Search engine queries make up the vast majority of traffic referrals to business websites. Google represents over 77% of all searches worldwide. This means, if your business listing isn’t near the top of Google’s page one results, you risk not being found by your target audience. Let’s say a company in Tampa would like to […]
Search engine queries make up the vast majority of traffic referrals to business websites. Google represents over 77% of all searches worldwide. This means, if your business listing isn’t near the top of Google’s page one results, you risk not being found by your target audience.
Let’s say a company in Tampa would like to purchase a new fleet of desktops for their staff. They may type in “buy business PCs Tampa.” Wouldn’t it be nice if your website displayed at the top of the list for this search query?
Let’s explore how utilizing Google Search Console can help your business establish a strong presence online.
Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence in Google Search results. There are many applications and functionalities within Search Console, but the most important are verification, sitemap submission, fetch/crawl, and keyword analytics.
Unless Google knows that your website exists, it won’t display in search results. The first and most important step is to register your site at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en
From there, Search Console will ask you to verify your site. There are several ways to do this. As long as you have access to your domain host, you can verify in under a minute. Simply sign in to your registrar account (GoDaddy, Host Gator, or whichever service you use) and Search Console will do the rest.
Once verified, you’ll want to submit your sitemap to Google so it can see all the pages your website contains. Having all of your pages indexable is the only way Google can suggest your links to people searching for similar results. If you don’t have a sitemap, generate one in under a minute using https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ Remember to always reupload a new sitemap anytime you make major changes to your website, like adding a page or optimizing for mobile.
Once your sitemap is submitted, it’s time to tell Google to crawl your site. Make sure to tell Google’s bot to crawl and fetch your website for both desktop and mobile. Google favors websites that provide optimal mobile experiences, so if your website caters only to desktop viewers, consider updating. Once Google finishes fetching all of your website data, you can feel secure knowing that your site content is now able to be delivered in search queries.
There are two basic types of search queries, direct and organic. Google Search Console helps your website display in results for both types of searches. Let’s explore the difference between the two search types.
Take Company A for example. In a direct search, the person already knows your company name, but may not know your website URL. So they open up Google.com and type “Company A” into the search bar. Aside from situations where there are conflicting variables since your website is active on Search Console, it will display in search results.
The first example, presented earlier, where someone might search for “buy business PCs Tampa” is an example of an organic search. This means they don’t know which company or website they want, so they’re asking Google to present them with options that best meet their search criteria. This is where continued utilization of Search Console comes into play.
Google Search Console provides a free keyword report showing the actual keyword terms that people typed into Google in order to reach your website. By checking your dashboard frequently and incorporating these terms into your website content, blogs, and social posts, you can significantly increase your chances of displaying in organic search queries.
In conclusion, if your website is not currently utilizing Google Search Console technology, you may be missing out on easy opportunities to improve your SEO. The good news is that you can fix this, in under 10 minutes.
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