Once you’ve created your site and made it live, you might be wondering why your website isn’t getting traffic. Simply putting content and graphics on your site and having it hosted on a live internet server isn’t the end of the story. It is your job to make your site known to popular search engines such as Google. How do you do that? That is precisely the information that this article aims to deliver.
“It’s been said that Google is an answer machine. You ask it a question and it provides a list of websites that contain the answer. If your website is featured in this list then people will visit your site if your content interests them,” says a spokesperson from Digital Sprout, one of the leading web design companies in Annapolis and Maryland. So, how do search engines know which websites to list?
Search engines like Google use automatic software bots to scour your website looking for code and content within your URL. This process is called crawling. You can make the process easier by organizing your content into hierarchical categories with links that lead to each other. Or, you can create a sitemap.
1. Use a Sitemap:
A sitemap is like a website blueprint that lets search engines know how your content is put together. It also tells search bots how various page elements are linked together to create a more user-friendly experience. A sitemap file’s name is in the form, “sitemap.xml” and is written in HTML code.
2. Have Google Crawl your Website:
Google won’t crawl your website on the same day you create it. With literally millions of websites appearing every other day, the process could take anywhere between days to months. Fortunately, you can use tools like Google’s Search Console to force Google to crawl your website within a few days. To start with the Search Console you must be the owner of the domain you intend to have crawled as well as have a Google email. Once you login to this email you can locate the option for Search console. Select whether you want to verify your site ownership via your domain or a URL prefix. Use the first option if you own a web domain on a hosting site such as GoDaddy. Google will provide a code that you can copy and paste onto your site’s HTML code. If this is suddenly becoming too technical, it’s best to take the help of an experienced SEO consultants, who can get the job done faster as well as look up other issues that could be hurting your traffic.
3. Use appropriate keywords in your website content:
Every website has relevant keyword that match the questions that the website’s users are searching for on the internet. You can guess these keywords by searching for the type of your product on Google and looking at search recommendations. However, more powerful tools are available and if you’re not getting traffic in the mass that you desire, it may be time to call in an SEO expert.
4. Use https instead of http:
If you notice a website URL, they either begin with http://, or https://. The latter provides for better user security and is mandatory for good visibility on Google and most other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing.
5. Pull Traffic with Social Media Profiles, Business Directory Listings:
An incredibly large population uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn to discover content that is relevant to them. You can pull traffic from these platforms by creating appropriate company or business profiles that tells users about the services or products you provide.
These are just a few of the common reasons why your website may not be getting enough traffic. Learn more technical reasons why you might not be getting the number of visitors you feel you deserve here.