How do I get my site on Google? Part II
So assuming your site is in Google’s index (either via your submission, or their web crawling) what can you do to increase its ranking? There is no one answer, and certainly no magic bullet method. Experts in the field of SEO get paid a lot of money to help sites improve their search engine rankings, but there is no (respectable) way to “game the system.” In fact, trying to trick Google can actually result in them eliminating your site from their index altogether. Instead, it boils down to:
- Following a series of guidelines about the way your site is built
- Increasing your site’s popularity
Google’s guidelines are very helpful. Some highlights from a website owner’s perspective are:
- Have other relevant sites link to yours. Have them link with the type of search terms you want them to users to find you with. For example, I’d prefer a link like Nora Brown Design to one such as Chicago resident.
- Make your writing clear and concise, making sure to use words that you expect users to search on when looking for your site
- Submit a sitemap to Google. I do this for all my clients’ sites.
- Submit your site to directories such as Yahoo.com or dmoz.org. This is also something I generally do for clients’ sites, but if there are directories specific to your field, you should submit your site to them.
- Offer a sitemap to users on your site. For small sites, where the main navigation covers most of the site, this isn’t necessary, but for sites with more levels of content, where pages can be deeply buried, this is a good idea to help users find what they’re looking for.
- Update your site regularly.
For more information, you can read the full set of guidelines, or read my posts on good ways to promote your site.
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