Most people think Google reserves its first page for people with deep pockets. I thought the same until I learned these fundamental SEO techniques. I climbed up the Google rankings ahead of all my competitors.

Most small business owners lack the budget for expensive ad campaigns. Learning the SEO fundamentals means you can get to the first page of Google without spending a penny. It takes effort, but the process is simple and the results? They changed my business. Before getting to the first page of Google, I had zero website enquiries. Now, I get regular enquiries through organic search.

You don't need to be an expert. I wasn't. I learned as I went. Now, I'll share exactly what I did so you can apply it to your website. It doesn't happen overnight. My website took six months to rise through the search engine rankings. With patience and consistency, this process will bring you more website traffic, leads and sales.

Google doesn't automatically know your website exists. You have to tell it. So, how do you do that? It's a simple process. 

Submitting your sitemap tells Google your site exists and prompts it to index your pages. It is the first essential step to showing up in search results. Once Google knows your site exists, the next step is to help it understand why it deserves to rank higher.

Optimising your content starts with understanding keywords. These are the phrases people type into search engines and how they decide which pages to show in the results. Say a user searches "freelance web developer in Melbourne". My website shows up because those keywords appear naturally throughout my content. Ranking higher requires strategic use of keywords throughout your content.

Be warned. Stuffing your pages with keywords will hurt your rankings. Google's algorithm is smart enough to tell when you're writing for people and if you're trying to game the system.

Many websites only focus on a few specific keywords. An easy way to get ahead is with more keyword breadth. What does that mean? Think of your niche. What relevant topics can you write about outside of it? Include keywords for those. In my blog, I write about SEO, Web Design, Web Development, Web Accessibility, Creative Industry Trends, and how websites affect business growth. Including keywords from these satellite topics helps increase my chances of showing up in more results. The more results I show up in, the more awareness people have of my website and business.

Most websites lack space in their static content to include all their keywords. The best way to start including more keywords in your website content is a blog. A blog gives you the space to write longer, more targeted content and include more keywords over a wide range of relevant topics. It accelerates the two main drivers of SEO growth: keyword relevance and domain authority (explained later).

Another bonus of a blog is it signals to search engines that your site is regularly updated, active, and trustworthy. Google prioritises these websites. A blog is the best way to target more keywords and show your site is alive and maintained.

Now, your content is optimised. Let's talk about how to choose the right keywords.

By now, it's clear that keywords are essential to helping your site appear in the right search results. That's why choosing the right keywords is so important.

Do not guess. Without data, we can't know what people are searching for. There are plenty of tools that provide keyword data. Some, like SEMRush and Ahrefs, are paid and extremely powerful. I didn't use them to get to the first page of Google, and you don't need to either. Instead, I used two free tools: Answer The Public and ChatGPT. Here's how I used both tools step by step.

Optimising your content with keywords is known as On-Page SEO. This next part, Technical SEO, focuses on your website code. I prefer writing code over prose, so I like this part more.

Technical SEO might sound intimidating, but it's relatively straightforward. Small changes have a significant impact. There are four key areas to focus on when it comes to Technical SEO:

If you're not a coder, don't worry. I'll keep this as "un-techy" as possible. Firstly, you must get your headings right. HTML uses a hierarchy of headings from

to

. Every page on your website should have a title that uses

(or Heading 1 if you're using a CMS). Search engines rely on the

tag to provide insight into the page content. Be explicit. Use the rest of the heading levels to break your content into logical sections. Proper page structure helps search engines understand your page and extract relevant information.

Another key part of HTML structure is using accessibility features correctly. Most people miss the connection between accessibility features and SEO. While accessibility isn't a direct ranking factor, it improves usability for many users. Improved usability means users are more likely to stay on and return to your site. A big win is using accessible media. Use alternative text for images, video captions, and audio transcripts. Doing this not only makes your media usable by all users but is also an opportunity to include more keywords on your website. Accessible websites are easier for people with disabilities to use. That makes them more likely to stay on and return to your site return instead of less accessible alternatives.

Internal linking refers to links between pages on your website. We are talking about more than your navigation menu. When I write a blog post, if I mention the phrase "freelance web developer", I link that to my homepage. When Google crawls that post, it notices the link and strengthens its understanding of what that page is about. 

Adding internal links introduces different pages to Google and shows how your content fits together. It is a simple tactic that many sites overlook.

There are two types of metadata on a website. Most only focus on one. Getting both right gives you a clear advantage. The first and most common is HTML meta tags. These include your page title, meta description, and open graph tags (used for social sharing). Your title and description are what you see on the search results page. When they are missing in the HTML code, Google makes them up based on the page content. Most CMSs have plugins to help you with this. In WordPress, Yoast SEO is the best one.

The second type is where most websites fall short: structured data. Using structured data gives a search engine more information about your website. It helps link your website to other channels like Google Business, social profiles, and Wikipedia pages. It's one of the most effective ways to set yourself apart.

Google wants users to find the best websites for their search. A fast, intuitive site encourages people to stay longer, engage more, and return. All these are positive signals for Google to send people to your site.

So far, I have told you everything I did to get on the first page of Google. I still do all of the above. To go further, I've started focusing more on Off-Page SEO. Focusing on this early will help you rank faster than I did.

Off-Page SEO is how the rest of the internet perceives your website. With more competition between sites, content alone can't differentiate them. Backlinks are a key metric for search engines to test a site's trustworthiness and reputation as a good source of information. Wikipedia is the best example of this. It consistently ranks at the top of nearly every search because it is one of the most linked-to sites. Don't worry. Your website doesn't need the number of backlinks that Wikipedia has. But the more you have, the better. After On-Page SEO, backlinks are the greatest lever for further SEO growth. Here are two practical strategies I'm currently working on for more backlinks.

The first is reaching out to people in your domain and asking them to link to your articles from theirs. Be careful about reciprocal linking. A few reciprocal links are natural, but excessive link exchanges between unrelated or low-quality sites look manipulative to search engines. If search engines see you trying to play the system, they view your site as less trustworthy.

The second strategy is guest posting on other blogs in your field. Writing for other people's blogs is a great way to promote yourself and link to your website from reputable sources. Finding guest posting opportunities is easy with a simple Google search technique. For example, to find web design guest posting opportunities, go to Google and enter this search term: web design intitle:'write for us'. This shows me all the websites seeking guest writers for web design blogs.

It took me six months to climb from page 11 to the first page of Google. I followed the exact process outlined in this article, publishing a new blog post every week. That weekly blog signalled to Google that my site was active, relevant and worth ranking. SEO can be a long process, especially if starting from scratch. It's a significant time investment but pays off in the long run. 

SEO is an ongoing process. It doesn't stop once you reach the top spot. Staying on top requires just as much work as getting there.

You don't need to be an expert. You don't need to be a great copywriter. Consistency, not perfection, moves the needle. There's truth in the old saying, "90% of success is just showing up". Be generous. Write for your users first. Don't write only to please Google. The better your content, the more people will like and share it. Make sure your website gives a great user experience. Stick with it, and you'll climb the rankings. Then you start attracting the right people and the kind of work you want.