“Google has me in its grip. With every new day, I am subjected to some new persecution for which there seems to be no escape.” Marilyn Bontempo Read her full article at SiteProNews
Do you feel like this? That website organic placement, placement on Google Places (now Google Local) is a moving target. You’ll want to read the story of Marilyn’s travel so you can feel her pain. But does it have to be so complicated?
Here’s my short list of things that you should do for your website to garner organic placement (that means unpaid placement) on Google.com. Don’t get spun up on things that won’t help or hurt you if you simply don’t have the time or know how.
- Make sure you are blogging with the blog posts archived and posted using your own domain name so that you build consistent interesting and fresh content.
- Do make sure that your website is linked to your personal Google+ account and that you do have a Google+ account for your business.
- Do verify your Google+ Local page so Google knows that you are the business owner.
- Do get on a plan to build great website content and write regular new informational pages for your website.
- Do implement rich snippets with your website reviews if you have the know how.
I don’t feel that making yourself crazy of what Google picks up and doesn’t pick up will help or hurt you. Do the best you can if you are updating your own website.
The real key to placement on Google.com is to have great content first and foremost that people will want to link to in a natural manner. Google is not going to drop your placement if you don’t have your website connected to Google+, but they will drop you if you have duplicate or poor content.
Stay focused on the things that make sense for your business and if you have the budget, hire an expert to help with the rest.