Reaching Number 1 in Google
by Sharon Hassler, President, Go Get Experts
You could be missing an opportunity for more business if you’re not taking full advantage of your web page. Remember it’s much more than a directory listing. This is a true web page:
- Your name and your company name are included in the title at the top of your browser. (You may need to open your web page window full width to see it on the right).
- Your page content contains keywords for searches in major search engines.
How Do Keywords Help?
We’re seeing an increasing number of visitors coming straight from searches in Google, Yahoo or MSN to individual member pages where those members have included more keywords on their page, such as repeating “notary signing agent” two or three times on their page and including counties, cities and a number of zip codes—more good search terms. Sure, most visitors—especially signing/mortgage/title companies—still come to our home page and start their search there, but by improving your page with more keywords, you have the opportunity of attracting customers directly to your page from searches in Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc. Assuming you have provided enough info on your page to impress your visitors, they’ll most likely contact you and not do another search on our site. You’ve just bypassed the competition!
An Example of Top Placement in Google
To see an example of top search results for a notary who added cities to the Service Area of her GoGetNotary.com web page, do a search for these six words in Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL — bayonet point notary fl signing agent — and you’ll see her page near the top in Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL! (Update 7/09/07 - Elaina Murphy’s web page was Number 1 in Google but my article has bumped her to 2nd which shows you the power of posting articles!) She has her own custom website, too, but it’s her GoGetNotary page that takes the enviable position in in search results for those particular search terms. If she had listed only counties AND NOT INCLUDED cities, she would not show up in any search results for this city. This great position didn’t happen overnight. Aging improves search results for web pages just as it does for web sites, and additional factors, such as links from other directories to your page, can help boost your position in search results. See our Notary Directories page for places to post your info/link at no charge or reasonable fees. Be aware that it also helps that there may not be much competition for Elaina’s exact search terms.
Understand How Search Engines Work
Search engines such as Google and Yahoo send out robot spiders to gather information from web sites which they store in their databases. Data is the key here. When you do a search in Google, all their stored data is instantly scanned for the specific terms of your search. If they don’t have the specific terms you searched for in their data, they don’t display something close. They don’t make logical connections.
It works the same as when you do search in a Word document. If you have a Word document that’s a recipe for fruit salad and you search for banana, Word will tell you “not found” if banana isn’t on that page. It doesn’t reason you’re looking for fruit, so maybe something similar to banana like apple, pear, grape, etc., will help you out. Nope, if banana isn’t in that document, Word doesn’t come up with options. It’s the same thing online: if you list only names of counties but no cities or zip codes, you will NOT show up in Google results for cities or zip codes. Close doesn’t count in searches, so include good keywords on your web page (or your web site) to help your position in search engine results—however, don’t go crazy with listing too many cities or zips because you want your page to look attractive to visitors. Find a balance.
IMPORTANT: While we’re talking about searches, make sure you have included at least your city, state and zip in the main address section of your web page. Our GoGetNotary search engine does NOT search on delivery addresses. If all you entered was your delivery info, you’re not going to show up in any location searches done from our home page.
Freshen Up: Google Likes Old and New
Google rewards web pages and sites for their age and fresh content which they equate with stability and updated information. Google thinks that a combination of dependable and accurate should provide the best search results. You can’t rush the aging process, but make a note on your calendar to revisit your web page at least every other month to add or revise something on your page to keep it fresh. Add testimonials to increase your credibility with signing/title/mortgage companies. Add more cities or zip codes. Improve your content whenever you can, even if it’s simply rewriting what’s already there. Keep it fresh and accurate.
Speaking of accurate… While you’re freshening up your page, check it for accuracy. Did you enter your phone number correctly? Email address? Street, City, State and Zip? NOTE: If you have a new email address be sure to scroll down on your Account page and change your email address in our database, too. That’s the one that’s private with us so it may be different from the public one on your page.
Review Your Competition
Every month or so, along with freshening up your page, visit our home page and do a quick search for notaries in your service area. How does your page compare to theirs? Is there a notary who has created a great page including four impressive testimonials? Which notary do you think is getting all the calls? Maybe you’ve treated your web page like a plain vanilla listing or you were in a hurry and all you did was enter your contact info and check off the basics. Invest some time now on your web page. Don’t waste the opportunities that a content-rich web page can offer your business.
©Copyright Sharon Hassler. All rights reserved. Sharon Hassler is president of Go Get Experts, LLC, owner and operator of GoGetRealEstate.com, GoGetLoan.com, GoGetNotary.com and GoGetEscrow.com. A former loan officer and real estate agent in Southern California, she served as Communications Manager for First American Title-Arizona for 11 years. For more about Sharon, visit GoGetNotary.com/Get/Sharon.