As far as new websites showing up on Google, it takes time – sometimes several weeks, or even months. Higher rankings are determined by many different factors and Google’s algorithms change constantly! Let’s start by covering the basics…
1. Submit your site to Google
Your new website will eventually be crawled by Google’s robots, but submitting your URL will help it to happen faster. You will need to set up a Google Search Console account.
2. Build your website to Google standards
Google has site structure standards that should be adhered to. We build your site properly and include extras! When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), it’s our standard process to…
- Encrypt your site (https) so Google knows it’s secure
- build a fast-loading site on our sparsely populated servers
- build a site that responds to all devices – desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile
- make sure each page has a search-engine-friendly title, URL, and description (meta) relevant to your content and location of services
- set content structure up to use appropriate H1, H2, and H3 tags
- format content for easy web reading
- tag all photos with search strings known as alt tags
- correctly size all of your images for fast web load time
- connect your site to Google Analytics
- setup Yoast SEO plugin to further optimize your site
- generate XML sitemap (Having an XML sitemap can be beneficial for SEO, as Google can quickly retrieve essential pages of a website)
- add redirects from any old URLs to new URLs.
3. Gauge competition in your local area
You will have a better chance of obtaining a higher ranking if there are a handful of competitors than if there are a hundred. We can help you determine the best strategy for your SEO!
4. Length of time in business and online
Some companies have much larger sites and have been around for a longer time, so they are going to have an advantage, but they may not be doing all the things they need to do to keep their rank which is where you may be able to gain an edge.
5. Last, but definitely not least – COMMIT to continually add new content to your site!
SITES WITH MORE CONTENT RANK HIGHER.
It’s a simple, solid fact. What’s not simple is finding the time to add content on a regular basis to improve your site. Search engines want to see continually added, relevant content. We can help you with ideas for new content and publish it for you! Testimonials, refining your story, new services, new products, staff, etc., we have a lot of great suggestions.
A newsfeed (blog) is even better! Especially when it is posting to your social media pages to generate good content for the web and backlinks to your website.
An additional golden nugget of advice we can give you is to take advantage of the best tool out there – Google My Business.
Google My Business (GMB) Directory listings appear above organic search results. Even better your listing can be highly optimized to include not only your contact info, hours, location, but also a description of your services, brands you carry, photos of your items, and even latest news posts. A GMB listing also allows people to interact with your business via leaving reviews and asking questions. Interaction between you and your visitors builds trust.
“If you are a local business, having a website isn’t enough to rank well in Google’s local search listings. To rank well you need to unlock, verify, and optimize a Google+ Business Page. In order to maximize your search traffic from Google, treat your Google Business Page as you would your website, and optimize accordingly!”
Remember Google’s goal is to serve up a great user experience for website visitors and make the internet a happier place for all users. If a website does not offer that, you can expect that your site will not rank well. We build all websites to Google standards using the stellar search-engine-friendly WordPress platform – so you have a great foundation!
If you want to rank higher on Google, it’s a no-brainer – go straight to the source and use their tools!
If you don’t have time to set up your account correctly and keep updating it with new, relevant content, we will be happy to properly set up your Google My Business page. We will maximize your listing using search-engine-friendly content.
Are you ready to take the next step with a complete all-in-one website package that includes local search optimization? Contact us today to get started on this important addition to your online strategy!
LET’S TALK!