Getting your site on to the front page of Google can be highly rewarding. It’s by no means the only way to promote your site but it’s certainly one of the most effective.
Over the last couple of months I’ve worked on getting this site listed on Google’s front page for certain search terms, like ‘website designer thanet’. I’ve seen the site’s ranking steadily improve from nowhere until the last couple of weeks where it’s been at about position 9 on the front page.
This morning I was looking at some Google Analytics data on search terms that had led visitors to the site when I noticed a new variation – ‘website designers in thanet’. So I checked out this search term in Google and FreshFishDesign is listed second on the page, in the local business listings.
This feels like a real result and is due to four main factors:
Links – the more links pointing to your site, the greater significance search engines will attach to your site. I’ve built up links because I’ve made sites for people and linked back to FreshFishDesign and I’ve added FreshFishDesign to a number of local directories. I haven’t bought links or used link farms or any other artificial link-building method.
Local listings – I’ve added FreshFishDesign to search engines’ local listings, Yahoo Local and crucially Google Places.
Regular updates – this site is updated regularly, at least weekly, with details of new sites in the portfolio section or new posts in the blog section. Updating your site regularly will improve your search rankings.
Time – and all this takes time. Google likes to see regularly updated content so that it knows your site is alive and active. But it also likes to know you are established. If you keep adding new, relevant content and you keep accumulating new links, eventually you will achieve high search rankings.
You will often see web design companies advertise their special Search Engine Optimisation services, usually at a premium. I’ve seen ’10 point plans’, offers of ‘regular search engine submissions’, ‘gold service’ packages, and so on – all couched in semi-mystical terms and all costing additional money. Improving your search position is not a form of magic. You just need to keep looking after your site.
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