This week I have been working with a service based business owner whose business is not showing up on page one of Google. I thought it might be useful to put down in writing 5 questions a business owner needs to ask themselves if their website is not ranking as well as it could.
Have you used the right keywords?
So often over the years, I have been asked why a website is not ranking for a super popular keyword e.g. let’s say “solar panels”. Now we have no search data but 3.9 million people work in the solar panel industry across the world (Sunsave). That’s a lot of companies with a lot of websites and a lot of website pages. So, let’s narrow that down to the UK with “solar panels uk”. 13,860 people work with solar panels in the UK and around 2,134 businesses install solar panels. Now what about London using “solar panels London”. Here in London we have 3,759 employees and around 870 solar panel installation companies. You are in competition with all the other local businesses offering the same service.
And what about the intent of those who are searching? Are they looking to buy solar panels themselves? Or are they looking to have solar panels installed on their home or commercial property? Or are they looking for information for a school project? And what about the growing market for off-grid living and travelling who want portable solar panel units to power their van, truck or off-grid home? The right keywords target the right people – potential customers.
Once you’ve narrowed down those perfect keyword phrases, here’s another question – do you actually use those keywords on your website? I can’t tell you how often I have had a conversation with a business owner that wants to sell more ‘widget servicing’ and is disappointed that they don’t appear on Google for ‘widget servicing’ when they actually don’t use the words ‘widget servicing’ on their website! Still, it’s a quick win for me to add these keywords.
How fierce is the competition?
Now, we have already talked about the number of companies that you might be competing with, but that’s not really a clear indication of how fierce the competition is. If you are a new player in the field there is going to be a hill to climb to become one of the more established businesses in your service industry in your area.
Here’s an example. The top ten search results belong to big players. They have large websites with lots of information on them aka lots of pages. They publish new information all the time. The pages are well written, optimised and so on. These established brands will have also built up a reputation over time. They’ll have good reviews, an optimised Google Business profile, and positive user generated content on social media (don’t underestimate the role that social media plays in SEO). They will also have built up large numbers of quality backlinks and other well established websites in the industry will refer to their website. Does your business have all of this?
Is my website working?
The most brilliant website content will do your business absolutely no good if the website is not working well. Technical issues can cause the website to be slow, unusable and unable to be indexed by search engines. It is essential to get your website technically audited before you begin a content building campaign. It also helps to regularly audit the website to ensure that no gremlins have crept in and caused issues.
The user experience sends a signal to Google that your website is interesting and usable. If your users find it difficult to find what they are looking for or the website is not interesting enough to retain them as visitors, it will send a signal to Google that the website is not of a high quality.
Now, no-one has the magic insider information about what makes a website rank (if they tell you they do, they’re probably telling porkies unless they actually work as a Google engineer). But, with years of experience, I can tell you what has worked on the websites I have worked on. And Google tells us that they value unique, well written and relevant websites. Enough said.
Do I have the resources?
Well done to you if you have read this far. The next question I want you to ask yourself if your website is not on page one of Google is do I have the resources to tackle SEO in-house. If you have an employee or employees who have good knowledge of SEO practices, have good writing ability, know how to build high quality backlinks, and can perform a technical audit – that’s great! Use that knowledge to build your website up and you will make it to page one.
If you don’t have the resources in-house or you don’t have the time or budget to train yourself or someone on your team, consider outsourcing your SEO to a freelancer like me. Having a part time marketing contractor on your side will help you to improve and optimise your website.
Do I have the patience?
Rome wasn’t built in a day and your established competitors didn’t appear overnight. They’ve invested time and resources or they have spent money developing their websites and optimising them. In the examples I discussed with my disappointed business owner, some of the websites had existed for decades. Some had existed for less time, but had spent more money on PPC Google Ads or Facebook advertising while they grew their organic SEO.
A quiet word of warning. People who promise you instant results on SEO, in my experience, are using tactics that will in the end be detrimental to your brand growth. A typical example is the ‘we’ll get you thousands of backlinks for little or no money’ type promise. 105k backlinks from dodgy link farms promising instant SEO traction that are not relevant to your brand (a real example I found this week) are pointless if you are selling something else, e.g. solar panel installation. This kind of tactic can get your website dropped from search engine rankings at worst and at best can send the wrong kind of signals to Google about your business.
My business is not on page one of Google
I hope that these five questions to ask yourself if your business is not on page one are helpful. They show that your search engine ranking depends on a number of factors. These include keyword research and relevance, the level of competition in your industry, technical site issues, the resources you have available, and the fact that SEO takes time. It’s not an instant fix, like advertising is. But it is a great way to build traffic to your website over time with content that is relevant to potential customers.
