“Why can no one see our website anymore when they search for it?”

If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard this said in the last 12 months, I wouldn’t be rich, but a meal out at my favourite restaurant could be on the cards. Immediately I can answer their questions as to why their website is not ranking for the relevant keywords (in some cases not even on the search pages at all) without even having to look at the website in question, the obvious ones are;

  • Not mobile friendly
  • No SSL Certificate
  • No Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  • Is it a ‘build your own’ template website?

There are a few more reasons why, but I won’t spoil the surprise. What I want to do is look at the ongoing things you should be doing to get your website on top and ‘Google Happy’. There are a few really surprising ones to watch out for too. I love watching peoples faces when I’m presenting workshops when I drop them in to the marketing mix.

Remember the basic principals;

Google wants the end user to find and view the relevant information in the best and most trusted way.

Here are a few pointers to put into place straight away. These are things that you can do that will create an impact, but don’t expect a huge change form the outset, these things take time. Just doing it for a few months won’t help either; Consistency is key.

Google likes regular updates on your website and your Google Business Page (all you will have to do is remember your Google business page login). New blogs and updates on old posts can increase your search visibility by 111%. Geo tagging or geo specific content is paramount if you are wanting to increase your local search visibility. For example, by placing York in to this blog, Google will pick this geo tag up. Asking the relevant question helps Google too, that’s why I started this blog with a question. 

Of course there are more technical aspects that will help as well, but I recommend you speak to your web designer and employ a competent SEO / search marketing company to do the work for you. I can’t stress enough the need for consistency, and if you don’t have time for all of this work, pass it on to someone who can do it for you and be accountable. 

According to Hubspot 61% of marketing departments in the bigger SMEs say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority in 2018/19. This will mean more work on your part but as they say, if you can’t beat them?

Here at The Soapy Group we work very hard to give SMEs a bigger voice.

If you are unsure or need help give the team a call.

(Alternative name for blog post: Neglected websites; Google no likey).