Tips to Help Search Engine Ranking For New Websites

What can be done on a new website to rank well in the search engines as quickly as possible? Here are some tips to get the SEO working on a brand new website from the start.

Google often seems to ignore new websites for the first 6 months or so and I have seen it take up to a year to get a new site the search engine rankings it deserves. Google’s complex and secret algorithms are designed to prevent new entrants to the web 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 and get the best ranking they can as quickly as possible?

So what is going on with this google sandbox effect?

It is unclear as to what Google actually does with new websites but it is commonly observed that a new website:

• will get little or no showing in the search engine listings for 6 months to a year
• will get higher than deserved rankings for a short periods of time
• will appear and disappear from the listings intermittently

When I am referring to a “new website” I mean a website using a brand new domain – it is the domain being new that is relevant.

So a new design or the re-launch of a site on an existing domain is not subject to this problem unless it has been done badly and lost previous rankings.

Whatever the rules actually are it is clear than new sites experience mixed and generally unpredictable results in the search engine listings and are at a significant disadvantage generally compared to established sites.

Clearly sites that have been around for years and have established a strong position for themselves with good content and regular updates are in a privileged position.

So what can I do to help my new site succeed?

The sooner your website is visible to Google the sooner it will start to earn some ranking points. If your domain is brand new then this is going to take a while.

If you are using an existing domain (that has been used for a website before) then you have a bit of a headstart. But make sure you properly redirect old pages to their new equivalents where applicable to get the most benefit from previous rankings.

This does not mean throw up anything or a simple holding page – it needs to be substantial otherwise you are giving the wrong message to Google. Avoid putting up “coming soon” etc. Do it properly.

Your text content should be unique – copying content from an existing site isn’t going to give Google any reason to rank you highly (or rank you at all).

Your content should be useful and informative to your target audience. Generally this means your content should be based on what your audience wants to know, rather than what you think you should be telling them about yourself.

Your history, background, aims etc are all very interesting (sometimes) but they are not what your target audience are mainly looking for.

Think about what questions you are asked and provide the answers.

Learn the importance of Keywords – do Research Keyword – base your content on Keywords:

• Learn the basics of search engine optimisation and how to target keywords.
• Make sure your website design is search engine friendly and your content is coded semantically (so use headings properly) so google can evaluate your content.
• Fundamentally keywords are what people are using to search – therefore to rank well you must base your content on keywords, using the words your audience is using to search.
• Target less popular keywords. I have seen websites go to the top of Google within a few weeks and stay there when there isn’t stiff competition.
• Target a broad range of keywords (that are not very popular) to increase your chances.
• Note that a web page can only practically target a couple of keyword phrases most effectively – the more a single page tries to target the more it gets watered down. But use synonyms to broaden the reach of that page.
• Carefully craft your snippets – these are what you see in a google (SERPs) search results page. They are made up of SEO Title, the Web Page URL and Meta Description.

A good way to do this is ensure there is a link from another website google is well aware of to your website.

Also add:

• Google Analytics (monitors site visitors etc) and 
• Google Search Console (checks your site for problems etc) to your site.

Make regular changes to your content, preferably adding more content – you are trying to indicate to Google you have a dynamic site that is worth watching.

Build up good relevant backlinks to your website but be careful – bad links, inappropriate link networks, links bought on mass can all do more harm than good. Stay clear of dubious SEO linking schemes (and other SEO practices you cannot understand).

Get involved with Social Media and use this to promote your business and engage your target market.

Use all normal marketing channels you can to get your site known.

Be patient and keep at it – there are no short cuts.

As long as you are adding decent content regularly, getting quality links and marketing on Social Media, your site is most likely to succeed.

If you need immediate results you should look at Pay Per Click advertising like Google Adwords or Facebook ads to fill the gap.