How to Easily Rank for Big Search Terms in Google

This post will teach you one of my favorite SEO tips.  I use this for clients and affiliates that want to show up for highly competitive phrases who also cannot compete against big brands with more authority.

This strategy is not going after low hanging fruit, it is about using the search interface in a smart way.  The phrases I present normally show 20 to 50 searches, but each has the potential to bring in thousands of visitors.  Let’s dive in.

The term water pump has an estimated 74,000 monthly searches.  Well water pump has 12,100.

Both are great terms and product based which means they can result in direct sales and revenue.  If you’re a company like Home Depot, Ace or Lowe’s then you’re likely able to optimize pretty easily for this phrase.

If you’re a smaller or local retailer it is going to be tricky, but you can do it.

Here’s how!

1. Search for the Main Phrase.The first thing to do is log out of Google and search for the main phrase in incognito mode.  This way your search history doesn’t impact the results.
2. Evaluate Each result and look where you can compete.Look for “people also ask” questions, maps, what Google auto suggests, people also ask, videos, answer boxes and other rich results.
3. Build out your content and optimize it.

Grab some coffee and get ready because I’m sharing one of my favorite strategies.

In the screen shot below you’ll see there are videos, people also ask and map results for this big money phrase.

How to Optimize for Competitive Big Money Phrases

If my client sells water pumps my first step is to write down:

• Each of the “People also ask questions”
• The titles of each video showing up, if they’re self hosted or on YouTube, and the theme the video covers (instructional, comparison, etc…)
• Relevant “people also searched for” results from the bottom
• All of the auto-suggested queries as I was typing the phrase “water pump”

The reason is that each of these items is getting exposure and potential traffic for the big money phrase. Each one of these queries is also easier to optimize for by providing a better result than what is currently showing up.  And you don’t have to have as much authority to get these rankings.

Here is how I would begin approaching each of these areas if my goal was to show up for “water pump”.

People Also Ask

The questions normally have under 100 searches, but because they show up for the big volume phrases they still have access to the traffic of the big search phrase.

If the question is relevant to the person’s search query, then you get the person’s attention and the sale even if you’re not the top search result.  You also establish yourself as an authority figure because you provided a solution to the person’s problem.

But don’t stop with just these questions!  The list Google came up with might not be the best or complete giving you an opportunity to get your own Q&A listed.

1. If there is a question you get regularly from customers that is not answered here you can either create a blog post about this question and give a solid answer, or incorporate the answer into your product or category pages.  This can generate a new “People also ask” question sometimes.
2. If you don’t want to write a blog post, and they are relevant to your product or category pages, incorporate them into these pages.
   1. When providing the answer make sure to look how each of the websites that have the answer provide a solution. Now ask yourself what is missing.  Would the result be better with a table or bullet list, could a video explainer be better.
   2. Last create the better answer and publish it.

Pro-tip – Because this is a question and answer, use FAQ schema on it to show it is a question with an answer.  

Video

For the video results I look at the titles and themes of the videos.  If they are all explanations about what a water pump is I would create a series of videos to provide more explanations about the specific pumps and their uses.  But this requires time and an ideal scenario which isn’t likely going to happen.

Bonus-tip – By doing this you can bring more customers from YouTube where there are large search volumes with people looking for answers and solutions.  This builds a following for you and can drive sales. 

Because the first suggestion is likely not doable, I would try using a complementary theme that is not currently covered.

The videos for water pumps could include:

• The types of water pumps and when to use which
• How to install a water pump
• How to know when you need to replace a water pump
• Is my water pump broken & do I need to replace or repair it
• What should a water pump cost
• A comparison between the top three options

By doing this I have diversified the topics and given Google even more options to help searchers find solutions.

Pro-tip – If you’re installing this on your website make sure to add video object schema and include it in your video sitemap.  

People Also Searches and Auto Suggest Results

If you scroll to the bottom of the search results you’ll see people also ask.  I don’t recommend creating copy for each of these, but I do recommend incorporating the relevant phrases into your copy if they occur naturally.

This is just my opinion. If these are relevant and people are in fact searching for them, by adding them into your copy in a natural way you are creating a better user experience by helping people find solutions.  If my thought behind this is correct then incorporating these themes may assist with passage ranking too.

You’re taking relevant searches and providing helpful solutions in a natural way. If you do a good job with this then you could be rewarded with traffic and sales.

And that is it!

Many times the SEO keyword tools will show 20 – 200 searches for these queries.  The actual phrase may only be searched that many times, but you are optimizing for search features and not search phrases.  Those features could appear to thousands of searches vs. the 20 – 200.  And that is one of my favorite tricks to try.

If you found this helpful I’d love a share, comment or for you to subscribe to my newsletter.  If you’d like to hire us for a content strategy and optimization, click here to fill out my contact form.  Thank you again!