How does Google work?

Imagine Google is a really awesome tour guide, full of passion for helping people find what they’re looking for, as quickly as possible. Google wants to have a great reputation for being the ONE person you go to (she’s a little control freaky like that) when you’re looking for something. That means she wants to have the best, most accurate information possible.

Google basically sorts through the internet using data - to provide the most accurate results for the user that has typed in the search bar.

There is a hierarchy.

This is how Google works out if your website is relevant to the user.

So if the user’s enquiry is location motivated - Google will only provide results that are within the user’s area.

If the user is after information - the hierachy is determined by the copy used on your website. How close it answers the person’s question, query, keywords etc.

Image search - the user wants to see a visual of something. This is why we label images.

Creating a new website is exciting. But you might be surprised to find that, once you create your website, you’re not suddenly being bombarded with new leads. You know that your website is good, but you’re not getting ANY new customers or enquiries! 

So, what do you do? Well, put simply, if you want to get leads through your website, you need to focus on SEO.

Just like a car. Your website needs to be maintained. Google rewards you by moving your website up the search results list, if you update it regularly.

 

Organic versus Paid?

Organic SEO is basically - what you can do to improve the chance of being found in the search results - yourself.

If it’s not organic - it is called Paid Ads - or Paid SEM (Search Engine Management)

Paid Ads - is where you search for something in google and the sponsored ads come up in the top of the search. This is like paying for sales people promoting your product or service. It does work. But you need to have the budget to do this. If you don’t have the budget but do have the time - then do the below items. If you would like to get a quote for paid ads we can recommend our partners for this.

Organic SEO list

Increase your chances of being found in google by your customers by doing these updates -

  • Before you look at what you can do to help your website get you noticed on google. You need to clarify your goals. What are you mainly wanting? Is it sales from your online shop? is it more consultations? more enquiries?

    How will you know this is working? Is there a number to quantify these results?

  • A blog post is a fantastic way of updating your website. Blogging has changed a lot. If you ever watched Julia & Julia - the movie about a woman that blogged about Julia Child’s recipes on a weekly basis you know that blogging has changed alot since then. Blogging is now a great way to update your website with images and copy or just copy that engages with your audience and brings new people to your site from the keywords.

  • Did you know that your blog post article can be sent out as a newsletter to your subscribers?

    Follow this step by step guide.

  • If you look at the images on your website that we uploaded, we have added in all the necessary info.

    1. Saving your image correctly - means that if someone does an image search for example of your name - any photos of you that have your name in the label will appear in the results.

    2. Image Alt Text - This is the description of the image.

    3. File name optional: Always copy and paste the Alt Text description as this is how google finds your images and helps rank your website.

  • Adding a new page to your website is always going to help google find you better. Why? because you have provided new words for google to search through.

    Also - google ranks your website in order of when was it last updated.

  • If you have the instagram live feed on your website - did you know that your website is getting updated each time you post (without even logging in to update it).

    Just make sure to check your website feed every few months as settings for instagram and squarespace get updated all the time so you may just need to reconnect to ensure it is the latest update.

  • Due to the amount of competition on the internet now, reviews are a way of building trust with your potential customers. They are also a quick and easy way of updating your website. Even better - is having a review from a customer that has a large following or public awareness that your website can piggy bank on.

  • Did you know that your google listing is another form of social media?

    Many social media posting programs have google as an option to post to just like instagram etc.

    How to leverage your listing -

    1. Ask for reviews from your customers (then copy and paste this to your website)

    2. Post up graphics to your listing to keep it updated

    3. Ensure your hours of service, address etc are all up to date and in line with your website to make your customers feel a sense of consistency.

  • Make sure you share your website.

    1. Put the link in your email signature

    2. All your social media bio’s

    3. All print marketing

    When sharing your website to social media - be sure to share the exact link that you are posting about. Eg - Copy and paste the blog post article and not the home page. You do not want anything having to find content.

Let me know if you have any questions at all. Or how else we can help you with your website and getting the most out of it.