make google crawl my site

FEW STEPS BY SEMALT TO A GOOGLE FRIENDLY SITE


TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Introduction
  2. Get to understand how the Google ranking algorithm works
  3. Know where you stand with Google 
  4. Keep track of important metrics
  5. Diagnose any existing Google Penalties and fix them
  6. Create resourceful content 
  7. Use white hat SEO techniques to build links
  8. Make your site mobile friendly
  9. Conclusion 

INTRODUCTION 

The easiest way to get free traffic and leads to your website is through visibility on search engine result pages (SERPs). Research has shown that organic search is responsible for 51% of the traffic for B2B and B2C websites while non-organic traffic routes like social media and paid search drive a meager 5% and 10% traffic respectively. Knowing this, you definitely want to be in the good books of the king of search engines, Google. Here are a few ways you can make your site a Google friendly one.

GET TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE GOOGLE RANKING ALGORITHM WORKS

How can you be true friends with someone without getting to know them? One thing you should understand about the Google ranking algorithm is that it gets updated often (and these changes may not even be publicly announced except for the major ones).

Google has also made sure that the exact inner-workings of the algorithm is kept a secret within the organization. This is actually not a bad idea because everyone will know the exact steps to take to rank first on Google TOP, if it wasn’t a secret.

That means that Google won't be able to rank the most relevant results for its users since a lot of people would just resort to using black hat SEO techniques and tricks to be at the top, thereby making it difficult for honest businesses to thrive.

You should understand that Google wants to give its users the most useful search results in the shortest possible time. Therefore, it constantly tries to organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful to everyone. Once you know this about Google, it should give you a basis on which to operate your website.

Here's a list of some of the major algorithm updates made by Google:
  1. Penguin update: In April 2012, this update was released to counter the activities of spammers and websites that purchase unnatural links to improve their SERP rankings.
  2. Hummingbird update: This update was released in August 2013 and its goal was to make the search engine understand the context and intent of Google users rather than just using the literal words they typed to give results to them.
  3. Pigeon update: Released in July 2014, this update was about localizing search results.
  4. Mobile-friendly update: This update favoured sites that were mobile-friendly and created a platform for Google to penalize sites that were not. It was released in April 2015.
There are other updates as well that Semalt's SEO specialists help you keep track of to ensure you remain in a safe place with Google.

KNOW WHERE YOU STAND WITH GOOGLE

You will need to first know your current ranking spot before you can work on improving it. Whether it’s a new site or an existing one, lack of information will definitely cause business stagnation.

You can visit semalt.net, type in your domain name in the space provided for it and you'll be provided with a comprehensive analysis of your website. 

On the Semalt site, you can also choose from about 388 Google search engines to know your ranking locally as well as internationally. Semalt even offers you the opportunity to download your analysis in PDF or EXCEL formats.

KEEP TRACK OF IMPORTANT METRICS

Tracking the right metrics helps you find out the right things you need to improve on your site. Here are some important ones:

  1. Organic traffic: Remember how we said earlier that organic search gave B2B and B2C sites more than 51% of their traffic? 

    What's more? For every industry except Media and Entertainment, organic search proves to be the highest revenue source! Now you know how important it is to find out just how many visitors find you through Google.

  2. Organic traffic conversion: It is also important to know the exact keywords that will bring traffic your way. Knowing this will help you understand what your audience wants from you so that you can easily give them more of it.

  3. Commercial keyword rankings: Now that you know which keywords drive traffic, you should further differentiate the informational keywords from the commercial keywords that bring in earnings. Some people search for keywords like: "how to memorize faster" or "free game download" - these guys most likely aren't willing to buy anything. On the other hand, some will search for "best home moving companies in NY" or "top 5 delivery services in LA" - people who use keywords like these are probably willing to pay. Once you figure out the commercial keywords to use, you'll be able to creatively infuse them into your meta description and use them for your on-page SEO as well.

  4. Page speed: You want to ensure that your page load time is as short as possible both on mobile and desktop devices. Google uses site speed to rank your page on its SERPs. Use Semalt's page speed analyzer to determine your page speed. You’ll see your page load time, you’ll be given a score, errors will be highlighted and you can even request a free consultation to be told what to do to improve on it. Here is an example of a site.

DIAGNOSE ANY EXISTING GOOGLE PENALTIES AND FIX THEM

You will need to do an in-depth analysis of your site to find out if there are any Google penalties currently in effect. Why waste time, effort and resources in improving your ranking if you're already in the bad books of Google?

Spammy links boosted the ranking of thousands of websites until Google put an end to that in 2012. Now you'll get penalized if Google finds spammy or unnatural links connected to your website. This is why it is important to think carefully about your link building strategies. 

You need to first analyze all your inbound links by looking out for your unique active backlinks, no-follow links, anchor texts, etc. Next, you want to identify links that are harmful to your website so that you can do away with them. Here are two ways you can do that:
  1. Remove the links manually: Contact the site owner of the website where the bad links are coming from and politely ask them to remove your link or add a no-follow tag to the link. If you engaged in link buying in the past, you should do well to contact the person who got the links for you and ask that they be removed.
  2. Disavow the links: In the event that you couldn't get the bad links removed manually, you can try using Google’s disavow links tool as a second option. You should note that Google doesn't have the right to remove the links. What the disavow links tool does is to give Google permission to stop regarding those links as valuable to your ranking.

CREATE RESOURCEFUL CONTENT

Once you know the keywords (informational and commercial) that bring in traffic, then you also want to find out keywords your competitors rank for using the Semalt analysis tool. 

Now that you know the needs of your audience, you can then use these keywords to create awesome content that is useful to them. Here are some ways you can write resourceful content:
  1. 1. Make the content unique: If Google considers your content as unique, you'll be ranked higher than when your content is considered a rewrite or plagiarized. Always ensure that your content is unique. You can make use of Semalt's page analysis tool to find out your uniqueness rating and if your score is low or average, Semalt will direct you to its team of great writers that can help you create awesome content when you click on “improve my content”.

  1. 2. Make use of accurate data: When the facts in your articles are driven with accurate data, your content will look authoritative and increases their chances of being shared across different platforms thereby increasing traffic and ultimately boosting your ranking on TOP.
Other ways of improving your content include using captivating stories and catchy headlines.

USE WHITE HAT SEO TECHNIQUES TO BUILD LINKS

Links are one of the most important ranking factors Google uses in its algorithm. The healthier the links that come your way, the better your ranking. You can boost your link juice by doing the following:
  1. Blogging and including relevant links in your articles.
  2. Writing testimonials on sites that you've used or are using their products and/or services.
  3. Guest posting
  4. Making valuable comments on blog posts and forums.
  5. Creating great content
  6. Diversifying how you distribute anchor texts.
  7. Politely asking for backlinks from industry peers.
  8. Completely avoiding over-optimization of links.

MAKE YOUR SITE MOBILE FRIENDLY

Studies have shown that about 60% of all searches are done on mobile devices and Google has made it clear that sites that are not optimized for mobile won't rank as high. You want to ensure that while building your site, you take mobile devices into consideration. Semalt has an awesome web development service that will ensure your website is built in a completely Google-friendly way.
 

CONCLUSION

Although only Google knows the exact way its algorithm works, there are still some proven ways that can help you achieve a high ranking spot on Google TOP. As long as you avoid underhanded techniques in achieving a position on the top SERPs, Google won't have anything against you. Your job is to then promote your site with the best white hat SEO techniques while offering relevant content to Google users and you'll be ranking high soon.