Eight steps to rank number one on Google in 2025

Executive overview

Most SEO advice focuses on content alone. In 2025, ranking first requires fixing technical site issues, outmanoeuvring competitors, and building brand signals across channels.

The eight steps form a prioritised system: audit first, then research, then create, then distribute and build links, then update, then structure cleanly.

Targeting low-difficulty, high-CPC keywords is the highest-leverage move for small sites.

Fix your site before anything else

• Run a site audit (e.g. Ubersuggest) to surface broken pages, duplicate titles, low word counts, and speed issues.
• The audit ranks fixes by traffic impact — work the list in order.
• Crawlability problems neutralise good content; fix them first.

Track competitors continuously

• Monitor competitor rankings, backlinks, and new content inside your SEO tool.
• SEO is a race against top-ranking sites, not against Google.
• Real-time competitor data shows what's working so you can move faster.

Target low-difficulty, high-CPC keywords

• Use keyword research to find terms with low SEO difficulty and high cost per click.
• High CPC signals that the keyword drives conversions — businesses pay more for clicks that make money.
• Easy-to-rank, high-CPC terms are achievable for small sites and deliver revenue-driving traffic.

Use human-led content, not pure AI

• A 68-site experiment produced 744 articles; human-written content got 5x more monthly traffic than AI-written content.
• Google's E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, trust) rewards original human perspective.
• AI is useful for ideation, tone adjustment, and translation — not as a replacement for original writing.

Build backlinks through competitor gap analysis

• Find sites linking to three or more competitors but not to you — they are effectively link-agnostic.
• Outreach is more likely to succeed when your content is fresher, more thorough, or better formatted.
• Personalise outreach emails (ChatGPT can help) for each target site.

Build brand search signals omnichannel

• Branded searches — people typing your name into Google — are a direct ranking factor.
• Push content to social, email, and SMS to drive brand awareness and repeat touchpoints.
• The average buyer interacts with a brand 11.1 times before purchasing; be present across channels.

Refresh declining content regularly

• In Google Search Console, compare page performance year-over-year and identify pages with falling traffic.
• Declining pages typically need updated stats, better formatting, or missing information added.
• Google favours fresher content; regular updates compound traffic gains over time.

Maintain clean topic structure

• Multiple pages on the same topic split ranking signals — Google won't confidently rank any of them.
• Structure your site as a hierarchy: main topic page → supporting articles, all interlinked logically.
• Cover each topic thoroughly in one place; eliminate competing articles.