Struggling in search? Gone are the times when search results didn’t affect your business. If you’re still thinking this way, it’s time to redirect your focus. Search results have an impact on your bottom line.
Luckily, search engine optimization tactics are available to improve your presence in search results. Google even gives out a great starter guide for anyone wanting to learn.
There are two main areas you will want to start with when optimizing for search engines – your business listings and your website. These are the typically the areas with the most problems and also have a big impact on your search presence. Here are a few tips to help improve your search presence in these areas.
Check your business listings. Have you listed or claimed and verified your business on Google? Do you have a business listing on Bing Places, Yelp, Yahoo! or YP? Do you have social media profiles? If you don’t have all of these, you have some work to do. Not only that, you need to make sure your business’ name, address, phone number and URL are all consistent. Fill out each listing to 100% complete, name your files with your business’ name, location and services, and make sure to select the right categories. Many of these sites are interconnected, so you are sending information to more than one business listing directory. Make sure it’s right.
Tip: Don’t spend any money with any business listings. You can find a plethora of business listing directories that don’t charge you anything. Excluding social media profiles, Bing and Google, I don’t recommend advertising with any of these business listing directories, either.
Next, check your website. Do you have any broken links? Do you have an XML Sitemap? Have you filled out and optimized the meta information on all of your site’s pages? Are you pages filled with content? Ask your web developer to check and fix any broken links on your website. If you use a WordPress website, remember, when you change a URL on an already published page, you have to create a 301 redirect, or it will be a broken link, which search engines don’t like. Follow Google’s guidelines for creating an XML Sitemap and submit it in Webmaster Tools. Fill out and optimize your meta information on your website. Use Google’s Keyword Planner Tool to guide which keyword you should optimize for and include the location in which your business operates and services. Lastly, content on your site should be flowing at all times. Through a blog, updates, social feeds, etc. Get used to being a publisher, because the best brands are becoming so. Make sure your pages have lots of content, provide great direction for your visitors, and speak customer service.
Before sending users to your site, search engines want to know that your website will provide an optimal experience for the searcher. Tactics such as building an XML sitemap, filling out meta information, and having a presence on major business listing sites and social media, help by providing a trustworthy and consistent data and information for Google to store in its database to remember about your business the next time someone is searching for a business like yours.
Once you get the basics down, the next key is to get social, on social media, and always keep your website, social media profiles, business listings and everything else fresh and updated. If you are actively taking care of your search presence, your search results will improve and so will your profits. Investing time in your organic search presence will last longer and reap many rewards. The key is to stay patient.
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