- SEO Intro
- Google Places Listing
- Site Verification & XML Sitemaps
- Google Analytics
- Google Merchant Product Feed
- Requirements
- The Cost
Make sure your website is visible on Google
Making sure your website is visible on Google is vital, if you want customers to see it! Fortunately, Google provides a number of tools that greatly help with the optimisation of your site. By correctly utilising these features, your site (and mobile website) will have a greater visibility, on the Worlds biggest search engine (Google accounts for over 80% of searches!).
Google Places Listing
Google Places listings are businesses that appear as markers on map when conducting a local based search (e.g. 'holiday cottage east lothian' on screengrab below). An optimised Google Places Listing, is the most important step, if you want your business to be found for local-based search terms. Correctly listing your business on Google Places, will make a big difference to your online visibility.
Site Verification & XML Sitemaps
Google wants to know if you are who you say you are! To do this, your site needs to be verified. This involves either uploading a file to your server or adding a snippet of code to your home page to verify the website.
In addition, Google needs to know what pages you have on your site. This can be done by creating an XML sitemap and uploading it to Google. By doing this Google will be aware of all pages on your website.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides invaluable information about your website; what search terms it is being found for, where visitors are coming from, how long people are staying on the site and lots more. Analytics is essential if you want to effectively market your business.
Google Merchant Product Feed
If your business is selling products online, it essential to have an optimised database of your products uploaded to the Google Merchant Centre. By uploading a product database to the Merchant Centre, your products will appear in the 'Shopping Results' listing for any product search. The rankings of the product pages on your website will also improve, resulting in more sales.
Requirements
In order to carry out the steps above, a Google account (if you don't already have one, I can set one up) is required and your hosting details (FTP address, user name and password).
The Cost
The costs of carrying out the above steps are:
- Google Places Listing: £75
- XML Sitemap & Google Verification: £75
- Google Analytics Set Up: £50
- Google Merchant Centre Product Feed: £3.50 per product