What can we learn from yesterday’s NFL comebacks, specifically the New England Patriots implosion to the Buffalo Bills (34-31), as it pertains to your website ranking on Google? One Thing! It can happen if you are persistent and consistent. Google Rankings are much like a football game; you make mistakes which may result in you losing your number 1 position on Google for a specific search term. That is okay – so long as you don’t panic. The end game is what matters and much like football, if you can execute you can put a win in the win column.

How so you say…

Well, let’s presume that you have the number 1 spot on Google and tomorrow you wake up but now your number 2 – or worse, your number 10. Immediately you need to pull out your trusty yellow pad of paper that you bought from Staples and start a list. The first thing at the top of the list needs to be the keyword, exactly as you entered it.

Now create a section on the left for the results of who is listed and write down all the domains and pages (listed in green text just below the result on the page). On the right, you are going to create a list called “Key Terms”. This will be a list that everyone is attempting to target. Ideally you would see these terms in the keyword that you put on the top of the page. You can find the key terms on each person’s site by looking at the code to find it. (Trick: In many browsers, simply hit CTRL+U and that will open the code. For Internet Explorer, click View then Source)

Now that you have your list, do something with it!…It’s like you have a shotgun formation with 5 wide receivers…you need a game plan and you need to execute. Here is a short game plan to help you get back to the top:

• Make a list
• Check it twice (just kidding, you can skip this step, since it’s not Christmas yet)
• Make some minor changes to the page that you want to rank
• Devise a plan for a new but similar page that will target a very similar but not exactly the same key term
• Track both pages

There is no guarantee that you can come from behind to win the game of getting the top ranking on Google back, but it has happened for us and for some of our clients. Nothing is guaranteed in the world of search engines, just like the NFL, which is why they play every game.

If you want help for adding, adjusting or maintaining your website, feel free to contact us, we would be happy to help you.