How to Rank #1 on Google for the World’s Most Competitive Keywords | Ranking First Page for “SEO”

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Try it, google "SEO" and you'll see that NeilPatel.com is ranked on Google's first page. How'd I do it? Watch this video: ►►Subscribe here to learn more of my secret SEO tips:
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I'm going to let you in on a little secret, but you have to make a promise to me.

You can't use this against me.

I rank for the most competitive term on Google, on page one.

You know what that term is?

SEO, I'm competing with other marketers who know what they're doing. That's harder than just competing with other companies.

I'm competing with companies with money that know what they're doing. And I'm on page one for the term SEO.

And I'm going to show you the exact steps I took to rank there, but again, you have to promise not to use this for that term so that you would outrank me.

#1: Your content needs to be super-detailed and thorough

If it's not thorough, like pillar content.

What I mean by pillar content is, that one piece of content that pretty much explains everything out there under the sun for that one topic. You know what the number-one result for SEO is?

It's Moz; it's The Beginner's Guide to SEO.

It's long, and it discusses everything about SEO, from how to do it, what it's about, how it got started, every little thing and every tactic or formula that Google's looking at to rank a site.

Now, my content doesn't rank us high, but if you notice, the content on Neil Patel isn't as thorough.

And you don't have to be as thorough, but it just shows, the more detailed you are, the better off you're going to be in rankings.

#2: Your content needs to be beautiful
The better-designed and the more beautiful it is, the better-off you are. People don't like looking at ugly stuff.
I don't like looking at ugly web pages.
No one else does either. Make sure your stuff is really pretty.

#3: It has to load fast.
If it doesn't load fast, it's not gonna work for most people, especially on their mobile phones.

They're pulling out their mobile phone, they're like, oh, this is taking forever to load.

More than 50% of the people using Google are on their mobile phone or mobile device.

So make sure your site loads fast, and especially that webpage that you're trying to rank.

#4: After you do that, cross-link that post or that pillar page on every other page on your website.

If you go to Neil Patel and you go to any single blog post, you'll notice that I link to my SEO article.

It's providing more juice; it's telling Google, hey, I'm linking to this article on every single page for a reason.

It's important; I find it important, I want users to know it's important.

They're clicking on it; you should rank it high up as well.

#5
The next thing you need to do is use Ahrefs.
Go, type in your competitor URLs, and see who links to them. Hit up all of those people and ask them for a link.

For example, you can send them a short email saying,

"Hey John, I noticed you're linking to X, Y, and Z site. I have a similar article that came out, but mine covers one, two, and three that their article didn't. Feel free to check it out here, and if you like it, link to it. Cheers, Neil."

And leaving an email like that to other people leave to your competitors will cause more links back to you. If you send 100 of those, you should get roughly five people linking back to you.

If you don't get five linking back to you, that means the email you're sending is too irrelevant people that shouldn't be linking to you in the first place.

#6
The next thing you'll want to do is, be patient. You're not going to rank right away. That page, after it was put up, it took a year and a half before it popped onto the first page.

You have to be patient and continually update it, provide more value, make it prettier design.

But as long as you're keeping everything up-to-date and you're patient, eventually you'll notice that your rankings will climb.

Mine went from being in the top thousand to top hundred to page five, to page four, to three, to two, and eventually page one.

It was a slow, gradual build.

#7
And here's the last tip for you, and this is what most people don't tell you when it comes to ranking.

If you have two sites, General Motors and BMW, they both have a lot of links, they both have billions of dollars to spend on SEO and marketing. So how does Google know which one to rank higher for car-related terms?

It's brand-related.

If Google noticed that more people are searching for BMW over General Motors, what are they going to do?

They're going to start ranking BMW higher because they have a bigger brand.

About the Author

Leave a Reply 42 comments

Amine MOULDAR - December 19, 2017 Reply

Thanks Neil,
You are one of the Best in the Business, if not the Best,
You are one of the few people who gave me hope that it is still possible to make a living through SEO and Good Content,
A little question if you don’t mind,
A good way which doesn’t cost a lot to promote a blog Post ?
Thanks

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Social media is your best friend. 🙂

Technical VanJain - December 19, 2017 Reply

Your last tip is unique.

I am creating my brand “vanjain”

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Good luck!

SuleimanAlKurdi - December 19, 2017 Reply

You should have a million followers within one year! Your information is Gold! Thank you.

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Thank you!

    Nico Wayne - March 23, 2019 Reply

    He has 312k now, how many he had on this comment?

Craymon Community - December 19, 2017 Reply

Hello Sir,
What are SEO friendly themes means for WordPress.
Thanks for these amazing explaining videos.

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Responsive design is the most important thing

onlinebusinesses - December 19, 2017 Reply

Thank you so much Neil for the awesome content! I always love your content and look forward to either watching your videos and reading your content rich blog! Thanks for all of your hard work and so helpful information!

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    You’re more than welcome!

Andre L. Vaughn - December 19, 2017 Reply

A little more info on SEO than some of your previous videos Neil. You were holding out on us man….LOL….Awesome info and insight. I’m actually bookmarking this video for future reference. Thanks as always!

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Ha! I make short videos, so I can’t share everything at once. Thanks for watching!

Ishan Sharma - December 19, 2017 Reply

I also want to start my business. But i dont know which niche to choose and how to drive traffic on it. Plz help me also or make a video on this topic … your videos are very helpful

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Focus on something that interests you and has a broad audience

Tanner J Fox - December 19, 2017 Reply

SIR you’re so hardworking and you deserve everything you have. And sir i would like to thank you again for guiding us you really really give quality content. Love you sir. What am doing is searching seo and clicking on your website (#2 or #3 in india) and increasing your click through rate 😉 thanks sir for all of your help sir you being so transparent to us youre not kepping any secrets i mean you tell everything no confusion or question’s left after your speech i just can’t stop writting to you. ThankQ sir

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Thank you, Harry! I’m glad to help

    Martin - May 13, 2018 Reply

    I have a branding and signagw company please contact mee with your pricing. Thabk you

inArabyforall - December 19, 2017 Reply

I need to build brand but my face book page dead!!
in general all my social (twitter) is dead!!
I almost do this for 6-8 month
Help

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    You might need to try a different social platform.

IndiCoder - December 19, 2017 Reply

Would you link us back if the post produces value to you and is relevant to your content?

    Neil Patel - December 19, 2017 Reply

    Yes, I often link to other blogs that are relevant to what I’m posting

    Technical Review - August 23, 2018 Reply

    IndiCoder Hii

Brandon Daniels - December 19, 2017 Reply

Neil’s stuff is always GOLD 😎

    Neil Patel - December 20, 2017 Reply

    Thank you!

Wiki Universal - December 20, 2017 Reply

Sir, Please make video on Keyword Research.

    nanda kishore - December 20, 2017 Reply

    Yes Neil….it help’s many..!!

    Neil Patel - December 20, 2017 Reply

    Will think about that for a future video

Hownetinfo - December 21, 2017 Reply

How I checked my domian is penalize by google or not

I add do follow link of other site more than 50 can it effect my ranking

    Neil Patel - December 21, 2017 Reply

    You can do that in Google Search Console.

    Hownetinfo - December 23, 2017 Reply

    Neil Patel but how can me explain ease step so.e step

Shery Sheikh - December 28, 2017 Reply

Sir neil you’re amazing i’m a follower of you from pakistan you know what i watch your every video, read your blog regularly you know what you’re amazing, funning, attractive, you always speak truth your work is super super super boom amazing i’m start loving you I really have no words to say Thanks for helping thousand of peoples!!!
Love from pakistan

    Neil Patel - December 28, 2017 Reply

    Thank you so much for your kind words, Shery! I’m glad that you enjoy my content, and I appreciate your watching my videos and reading my blog posts. 😊

The Sheepster - January 18, 2018 Reply

You and Brian Dean must be competing against each other considering he gave out YouTube ranking tips and he ranks #1 for SEO… (On YouTube)

    Neil Patel - January 22, 2018 Reply

    Everyone is always trying to outrank everyone else 🙂

shivam J - March 5, 2018 Reply

New to your channel and I must say you explain each and every detail very well.

Does Sharing your articles on social media like Facebook makes back links and sep rankings?

    Neil Patel - March 6, 2018 Reply

    Thanks Shivam, and welcome! Yes, social sharing can help SEO. I think it will become even more important moving forward as Google takes social signals into account more heavily.

Sonia Dhar - March 26, 2018 Reply

Hey Neil awesome tips! Just starting my new company, need all the support. Where can I find your tip/ videos on writing my first blog? Much appreciated love your enthusiasm! God Bless

    Neil Patel - March 27, 2018 Reply

    Congrats on your new business, Sonia! You can find tons of free tips and advice on my blog: neilpatel.com/blog

Econ Dude - June 24, 2018 Reply

Another great video Neil, thank you!

    Neil Patel - June 24, 2018 Reply

    You’re welcome!

Learn TheNew - February 26, 2019 Reply

thanks for making the video what the reasons behind the decreasing page rank already which is ranking in the top 100. @LearnTheNew

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