Whether it’s Google, Bing or Yahoo, being found in the search results is vital for businesses. According to HostingFacts.com, 95 percent of all Americans use the internet to find the products or services they need. When using a search engine, 91.5% never leave the first page of the results.
So if your website doesn’t appear there, you have little opportunity of being discovered. But there are steps you can take to have your website found organically in search.
Improving Your Search Results
There are certain things you can do to improve your company website’s organic search results. Most are things that can be handled in-house. Some, however, may require an outside specialized vendor.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – When you search optimize your site you’re really getting it ready to be found by the search engines. Without SEO, Google, Bing and Yahoo won’t know what your site is about, won’t index it, and ultimately won’t show it in the search results.
- Creating New Website Content – Google rewards websites that add to their content with enhanced search rankings. Blogging is an effective way to this. Just be sure to search optimize the new blog articles.
- Google My Business (GMB) – This was previously known as Google Places. It is the home for your business on the Google platform. Having a GMB listing not only helps your search rankings, it also gives you more real estate in the search results by showing a Knowledge Panel about your business. This is a rectangular box that appears to the right of the results that contains the information you provide in your GMB listing.
- Google Plus – Google owns the social site Google+ and indexes it. So when a search is made, those businesses that are active on Google+ can not only receive enhances search rankings, but could also have additional entries appear in the search results.
- LinkedIn Company Page – Like Google+, Google also indexes LinkedIn. Thus, being active on this business site has the same rewards: better search rankings and also the possibility of having more than one search listing.
- SlideShare – This site was originally created as a place to upload and share power point presentations. Since LinkedIn purchased it, SlideShare has become a business research site. Having an active presence there will help boost your search rankings.
- Online Reviews – When reviews appear on your website, they count as new content. So they can help with search results much the same way a new blog post can. But when customers add ratings and reviews on the Google platform, the Google search algorithm takes them into account. This is especially true when businesses receive 4- and 5-star ratings.
The Wrap
Using these practices to get better search results takes time. But improving your ranking through organic means will prove to Google that your business is an authority in its field and deserves to be rewarded with better search rankings.
Do you have questions about ranking higher in the search results? Call me at 513-237-5530 for answers.
Bob Turner is a Digital Marketing Consultant with RevLocal in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Bob Turner - Digital Marketing Thoughts 
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