You are asking the wrong questions about your website.
Do you have a business that you wish people would find online? Do you want Google to know who you are and what you do? Your website is part of the solution.
I’ve got some news for you. You are missing out on some big wins because you are too worried about your website.
Your website is just one place online that Google uses to determine who you are and what you do. I know you are missing out because I hear you ask me about “the SEO” on your site before cleaning up your off site SEO.
Have you noticed something about Google lately? Remember when you had to click through some webpages to find what you were looking for? Like what time your flight was leaving and was it on time. I remember when it took a few clicks after my search to find out the Auburn Football schedule. If you haven’t noticed, Google wants to answer your question or show you what it is you are looking for. Google wants to do this without sending you away.
As DJ Khaled would say…“Major Key Alert:”
“They don’t want to send you away”
What am I talking about? Google doesn’t want to send you to the website of a dry cleaners nearby. Google wants to give you directions on how to get there. And to do that, you don’t need to hit the nearby dry cleaners page at all. Google wants to give you the Auburn Football schedule so you can see if the Ole Miss game falls on Halloween. Google doesn’t want to send you to the Auburn University football page.
I’m not hating on Google. I’m just pointing out what’s happening online. Lets talk about what Facebook has done lately. Remember when you would see a YouTube clip that your buddy posted. After watching that clip you would then fall into YouTube for an hour watching related videos. Facebook remembers losing your attention and it going to YouTube. That’s why Facebook started hosting video. To keep you in Facebook world.
Remember seeing a business on Facebook and then jumping over to Yelp to see what customers had to say about them? Facebook remembers that too. That is why you can now review businesses right there on their Facebook company page.
I hope you are now seeing the value of embracing your existence on places beyond your website. This is called Off-site SEO because it is off your website.
Speaking of your website, here are the three things you should be worrying most about…
- Name
- Address
- Phone
You might have heard about your NAP while searching the Google on topics like Local SEO.
Your Name Address and Phone is what Google is using to match your website to all the other places your business is listed. There are the places you know and frequently visit like Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google local listings. AND there are the places you don’t know by name. Hidden under the snazzy interface of your go to app are huge listing of businesses. The information on these sites can be accurate… is your business worth the gamble?
This post is part of a series. We will be talking about the changing landscape of the web and the way people are using it to find the products and services they buy.