Here’s how to get your website on Google:
- Submit your site to Google
- Prioritize proactive indexing
- Choose the perfect keywords
- Manage your meta tags
- Optimize for mobile
- Prove that you’re a local
- Lay an external link trail
- Perfect your internal linking
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Submit your site to Google.
Make sure your website shows up on Google by submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console.
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Prioritize proactive indexing.
Getting your website on Google’s search index is just the beginning of getting your business found on Google. The next step is to make sure you’re getting the right content found both by the search engines and your users.
The key to improving your indexing is giving Google clear instructions about which pages on your site are the most important – the ones they should prioritize for indexing – and this can be done with an updated sitemap, by applying a robots.txt exclude tag to unimportant pages (duplicate pages, landing pages used temporarily, non-relevant tag and category pages), and by sending clear external and internal linking signals to Google to your prioritized pages.
- Choose the perfect keywords.
Keywords are frequently mentioned in conversations about how to get your website on Google. But what are they and why should you care?
Keywords with more than 3-4 words are called long tail keywords. These have a lower search volume but can be very strategic to incorporate because they are so specific. When there’s a match between the words people are typing into the search box and the exact terms you’ve included on your website, your listing is more likely to appear in search results. In other words, choosing the right keywords increases your visibility on Google and other search engines.
Let’s say, for instance, that you have a website selling vegan pet food. In that case, you’ll want people who are typing “vegan pet food” into the search box to click on your site. By incorporating the keyword “vegan pet food” throughout your web pages and blog, you improve your chances of appearing on Google for that query. This is a valuable on-page SEO technique that, if accomplished strategically, can get your website on Google’s first page.
Let’s expand on this keyword logic a little bit more to explore some other ways these phrases can help you get found on Google. Think about what leads you to reach for your nearest device to consult Google’s wisdom. Sometimes, like in the pet food example above, it’s a more general query. Other times, however, you’re searching for the answer to a very specific question: “What is the weather today?” “What temperature should I bake brownies?” “How do I get my website found on Google?” You know, questions like that.
Think about the kinds of instances that lead people to make a purchase on their phone. It’s rarely a casual browsing kind of situation, and more of an ‘I need it now’ action. Google has actually coined a term for this experience: micro-moment. It is “an intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need – to know, go, do, or buy.”
Don’t neglect local search intent, especially if you have a website that sells products ot services. Carefully consider the intent behind searches such as,’ vegan food in (location).’ How can you target those searches and by extension those potential customers?
Your potential customers are no different. You should imagine your audience asking Google the specific question that your business is uniquely primed to answer. Once you know how to do keyword research and you figure out the commonly searched phrases relevant to your business, your mission is to use them intentionally throughout your content and website SEO settings to let Google know that your website provides the best solution for users.
The search engine loves to point its users in the right direction, so it’s important to use keywords in a way that matches the intent of relevant search queries.
- Manage your meta tags
Filling out your site’s meta tags is another strategy for getting your website on Google. Essentially, meta tags are the bits of text that appear in Google search results to give users a preview of the content.
When you type in a query on Google, you’ll see the meta tags displayed in a particular format: blue lettering (called the title tag or SEO title) and the short blurb in black beneath it (called the meta description). Together, this information is referred to as metadata.
Don’t forget also to optimize your alt attributes and text on images, this can help your images get found on Google and generate traffic back to your website from image search.
This text doesn’t actually show up on your website, but you can pick out clear and concise wording for the metadata of every web page you create. These labels are critical in convincing users to click your link.
Just as you do throughout your website, remember to weave strategic keywords into your metadata. This helps Google identify your content’s relevance to particular queries, further strengthening your chances of getting your site on Google.
- Optimize for mobile.
Mobile devices now account for about half of all global internet traffic. And trust us, not one of those users wants to be squinting their way through cut-off displays on their phones, or images that never seem to fully load.
Google knows this, and they want to keep their own users happy, so they take into account just how mobile-friendly your site is when deciding which pages get listed first in the search results. That means when considering how to get your website on Google, you’ll need to optimize for mobile browsing in order to appear as a top result.
For that reason, make sure your website not only looks good from the computer screen, but that it’s also ready to go mobile.
In short, when your mobile site provides a quick, valuable solution to a user’s problems, more people will linger and browse. This sends a sign to Google that your website provides a strong answer to a particular search query – and helps your page rank higher as a result.
- Prove that you’re a local
Local business owners, this step is for you. Within the broader SEO world, there’s an area known as local SEO, where Google helps direct location-specific searchers to solutions in their geographic area. Why is this important? Essentially, most people turn to Google’s search box to find the business they’re looking for before taking a stroll down Main Street.
Google My Business is the response to this reality. It is a directory of business listings that populates what appears on Google Maps, as well as what’s displayed in the Local Pack (that map and three business options that appear at the top of searches with a specified location). In addition to keywords, creating a Google My Business account is one more way to give Google a hint that your business will be a quality result to display to users.
To take advantage of this service, claim your business and fill out your profile with all relevant information, including business name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation and location.
- Lay an external link trail
At this stage, you’ll want to make sure your site appears as one of the top results so that users actually see and click on your pages.
That brings us to another way to get your website on Google: plant links to your site around the web. When the bots reach those blue text hyperlinks, they essentially receive a command to proceed directly to your website.
One way to obtain high-quality backlinks is to write content for other publications or blogs within your niche. This gives you the opportunity to show off your expertise, build the authority of your brand, and add a link back to your site so that readers – and Google – can better find you.
A second option is to post your URL in all of your social media profiles and online directories for your industry or geographic area. Not only do these links make it convenient for potential customers to access your business’s homepage, but they also serve as a superhighway straight to your website.
- Perfect your internal linking
One of the most impactful ways you have to show Google which pages of your site to index and get found on search, is your internal linking. The more internal links pointing to a page, the more likely it is to be prioritized for indexing. The same goes for when a new page or piece of content is published on your site – linking to it from existing pages creates an internal trail for Google to follow.
How long does it take for Google to index content?
The amount of time it takes for Google to index content can vary depending on a number of factors, including the size and complexity of your website, the quality of your content and how often you update your website. However, in general, it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for Google to index new content.
There are a few things you can do to help Google index your content more quickly:
- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. This will let Google know what pages on your website you want to be indexed.
- Create high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. Google is more likely to index content that is well-written and informative.
- Promote your content on social media and other online platforms. This will help increase awareness of your website and encourage Google to crawl it more frequently.
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Google is more likely to index websites that are optimized for mobile devices.
If you are concerned about how long it’s taking for Google to index your content, you can use the Google Search Console Site Status report to check the indexing status of your website. This report will show you how many pages on your website have been indexed and how many pages have not been indexed.