Showing Up In Search Engines

By Nathan Lyle (Web Maestro) - April 29th, 2009

Search engines are one of the more commonly misunderstood tools vital to small business success. Once you've accepted that you actually do need a website, and have gotten past the "if you build it they will come" stage, you may find yourself wondering why your website doesn't show up in the first page of results in a Google search. The most common reason is that people aren't searching for you.

Are People Looking For You?

There may be several factors working against your website being number one in the Google "top ten" hits. What happens most often is that no one has determined what keywords or phrases your potential customers are using. If your customers are only searching for "widgets" and your website never mentions them, using instead the term "doodad" then it's not likely that your website will be found. There are so many websites out there (at the time of this writing there are 130,000,000 results for the keyword "widget") that even slight variations in keywords and combinations can mean the difference between being included near the top of the search results, and being buried. And let's be blunt—if your website doesn't appear in the first few pages of results, it might as well not be included at all. Most people don't dig down to result number 129,999,999 just to buy a widget.

Understanding your target audience is key. If you know what they are likely to search for, you will know what to include in your page titles, paragraph headings, and page text. Ideally, you want pages on your website that refer to and contain information on what your customers are searching for. Your website should provide useful information, while avoiding the spammier tricks like hiding lists of keywords at the bottom of a page set to the same text color as the page background color. Many search engines can pick up on this type of thing and will actually penalize your website as a result.

If you already survey your customers for marketing purposes, you should add some questions that determine their online behavior. You could simply ask, "if you were to search for us online, what keywords would you type?"

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Another common problem is a website that isn't built to be search engine friendly. Search engines don't care how your website looks, or how professional your graphics or logo may be. Your website is evaluated based on a predetermined set of criteria, and is compared to other websites. Ultimately, search engines are attempting to provide searchers with what they are looking for.

In the early days of web design, you could learn tricks to give your website a competitive advantage over other websites. However as search software becomes more intelligent, honesty has truly become the best policy. If you build websites that people want to find, they will be found. Instead of trying to learn tricks to stuff your website into the top rankings, you should seek to create pages with a reason to be there—and your search engine visibility will take care of itself.

You don't necessarily need to hire an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) professional, though an honest one can't hurt your endeavor. "Optimized" is a relative word, however, when it comes to websites. You should ask, "optimized for what?" It all depends on your targeted keywords. Whether you determine these yourself, or are working with an SEO company, make sure that your website developer or designer is aware of and understands your SEO goals.

Whether you actively work to "optimize" your website for a set of keywords or not, make sure that none of the following are getting in the way of your website's performance.

Common Website Mistakes That Affect Your Search Ranking

Images used instead of text
Some designers will use images to display paragraphs of text or headings, when they or their client want to make sure a particular font is displayed. However, this makes the text invisible to search engines. When it comes to search engines, text is king! If you absolutely have to use an image instead of text, make sure to include alternate text in the HTML.
Missing or inappropriate page titles
Page titles are often what a search engine will use to display a result, so it may be the first thing your potential customer sees. Titles are also used very prominently in most search engine's formulas to judge ranking. Each page of your website should have a unique, descriptive, and optimized page title.
Lack of text organization
Text should be organized logically with headers and paragraphs. Not only does this make for easier reading, but headers (along with page titles) pack a much larger punch when they use your keywords.