Your website is a very important part of your business. It’s often your primary online presence and can be a great source for leads. The more traffic that you are able to direct to your website, the more leads you will typically acquire. Unfortunately, for most people, getting traffic to their website is a difficult task.
There are several ways to direct traffic to your website including, but not limited to, direct marketing, placing your URL on your business card, yard signs or any other advertising you do and promoting through pay per click. While all of these methods are good, possibly the best method of getting traffic to your website is by having a strong search engine presence, particularly with Google. For anyone who has ever tried to SEO (search engine optimize) their website, they will realize that this sounds much easier than it is. It can also be very frustrating as people often have no idea why Google isn’t paying attention to their website despite their best efforts.
Below are 3 reasons why your website likely isn’t being noticed by Google:
Your Website Is Not Mobile Responsive
Having a website that works well on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet has moved from something to consider, to a nice option to have, to an absolute must. So much so that Google has made a point to all but dismiss non mobile responsive websites in their search results when the user is searching from a mobile device. As you might imagine, this is detrimental to your overall results when people search for you on Google.
Your Content Is Not Original
Many websites today are auto generated. Whether they are provided to you from your company or created from a template, often times the sites come preloaded with content. In the case of search engines, new and original content go a long way towards getting the attention of the search engine “spiders.”
I have seen many people suggest that the best way to expand your site’s reach is to load more content on it. While this is correct to a certain extent, loading content by simply copying and pasting is not going to provide you with any benefits. Instead the search engine will see your content, “remember” that it has seen this same content before and move past it.
Nothing Holds People’s Attention
A big way to generate search engine momentum is by having a strong “time on site” for your visitors. The latest information that I have seen suggests that on average you have 2-3 seconds to get someone’s attention with your website and if you are able to grab someone’s attention the average time spent on a website is 15 seconds. While many people believe that their websites are filled with information that clients want to see, often times, the harsh reality is that most of that information is actually of little to no interest to your clients.
There are many reasons that would cause your site to be essentially ignored by the search engines, but these are some of the more common ones that I see on a regular basis. If you are unsure about your site or unable to make any necessary adjustments, it is highly recommended that you work with someone to improve your site.
Michael Darmanin is the Chief Operating Officer with Sellstate Realty Systems Network, Inc.
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