you something, and show you my framework and then I’m gonna go back and show you this specific point. That’s confusing. Let’s do … let’s show the blank worksheet like I talked about. I wrote down five words right here: painter, painting house painting, pressure washing, exterior painting. Nothing magic about these. These are some you would pull off the top of your head if we were having lunch and I said What kind of things would people search for? Well, obviously, we think this. Now, one to think about is paint … painters. There’s a difference between painter and painters. There’s a difference between exterior painting and interior painting. Pressure washing goes with the painting profession so I threw it in there.

So let’s actually do a search and look at what it means to have a good search result. Let’s say I type in … let’s say I start typing in … I don’t have anything here. This is what I want to show you about search volume. Look, it’s already suggesting because of the volume of searches, Google’s software is already suggesting some search terms that are popular. “House painters Wilmington North Carolina.” That might be there because I’ve typed it in already, but look at this one: Houses for sale. Houses for rent. House painters. Let’s just continue: house painters Wilmington North Carolina. We’re gonna just take their suggested search.

Now let’s just say I’m a painter and I want to see where my website is coming up and I’m gonna. … I’m gonna not tell you which company I’m gonna pretend to be but we’re just gonna go. I’m gonna look on the first page. We’re gonna skip the ads for now because we’re not talking about ads. We will soon. Ads are great. We’re gonna skip the Maps. I’m gonna come back to this ‘cause maps are great too. And we’re gonna start looking in the organic results. Twenty-five best house painters: Don’t care. That’s Home Advisor. I’m not gonna play in their sandbox — not until we get really good at Google and then if you want to do one of these other ones you can. Five-Star painting. Let’s pretend we’re not Five-Star Painting. By the way, a comment about Five-star Painting: This company really understands search. And one of the big, big, big values they give to their franchisees is search results. They get the search results and look at them here. They are … the first painter is Five-Star Painting. They are winning that game. It doesn’t mean you can’t be here right next to them. They are winning that game. Here’s the directory Thumbtack, Angie’s List, don’t care, don’t care. “Wilmington Painter Guy — good! Good for him. He’s the second, he’s the second actual painter to get on this first page. Here’s Wilmington painting contractor dot-com. It’s Tinney, Tinney Painting. It’s a great URL. He’s got some good words in there. Painting contractor, and that’s not the name of the business. The name of the business is Tinney Painting. Good job. Nando’s painting dot-com. OK. that’s good, but I’m not any of these businesses. Color Solutions dot-com. I’m not that one either.

So what do I do? I’m not in the top ten. I go to the second page then. I’ve already done this search. That’s why I’m taking you through this, this little test. Land to Sea Painting, I’m not that one. I’m not that one. I’m not that one. I’m not on this page, I already know. I’m looking for me. I’m looking for me and my painting company and I’m not there. So I go to the third page and this is the company I’m pretending to be right now — Aztec Painting Company. Now I want to show you what’s important about this and make a couple of points. I’m Aztec Painting Company. We know that I’m on the third page, so that means I’m not in position 1 through 10. I’m not in position 11 through 20. I am in position 21, 22, position 23. I’m teaching you the language of search. I’m in position 23 for this particular result. Let me just change my word here. What if it — what did we type in, Wilmington … ? Oh, we typed in “house painters Wilmington NC.” I’m gonna say that I was in position 23.

Now we’re gonna qualify this thing. I’m going to show you why this is important. We’re in position 23 in the Google search results page for this term. It’s not Google generally. It’s for this term: house painters Wilmington NC. And we’re in position 23 on this date. That’s important. Also, if I did the search again I might be in position 22. I might be in position 24. But stuff is fluid; it’s dynamic. But generally speaking, right now, on July — let’s just say July 25th, 2017 — I am in position 23. This is my keywords analysis by hand.

All right so let’s go back to our actual search: house painters Wilmington NC. Now I’m going to do another search. I’m gonna just do “house painter Wilmington NC” and see where I come up if I’m Aztec painting. Now I’m gonna look on this first page and hope that by taking that ess off I made it to the first page. On this search — you see this is very similar to what we got. You could kind of expect that to be the case.

All right Color Solutions, Land to Sea, very similar to the other one. I don’t see Aztec painting. That’s my company. (It’s really not my company, but you get my point.) Here, I’m on the third page. There’s JW. Oh, look at this. I’m in position 4. OK, so let’s just go and do. Let’s change that term, house painter singular, Wilmington NC. I’m in position 24 on this date right here; on this date right here. OK, I can do this with common sense searches. I don’t have to use any fancy tools. I can use common sense searches like the words I’m giving you right here: house painting, pressure washing, exterior painting, exterior painters, and so on and I can do a keywords analysis: where I come up in a Google search for this term on this date. Those are important qualifiers. I’m going to stop this video there because that’s probably about enough. And remember to subscribe and tell your friends — not your competitors but your friends — who are in similar home services type businesses to subscribe also.