One of the most common misconceptions of getting a new website is that all a person needs to do in order to be listed on the World Wide Web is simply purchase a domain name and create a website. This couldn’t be more inaccurate. There are currently 1 Billion website on the Internet today with an average of 2 websites being created per second.  With the hundreds of thousands of websites created daily, there is no guarantee that any search engine will immediately recognize a new website.  So, one may be asking themselves . . .

Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?

If a new website and isn’t showing up in search engine results the major reason is most likely that search robots haven’t crawled the website yet. On average it takes around 10-30 days for Google to crawl a new website — or websites with recent changes. In order to increase ranking, one must be diligent in their website management and recognize that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites that have more relevant content that is ranking higher. This doesn’t mean the website isn’t on Google; the site is just ranked so low that it’s not showing up on the desired first page. The reality is that a website with too broad or popular keywords or information could be competing against major businesses with million dollar advertising budgets that consist of large teams of marketing professionals. While a good portion of new business owners believe they have an amazing idea/product/content and why wouldn’t Google want to rank it at the top of their list, it’s best to approach the idea of website marketing from a more altruistic and logical perspective. A website owner must create content and go through several post-development steps to stand out from the billions of websites. There’s a variety of actions that a new website owner can do to speed up the process and increase their search engine ranking.

Recommendation for New Websites:

Be active. Manually submit the website to Google in Webmaster Tools (see links below).

Become organized. Creating a sitemap and robots txt files. Creating these simple files helps Google in finding deeper pages on the site.

Get Found. Create “backlinks” by submitting the website URL across different industry-specific and social media portals. This assist in getting the website getting discovered and crawled faster.

Locate the right tools. Get a Search Engine Optimization tool plug-in. This will help develop, and continue to redevelop, keywords and metadata that aid in the search engine ranking.

Know what the competition is doing. Check the backlinks of top competitor’s websites and submit them there as well.

Know the audience. To measure visitor data, we recommend installing Google Analytics. This is a must to track bounce rate, exit pages, demographics, and website traffic information important for measuring and evaluating website goals.

Be active. There’s a reason why the profession of SEO Specialist and Digital Media Marketing Expert exists within companies: managing and maintaining a website is a full-time job. Keeping a website updated and fresh with changing keywords and adjustments is required to keep it relevant. Blogging or adding daily/weekly changes is a great way to keep content fresh.

Don’t expect miracles. In 20, simply creating a website demonstrating a great idea will not make anyone a millionaire. A business cannot expect to adopt a bare minimal effort approach to website management and expect to remain competitive with those who are actively pursuing and implementing advertising and marketing tactics on a daily basis.

Become educated on the basics of website marketing and SEO. Technology and trends are always changing as well as how search engines rank websites. Getting books, attending conferences, or finding online articles are fantastic ways of staying informed.

Hire a professional. Thumbtack.com is a great place to find a local professional or freelancer to assist in website marketing if a business is unable to devote time to general maintenance.  I would highly recommend avoiding professionals outside of the United States and sticking to a local person/company.  Although they are plentiful and offer low-cost solutions, many are not familiar with general local and/or language to be of assistance to small businesses looking to build within their region. A general rule of thumb is that if a business wants to build within its community, it must invest in its local community.