Often, when you write your site’s name in the search bar and do not find it, check the second and third pages of results. Your website could be there. Since your site is new, it may underperform compared to websites that exist for a longer time. Google may also take a few days to analyze what you just created. Thus, if you want your website to be on the first page of results, there are things you need to do.
What Is SEO?
Let’s start with the beginning: what is SEO? In short, it is everything you can do to have search engines index your website up to the first positions of results. Of course, Google is the most used search engine, but there are others like Bing, Yahoo, or Baidu, for instance. When you help Google understand what your website is about, you increase your chances to be on the first page of results. It is vital to be well indexed since your site can then be more easily found. You will then have more visitors and consequently, more sales.
There are rules to follow, but here is an overview of what you can do to optimize your website created with WebSelf.
The Technical Aspects of SEO
What factors influence the indexing of your website? There are technical aspects like the domain name, titles, URLs, the bounce rate, and the time spent on your site.
Your domain name must be available, short, professional, and related to your website. Then, every page of your website should have a main title (H1) and a title tag. It helps search engines understand the theme of this page. You can find the case Main title of the page when you click on one of your site’s titles, and the place to fill the title tag when clicking on the PAGES tab, the gear icon, and SEO. A title tag is the title we will see on search engines. It must have between 10 and 70 characters and summarize its associated page well. Do not forget to add relevant keywords to your titles too. You can also change the name of your page URLs by clicking on the PAGES tab.
Let us move on to the bounce rate and the time spent on your website. These are two elements that Google finds important when it analyzes your site. The bounce rate is the percentage of visits where the visitors exited your website immediately without doing anything. The more you have a high bounce rate, the more it tells search engines that your site is not relevant. It can harm your indexing. It is the same thing with the time spent on your website. The more a visitor spends time on your site, the more it tells Google that it is pertinent. You can find the data regarding the bounce rate and time spent on the statistic page if you have a Pro or eCommerce subscription or by linking your website to Google Analytics.
The Importance of Your Content
The content of your site also influences its indexing. First, there are keywords. It is essential to use relevant keywords on all your website pages. For example, if you are an author, it would be pertinent to find your books’ titles at different places on your website. Therefore, if someone looks for your novels, Google will suggest your site. Do not forget to add your keywords among your content, titles, and, most importantly, your meta descriptions.
But what is a meta description? It is a short description that will appear under the title of a site on search results. It must summarize the page and has between 50 and 150 characters. To add a meta description to your website, click on the PAGES tab, the gear icon, and SEO. Every page of your site should have its unique meta description. On another note, the other SEO aspects you should consider regarding the content are to have fresh content, many pages of good quality, many backlinks to your site, and texts without spelling or grammar mistakes.
The WebSelf Tools to Improve Your SEO
WebSelf provides different tools to help you with your SEO. First, on your dashboard, click on the MANAGE button. If you scroll down, you will see a box with the mention Is my site visible on Google? You can check there if this search engine took the time to analyze and index your website. Second, also on your dashboard, there is a box whose title is Analyze my website (SEO). You can check there if the keywords you used for your site are everywhere they should be and receive recommendations. Third, if you scroll the dashboard page once more, there is a section called Improve your site - 10 steps for increasing visibility online. It is a guide on the essential elements to verify to improve your website indexing on search engines.
In conclusion, make sure you fill all the SEO sections on your website if you want to be visible on Google (tag title, main title, keywords, meta descriptions, etc). If you wish to read more on this topic, take a look at our articles on our blog!