Ranking highly in Google is everyone’s goal. Building your Google presence takes time and dedication. A good web designer and SEO specialist can get your site to Page 1 within 12 months of your site going live. And it will take some work from you too.
Here are my top 7 tips for helping your website’s ranking:
1. Keep your Website Fresh
Keeping your website fresh with new information, offers for clients, tips and tricks or posts of recent work lets Google know that you are an active website owner. Websites that sit in the corner and are never updated won’t be ranked well by Google.
Similarly, websites where the software that sits behind it is out of date or is not regularly updated can mean it becomes incompatible with newer browsers and Google won’t rank that well either. Not updating your software or plugins also leaves your site vulnerable to hackers and if your site gets hacked, Google definitely won’t like that.
2. Google My Business
Google My Business is a free service offered by Google to help promote your business. Simply sign up and follow the easy prompts to get as much information out there about your business as you care to share. It’s free and it will take you around 10 minutes to set up.
When people search for a local business in your area, your business profile will be included in the search results. You can even use it from your smart phone, tablet or desktop. And it’s free, so why wouldn’t you?
3. Use your Facebook Page
Having a Facebook page is often the first step new businesses take to establish their business presence. Once you have also established your website, make sure to include the URL for your website in each of your posts.
When you enter the URL of a Web page into your Facebook pos, Facebook links it to the page and adds an image and short preview of the Web page to help catch your friends’ interest and add visual appeal to the post.
Google also likes links between sites so adding your URL to Facebook creates an inbound link to your website which helps the rankings build.
4. Free Online Service Directories
Make sure you register your business with the free online service directories that are available in your area. A quick Google will help you to find them and they can provide another way of exposing your business to a wider audience than just Facebook users.
5. Identify your Keywords
When you are building your website, or engaging a web designer/developer, make sure you let them know what your keywords are. Keywords are terms that best represent your business. If you are a plumber in Seaford then two of your keywords should be ‘plumber’ and ‘Seaford’. But you might also want to consider ‘blocked drains’ or ‘unblock drains’ or ‘fix a toilet’ or ‘plumb rainwater’ as keywords too.
Think about what people will be looking for when they hit Google up for a plumber and consider too what you want your business to be known for. Also think about what is the most profitable part of your business – this is something you need to add lots of keywords around so that you get profitable business coming your way, not just business.
6. SSL Certificate
Your web designer/developer will be able to assist you to get a SSL certificate and apply it to your website. SL certificate makes the connection more secure and much safer when you browse, buy and communicate online.
Google now advises users that a site doesn’t have SSL, so it is a big black mark against your site if your SSL certificate is not current and your site won’t rank well. It also helps maintain the privacy of your users’ details as data moves between servers from their computer, to their internet provider, to your hosting provider, to your website and back again.
6. Register your Website with Google
Your web designer/developer should, as a matter of course, register your website with the big search engines, especially Google. They should also upload a site map for your website so Google knows where to find things on your site. If you are building your own website you will need to login to Google and load it yourself.
Remember, when all is said and done, it is Google’s job to provide great content to its users, so Google will be looking to your site to provide quality information, relevance to their search terms and up-to-date data to their users.
If you’re not sure where to start please get in touch – being on page 10 of Google means you are never going to be seen and it’s not the place to be. Let’s do this.
Get in Touch
If you’d like help getting your website to number 1 on Google, then simply let me know – I can help you:
- Define your target market.
- Help you to identify the keywords that will resonate with your target market
- Create keyword rich content to update your site and entice your customers
- Get your digital presence ranking up.
