Five tips to make your site more visible on Google
More than 65 percent of people’s online journeys start with a search engine, and in almost all cases they start with Google. This information is crucial for anyone who has a site or runs a project on behalf of a third party, but it needs a closer look. Being present on Google, in fact, is not enough: our goal is to gain visibility, that is, to reach the top positions in SERPs, the ones that really ensure traffic and potentially conversions. In a sea of content and information, then, the real challenge is to be able to stand out, and to do this we need to adopt targeted strategies that allow our site to stand out and capture the user’s attention. So here are five essential tips for increasing visibility opportunities on Google even for those who are “new to” the online experience.
Conquering visibility on Google
We also said this when explaining why to do SEO and why this activity is important: having a site present on Google (i.e., a site that Google has scanned and included in its Index) is only the first step and is by no means sufficient to ensure the survival and success of the project. We can say that “settling” for being on Google in positions from the second page onward is equivalent to owning a store in a huge shopping mall, where millions of people walk by every day, but ending up with the store located on the top floor, unreachable by elevator and without even a lighted window to attract passersby. In short, it means being reached only by a few adventurers.
While stores in prime locations attract the glances and flow of customers, our store remains concealed, waiting for someone to casually stumble upon it. Stepping out of the analogy, this also happens in the world of Search: the best-positioned sites, those that reach the top positions in SERPs, are the ones that potentially win the most clicks, traffic and conversions, while the others remain relegated among the least likely choices, viewed only rarely and fortuitously by some particularly patient user who is willing (and needing) to scroll through the SERPs at length to find what he or she is interested in.
Fortunately, however, there are some tips and best practices we can follow to be visible on Google’s radar and – spoiler alert! – SEOZoom‘s tools can provide ongoing support in this battle to climb the SERPs.
The five aspects to be more visible on Google
These tips are provided by the search engine’s own official sources, such as the Search for Beginners video series that points out five factors to consider in order to make your site more visible on Google.
Probably these tips, which are simple to remember and implement, will not be particularly significant for those who already chew SEO notions or work in the field, because they are specifically dedicated to beginners on the search engine, however, it does not fail to offer some interesting insights. Specifically, this is a checklist geared first and foremost toward those who run business-related online activities, but also applicable to different fields, and it involves:
- Verify the site’s presence in Google Search.
- Provide quality content.
- Ensure speed and ease of access from any device.
- Ensure user security.
- Consider seeking external support from an SEO specialist.
Verify if Google knows the site
First step is pretty obvious, to check the presence of the site on the search engine and find out if Google knows the site. The tools at our disposal to verify the site indexing starting with using the advanced search operator “site:” for our domain: if there are no results and the site does not appear, it means that Google is not aware of its existence.
A similar event can happen when a different site contains a link toward our site, that is though still new and has not been discovered by Google yet. In order to solve the problem, it is recommended to connect to the Google Search Console, perform the verification of domain ownership and submit a sitemap: now, Google will scan the site and detect each page.
Useful resources for online activities
For eCommerces or any kind of site concerning entrepreneurial activities there is an extra option: Google Webmasters video says that “if your business has a physical location, it is important to make sure your website clearly lists information such as the address and store hours, that must be added to an easy-to-find page”. Moreover, using structured data allows us to provide further details about the business, making it easier for Google to find and analyze it.
“That said, this can sometimes take time”, they remind us from Mountain View, but there is a “simple way to make these details available on Google”, a.k.a using Google Business Profile, former Google My Business, the free and easy-to-use tool that allows to manage the way company info appear on every products and apps of Google’s ecosystem, such as Research or Google Maps.
Providing quality contents
Second fundamental knot through which acquire more visibility on Google is to produce quality contents, so nothing really new to whoever regularly reads our blog. According to the video there is a way, though, to make sure that “you are providing high quality contents that appear into relevant searches” and to “provide users the best possible experience”: and that is learning to focus “on what makes your website unique, valuable and engaging“, by checking Google guidelines and the indications to build quality sites, so that it will be “easier to Google understand the relevance of your web pages” and make them rank accordingly.
Fundamentally, then, it should be remembered that in recent times Google has accelerated greatly on the importance of providing valuable, relevant, engaging and, above all, useful information to readers by creating content that responds to the questions and intentions of our users and is authentic and original. This is the key to gaining positions in search results and attracting interested visitors.
Quick pages easily accessible from every device
Third point of this guide leads us on a more technical topic, this too often covered by our articles: are your site’s contents actually loading fast and are they accessible from any kind of device? Most part of Google searches are performed on smartphones, by now, so it is crucial for the site’s pages to have a quick loading time, to be mobile friendly and optimized for every device.
Guaranteeing safety
Modern users expect a safe online experience, and site owners have a key role in this: first step is to reinforce the site with a https protocol connection, that keeps the browser or apps safe whenever connected to the site, preventing any ill-intentioned attacker from intercepting any info or transmitted data.
Relying on a SEO specialist
Finally, the Google video identifies a fifth aspect that can facilitate visibility on Google: delegating the strategic optimization work to an SEO, “a professional who helps improve a site’s search engine visibility and ranking,” somehow formalizing the relevance of this strategic activity.
With these five easy tips, we can improve our position in the “mall” and ensure that our site not only has a home, but can also have a nice, brightly lit storefront and the right visibility to win over interested customers and visitors.
