SEO

Here’s a bullet-point action list I wrote a while ago about specifically how to improve your Google rankings. Note: it takes a certain amount of time and work, there is no quick fix. Here goes:

Preparation

• Decide on the specific Google searches you want to do well on (eg personal trainer amersham or boiler service putney)
• Before you do the main work, make sure your web page makes good use of all the words you want to do well with, in the page title and content. Get some wording you like, and images with your desired branding etc - you’ll need them below
• If appropriate, get your business listed as a location on Google Maps. This isn’t too hard, but may take a few days as they need to post you something to confirm the address
• Find the web pages of other businesses etc that are already doing well for your target search, and write the main ones down
• Search for the business names you’ve written down, one by one, and find out where else they show up on Google apart from their own sites. They will be listed in directories, they’ll have written blog posts, featured in discussions on NetMums, have pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc, linking back to their website. This is the key to Google rankings - links from other sites back to yours
• Build up a list of the kinds of places your competitors have featured. This will end up being a second list of area-specific directories and sites. Eg for yoga there are sites like yoganearby.com, yogafinder.com etc, as well as general ones like yell.com. Find ones for your target area

Building a footprint

• This is the key step: after you’ve covered your competitors, work down this second list and get yourself onto all those directories, being sure to get links from them back to your page. Start off with the free ones, and avoid the ones that charge a fee for listing - it’s unlikely to be necessary / useful
• Prioritise the sites that are the most authoritative / credible, as these will be most effective - getting a link from a good site is worth much more than a link from an unheard-of one
• When setting yourself up, try to use your planned wording etc from the early steps, so that Google builds a clear picture of your business. You’ll often be able to upload images to support your listing too, and you can upload those ones you picked earlier

Iterate

• Now … wait a few days, because it can take time for Google to pick up on the changes to the various sites. But keep searching for yourself and see how your rankings change. Be prepared to continue some of the other steps above based on what you find.

Next steps

• There are other things to do, which you can find out more about on pages like this one. Typically it’s about making your content easier for Google to make sense of and categorise, and creative ways of getting other sites to link to yours, like getting on podcasts, interviews in newspapers, links on Reddit / social media etc. Get creative!