Search Rankings and Google Tools
Google provides a number of useful tools to help you get better search rankings. You should know about these if you are interested in marketing your website more effectively.
1. Google Places (previously Maps) - local business search
(updated 1 December 2010)
You may have noticed Google is including some extra search results within their listings. One of these is the Google Places listing and is intended to provide a list of local businesses relevant to your search.
When it first appeared in 2010 it looked like this - with a map on the left and up to seven short listings next to it then natural listings carried on below. It was quite obvious what you were looking at...
But things have quickly changed. Now it is much less obvious as the Places listings look much more like a Natural listing and are mixed in with them.
The map has been moved to right hand side which floats down as users scroll down. The Places results use a format similar to the Natural listings including Title and Snippet from the company's website plus Contact information from the Places listing.
This represents the shift towards search results going more local with richer and informative presentation.
Google Maps is part of Google Local Business Centre Search and is completely free to all business owners. It is separate from your website but now relates to your website implying that you should have a good Places listing and an optimised website to get the best out of local searches.
A good Places listing is probably the quickest, easiest and most effective (SEO) step you can take to get your business to appear in local business searches.
Search for "google places for business" and sign up (or if you already have a google account you find access to it in there), fill in as many details as you can - there will be a verification so google knows you are the business owner (the fastest option is an immediate automated phone call to the business phone number that will provide you with a PIN number to input while you are completing the entry - so you have to do it, not your web designer). Once completed your entry should start appearing the next day.
2. Google Shopping or Base - Google Merchant Center
Another set of extra search results included in googles listings is Googles Shopping results from Google Base. It is a product based search and to qualify you must sell the given product on an ecommerce shop for a fixed price.
Google Base is part of Google Merchant Center and is completely free to qualifying business owners. It is completely independent of your website and any other search engine optimisation measures.
This is probably the quickest, easiest and most effective (SEO) step you can take to get your products to appear in searches. All you do is upload a file of your products exported in a suitable format from an excel spreadsheet.
Just go to the Google Services and select "Products on Google Base" - create an account (or if you already have a google account you find access to it in there). You will find various options to upload your products list such as a txt file exported from a spreadsheet - examples are provided with lists of fields etc. There are various rules to follow about prices, delivery, tax, product descriptions etc and google does validation checks on the data you upload which can take an hour or so. They will also set a date when your products expire - in a month normally so you will need to reload products regularly but it is all quite straight-forward. Google also provides statistics to show how many times your products were listed and clicked on etc.
3. Google Adwords
Google Adwords are nothing to do with search engine optimisation but are often spoken of as if they are (and often are what you are really paying for as opposed to real SEO). They are small adverts you pay google for by paying each time someone clicks on your advert. The cost is usually in the range of a few pence to a few pounds per click - its a bit like an auction in that the greater the competition the greater the cost to stay near the top. The adverts - or sponsored links - appear at the top and to the right of the normal search results listings.
Google Adwords is a good way of getting fast results (in terms of getting your site seen) and getting exposure you can not otherwise get as the competition for normal SEO is just too strong to expect to get good rankings.
However it is like all adverts in that you get the exposure as long as you keep paying so it can be a money pit if not managed properly - so make sure you spend the time understanding your campaign and monitoring progress.
4. Google Keyword Tool
If you have a google adwords account (it doesn't need to be actively costing you money) one of the features is a Keyword Tool that provides you with a list of alternative phrases and their estimate of the volumes of searches likely for each phrase. This may help you decide what keyword phrases to focus your web site search engine optimisation efforts on.
5. Google Analytics
Google analytics is a web stats package. You probably already have one associated with your website hosting that allows you to see visitors statistics etc for your site. You might prefer to use Googles Analytics as it is more Google orientated than generic packages. Just a couple of warnings:
- every web stats package seems to produce radically different results so they are not really comparable to each other and Google Analytics may produce low results compared to some others which might be an initial shock.
- it is easy to get too wrapped up in pointless statistics
You need a Google account to use Google Analytics and an extra piece of code which they provide must be added to each of your web pages so they can gather statistics from that point onwards.
6. Google Site Maps
If you web site suffers from poor navigation or Google can't seem to get to all your pages then you can provide a site map for Google to guide it around your site. If your site has good navigation this is unnecessary.
Regards
Michael Spencer,
michael@epsilis.co.uk
Epsilis - Web Designers and Search Engine Optimisation Specialists
47 Farthing Drive
Letchworth Garden City
Hertfordshire (Herts)
SG6 2TR
UK
Articles on various aspect of search engine optimisation: -
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Google Places - local business search - Google is moving much more to local based search results and is now blending Local Business Places (previously Maps)search results with Natural search results and the distinction is now blurred but no business should miss out on perhaps the most effective measure they can take to become visible on local searches.
Google releases updated version of their SEO starter guide - Google provides general guidance for site owners on getting the best rankings for their websites - they do not give away any of their secrets and most of what they say is not a surprise. However this new Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide provides a very nice guide to best practices for increasing the effectiveness of your web site with people and search engines.
Tips to Help Search Engine Ranking For New Websites - Google's algorithms are designed to prevent new websites from surging straight to the top of the engine rankings. This is commonly referred to as "sandboxing". So what can new site owners do to minimise this problem?
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