How to get your site on Google

Be seen where your customers are searching, browsing, and watching

The purpose of this page is to provide non-technical users with simple instructions on how to make their website visible to search engines like Google.

How to get your site on Google: The first step is to ensure that your website is responsive. A responsive website adapts to different screen sizes and devices, providing an optimal viewing experience for users. This is important for SEO because search engines prioritize user experience as a ranking factor. A responsive website improves user experience by making the site easy to navigate and read on any device, which can help improve its rankings.

Once you ensure that your website is responsive, the next step is to submit it to search engines and make it visible globally. There are two main ways to achieve this:

  • 1. Google Ads: This is the fastest and easiest way to get your website to appear on the first page of Google search results. However, it can also be expensive and is typically used for short-term goals.

  • 2. Organic SEO: This is the smartest, easiest, and cheapest way to make your website visible to search engines. Organic SEO involves optimizing your website's content and structure to make it more attractive to search engines.

    This includes keyword research, optimizing on-page elements like titles and meta descriptions, building high-quality backlinks, and creating valuable content that engages users.

While organic SEO may take longer to see results, it is a long-term strategy that can help your website consistently rank well in search engine results pages.

2. Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website's technical aspects and structure to improve its search engine visibility and crawlability. It involves optimizing elements such as website speed, URL structure, website architecture, mobile responsiveness, website security, and structured data. Technical SEO ensures that search engine crawlers can easily access and understand a website's content, which can improve its rankings in search engine results pages. Technical SEO is an important aspect of overall SEO strategy and helps ensure that a website is optimized for both search engines and users.

Here are some bullet points outlining technical SEO:

  • - Website architecture: Ensure that your website's structure is logical and easy for search engines to crawl and understand. This includes creating a sitemap, optimizing your URL structure, and using internal linking.
  • - Page speed: Optimize your website's speed and performance by reducing page load times. This can be achieved through techniques such as minimizing HTTP requests, compressing images, and reducing server response time.
  • - Mobile optimization: Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and optimized for mobile devices. This includes using responsive design, optimizing for different screen sizes, and ensuring fast load times on mobile devices.
  • - Indexing and crawling: Make sure that search engines can easily crawl and index your website. This includes optimizing your robots.txt file, submitting a sitemap to search engines, and using canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues.
  • - Schema markup: Use schema markup to help search engines understand the content of your website. This can include using structured data to mark up reviews, ratings, and other types of content.
  • - HTTPS: Use HTTPS to ensure that your website is secure and to provide a positive user experience. This can also help with SEO by providing a ranking boost to sites that use HTTPS.
  • - Technical errors: Monitor your website for technical errors such as broken links, crawl errors, and 404 pages. These issues can negatively impact SEO and should be fixed as soon as possible.

3. On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the process of optimizing individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings and earn more relevant traffic. This involves optimizing various elements on a web page such as title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image optimization, keyword usage, and content quality to make it more search engine friendly and relevant to the user's search query. On-page SEO is important as it helps search engines understand the content of a web page, which in turn can improve its visibility and ranking in search results.

Here are some bullet points outlining on-page SEO:

  • - Keyword research: Conduct research to identify relevant keywords for your website, and incorporate them into your content.
  • - Content optimization: Optimize your website's content by ensuring that it is high quality, relevant, and includes keywords in a natural way. Use header tags, bullet points, and other formatting techniques to make content easy to read.
  • - Title tags: Use descriptive and relevant title tags that accurately reflect the content of your website pages. Incorporate keywords into your title tags, but keep them concise.
  • - Meta descriptions: Use descriptive and relevant meta descriptions that accurately reflect the content of your website pages. Incorporate keywords into your meta descriptions, but keep them concise.
  • - URL structure: Use a logical and organized URL structure that includes keywords where appropriate
  • - Image optimization: Optimize your images by using descriptive filenames, alt tags, and compressing them for faster load times.
  • - Internal linking: Use internal linking to help users and search engines navigate your website. Link to relevant pages within your website, and use descriptive anchor text.
  • - User experience: Ensure that your website provides a positive user experience. This includes using clear and easy-to-read fonts, providing easy navigation, and ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly.
  • - Readability: Ensure that your content is easy to read by using simple language, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Avoid using jargon or technical language that may be difficult for users to understand.
  • - Social sharing: Make it easy for users to share your content on social media by including social sharing buttons on your website. This can help increase your website's visibility and drive traffic.

4. Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to all the activities that are carried out outside of a website in order to improve its search engine ranking. This includes building backlinks from other reputable websites, social media marketing, influencer outreach, guest blogging, and other methods of promoting your website to drive traffic and increase its visibility. Off-page SEO is important because search engines consider the number and quality of external links pointing to a website as an indication of its authority and relevance.

Here are some bullet points outlining off-page SEO:

  • - Link building: Acquire high-quality backlinks from other websites to your own. This includes outreach to other websites, creating shareable content, and ensuring that your website is listed in relevant directories.
  • - Social media marketing: Leverage social media to build your brand and drive traffic to your website. This includes sharing content, engaging with followers, and using social media advertising.
  • - Influencer marketing: Collaborate with influencers in your industry to build your brand and drive traffic to your website. This can include sponsored posts, guest blogging, and other forms of collaboration.
  • - Brand mentions: Monitor mentions of your brand online, and ensure that they are positive and accurately reflect your brand. This can help build your brand reputation and drive traffic to your website.
  • - Local SEO: Optimize your website for local search by ensuring that your business is listed in local directories, creating local content, and using local keywords.
  • - Image optimization: Optimize your images by using descriptive filenames, alt tags, and compressing them for faster load times.
  • - Guest blogging: Write guest posts for other websites in your industry, and include a link back to your website. This can help build your brand and drive traffic to your website.
  • - Press releases: Use press releases to announce new products or services, and to build your brand reputation. This can help drive traffic to your website and increase your visibility.
  • - Forum participation: Participate in online forums and communities in your industry, and include a link back to your website in your signature or profile. This can help build your brand and drive traffic to your website.
  • - Content marketing: Create high-quality, shareable content that is relevant to your industry and target audience. This can help build your brand and drive traffic to your website.
  • - Online reputation management: Monitor your online reputation and address any negative reviews or feedback. This can help build your brand reputation and drive traffic to your website

5. Local SEO

Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a website or online presence to increase visibility and rankings in local search engine results. It involves optimizing a website's content, meta tags, and backlinks to rank higher for location-specific keywords, such as "coffee shop near me" or "best pizza in [city name]."

Local SEO is important for businesses with physical locations or those that serve customers in specific geographic areas. By improving local search rankings, businesses can attract more customers to their physical locations, increase website traffic, and generate more leads and sales. Local SEO techniques include optimizing Google My Business listings, building local citations and backlinks, and creating location-specific content on the website.