If you have ever taken a close look at your web statistics, the hits you get from the Google search engine far outweigh the ones you get from the likes of Yahoo, Bing, AOL, Ask and Search. You could say they have cornered the market and are now the engine of choice for browsing the web.
If most of the search engine traffic comes from Google it makes sense to be friends with them so your blog or website gets more visibility. Let’s take a look at what you need to do to cuddle up to this giant and get it to notice you.
How do I ‘love’ Google?
Good point, well made. The more use you make of Google the more it is going to recognise and find your website or blog online. Using their website tools means that you have more links on Google real estate which gives you a lift up in the listings. You might not get a massive surge of traffic immediately but you are fertilising the soil so that your traffic is more likely to grow.
So what do I do?
If you haven’t got a Google account set one up now. Complete your Google profile and add the links to your website, blog and social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Myspace etc – you have got online profiles on some or all of these, haven’t you?)
The more you populate cyberspace with your unique name (business and/or personal) the more presence you have when someone searches for it via Google. If you search for Andy Britnell I pretty much dominate the first 6 pages (It’s a shame that there’s a racing driver with the same name which breaks up the perfect situation of having every entry in the first 6 pages but I am working on that).
Top Tip: If you have a common name, why not make it unique by adding an initial or second name. It might seem a bit weird at first but people will probably remember John Matt Smith and find you more easily that way. Plain John Smith will get lost in the crowd – sorry John, no offence.
That is a start and some of you will probably now be thinking about which other social media (SM) sites you can add a profile to with a link to your blog or website. If you hit the share button on this or the featured posts above you will find a list of most of the SM sites you could be listed on.
I’ll be doing another post on how you can give and receive even more love from Google by using their website tools.
Thanks to Marcin Wichary for the image
Nicky Kriel says
January 28, 2011 at 6:41 pmAnother top tip to improve your Google ranking is to get involved in discussion forums. Keep them coming Andy.
Andy Britnell says
January 28, 2011 at 7:05 pmYes that’s a great tip Nicky.
It also increases your visibility and credibility with other forum users so you get visits from them too. I will be discussing online strategies for generating links in later posts so you have given me another nudge.
Thanks Nicky
Sharon says
January 31, 2011 at 8:53 amAlthough I love Google (a lot) I am concerned that it knows an awful lot about me and so will realise just how boring my life is 🙂 I notice that governments are starting to realise that Google have the monopoly in many areas and are concerned. Where’s Yahoo these days?
Beth Duff says
January 31, 2011 at 2:33 pmThanks Andy. Good advice and easy to follow. I’ve updated my profile now.
Adeline says
January 30, 2012 at 12:23 pmI guess most users have already done this, but Google seems to be obsessed with the love we give. It keeps wanting more and more until there’s nothing left for other networks.:)
Andy Britnell says
January 30, 2012 at 5:09 pmHahaha – great point, well made Adeline
Yes google does want to squeeze all the juice out of you and there are other networks which will provide more targeted traffic. When you see bounce rates of 70% plus you sometimes wonder why you spend time courting Google. Twitter, Facebook and other blog referrals deliver much more sticky traffic.
Thanks for making me smile 🙂
Hari kumar says
June 2, 2015 at 1:31 pmYes i like google very much