In this episode of Search for Beginners, a Google Search advocate goes over the top 5 things you should know when preparing your website to be listed on Google Search. These things are important to website owners who are striving to create an online presence. Is your website ready to be listed on Google Search?
Video Transcript
Is your website ready to be listed on Google search? Here are the five things you should make sure your website does.
Website and business discovery on Google Search
Does Google know about your website? You can check if your website is known to Google search by performing a ‘site:www.?????.com’ search for your domain. One of our previous episodes explains more about the ‘site:’ operator. Check out the description below for a link. If your website isn’t showing up at all it means that Google is not aware that it exists. This usually occurs naturally when someone links to your website from another website, but maybe you have a brand new site that Google hasn’t discovered yet. In that case, you can go to Google search console to verify ownership and submit your sitemap. Google will then crawl your website and discover its pages. If your business has a physical location, it’s important to make sure your website clearly lists information such as the address and store hours. Make sure to add this information in an easy to find page on your website and if you enhance it with structured data about your business, it will make it really easy for Google to discover and understand. That said this can sometimes take time so one simple way to make these details available on Google is by using ‘Google My Business’. ‘Google My Business’ is a free and easy-to-use tool that helps you manage how your business information appears across Google including Google Search and Google Maps. You can add your business and its website by visiting google.com slash business.
High-quality content
Now that your site appears on Google search how can you be confident you are providing high-quality content that appears in relevant searches? Are you providing users with the best possible experience? Focus on what makes your website or product unique, valuable, and engaging. Check out the Google Webmaster guidelines for website policies and best practices. Following that advice will help Google determine the relevancy of your pages.
Accessible content
Is your content fast and easy to access on all devices? Most Google searches now occur on mobile so make sure your content is optimized and loads quickly on all devices. Visit g.co/mobilefriendly to test if your pages are mobile-friendly.
Website security
Modern users expect a safe online experience. Secure your website with an HTTPS connection that keeps your browsing safe by securely connecting your browser or app to the websites you visit. This prevents bad actors from peeping into what is being sent.
External help with SEO
Are you looking for someone to work on this on your behalf? Hiring a Search Engine Optimizer or SEO might be an option. SEO are professionals who can help improve the visibility and ranking of your website.
We’ll talk more about hiring an SEO in future episodes. For now, don’t forget to subscribe to the Google webmasters YouTube channel to not miss any future Search for Beginners episodes.
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