How to Outrank Your Competitor in Google SERP

Unlock the secrets to outranking your competition on Google search results. Learn how to outrank your competitors with proven strategies created by Rebel Ape.

Part of having a successful business is ensuring it’s always your clients’ first pick — and you can help with that by adding the right Google ranking factors to your website. This is especially important when it comes to your online presence.

Did you know that an astounding 97% of internet users do not click past the first page of results? Also, 55% of all clicks go to the top three organic search results. That means if your website doesn’t appear on page one — and ideally in the top 3 results — you’re losing clients and sales to your competitors.

Google Ranking Factors

Fortunately, outranking your competitors isn’t an impossible task. You can increase the likelihood of ranking above your competitors in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) by ensuring your website reaps the benefits of Google Ranking Factors.

Google uses a ranking algorithm that filters search results based on certain factors. This algorithm has undergone many updates, such as:

These updates introduced a smarter, more refined, and more semantic search experience.

Although the exact number of Google ranking factors remains Google’s little big secret, SEO experts have identified 200+ ranking factors. (Yep, Backlinko’s list alone is massive.) The key isn’t doing everything — it’s focusing on what moves the needle for your business.

Improving Your Local Search Ranking

We work with many clients who want to rank higher — especially for local searches. Local SEO and national/international SEO overlap, but they’re not identical strategies.

Since we focus heavily on local businesses, here are some of the Google ranking factors that tend to matter most for local SEO.

Google has stated that 40% of mobile searches have local intent — which is a huge opportunity for local businesses when implemented correctly.

Before we get into the list, here’s the big principle that supports everything else:

The more accurate, consistent, and complete information Google has about your business and your services, the better your chances of showing up.

With that in mind, here are some of the most important Google ranking factors that can help you raise your visibility in local search:

Mobile-first indexing
Page speed
Schema markup
Content quality and relevance
Website content length
Location keywords
Social signals
Image optimization
High-quality backlinks
Proper tags
Alt tags

Google’s Possum update diversified local search results based on proximity, address, price, and other factors. These improvements can work in your favor — as long as your site is built correctly.

If you want help implementing these properly, contact us and we’ll help you tighten everything up.

Website Analysis

A website analysis is required before any SEO work starts.

This analysis is an in-depth look at your site’s structure and performance. It’s one of the most important stages because it uncovers what’s currently working, what’s broken, and what needs to be prioritized.

If you’re running (or planning) an SEO campaign, analysis helps you locate:

Technical issues
Content gaps
Poor-performing pages
Opportunities for faster wins

Reviewing Google Analytics can also show:

Total visitors
Referral sources
New vs returning users
Page performance and engagement

That data tells us whether optimizations are actually working — and where to focus next.

Keyword Research

During keyword research, we identify high-traffic, low-competition keyword opportunities that can drive targeted traffic.

People search because they want something — an answer, a service, a product, a solution.

By targeting the right keywords, we build pages that match those search queries and pull in traffic that’s more likely to convert.

Keyword research typically includes:

Brainstorming
Research tools
Testing and refinement

Competitor Research

One of the most important parts of growing any business online is understanding the competition.

The better you understand what your competitors are doing, the easier it becomes to build a strategy that outranks them — and capture some of the traffic they’re currently getting.

Page Optimization

Titles and Headers

Title tags and header tags help search engines understand what your page is about.

These tags show up in multiple places, including:

Browser tabs
Search results pages (SERPs)
Your on-page content structure
External previews and shares

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions provide a short summary of your page content.

Title tags are limited, but meta descriptions give you extra room to:

Explain what the page is about
Sell the click
Improve click-through-rate (CTR)

When visitors land on your site, they should be able to find what they need quickly.

Most websites use a navigation strip that stays consistent across pages. This helps users explore your key sections without having to hunt.

Better navigation improves user experience — and that can indirectly support SEO through better engagement.

Keywords

Keywords are what people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for.

Often, people search using full phrases — and Google interprets the words inside those phrases to match pages by relevance and intent.

The goal is to keep keyword targeting:

Clear
Natural
Relevant to the page
Structured around what people actually search

Short Tail

Short tail keywords are broad and usually one word (or very short).

Example: egg

They’re vague, competitive, and usually not high intent.

Long Tail

Long tail keywords are phrases with three or more words.

They’re typically more specific, less competitive, and often convert better because the searcher has clearer intent.

Synonyms

Synonyms (and the idea sometimes called “LSI”) help search engines understand topic relationships.

For example: “tiny,” “compact,” and “little” can all relate to “small.”

Using natural synonyms improves:

Relevance
Reader engagement
Topic coverage
Ranking potential

Image Optimization

Images can be a major chunk of a page’s load time and total file size.

Optimizing images improves performance and usability — and can help with ranking factors like page speed.

Optimization typically involves:

Choosing the right format
Compressing without killing quality
Using appropriate dimensions
Serving properly sized images for different devices

Alt Text

Alt text describes an image so:

Search engines understand what it represents
Screen readers can read it to users
Images can rank in image search

Example alt text might describe what’s in the image in plain language.

Schema

Schema is structured data markup that helps search engines better understand your content.

It can also help trigger rich results (rich snippets) in search listings.

Schema tells Google what your data means, not just what it says.

W3C Validations

The W3C validator checks HTML and XHTML for formatting and markup issues.

Clean code reduces errors that can negatively affect:

Crawlability
Indexing
Page stability
Overall quality signals

In extreme cases, broken code can interfere with search engines crawling your site properly.

Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of pages on your website (usually hierarchical).

It helps search engines understand your site structure and discover content efficiently.

Sitemaps are especially important if:

Your site is large
You have isolated pages with few links
You have rich media content
Your internal linking isn’t perfect yet

Code Cleanup

Code cleanup is the act of structuring and refining your website code so it runs fast and stays stable.

This helps:

Performance
Maintainability
Security
Long-term scalability

Social media can support SEO indirectly by building brand awareness, trust, and content distribution.

See: Social media marketing campaign

Integration

Start by building out your brand presence on platforms that make sense:

Facebook
Twitter/X
LinkedIn
Google/YouTube
Instagram

Then link those profiles from your website so visitors can connect.

Once your social presence is set up, consistent sharing helps you attract attention and earn engagement over time.

Content Building

Content helps you grow topical authority and earn ongoing search traffic.

Blogging

Blogging helps you publish ongoing information and keep your site fresh.

A consistent schedule helps maintain relevance and build a steady stream of traffic.

Article Submissions

Submitting articles to reputable directories used to be more common, but modern “article submission” should be approached carefully.

Today, focus on quality placements, real audiences, and sites that are actually relevant.

Link Building

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own.

Search engines treat links as signals of trust and authority — but quality matters a lot more than quantity.

Directory Submission

Directory submissions can help when they’re relevant and credible (especially for local SEO), but spammy submissions can hurt.

Social outreach helps you build relationships and increase visibility for your content and brand.

Broken Links

Broken links create a bad user experience and can hurt crawlability.

Too many broken links can signal low-quality maintenance, so it’s important to fix them quickly.

Monthly Report

A good SEO strategy requires planning, consistent work, and measuring what’s working.

Monthly reports should include:

Ranking movement
Link acquisition
Analytics and traffic data
Notes on what changed and why

Rankings will fluctuate — but if your average trend improves over time, it’s usually a positive sign.

FAQ