Did you know that 90% of people don’t move past the first page of Google? There’s a popular saying among marketers is “the best place to hide a dead body is Page 2 of Google search results.”
When was the last time you moved past the first page of Google Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs)? It’s barren land – and if your web pages don’t rank on the first page of Google SERPs, then you’ll be missing out on 90% of your target audience.
Data fetched from a report indicates that over 1/4th of Google users click on the first organic search result. At the same time, the top three results are subject to 3/4th of all clicks.
That’s impressive.
And while marketers implement various complex SEO tactics like link building, creating XML sitemaps, conducting in-depth keywords research, and more to skyrocket their rankings – it’s equally important to focus on consistently optimizing individual pages on your website. That’s where Search Engine Positioning comes in.
As important as optimizing your website as a whole is, marketers and businesses should also focus on individual web pages to rank higher.
To help you better navigate the realm of Search Engine Positioning, I’ve put together this blog post where we’ll be focusing on:
- What is Search Engine Positioning?
- Search Engine Positioning vs. Search Engine Optimization – What’s the Difference?
- The 3 Step Framework to Maximize Your Search Engine Positioning on Google
I’m so excited to share this with you. So, without further ado, let’s dive into it straight away.
What is Search Engine Positioning?
Search engine positioning (SEP) is the practice of optimizing individual pages of a website to help them rank higher on search engines for the target keywords. Rather than optimizing your website as a whole, your focus will be on optimizing individual web pages.
Search Engine Positioning isn’t an out-of-the-box new marketing hack trending in the marketing world. Instead, it’s a subset of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is often overlooked by both marketers and businesses.
If you explore my website and tune in to my blog posts, you’ll discover that I publish high-quality articles on a regular basis. Some of my most recent pieces (as of this writing) include:
- The Only White Hat Link Building Guide You’ll Ever Need
- The 5+ Best Email Marketing Tools for Shopify in 2022
Now, while I’m laser-focused on improving my website speed, domain authority, usability, mobile-friendliness, and various other factors, focusing on search engine positioning will allow me to focus on these individual pages (in this case, blog posts) as well.
This way, I can get these pages to rank higher on search engine ranking pages for the target keywords.
But – what exactly does the Search Engine Positioning process involve?
Allow me to explain. If you hop onto Google and search a query, say “what is white hat link building,” you’ll no longer just see ten blue links anymore. Instead, you’ll see various SERP features like:
- Featured Snippets
- Video Results
- People Also Ask Boxes
Search Engine Positioning is the process of optimizing your individual web pages such that they appear in featured snippets, people also ask boxes or other sections. And while not all your web pages may make it to these sections, you can focus on search engine positioning to improve your rankings on search engines.
Search Engine Positioning vs. Search Engine Optimization – What’s the Difference?
Search engine positioning (SEP) is a subset of SEO. As you may or may not already know, search engine optimization is the process that includes:
- Conducting in-depth keywords research
- Website audit
- Link building
- Optimizing on-page content like meta-tags, meta-descriptions, title tags, and more.
- Improving website speed
- Focusing on mobile-friendliness
- Focusing on website domain authority or domain rating
It basically focuses on every single ranking signal Google considers to determine search engine rankings.
When it comes to search engine optimization, you’ll focus on your website as a whole and individual web pages. However, amidst all the optimization, you may or may not get the chance to focus on your individual web pages.
And that’s where search engine positioning comes in.
Search Engine Positioning is the dedicated practice of focusing solely on optimizing web pages to improve search engine rankings. And as you continuously optimize your individual web pages, you’ll have a much better chance of ranking in the Featured Snippet, People May Ask Box, or various other sections.
That being said, if you want to maximize your web pages’ search engine positioning on Google, allow me to present the exact steps you need to follow to do so.
The 3 Step Framework to Maximize Your Search Engine Positioning on Google
To maximize your Google SEP, you’ll need to follow these 3 steps:
- Discover the Right Keywords You Should Target
- Reoptimize Your Existing Content
- Focus on Your Internal Linking Efforts
1. Discover the Right Keywords You Should Target
Let’s say you run a marketing agency and would love nothing more than to target generic keywords like “SEO” or “PPC” – depending on the services you offer. Now, if you look up the difficulty of these keywords on Ahrefs, you’ll be shocked. Allow me to share the results.
SEO: