Why Is My Business Not Showing Up on Google?
If you’re like many business owners looking to find more clients, you may have asked yourself “why is my business not showing up on Google?” You know there are customers searching for the products and services your company provides. You know they’re using search engines like Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go to find these resources on their laptops and mobile devices. You may not know the ins and outs of how these search engines connect your business with potential customers.
What is SEO Search Engine Optimization?
All types of businesses can benefit from Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Entrepreneurs launching new businesses can let people know what products and services they provide. They can get the word out. Businesses trying to grow may benefit from expanding beyond their current customer base to acquire additional prospects in new markets.
Search engines do their best to provide answers to the questions people ask. They help deliver solutions to problems and link people to companies that can help provide the information, products, and services they’re looking for. Search engine technology presents a huge opportunity to get a business in front of the right people, it just needs to be optimized to do so.
How Do I List My Business on Google?
For businesses that don’t have a website, that’s the first step. A website will allow people to find information about your company online. It will also enable the search engines to find information about your company online. Search engines continually “crawl” the internet looking for information. When they find it, they organize it into a giant database that indexes your information so it can be recommended to someone that performs a related search.
Just having a website online doesn’t mean it will show up on the search engines. There’s a lot more to it. All the text, graphics, and photos you include on your web pages help the search engine know how to correctly index and categorize your information in their databases. They also reference information contained in page titles, headings, tags, and other data found within the construction of your web pages for indexing, so having all of this optimized is imperative to getting included in the online search query results.
Match Up with Actual Searches
It’s important to note that your website content must align with the actual search queries people enter online. For example, if you’re strongly indexed in the search engine for “brisket catering” but no one ever searches for that term because everyone types “Texas BBQ caterers”, you’ll never show up. You need to do some research on what people search for and generate information that aligns with the actual search terms people use.
Search term (or keyword) research can also reveal the volume of searches, how much competition you can expect for a search term, and other data that can help inform your choice of what content to create.
SEO Continues Far Beyond Website Content
There are a multitude of other factors used by the search engines to rank your site including:
- How fast do your web pages load?
- How many words are included on your web pages?
- Do your pages include internal and external links?
- Is your site optimized for mobile devices?
- Is your site optimized for accessibility?
- What other websites link to your site?
- How long do online visitors remain on your site and how many pages do they visit?
Search Optimization Companies
As you can see, Search Engine Optimization is a very powerful marketing technique. When used correctly, SEO can help your business succeed. It’s complicated and takes time and an ongoing commitment to get it right.
SwanRosney Marketing helps companies of all types with Search Engine Optimization. We are certified in Digital Marketing and Search Marketing from the American Marketing Association and Digital Marketing Institute.
If you find yourself asking “Why is my business not showing up on Google?” or “How Do I List My Business on Google?”, give us a call at 832-945-0500.