Make Your Web Site Easy to Find

James Sneeringer
Director, Online Communications
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

A Web site is a great way to market your business, but how easily can new customers find you? There are concrete steps you can take to make sure that your site is as visible as possible in search engines like Google or Bing. Think in terms of relevance, rank, and location.

First, ensure that your site is constructed to the proper technical standards so that search engine software can easily index it. You can use a free testing service like validator.w3.org to get detailed recommendations for your site.

Next, improve your relevance score by adjusting the content of your site to match likely search terms. When a person searches for a word or phrase, the search engine looks for matching text in its index of Web pages. If your page doesn’t contain a match, you won’t show up in results.

For instance, if someone is searching for “widget,” your site must have the word “widget” in its text to be found. To perform well for that search term, it would be best to have a dedicated widget page, with the term included in the language of the page title and in meta tags as well as in the content. Detailed, focused pages perform best in searches.

Once you have your content optimized, work on interlinking to increase your rank. Search engines calculate rank in several different ways, but the most famous (and copied) is Google’s PageRank, which is based on the number of links pointing toward your page. To improve the rank of your Web pages, you need to have other sites linking to yours. One way to do this is to list your site’s address in directories like the Yellow Pages and review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. Another is to interlink with suppliers or customer Web sites.

All major search engines now have a “local search” engine, which helps people find businesses near them. As GPS-enabled smart phones grow in popularity, local search is becoming a way to drive walk-in business. To show up in local search results, list your business’ address prominently—in text—on your Web site. Again, it also helps to include your business in directories and review sites. Finally, most search engines allow you to submit your business location information directly to their index.

A final word of caution: Don’t fall for search engine optimization (SEO) scams. No one can guarantee a high placement in search engines, no matter how much you pay them. Focus on relevance, rank, and location, and you’ll make the most of Web search.

E-mail jsneeringer@uschamber.com if you have any questions.