How to Make Google Find Your Site?

Google's goal is really to find all the content available on the Internet, but you need to give it a little help. See how!

One of the great doubts of those who are starting in the digital world or launching their first website, is exactly about how search engines work. The goal of the vast majority is to appear in the first search results, but not everyone knows how to make Google find your site.

The platform's algorithms are being updated, but there are some methods that help your page to have a good ranking. In addition to allowing Google to find your site, they can add value to your domain and brand.

To answer questions about this topic, read the article and understand the details!

How to make Google find your site?

Want to know how to make Google find your site? Here are the different ways to make your website appear on Google organically:

·         register the sitemap.xml in Google Search Console;

·         request indexing;

·         strengthen your links;

·         publicize the link of your sites on social networks;

·         have clean code;

·         appreciate the speed of your website;

·         create strategic and valuable content;

·         keep your website up to date;

·         set the canonical tag;

·         make internal link.

These actions will contribute to a good organic positioning of your website. Understand each of these topics below:

1. Register sitemap.xml in Google Search Console

Google has its preferred and most suitable model of all for indexing sites, the registration of sitemap.xml in Google Search Console (GSC) .

Although this is the most well-known and recommended model, the number of sites that have not yet used the method is impressive, either because they do not have an XML Sitemap, or because they do not have one, but do not register with the GSC.

This is probably the most effective way to get Google to index a site, as you deliver all the pages on the site (or almost all, at least listing the most important ones) in an organized manner.

Although the XML Sitemap is the most suitable, Google accepts other formats, such as a simple text file (sitemap.txt), with a list of your site's URLs, one per line. That simple. Just send this file also through Search Console. There's no excuse for not having a sitemap there.

If you still want an XML Sitemap, you can use a tool like Write Maps for that. In the Digital Marketing Academy, in the SEO module, we have a class explaining how to use the tool that, among other resources, generates a sitemap.xml from the site architecture you build.

2. Request indexing

In the past, GSC had the option to crawl like Google. Now, it doesn't have that option anymore and when you want a URL to be indexed faster, you have to go to the GSC and click on 'URL Inspection' and put the URL in the search box that will be highlighted. After entering the URL there and searching, you can see if the page is indexed or not. If not, you can request indexing.

How to get Google to find your website

These methods serve, not only for a site to be discovered, but also for its deeper pages, that is, more distant (in number of clicks) from the home page to be discovered. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that every page listed will be indexed, but it is certainly a great opportunity that is in your hand.

3. Strengthen your links

For Google to find your site, it will need a link that takes Google bot to the specific site or page. Since Google also uses links from other sites to find new pages, you can comment on popular blogs or forums (regardless of whether you use nofollow on those sites) and use your site's address as your signature.

However, something that is IMPORTANT and should not be forgotten: if you choose to use this path, do not exaggerate, do not abuse anchor text and do not enter into link exchange schemes.

All you need is just one link. Have a website you like, follow and have a valuable comment to add to the content? Great, use a comment on this site and that's it. You don't have to and shouldn't exaggerate, commenting a lot on this and other sites and blogs.

4. Disclose the link of your sites on social networks

In addition to Google search, use other channels to help the search engine see your site as a reference. You can rely on social networks such as Twitter, YouTube or others that do not offer Google tracking blocking.

The bonus of these alternative methods is that your website can already reach the public directly and receive visits from other channels, while Google reads the Sitemap and navigates through the website to find the pages, classify them and start showing them in search results.

5. Have clean code

Crawling and indexing your site can be made easier if your site’s backend is “clean”, in other words, if it’s organized and you ensure it has W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) compliant code, a standard for the creation of structural content. Never bloat your code. Make sure your site's content is within a good HTML structure.

6. Appreciate the speed of your website

What can you do to make your site even more responsive? Review the images, if you can make them smaller, do so. Also, check for plugins or other applications that are making pages heavier.

Make the corrections and, with that, you will help Google's robots to read much more quickly and effectively, as well as prioritizing a good user experience - which will raise your quality score.

7. Create strategic and valuable content

Develop quality content that meets your goals, that helps you achieve your goals of making your site appear on Google and get better results. To do this, you not only need to create blog articles and website support texts based on keyword research , but you also need to pay attention to detail to offer something of value to your target audience.

Always ask yourself if your content is aligned with your brand persona, that is, if it is useful for those who visit your website.

8. Keep your site up to date

In addition to everything you've already learned here, I need to remember that if your question is how to make Google find your site, one of the main secrets is to keep it updated.

Take care of:

·         check the pages;

·         do tests;

·         Analyze for broken links ;

·         Among other possible situations that can harm the user experience.

·        This will help keep your quality standard high.

9. Set Canonical Tags

The canonical tag is one of the ways to get the correct indexing of the sites, because they define when it is a duplicate or original content. And a warning: duplication of pages can lead to punishment and loss of ranking. So setting the canonical tag is a simple way to avoid this problem.

10. Link internally

Another way to make Google find your site is to focus on internal linking. This doesn't mean that you should repeat your home page link several times on the same page or article, or link “anything”.

URLs should be added with a strategy and make sense with the content being displayed. In addition to Blog articles, you can link to:

·         category pages;

·         subcategories;

·         products and services;

·         rich materials;

·         etc.

These internal backlinks need to be quality and have good link anchoring. This is essential to increase the time and number of pages the reader visits in a session of your website. Consequently, this helps drive more conversions and sales.

Did you like the tips? Now it's up to you! Follow the guidelines, cooperate with Google's search robots and make your site rank better. Keep checking the contents of the blog and take the opportunity to learn in practice with SEO Company in San Francisco how to appear on Google and index your site in the search engine!