A key part of gaining new customers is to have a strong online presence. In today’s online world, unless you have a highly recognizable URL, it is very unlikely that people will navigate directly to your website. Instead, people are far more likely to find your website using Google, meaning that you need to do all you can to make your website Google-friendly. With a few smart strategies, you will be able to appear in more searches, thus boosting the amount of web traffic that comes your way.

Keep Content Fresh

Google doesn’t want to show stale websites to its users. After all, a stale website is more likely to have inaccurate information that can reduce people’s trust in Google’s search results. Therefore, to help Google favor your website, it’s important to add fresh content on a regular basis through a blog or another site feature.

Make Sure It Loads Quickly

The search robots employed by Google have the ability to detect load times for every website on the internet. If your website is detected to have a slow load time, your site won’t be ranked highly in search results. To improve your site’s load time, it’s important to simplify your web pages and limit any auto-loading content.

Optimize Keywords

Another thing that Google’s algorithms seek out is keywords. Since most people search for different topics using somewhat nonsensical keyword strings, you can gain online exposure by catering to these keyword strings with SEO content . Just be sure not to overload a block of text with keywords, as that can flag your website with Google’s search bots, causing you to drop in the search rankings.

Check Your Meta-Data

For many people, their site’s meta-data is an afterthought compared to the rest of their website design. In a world where Google reigns, though, this is a serious error. Meta-data is the information that people see about your website underneath the site link. This information should tell people about your website so they can decide if they want to visit it. Good meta-data can draw in people who may otherwise ignore your website, meaning you need to take some time to make it engaging and helpful.

Don’t Forget Mobile

With more and more searches happening via smartphones, the importance of mobile optimization cannot be overstated. In many cases, Google will look past your website if it’s not optimized for mobile browsers, especially for searches that are done from mobile platforms. There are countless tools available to help you compare how your website will look on a mobile browser so that you don’t encounter any surprises.

Survey Actual Users

Although Google is vital to get people to your website, once people are there, it’s important to know what works for them and what doesn’t. That’s why it’s a great idea to survey site visitors so that you can gain real-time feedback on your company’s website experience. This will allow you to make key changes that can make your business even more successful.

Author's Bio: 

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan