Anyone who owns a business, and has an budding internet presence, dreams of the day they see their website appear at the top of Google’s search engine. This means that potential customers are seeing you first before all your competition. However, finding the right formula to getting Google and your website to work together is really an art in itself. Sorting through and finding the right SEO keyword combinations can really begin to feel like a long, strenuous journey to Mordor, but don’t let that steer you away from the possibilities of finding the winning formula. We are going to give you five tips and tricks that we love that can help you find the keys to getting your website to benefit from Google search engine, and bringing in that traffic you dream of.

Be Yourself

The first rule is to just be yourself. We’ve heard this phrase uttered to us many times throughout our lives, but it also applies to your website. Do not be tempted to use popular keywords that everyone is using.

Did you see what we said there? Keywords that everyone is using. If you decided to go this route, your website will be nothing but a drop in a large ocean of other websites using the same keywords as you. It will be a Battle Royale of whose website is going to reach the top of Google. Break away from this trend and find keywords that are original and are uniquely yours. You will definitely benefit from carefully choosing keywords that fit your brand and your audience.

Encourage Communication Within Your Community

If you haven’t started an online community for your brand with engaging your customers, you will need to start doing so now. Google is attracted to vibrant, active communities. You can do this by creating a forum on your site or allowing customer comments on your products and services. Customers are also drawn to community, and the ability to directly engage with the sellers of the products they love. This will not only build a wonderful repertoire with your current customer base, but the amazing customer service you give will spread by word-of-mouth. You will soon be seeing new traffic being directed to your website.

Make sure to take the time to respond to all customer comments and inquires. The more you do, the more likely your website will rise among the ranks of Google.

Practice Good Grammar

Proper grammar and punctuation usage are a dying art in the online community. Being able to clearly and accurately articulate yourself will increase your chances of being seen by Google. Displaying good grammar shows your professionalism and dedication to providing high quality services that people can trust. Make sure to proofread twice, maybe even three times, to make sure everything looks correct. Invite another pair of eyes from a friend, family member, or staff to double check that all content looks ready for public viewing.

Work It for Those Tweets, Likes, and Shares

We definitely cannot forget the power of social media. While SEO keywords can go a long way, getting customers and friendly competitors to like, share, or tweet about your services and products is just as important to your success with Google. Google has also been programmed to take note of this to determine the popularity of a website, and the traffic being driven to it. Most WordPress based websites have this option to display the “Like/Share” button at the bottom of a page. Turn this feature on or get the community engaged through your social media to show Google how great your business really is.

Don’t Cheat the System

Before search engines were programmed to highly vet websites for genuine content, there were many dodgy ways to get your website at the top these websites. Nowadays, Google and many other search engines can identify these unethical tricks to make it appear your website is getting high-volume traffic when in reality, it is not. It will not only cause your website to hover where it is, but it can even actively lower your status. While sneaky tricks may seem like the shortcut to Google success, in reality it will only hurt you in the end.

Take the time to really research and implement tried and true ways to gain success with Google. Success is best tasted with all the hard work, effort, and love you put in to see your business grow.