ATTACK! Of The KILLER RANKINGS – How To Save Your Website
It’s terrifying… it’s horrendous… it’s Google’s search algorithm, and it’s coming to kill your site’s visibility! AHHHH!
Spare a thought for all those businesses for whom every day is a bad luck day – because their websites are getting killed by terrible search rankings and hideous SEO.
If you’ve ever been left horrified by your website’s search ranking, then pull up a seat – we’re looking at the things you should (and shouldn’t) do to save your website from becoming buried alive in search engine results.
We’ll be diving into the questions we often hear from business owners, and guiding you through the traps and pitfalls that catch out a huge number of victims every month.
“My Website Has Disappeared From Google Search Results!!”
DON’T: Panic!
There are loads of reasons why your website might have dropped down in Google search results, or even disappeared completely – and there IS something you can do about it.
If you’re a website owner you know how important it is to be found online. The vast majority of people use Google as their first port of call when searching for products and services – and that applies to small and local businesses too.
All too often people build a brilliant website, but completely neglect SEO. This results in a site that may start off with good rankings and visibility but quickly tumbles down the results until it virtually disappears.
A ranking crash can be devastating for a business that relies on its website. Thankfully, help is at hand for those stuck with a sinking online presence.
DO: Diagnose the problem. Has your site dropped a few ranks or has it completely vanished from Google?
If your page has been overtaken by competitors who now outrank you, that gives you a big clue that your rivals are using SEO to climb the results ladder – pulling you down in the process.
SEO is something that needs to be done consistently for it to work. A lot of people think it’s a one-time fix – in reality, Google always wants to present the best, most active, most relevant page for every search query.
If you neglect to “feed the beast,” that is, keep on top of your SEO and update your website with new content, Google will see your website as dormant and out-of-date. Competitors can start overtaking you, and before you know it, your site doesn’t appear in searches anymore.
The solution? Draw up an SEO strategy and stick to it. Keep traffic coming by making site visitors happy – bring them new content, website improvements and useful features regularly. And if you can’t or don’t have time do that, find someone who can.
“Why Doesn’t My New Website Appear on Google!?”
DON’T: Worry if your new website is a bit like the invisible man.
It can take a few days to a few weeks for a new website to show up in search results.
Google uses an automatic process called crawling to discover pages that have been recently brought online. An army of artificially intelligent Google-bots is scouring the web at all times, looking for new websites to add to the search engine.
These bots are made to act the same way a human visitor would – navigating the site using menus and links, as well as checking the text is clear and easy to understand.
There are a few ways to make this happen more quickly, such as making sure your website is easy to navigate and even submitting a sitemap. Which leads us to…
DO: Take steps to ensure your website gets the best possible start online.
There are hundreds of technical and creative touchpoints that can be optimised to help Google find, crawl and index your site faster.
That’s the basic principle of SEO, or “search engine optimisation” – using clever techniques to make it easier for Google, and your visitors, to find your site.
Broken links, slow load times and bad design frustrate people and can cause them to leave your site quickly, or “bounce.” Google sees this and figures out that your site might turn people off – so it buries it.
Get it right early and it’s easier to maintain a higher ranking. And if you’re unsure whether your site meets Google’s standards then hey – it never hurts to ask the experts.
“Is SEO dead??”
DON’T: Think that SEO is going anywhere anytime soon.
SEO doesn’t die. Instead, it rises again – in the boardrooms of companies and agendas of business owners worldwide – including your competitors.
The more competition there is within your industry, the more important SEO is to make sure your site makes it into that coveted number 1 slot.
Those who believe SEO is dead are likely to see their site be buried in the “unseen web” – along with the vast majority of other sites online that never receive any traffic.
SEO is tricky. It takes a while to get right (we’ve been at it for 20 years!) and it requires both technical and creative skill to make it work. No wonder so many people take one look and decide not to try. Those are the people that get buried.
DO: Talk to people who know what they’re doing.
That might not be your web developer (or your mate that you got to do your site a few years ago in return for a few pints and a bag of crisps.) A lot of web design companies are only just waking up to the reality that an amazingly designed site doesn’t always mean success on Google.
We work with lots of businesses that either built their own site or had one built for them professionally, only to discover that it never had a chance. Rather than blasting off like a rocket, it languished on the launchpad.
As we said, we’ve been at this a while. Velocity Design is the premier digital agency in Scotland, and we’ve built up our reputation through working with hundreds of clients, setting them up for success and then keeping them on a winning trajectory.
Not only that, but we have a full arsenal of tools that let us see deep into Google’s inner workings. We know exactly what search terms we can get a website to rank for and what techniques to deploy. We even have a few secret weapons – tools that let us see what SEO tricks your competitors have used.
If you’re having permanent bad luck with your website, Velocity Design can help. Get a FREE SEO audit and let us show you how quickly your luck can change – drop the team a line on 01463 861467 or e-mail engage@velocitydesign.co.uk.
