How to get your web page listed in Search Engines
Getting your page listed in Google or Bing is generally easy. However, unfortunately none of the major search engines work by just submitting your site for inclusion in their search results. Google and Bing have complicated ways of finding your site, listing it and deciding how high up the page to list it for particular keywords. However, you can work to get your web page listed in search engines like Google or Bing using a number of simple techniques.
The process of doing this is normally referred to as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO in short. SEO is a huge topic that is far too vast to cover in a short article. However, there are a few easy steps you can take to increase you ranking in search engines and therefore make it easier for people to find you and your business.
- Identify which keywords are relative to your organisation of business. Search engines work by people typing in a particular word or phrase to a search box and a search engine returning the relevant results. What you want to do is ensure that Google and Bing know your page is relevant to those words or phrases known as keywords. But for what keywords is my page relevant? You need to start by identifying a list of keywords potential customers will use when carrying out a search to find your business. For example if I owned a small barbershop in Oxford, people looking for my business will probably type into Google, barbershop oxford. Therefore that’s my first keyword. People may also look for hairdresser oxford, barber oxford, oxford barbers etc… You can then use a free keyword tool like Google Adwords to see how frequently these keywords are used in search engines and identify other relevant keywords. You should end up with a list of 4 or 5 important keywords.
- Start using these keywords on your website. Within the wording of your website start using the keywords you outlined in your list above. There is no need to overuse them within your page content. Google doesn’t like being tricked. Just fit them into the text of the website where appropriate every now and then. If you don’t already have a domain name, it may also help to place key parts of your keywords, such as your location, into your domain name. For example if my barber shop was called Hairdo Barber and I’m based in Oxford, then I’d pick a domain name like HairdoBarberOxford.com
- Get some other websites to link to your page. Search engines know that your page has value when other websites provide a link to your web page. This is one of the most important parts of Search Engine Optimisation. However it is also very difficult to get other sites to link to yours. You could start with using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and local online directories. Also have a good think about other sites that may provide a link to your page and send over a quick email asking them to do so.
Once you’re done, don’t stop there. In the words of U2, you need to run to stand still. Schedule a regular review of you ranking in search engines, read up about emerging trends in SEO and keep changing and adapting your strategy. Remember the higher up you rank for relevant keywords, the more easily people will find your business online.