The First Step: Getting Your Website Discovered
After you’ve built your website, the next big question is: how do I get people to find it? The first step is to get your website on Google. It’s a fundamental part of any successful online strategy. A search engine has to know about your website before it can show it to anyone in search results. The good news is that this process is simpler than you might think.
This guide will walk you through the three core steps of how to get your website on Google: preparation, submission, and optimization.
Step 1: Get Your Site Ready for Google’s Crawlers
Before you can submit your website to Google, you need to make sure it’s ready for Google’s bots. A search engine’s crawlers follow links from one page to another, discovering new content. You can help them find and understand your site by following these simple steps:
Have a Clear Site Structure
A clear site structure with a good internal linking system makes it easier for a search engine to find all the pages on your site. You should have a logical hierarchy that guides a user and a search engine from one page to another.
Have a Sitemap
Think of a sitemap as a table of contents for your website. It’s a file that lists all the important pages on your site that you want to be indexed. A sitemap is a great way to ensure that a search engine knows about all your important pages, even if they aren’t linked to from another page.
Avoid noindex Tags
A noindex tag tells a search engine not to put a page in its index. You should make sure that a noindex tag hasn’t been accidentally added to a page you want to rank.
Step 2: Submit Your Site to Google
Once you have prepared your website, you can submit it to Google. This is a simple process that you can do in your search console account.
Verify Your Site
Before you can submit your sitemap, you need to verify that you are the owner of the site. This is a simple process that you can do with a few clicks. You can verify your site by adding a small piece of code to your website or by adding a DNS record.
Submit Your Sitemap
Once you have verified your site, you can submit your sitemap in your search console account. This is a great way to tell Google about all the pages on your site. Google will then crawl your site and add it to its index.
Use a Professional Platform
A professional SEO platform like Clickrank can help with this. The platform automatically crawls your website and provides a prioritized list of optimizations. This allows you to focus on high-level strategy while the platform takes care of the operational heavy lifting.
Step 3: Optimize and Monitor Your Website
Once your website is on Google, the work is not over. You need to continuously optimize and monitor your website to keep your rankings strong.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the work that is done on your website to make it easier for a search engine to understand. You should:
- Optimize your page titles and meta descriptions: Your page’s title and meta description are the first thing a user sees. They should be compelling and include your target keywords.
- Use a blog to build topical authority: A blog is a great way to create valuable content that answers user questions. By writing a lot of content on a specific topic, you are showing a search engine that you are an expert in your niche.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the work that is done on your website to make it faster and healthier. You should:
- Improve pagespeed and mobile-friendliness: A fast, mobile-friendly website provides a good user experience and is a direct ranking factor.
- Fix broken links and redirects: A broken link can lead to a bad user experience and waste a search engine’s crawl budget.
