Way back when, having a website period was all we cared about, our own little space on the web to direct our friends and customers to. Even when those ancient websites involved endless scrolling, flashing gifs, and (gasp) midi files set to auto-play, we were so proud to be online. Today, it's a different story. Almost one-third of the world is online ... yes, even our grandparents. And more people online means more competition for all of us. Being found in the search engines, therefore, is absolutely essential to business success. So, what do you do if you can’t find your website in the search results?
"Where's my site?"
Your website’s up and running, you’ve given Google some time to find it, and you’re still not finding it in the search results. This is a common problem that many website owners face when first starting out on the web. Here are a few places to start when diagnosing the problem:
- The first thing you need to do is check to make sure Google has you in its index period. Perform a site search by Googling site:yourdomain.com (replacing “yourdomain.com” with your actual web address). If you do see your site in the results, stay calm: Google clearly knows you exist!
- Didn’t see yourself? To increase your chances of Google finding your new website, submit a sitemap to Google to help speed up the process. A sitemap also helps Google keep track of your site as you update it with fresh content, new pages, etc. over time.
- If your site has errors (e.g. broken links), Google’s handy Webmaster Tools can tell you what problems you have. Often times, fixing these errors can have a significant effect on your search visibility.
"How can I make Google like me?"
While results are never (read: never ever, no matter what some self-professed web guru tells you) guaranteed when it comes to search marketing, there are a number of things you can do to improve your search engine success:
- Increase the amount of content on your site, particularly on the pages you deem most important. It might seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of people still don’t get it: Google likes content.
- Check all pages and links to ensure everything is properly loading.
- Make sure none of the content on your site is duplicated from another site, particularly a competitor’s. If it is, remove or re-write it.
- Don’t forget the keywords! Content is great. Content with keyword-rich terms your customers are already searching for is way better. Do your research!
- If your entire site is in Flash, it’s essentially completely unreadable by the search engines, and, well, you should really just give us a call as soon as possible.
No matter what your website’s problem is (and trust us, there could be any number of issues, some far more technical than what are mentioned here), the good news is that we all have tools at our disposal to help identify our problems and give us practical solutions for fixing them. The latest and greatest content management systems like HubSpot can help you pinpoint areas for improvement and track your progress as you make necessary changes.
Need some help with your website?
Is your website plagued by lack of search engine visibility? No problem - that’s our specialty! Find out more about why we love HubSpot so much for search engine success and how LyntonWeb can help boost your website’s search presence. Give us a call for a free website consultation today.