Beyond publishing: Three free Google tools to elevate your website’s visibility
Your future customers are searching for you on Google. Here's how to help them find you more easily...
You’ve built a beautiful website for your business, but how do you know if you’re being found on Google?
Most small business owners think that once you hit publish on your website, you will automatically and immediately start appearing in search results, but that simply isn’t true…
According to Forbes, there are over one billion websites on the internet today and a new website is published every three seconds! The competition for attention is fierce out there and it often takes months for your website to start seeing organic traffic.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to give your website a boost once you hit the publish button, especially when it comes to ranking on Google.
Whether you personally use Google as your search engine of choice or not, Forbes listed Google as the most visited website in 2023 with over 85 billion users.
This said, if you want to grow your business, you must do everything you can to optimize your website’s position on Google as a broad base of your future customers are looking for you there.
To start, let’s look at three essential free tools offered by Google that will help you improve your website’s ranking on their platform and give you future insights into how your search performance is going.
Google Search Console
Signing up for Google Search Console is like sending out a beacon when you’re looking to be found.
Practical Ways Google Search Console Can Help You:
First, by validating your website domain and connecting it to you, you are showing Google that your website is run by a real person with a real business.
Second, by submitting your sitemap to Google, you are telling Google you want to be found on their platform, which then allows you to be discovered by their content crawlers faster and more easily. Aka you’re choosing the “Fast Pass” versus waiting at the back of the line.
You’ll submit your sitemap once in the beginning and then periodically over time as you add new content to your site. We’ll talk about this more in an upcoming SEO-focused article.
Third, after some time has gone by, Google Search Console will become a highly valuable resource in understanding how your site is performing on Google and whether there are any issues that need addressing.
Google Analytics
Setting up Google Analytics sooner than later is a free investment in your business’s future growth.
Google Analytics collects your website data over time to help you create a better user experience for your customers and spot problems that will inevitably come up along the way.
Practical Ways Google Analytics Can Help You:
Google Analytics helps you see what pages on your website are the most popular, which can then help you decide where to send customers in your “Calls to Action” on your blogs, emails, or social media posts.
Knowing this information also tells you what your customers are interested in, which will help you with future content creation.
Google Analytics gives you insights into who your customers are, by sharing general demographic information about the visitors who spend time on your website. This information is invaluable as it will help you refine your messaging to ensure it reaches the right people, aka those who are actually reading and watching your content.
Google Analytics helps you know what website pages need improvement by measuring your bounce rate and average session duration. These metrics tell you how long people are staying on specific pages on your website and whether or not they’re choosing to leave quickly. This information can help you improve the content on those pages by making your messaging clearer or adding more information where it is needed.
Google Analytics tells you if you have problems with your website, such as broken links, slow page loading speeds, or issues with the mobile versus desktop experience of your website.
According to Forbes, 45% of web traffic comes from mobile devices in North America and 47% of users will not wait longer than two seconds for a website to load. Basically, you want to know if you have problems with your website, because they could be driving people away!
Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is a tool that helps you increase your local visibility, influence your appearance on Google Maps, and offers a reputable place to house your customer reviews.
Practical Ways Google Business Profile Can Help You:
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, this tool is invaluable in helping you increase your organic reach. It will also allow you to post pictures of your space or team, add updates about your hours or special promotions, and allow people to reach and find you easily.
If you have a virtual business, you can still have a Google Business Profile. In this scenario, it will primarily serve as a way for customers to contact you easily and will legitimize your business by having a place for your customers to leave a review.
Customer reviews are the lifeblood of a business, so having a Google Business Profile will help you capture reviews more easily. Think about how often you look at reviews when considering another business. Your future customers are doing this too, so this is definitely an element of your business that needs regular attention.
The bottom line is, a Google Business Profile helps you attract new customers by appearing more reputable and increases your likelihood of being found.
If you’ve had your website for years and didn’t know this was something you needed to do, no worries!
It’s never too late to set these systems up. Trust me, future you will be so thankful you did.
Now, you probably didn’t get into business to become a tech expert, so here’s what to do next to set up each of these systems.
If you use Squarespace, here is a really helpful article that shows you exactly how to set up and connect your website to each Google system. Scroll down to the “After Publishing” section to easily find the checklist.
If you use Wix, here is another helpful article that will walk you through the steps as well.
If you use WordPress and Yoast, here are two helpful articles that will walk you through setting up accounts for Google Search Console and Google Analytics. You can set up your Google Business Profile separately through Google’s direct link below.
If you use a different platform or SEO plug-in, here are Google’s direct links to learn more and sign up for each service.
Google Search Console:
Google Analytics:
Google Business Profile:
Source Credit: Forbes Advisor - “Top Website Statistics for 2024”
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or are short on time, don’t hesitate to reach out to ask for help on this.
At Dickson-Lein, this is what we do! Our mission is to help business owners like you reclaim your time so you can focus on what’s most important to you.
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