The Power of Google
Creating a website can be a long hard slog or a labor of love, but either way, if the results of your work don’t appear high up in Google, the majority of that work is all for nothing. As of 2017, Google accounts for 80 percent of all search engine inquiries.
If your website does not appear in the first three or four results on Google, then your site is providing little benefit to your business. It is the digital equivalent of having your store in the middle of a busy shopping parade, or in the middle of the desert. It is mission critical that you get your website noticed and ranked highly by Google.
Now that you understand the importance of ranking high on Google let’s look at some strategies you can utilize to court Google’s favor.
A very simple trap that many people fall into is to forget to notify Google of their site’s existence. This happens because during the site building process, people block Google crawlers until their site is ready. In the excitement of the launch, many people forget to unblock the crawlers. This means that Google will not even be aware of your site. Surprisingly only 4 percent of the Internet Is indexed by Google. To ensure your site is indexed, check that you are allowing spiders onto your site, and submit your domain to Google via the Google Search Console.
Normally once you have submitted your site via the Google Search Console indexation happens rapidly. Luckily it is very simple to check which pages of your site have been indexed. Just log in to the backend of your site and go to Settings > SEO > Google Indexing.
It can be easy to forget that Google is not actually the enemy. Google simply wants to provide its users with the most appropriate response to their enquiry first time every time. As a site owner your aim is to provide Google with as much information about your site as possible. Make sure every post answers a specific query or question and always write with a human reader in mind.
Always try and put yourself in the position of the searcher. Work out the phrases people would type into a search engine and try to optimize your content around those phrases. Try using Google Adwords keyword planner, or one of the many alternatives online. Your aim is to become the number one search result for each of those specific queries. Remember that each individual post provides you with a separate opportunity to rank, and as your site grows and develops this can generate ever-increasing volumes of traffic. This is a long-term project that will take constant and persistent effort.
Google has never revealed exactly how it decides in which order to display competing sites. Through some research, testing and experimentation the general consensus is that there are at least 150 different ranking factors. These can change at any time because logically none of the search companies want anyone to be able to manipulate the search results. However, they do provide some guidance which when combined with the factors above give you a good foundation upon which to build. Do not expect to rank overnight but remain focused on the long-term goal.
It is essential that you complete your page titles and meta descriptions in the settings. This is another way of informing Google what exactly your site is about. The page title gives information to both Google and your potential visitors about your site. The meta description is your opportunity to grab the attention of the searcher and make your site stand out above the competition. Always complete the alternative fields of any images and make good use of headings.
Google loves to see new content being added on a regular basis. Establish a routine of always adding new, exciting and informative content and stick to it. This is not easy to achieve, but the vast majority of your competitors will give up over time, so provided you stick to the task you will see your rankings continue to increase.
Don’t expect instant results and always plan for the long term. The perfect combination is excellent SEO combined with first class content. Always treat your website as a proper business, ensuring you dedicate sufficient time to the process.
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