When you don’t know who to ask, what do you do? You Google it!
Whether you’re looking for a particular product, wanting to know where a business is, or looking for a house to rent, it seems that Google knows all.
Type your question into Google and the search engine will pop up thousands of websites for you to browse. And chances are you’ll find the answer to what you’re looking for on the very first page.
But how does Google know how to rank these websites? And how do you ensure that your own business website is as close as possible to the top?
Google uses a complex algorithm that ranks around 200 factors to give you the most relevant websites for your search. The formula is confidential but we do know that some major factors include keywords, popularity of site, and back links (links from other websites to your website).
Google is constantly reviewing these factors and just because you were number one this week, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be number one next week. Your competition is working on their sites too, which is why your website needs to be constantly monitored to make sure you don’t fall behind.
An easy way to be more search-friendly is to review your metatag. A metatag is that little description under your website name in Google. If you don’t have a custom made metatag, Google will create one for you using the first few words from your site. If you write your own, you can ensure that keywords and phrases are included. These will be highlighted which makes your website appear more relevant.
It’s also important to use keywords across your site in as many different ways as possible. For instance:
Page Title: Rental Homes
Main Header: Properties available for rent
Body Content: If you’re looking for somewhere to live…
Meta tag: ‘We have affordable rental properties available in your area now!”
All of these variations on the same topic will help Google make your website more accessible to those searching for you.
Naming Images properly will also help improve your Google Rankings. Call your pics what they are in plain English and make sure you add an appropriate alt tag. (You will find this next to the source code of your graphic). Alt tags also help search engines rank your image so again, make sure you use keywords.
There are lots of little tips and tricks around to help improve your website ranking on Google and the rules are continually being updated. If it all seems too much, remember that the Design Garage team has the expertise to ensure your website is relevant, searchable and Google friendly, and that your potential customers can easily find you.
For more information, you can email us at contact@designgarage.co.nz
