In the past few years, the nature of search engine optimization and SERP dominance has changed considerably. Just five years ago, becoming featured on the first page of Google was far easier due to a generally smaller number of competitors and a larger number of keywords still not at full saturation. Because of this, even the most basic SEO strategies could have a profound impact. Since then, entire industries have developed around the concept of promoting your web pages and ensuring that they rise to the top of search results, mainly due to the steep level of competition and demand that exists today. Whether your brand has just started out in the world of online marketing or has been around for quite some time, you definitely want to dominate at least one or two SERPs. The following article will discuss some simple steps that you can take to ensure maximum coverage in any first page of search results.

Google Plus

What was once considered a relatively useless platform for social media, Google Plus has become all the rage in the past two years as the search engine moved to give its results and blurbs more prominence in search results. If your brand has not already taken advantage of Google Plus to improve its social media outreach, then you are also missing out on valuable pings in select search results. When pinging users with updates via the platform, these social signals can also correlate your site’s relevance with select search results and help improve visibility. Google has given key prominence to select profiles in each SERP that do the best job of distributing updates and content in a timely fashion. If you want to improve your first-page ground game, then you have to utilize Google Plus.

Paid Search Options

Gaining valuable exposure for your business or brand doesn’t just have to be about organic SEO. Many people who search will click on relevant ads just as much as they will click on organic results, so it makes sense to also utilize paid search in your goal to maximize exposure on the first page of search results. Google’s AdWords utility is a prime solution and can help you gain the most desirable placement in any search result with a few minutes of your time, some refinements in targeting and a respectable budget. With a variety of different extension options also available via AdWords, you can truly ensure that your ad campaigns target any and every element of search that you desire.

Local Options

As local search results continue to become more relevant in Google Search, those who have verified business pages and profiles (particularly through Google Plus) will continue to see a greater ROI via pinging users in local search results for their brands. Even in seemingly non-local search results or niches, a brand that correlates its mission and location with search can often pick up the attention of other local searchers and dominate search results among those nearby. This will also allow others to leave reviews for your brand and give them additional information on how to contact you.