By now we’re all aware that we’re being tracked online. But many website owners don’t realize that the results you see when searching on Google are different from those of your potential customers. The results from searcher to searcher depend on a whole mess of factors like recent sites you’ve visited, those you visit frequently, where you happen to be sitting on the earth, your hobbies, etc.
Google tailors search results to each person individually
Business owners call me frequently to say they did a search for their own product and they “didn’t come up on Google”. This is because Google knows you are familiar with your own website, so they don’t show that obvious result on your search results page. In fact, you probably go to your own site frequently and don’t buy anything, send emails to yourself, or sign up for your own email newsletter. So, Google thinks: “Hmm. This guy doesn’t interact with the site he sees often; he must be looking for something else.” So they send you other websites that have the same keywords as yours. Probably your competitors’ sites. Which makes you think you’re trailing them in the search results.The best way to check how well your site is doing its job is to look at your visitor statistics or analytics. Usually this is installed by your web developer and he/she can give you access to the visitor information. Yikes, ye thinks. I hate statistics and don’t want to get bogged down in them.
Can’t resist searching for your own business?
OK. Fair enough. If you can’t resist searching for your own website then you can very easily use the Incognito or InPrivate feature in your web browser. Here’s how to search incognito. This should give you a better idea of what your customer sees. Although it’s not foolproof.
Is your goal to be first on Google?
Being first doesn’t necessarily translate to selling more stuff or making more money. You should think in terms of how your website contributes to the success of your business overall, whether that’s more money, better customers, good reputation, etc. For example, if you’re looking to have your website make you more money, you should be looking at your profits, not your rank on Google.
What do you want from your website?
Think about this. Really think. You should at least have an idea of what you want your site to do for your business. Because if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?
If you are a chamber of commerce or other business organization, feel free to share this with your members.
I work with a lot of chambers and other business organizations. They are always looking for ways to provide educational seminars and courses for their members. Since it’s sometimes hard for business owners to attend in-person seminars, you can use these email messages as bite-sized ways to help improve their digital lives.
Email or call if you’d like to learn more about BeeLine’s training and education.
How can you know if you don't ask? I answer questions for free by either email or phone 262.492.3150
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