Why am I not on the first page of google?

A question our marketing team gets frequently is “Why am I not on the first page of Google?” There is no one answer to this question, but we’re keen to delve into it and explain how Google search engines work to shed some light.

Marta Kagan (of Hubspot Marketing), brings up two great statistics about Google. There are 34,000 searches conducted on Google EVERY SECOND! That’s a lot of potential business. And a startling one... that 75% of Internet users never scroll past the first page of search results. I know if I don’t find relevant answers or content on the first page then and only then I will delve into the second page. Are you the same?

Some reasons why you may not be on google's first page:

• Your website is not servicing the area the user is searching for
• The content on your website doesn’t answer the question the user has typed in
• Your competitors are spending money on Google Ads and you’re not or they’re spending more than you 
• If your website is slow to load (longer than two seconds)
• Your business doesn’t have a strong online presence - this is where having a Facebook account (and other social media platforms) is great at making you appear on Google searches more
• Poor or no SEO on your website
• Your website just ‘went live’ the day before (Google needs time to index your website and this can take between 4 days and 4 weeks) 

Read about three free ways that you can make sure your site shows up more in user’s searches.

1. Quality Content

A great way to think about Google is that they are a business and their service is to answer each and every question that is asked of them. So they want to serve up content/websites that accurately answer these questions. 

Now, how do you get Google to put your website forward on the first page? You have relevant content that is going to answer their user’s and your future customers' questions. It’s not about jamming your pages full of keywords, it’s about giving relevant information. Help Google work for you by helping your customers.

Every year, somewhere between 16% and 20% of Google searches are new – they’ve never been searched before (source). 

Another way to create quality and useful content on your website is with blogs. Blogs are a great way to focus on a common question that you’re asked and answer it or to showcase products or services that your business offers.

2. Featured Snippets

Search on Google has changed in the past decade from writing keywords to find your answers to now writing full questions. With this change in how we search, Google now has ‘featured snippets’ which are a great way to quickly see an answer without having to dig through a website. Snippets also sit right at the top of the page.

How do you get pages from your site showing up as snippets?

It’s all about having content that answers questions and about the way it’s laid out:

• Headings and bullet points - which make the text easy to read and searchable
• Images are important too, and videos are a great bonus to include
• Be as factual as possible and make sure to answer the question fully

3. Utilise ‘google my business’

It’s free! Need we say more? Google My Business is the section to the right that pops up with a business when you search either their business name or a term/service that relates to them. The results that show up are also based on your location.