Getting your site at the top of Google’s search results is invaluable for generating conversions and entire industries have sprung up around making this happen for you. Hiring an SEO expert is definitely a worthwhile consideration, but in the meantime here are four simple tricks for moving your website up the Google ladder.
Make sure you’re indexed by Google
Go to Google.com and search ‘site:’ with your website domain listed after the colon (example: ‘site:acme.com’). If you don’t see any results from your page listed, that means Google hasn’t added your site to its search results yet. Although some advisers recommend filling out a request form that Google offers, there is a much faster way to get recognized by the search giant.
Google is constantly scanning web pages for updates in content to include in their search results. When they see a link to an external site on one of their already indexed pages, Google will add that link to the queue of new sites to be scanned and indexed. If you can get your domain name linked on a popular or trusted page, you’ll start seeing your page in the search results in no time.
Go out and get more links
The more links to your site from external pages, the higher you climb in the search results. Other than getting affiliate businesses to link you on their pages, consider managing a blog or RSS feed. Content generation not only promotes interest and traffic in your site, it also lets you submit yourself to blog directories or news aggregator sites like Feedly and Alltop which compile source materials and get you those external links.
Fine-tune your content
Be very careful not to change any of your core ‘permalinks’. If users have links that direct them to pages that can’t be found, it could affect your site’s ranking. Keep your pages live, and keep them named efficiently. Some website platforms, like WordPress, use default link structures that create complicated, number-based links that can be off-putting to users and confusing to administrators and search engine indexers. If possible, make sure your links use category and page title references for more appealing links and organizational structure.
Measure and track your ranking
Just because you believe your site has achieved a desirable ranking on Google doesn’t mean it will stay there. Stay proactive and never let yourself get lazy with your content production, site management, and SEO monitoring — it could mean the difference between moving up the search page, and disappearing from it altogether. Online tools like Cyfe and Google Analytics give you a more in-depth look at your site traffic and external links so you’re always ahead of the competition.
Optimizing your Google page indexing can be daunting. For more information on how to get your site moving up the ladder. Contact us today.
