Understanding Google = Understanding SEO
We act as a search marketing partner to businesses. On 6th November we talked to local business leaders about how Google works and ensuring webpages are set up for maximum effect in search results pages. We share a few of these insights below and our slides on slideshare.
Statistics are proving that researching and purchasing products and services is rapidly becoming an online activity:
- 72% of all adults bought goods and services online during 2013 compared to 53% in 2008.
- 46% of our searches are now performed on a mobile
- 78% of mobile searches result in a purchase
- 50% of smart phone users check prices whilst in store , 84% compare them on google
Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
How does Google work?
Google Spiders crawl the web following links found within web pages. Spiders send copies of the webpages they crawl back to Google and then continue to crawl, meanwhile the copies form an index. This Google search index understands:
- The context of the page content
- Its relevance to multiple subjects
- How it connects to other pages
What happens when you enter a search topic into Google?
- The index is queried with our search terms
- Google algorithms then filter the index and generate the results pages
- The most relevant pages are shown to us in our search results using the algorithms which also help to reduce the chance of bad links or spammy content entering the results pages.
- Algorithms are continually refreshed, updated and adjusted (keep an eye on our blog!)
How to rank high in the google index
Crawl – create pages with clear focus crafted to help your customers understand your products and services. Internal linking between web pages on your site and external linking to high value sites with good quality content.
Index – Increase the frequency of indexing with new and fresh content to boost your websites authority and ultimately the opportunity for each page to rank more highly with Google.
This is where SEO comes in: Help Google crawl your webpages
- Spiders crawl your webpages for key html such as a title and meta descriptions for your website. These need to be in place as this forms the organic listing of your site on results pages.
- Include a Sitemap – this outlines the organisation of your webpages within your website and helps to index the site. Make sure important product pages don’t get missed
- H1 & H2 tags should be in place, these help show what a page of content is about. Use keywords rich content but don’t over do it.
7 ways to help users navigate your pages
- Ensure calls to action are in place – tell people how you want them to engage with your business
- Have consistent business content information in footers on each page
- Promote local search relevance consider adding local updates and news
- Social linking, become social online telling people what you are up to. Don’t just talk shop on social be creative
- All content should be focused on being of interest for your customers
- Have clear navigation bars and user friendly titles
- View your website on all devices to ensure navigation is clear regardless of how it is accessed.
How Google Results Pages appear.
Organic listings are now lower down the results pages, making way for Paid Ads which appear as the top three posts in results pages and as a column down the right hand side. So, for any search results around 8 prime listings will be ads. A sure fire way to increase traffic to your site therefore is to set up a Paid Ad campaign – Pay Per Click (PPC).
As certified professionals in Google Adwords we support businesses to gain the most out of their ad campaigns. In next month’s blog we look at how Adwords works and how to target your ads to specific markets and locations.