Why does Google have so many rules? SPAM! That’s right. Spam. According to Cathy Edwards, head of User Trust for Search: “Spam is one of the biggest problems that we face… As an example, 40% of pages that we crawled in the last year in Europe were spam pages. This is a war that we’re fighting, basically”.
Here are the “NO-NOs” that will prevent you from a high ranking on Google:
- NO OPTIMIZED GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE This is a basic building block that Google uses in locating your website out of billions of pieces of information on the web.
- NO OPTIMIZED ABOUT US PAGE: A page that fills the visitor in on your business, from its founding to the present. Who owns it? Who runs it? Photos of all the executive team and even the staff if you like. Some clients even include how long each employee has worked for you.
- NO BUSINESS ADDRESS: Be upfront about where you are located if they want to visit.
- NO LICENSES: While not relevant for all businesses, if you are required to have a license with some state or federal agency, always list the license numbers.
- NO LOCAL PHONE NUMBER: You would be surprised how many tech companies look for this…especially Apple.
- NO GOOGLE AND/OR YELP CUSTOMER REVIEWS: Your future customers are smart. They can tell a “cherry-picked” curated review that you have listed on your site from an unbiased Google review on the site that is fed from your Google Business Profile. Yelp is a little less trustworthy but still relevant in some states and with some clients.
We have given you some “golden nuggets” here that will substantially affect your Google traffic once put into place. Remember…most changes on your site will not be effectuated by the Google machines for several months. This is not always the case, but it generally is.
One more very important point: GOOGLE CHANGES THEIR ALGORYTHMS 3-6 TIMES A DAY TO PREVENT SPAM. Not optimizing your site regularly will cost you.
Onward & Upward!
More info: A Google Documentary
BLOG SUGGESTIONS:
