One of the most whispered about and least often understood parts of building a website that attracts prospects and builds sales is search engine optimization. The million dollar question…what is Google indexing and why should you care, right? I mean if I had a dollar for every time I've seen someone write about a different "black hat" or shady technique that they promise will get you on Google's front page tomorrow, well, let's just say I'd be able to add it to my list of multiple streams of income <grin>.
Really, optimizing your page for Google isn't a mystery at all. While there are some useful tips that can help boost your results, the number one thing you can do is to create content consistently on your blog and social media that your readers want to read, want to share, and want to tell the world about.
It's just that simple, honestly.
Now once you're in the habit of doing that, there are some steps you can take to help Google find your content more often, it's true. But if your content isn't consistent, isn't compelling, and is, well, crummy, all of the tips and tricks in the world won't help you. In order for SEO to actually boost your business and not just your rankings, people have to want to read your content. It has to create trust with them. And that trust is what will turn your readers into customers. If you go straight for the SEO techniques without the trust-building step of creating stellar content, you'll miss the opportunity to build trust.
And then when your sales stay flat, I'll have to say, "I told you so." Because I just did.
So after you've gotten in the habit of producing good content, then you might wonder if there are any additional (and ethical) techniques to attract the attention of Google on a consistent basis, and to that I say, yes! And we will start by talking about Google indexing and why it should matter to you.
Google Indexing: The Basics
Just like the index of a book, Google indexing is nothing more nor less than one of Google's programs (named Googlebot) going through each of the pages it crawls on a site and creating an index of every word it finds – and those words' location on each page. (And you thought the index in your 11th grade history book was massive!)
Googlebot also processes information about much of the content located on your page, though there are some kinds of rich content and dynamic pages it's not able to process just yet.
So Google creates this massive index of words on pages, including yours. Then, when someone you don't even know goes to Google to search something, Google compares that query to its index, and it returns a list of what Google thinks are the most relevant search results for you. According to Google, they use over 200 different indicators of relevancy in determining that list. This is why when you and I search something like "how to use social media in my business" or the like, we might get some different results.
Are you starting to get an idea as to why you might want to care about Google indexing if you don't already?
Google Indexing Doesn't Like Illegitimate SEO!
This process is also related to why the black hat techniques I mentioned earlier won't work. Google has continued over time to refine the set of instructions its program uses (also called algorithms) to determine which pages are relevant.
Once upon a time, before everyone started gaming the system, it was relatively simple, at least compared to today. The more often a term was mentioned on a page, the more it showed up in headings on the page, and the more graphics on the page with that in the title or tags, Google figured that was probably pretty relevant to the term in question.
But, like most things it seems these days, people took advantage of that. And almost overnight, you saw articles and books from "experts" on how to exploit Google's search algorithms by stuffing keywords here, there, and everywhere, buying a bunch of domains just for inbound links, etc.
And all of a sudden, Google's page one results were filled with keyword-stuffed garbage that made no sense but had lots of affiliate links, hoping that the more people who saw the page, the better the chances were of earning money from those affiliate links.
Somehow they forgot the part where people generally ignore information that appears useless and obviously designed to manipulate consumers!
And *this* is why you should care about Google indexing…
Google indexing matters because it's the nuts and bolts process by which Google determines your page's relevancy and whether to deliver your page as a result to others.
Stay tuned – later this week I'll send you information on how to improve your Google indexing. SEO is important, but there are also some things you could easily be missing that could be damaging your indexing on Google.
What has been your biggest challenge with keeping your indexing as optimized as possible? Have you even looked at things that could be negatively impacting your Google indexing? Leave a comment below and let me know if this is something you need more info about!
google indexing is just like a index of topics in book.
this is useful to make the search easier, fast and accurate(related to the point).
BOOM! As Always Kim Your Info. Hit It Out Of The Park! I Have Been Building My Network For 3 yrs. Last Year I Added An Internet Radio Show To My Integrated Marketing Network. This Yr. 2013, I Plan 2 Also Add Video Channels To The Network!
Keep Up The GREAT WORK Ms. Kim!
Thanks,
Tim Taylor
Thanks Tim!
It always pays to know more about what Google wants — and your potential market wants — when creating content. I have taken on the challenge of building a Web site that is in a very competitive niche. To make things a little more difficult for myself, I am trying to build an audience from a small subset of the market that appears to be widely scattered.
Another way to look at it is that my tendency is to try to give people something that only a few have realized they want. So getting a lot of interaction, which I know Google likes, is not happening…yet.
I know I can write content that Google likes. I have built several pages (on my last site) and got them ranked #1 or at least on the first page of Google. This I did with the help of article marketing and optimized links back to my keyword focused Web pages. But my challenge seems to be more related to copywriting and persuasion than to SEO. My current site is only a few months old, so it will take time to write enough pages and articles promoting those pages to elbow aside all the authority sites that Google seems to defer to on a topic like Diabetes.
So…is there some aspect of Google's preferences that I should be aware of, something that would help me move more efficiently in the direction of achieving high enough rankings to start getting organic traffic? I know I need links from authority sites — this is on my list of things to do, but there is only me to do all the things that need to be done.
I use Twitter and Facebook, Digg.com and Google+1 to announce new blog posts and pages, but it's still such an esoteric niche that not many people are even considering — although millions need the info. Perhaps I'm just ahead of the curve and need to put in more "elbow grease" to get noticed.
If you can suggest any ways (inexpensive shortcuts) to break into a tough niche market, I would appreciate that information.
Thanks, Kim!
thank you for your column, it was very helpful and I can't wait for the next one. we are trying to get more activity on our web by adding videos but I know it will take time.
Patti
Super glad that you are getting value from the info!
Kim, you always put out awesome info… Thank You
Thanks, Dave!
I didn't know that, thank you. As a newbie to blogging, what you say here is so helpful. I look forward to seeing you in my inbox because you do provide such rich content. Enjoy today, Kim!
Thanks for today's information. Very helpful, as usual. I am looking forward to your next post of information on this subject. I have also started a new business at: http:kindredcompass.com and this will help me so much to get my information out there. Thanks!
Thanks for dropping in! Glad I could provide some value for your business!
Hi Kim,
This was very useful information – I appreciate you taking the time to better explain the ins and outs of the Google SEO theory as this is something I very much need to understand and take more time optimizing.
I look forward to reading more of your articles
Super glad it was helpful, Gavin!
Great beginner tips here! SEO is so complex now that there's really no point trying to outsmart Google. That said, the tried and true method of posting great contnet is always a solid start. Consistency is hard though, and I think that's where most people fall flatt.
Thanks, Karl! I agree on the consistency part.
can't wait to read the rest Kim! i was part of the garbage stuffin long ago lol ..;)
thank you, for this information base and positive coping, a source of training and Learning opens portals and encouraged to participate in ambitious programs successes, thank you,,, Congratulations.
Yep, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the second part of this article on Google indexing and what it means for my business.
Didn't know a bit of this!!! Thanks and looking forward to learning more!
Great post Kim! Like you said, 'the number one thing you can do is to create content consistently on your blog and social media that your readers want to read, want to share, and want to tell the world about.' Off to grab my writing pad!
Great post and looking forward to more. I'm often amazed at the search terms that my blog is found for, and two in particular are going quite crazy through absolutely no pushing of my own
This is a good thing for sure, Johanna!
Agreed that its in the quality of the content for sure! Looking forward to learning more about Google indexing.
Thanks for stopping in, Anita!
This is definitely something I need to know more about. Being in industries where many people are doing similar things it's even more important to be seen and deemed relevant. I really do just try being myself and "speaking" in a way that people will get to know me but I'm not sure if that's the best way to get seen. Getting better though.
It does take practice! Keep working it!
So much to learn! Thanks for breaking it down!
You are welcome, Kerry!
Welcome
It's so nice to see someone teaching legitimate SEO instead of the keyword stuffing black hat stuff. I look forward to learning more!
Awesome post Kim! Always informative and looking forward to more updates!
Great post! Very informative and there is some information presented that I didn't knew earlier about. Your posts always help to learn something new. Thanks for your work!
Glad it was helpful!