You’ve paid for a website that looks great, but it isn’t showing up when people search for your services.
The good news is that there are plenty of things you (or whoever manages your website) can check and improve without spending a fortune on SEO.
Or rather than read all this, I can take a look for you – just email me your website address (URL). I’ll check your site is optimised and let you know what I find – Steph
Firstly, can Google actually find your website?
Before worrying about where you’re ranking, check that Google knows your website exists and can index the important pages.
One quick check is to search Google for:
site:yourwebsite.co.uk
This isn’t a full test of everything Google has indexed, but it can give you a quick indication of which pages are appearing.
For much better information, set up Google Search Console. It’s Google’s free tool for website owners and can show you which pages are indexed, which searches are generating impressions and clicks, and whether Google has detected certain problems with your site.
Make it obvious what each page is about
Google has become much more sophisticated over the years, so SEO isn’t about squeezing one exact keyword into as many places as possible, but you still need to make it clear what a page is about.
If you provide bathroom renovations in Ipswich, for example, don’t make visitors – or search engines – work that out from vague marketing waffle.
Your page should naturally talk about bathroom renovations, the work you provide, where you provide it and the questions potential customers are likely to have.
Use clear headings to organise the information too. They help visitors scan the page and help search engines understand its structure.
Check your page titles
Every important page should have a useful, descriptive SEO title.
A homepage simply called Home doesn’t tell anybody much.
Something such as: Bathroom Design & Installation in Ipswich | ABC Bathrooms is much more informative.
Don’t try to cram every service and location into one title, though. Write it for humans as well as search engines.
Write useful meta descriptions – but not for rankings
Your meta description is the short description you provide for a page. Google may use it beneath your page title in the search results, although it can also choose text from the page when it thinks that better matches someone’s search.
A good description can encourage somebody to click your result, so make it useful and appealing.
Don’t stuff it with keywords in the hope that this will push the page further up Google – meta descriptions aren’t a direct Google ranking factor.
Give your images useful alt text
Alt text describes an image and is particularly important for accessibility, including for people using screen readers.
Write alt text that explains the image when that information is useful. Don’t turn it into somewhere to squeeze in extra keywords.
For example, if the image genuinely shows a newly completed bathroom renovation in Ipswich, describing it that way may be perfectly appropriate. If it’s simply a decorative background image, it may not need descriptive alt text at all.
Using sensible image file names can be useful too. new-bathroom-ipswich.jpg is more meaningful than IMG_82746.jpg, but renaming all your photographs isn’t going to magically propel you to number one.
Create pages for the things you actually want to be found for
This sounds obvious, but it’s something I see often.
A business offers six different services but squeezes all six into a few paragraphs on one Services page – then wonders why Google doesn’t show the website high up when somebody searches for one of those individual services.
If a service is important to your business and there’s enough useful info to say about it, think about giving it its own page.
That means you have space to properly explain the service, answer questions, show examples and talk about your experience.
Answer the questions your customers actually ask
Think about the questions people ask you before they become customers.
How much does something cost? How long does it take? What’s involved? What’s the difference between two options? Can you do something in a particular situation? Those questions can make good FAQs and articles.
This has become even more useful as online searches change. People aren’t just typing two or three words into Google any more – they’re asking detailed questions in Google and using AI tools to research products, services and businesses.
Your own experience is really valuable here. Anyone can use AI to churn out then copy and paste another generic article. Your real examples, knowledge, opinions and answers to genuine customer questions are much harder to replicate.
Make your website fast and easy to use
Search visibility isn’t much use if somebody reaches your website and gives up because it takes forever to load or is a nightmare to use on their phone.
Check your important pages on different screen sizes and make sure:
- the text is easy to read
- buttons and links are easy to use
- the navigation makes sense
- forms work properly
- images aren’t enormous
- pages load reasonably quickly
You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to identify potential performance problems.
Don’t become obsessed with getting a perfect score, though. Deal with the bigger issues and the experience of real visitors.
Don’t panic about duplicate content
You’ll sometimes hear that having any duplicate content on your website will result in a Google penalty.
It’s not as simple as that. Google regularly encounters duplicate and very similar pages across the web and will generally try to decide which version is the most useful one to show.
That doesn’t mean copying pages from other websites is a good idea. Don’t do that! Your website is much more valuable when it contains original information based on your own business, knowledge and experience.
Don’t forget your Google Business Profile
If you serve customers locally, your Google Business Profile can be a very important part of your online visibility.
Make sure your business details are accurate, choose appropriate categories, add useful photographs and keep the profile up to date.
Plus: ask genuine customers for reviews. Make it easy for happy customers to leave one by sending them a direct review link.
Set up Google Search Console
If you haven’t already, I’d definitely connect your website to Google Search Console.
You can use it to:
- see which searches your website appears for
- see impressions, clicks and average positions
- check whether important pages are indexed
- submit your XML sitemap
- request indexing when appropriate
- identify some technical and indexing problems
It’s free and gives you information directly from Google rather than leaving you guessing about how your website is performing in search.
What about being found through AI?
This is the big change since I originally wrote this article.
People are increasingly getting answers through AI-powered search results and AI assistants as well as traditional Google listings.
There’s no magic button you can press to make an AI tool recommend your business. Albeit many of the things that make a website useful for traditional search also give AI systems clearer info to work with: well-structured pages, specific info, useful answers, genuine expertise, case studies and reviews. So I wouldn’t abandon SEO and start chasing the latest ‘AI optimisation trick’.
I’d concentrate on making your business genuinely easy to understand and giving both people and search systems good reasons to trust the information you publish.
Quick SEO checklist
- Check that Google can find and index your important pages
- Give each important page a useful SEO title
- Write clear headings and useful content
- Create proper pages for your important services
- Answer genuine customer questions
- Use appropriate alt text for meaningful images
- Check your website works well on mobile devices
- Keep page loading times sensible
- Set up Google Search Console
- Optimise your Google Business Profile if you’re a local business
- Ask genuine customers for reviews
- Keep adding real knowledge and experience to your website
I can take a look at your website
If you’re not sure why your site isn’t getting found, I’m happy to have a quick look and tell you if I spot any obvious ways to improve it.
Or I can take a look for you – just email me your website address (URL). I’ll check your site is optimised and let you know what I find.
