Basics of making your site Found By Google
This is technically called “SEO” (search Engine Optimizing) about which tomes have been written.
But without these basics below- None of that will help you.
You are wasting time and money buying Google Ad Words etc.
if you do not first make your website attractive to Google’s organic (free) search algorithms, and by inference, most other Search sites.
You would not stick a costly billboard in a ditch or swamp-
so do the homework, and do it with your own site.
We assume you have some sort of website UP already.
So Let’s Check it
As of May 2019: (things change rapidly!)
1) – You cannot afford NOT to have an SSL/Secure site certificate installed. you ONLY need a free Domain Certificate issued by the likes of https://www.letsencrypt.com regardless of what you are doing at the site, even if you are not taking payments or using any forms. CHECK YOUR SITE using the SSL link:
httpS://yoursite… *AND* http://yoursite.
Site must work whichever you use.
Your Internet provider will help.
If they cannot or will not help, then they ave no business selling pages or hosting. It should NOT cost much or even anything to do it
More from Google Here
2) Check Redirections– if the non secure site http://yoursite… is used it should REDIRECT (301) any page visited to the SECURE version
Here is Google’s take on that. Try My Site: http://artoflogic.com
(Opens a new tab- close it after test)
Note it starts: HTTP:/… But redirects to HTTPS://
3) Ideally site would treat usage the same whether or not “www..” is in front of the name by redirecting as above, normally to the SHORTER name, but either way will do. Mine goes to “www…” for historical reasons : )
4) The site must have robots.txt and a sitemap.xml.
Ideally files have some clever entries but first and foremost–
must EXIST.
They are publicly readable on any site that uses them which will be most of them.
You can find yours by using your Base Site, removing all page URLs and adding a slash and /robots.txt IE for My site, it’s:
https://www.artoflogic.com/robots.txt
5) Site must use at least one “Sitemap” which is a friendly Directory Page to help Google know what’s new, important, relevant or changed rather than their having to ‘crawl’ you site as in the old days
The default name is: sitemap.xml and contains considerable technical blurb, and may look odd if you try to view it. But it should EXIST
Try yours by adding /sitemap.xml to the end of your domain name
Mine is here, for example:
https://www.artoflogic.com/sitemap.xml
6) If you are using the likes of WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, etc. much, but not all of this trivia is taken care of FOR you.
But Check Check Check it anyway, and assume nothing.
Plug ins and add-ons like Yoast!
take care of much of but not all of this
Sites like WIX, SQUARESPACE tend to do this for all you anyway with no action required, but CHECK IT ALL ANYWAY
7) Buying Google AdWords is IN ADDITION to all the above and is a bonus way to gain hits… But BEFORE you do this, Goggle provides many free tools with names like Google Analytics.
You should learn about how Google sees your site already.
It is NOT a cat and mouse game as it used to be–
Google is quite helpful about how to best interest their search algorithms, ergo Google users.
You will not surprisingly need a free Google account to do this,
https://myaccount.google.com after which you can sign up for the free Webmaster Tools
https://www.google.com/webmasters
From there on follow Google’s instructions on how to verify you own site you are offering to them and then Add your verified site to the google “Search Console”.
8) *TIME*. a New Website will need to be around awhile before it has some provenance and interest for Google, it’s not easy to force this issue, not should it be.
9) Links In: Page & Brin’s first patent on google- ‘Page Rank’
Find ways to get people or pages to link *IN* to your site as an ‘authority’ referenced by other well ranked sites.
If they are well-respected it will rub off on you. and Don’t Cheat or pay shysters with Promises. Scamming De-Ranks You!
From here on out it is a dizzying array of tweaks and suggestions about INCREASING your ability to be found-
I ALWAYS try using Google in Anonymous Mode in Chrome (so Cookies will not be used and I shall see Searches as a fresh visitor would) and even use a free VPN proxy to appear to come from ‘elsewhere’ (Free 500MB per month) on the Internet as some searches involve regional/locale factors and you can see things as ‘others’ see them elsewhere this way
Learn from the Google Webmaster Tools what words people are using to find you. Consider that most searches are fairly generic and will NOT be looking for your special “Celo Polka Cola” website,
(it does exist and it’s not mine!)
so that it Should be findable as “Unusual cola” “rare soda brand” etc “novelty pop” etc– you get the idea..!
That’s Enough For Now.
Suggestions Welcomed!