Google accounts for 70% - 80% of all searches carried out in English. So I talk about Google all the time when I really mean search engines in general. However, in this case I mean Google because if they don't know your web site exists the others certainly won't!
First of all remember that almost everything Google does is fully automated. They make almost all their decisions about 'where you are on Google' from what their servers can see on the web. And they use links from sites they know to new sites to first find these new sites and then decide how important they are (amongst other factors).
There are 3 steps to Google's basic process. They need to first find your site - preferably via a link and visit all the pages. We call this crawling the site. They then process the information on your site (indexing) and then decide where you should be against given keywords (ranking).
How to check your site is being crawled and indexed by Google
- Visit Google.com and search on "site:yourdomain.com"
- Google should now list all of the pages it has indexed for the domain. If it says that it does not match any documents - then they don't know you exist!
Problems and solutions
Google does not list all of the pages I expect. You will need to read all of the Chilli Digital 101 regarding Site Architecture or contact Chilli Digital.
It does not list my site at all. You need to give Google at least 1 link to your web site from a site it already knows about. You can do all of these;
- Link to your site from a blog or Facebook page or LinkedIn account
- Ask a friend or business contact to link to you from their site
- Submit to a free directory like Turnpike.net or Jayde
- Create an account at Google Webmasters Tools and submit to Google direct
- Or you can contact us and we will place a link on Chilli Digital.com for you to get you started free of charge!
The Chilli Digital "101 Online Marketing actions you should take before your business dies" is designed to help you get started with SEO, Email Marketing, Web site management, Social Networks and Digital Asset Optimisation. It is also available via the Chilli Digital Twitter feed and via Facebook. If you want to get serious about Online Marketing, contact Chilli Digital via 020 8241 8818. If the line is busy please try again later.
