‘I have a site, now what?’
This is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear when discussing SEO with business owners.
Here’s the hard truth: Ideally, a website should be created with SEO in mind. This ensures that both users and search engines will be able to find your content from the start.
But if you already have a website (which in most cases we do have), there are numerous SEO implementations to be made without any SEO knowledge.
To save you some time, I’ve drafted here my top 5 must-haves to ensure discoverability in Google Search.
1. Ensure you have basic tracking in place
We cannot know what to change or improve without establishing a starting point. For this reason, we need to implement SEO tracking from day 0.
The must have tools are Google Search Console & Google Analytics – both free tools!
2. Ensure all important pages are indexable & indexed
This means that search engines like Google can find your site, understand what it is about and save it in their index.
As a result, when users search for what you offer, Google is able to show your site on the Search Engine Results Page.
How do you know if my pages are indexed? Here’s how to check:
Option 1: use a crawling tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb
Run a site crawl and look for the pages you want to be saved in Google (=indexed).
- If they return the status code 200 (OK) – you’re all good!
- If they return another status code – you need to fix the issue
Option 2: use the URL inspection tool in Google Search Console.
If your page is indexed in Google, you’ll get this:
If your page isn’t indexed in Google, you’ll get this:
Note: you’ll be able to see also the reason the page is not indexed. In this example, page has a noindex tag.
Option 3: use the Search Operator site:your page’s exact URL
If you can find your page, this means Google has saved it in their index
3. Use descriptive URLs
Ensure the structure of your URLs is descriptive, logical and easy to understand by both users and Search Engines.
Here is the desired option:
4. Ensure all important pages have unique Meta Data
Meta Data is a fundamental part of SEO: it’s the first thing customers see when they find your results in Search. Meta Data is composed of the Meta Title and Meta description.
- Meta title = the main descriptive element of the page, with a recommended length of 50-60 characters.
- Meta Description = the short snippet paragraph below the title tag within the search results; used to entice and inform users about the page; The recommended length is 150 characters.
Plus, the Meta Title (also known and Title Tag) is a know Google Ranking Factor, meaning Google considers it heavily when deciding to show your results to users.
So, be sure to have unique Meta Data on all the pages you wish to index in Google!
Google has some great documentations on Meta Data best practices, to be sure to check it out!
5. Ensure all important links are crawlable (Google can access them)
Links, both Internal and external, play a crucial role in the SEO value your website has. They help build your site authority, they build relevance and improve your overall EEAT signals.
For this, you need to ensure that all important links are crawlable, meaning Google can access those links.
Here is what you have to do:
- Make sure no important page is blocked by robots.txt
- Check for noidenx/nofollow tags on important pages
- Use the a href attribute correctly
- Keep all your internal links dofollow
- Make sure to use relevant anchor texts
If you check all the above, chances are your site will be accessible to Google shortly!
But this is just the beginning! Now that Google can see your site, you need your users to easly find it, too!
For this, more advanced and personalized strategies are needed. If you’re ready to take your site to the next level, I’m here to help you!
Are you ready to invest in SEO?
