Are you trying to find a way how to get your business listed first on Google and attract potential new clients and customers? If you would want to get your business listed first on Google, you must have a rock star search engine optimization plan for your website so you can compete on the world’s most popular search engine. Over 9 billion searches are performed on Google in a single moment in time. You can improve your online presence and attract new customers by doing one thing: by learning how to get your business listed first on Google.

Focus on the Major Search Engines

Most people simply use one main search engine, mainly Google, while browsing online, but there are many other individuals who also use Bing or Yahoo or other smaller search engines to find information online. Getting your business listed and SEO optimized so that they appear in the widely used search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing shouldn’t cost you any money, but it can be time consuming.

Fun Fact: YouTube and Facebook also make the list of most used search engines. Utilizing those platforms to promote your business will also help with the more real estate you can take up on the first page.

Don’t waste your time and resources trying to show up in the search results for smaller search engines. We recommend guiding your SEO strategy based on the best practices and ranking factors that Google would like to see because they have the most market share and it is the most commonly used search engine.

There are blogs and other resources available online that share their take on major updates that Google makes to their ranking algorithm that can keep you informed on best practices. In general, we have a pretty good grasp and understanding on major ranking factors and how to get your business listed first on Google for results pages that are relevant to your business.

By focusing your SEO approach and strategy based on what it would take to show up in search result pages for Google, you will probably see success getting ranked with other search engines like Yahoo and Bing, as well as the smaller players.

How to Get Your Business Listed with Major Search Engines

You’re probably thinking that there is a lot of work that goes into getting your business to rank and listed with Google or other major search engines, but submitting your site is actually a fairly simple process when it comes to Google, Bing and Yahoo. All you will need is your site URL and some time to create accounts on the submission platforms for each search engine.

You simply have to copy and paste your URL, but obtaining your site will require a bit more effort (but maybe not more). XML Sitemaps are accepted by every search engine website submission plaftform and it is free and simple to use. With your website, especially if you have a WordPress website are using the Yoast SEO plugin, you’ll have the option to make a map of your website that’s easily scannable for bots and crawlers – an XML sitemap. Yoast SEO has the ability to do this for up to 500 pages for a site, so you be assured it can manage huge sites. When you’ve got your sitemap generated, you can start submitting it to search engines for listing.

It is not difficult to successfully get your company listed in the three main search engines we recorded.

You will need an account and email set up with both Google and Yahoo or Bing in order to submit to your site to these search engines. So be sure to have your login info prepared before you start the process.

First, you will need to log into your Google accounts. Search for “Google Search Console” on your favorite search engine and then go to Google Search Console. Once you’re in Search Console, select the option to add a website. When you go through the set up, it will then ask you to input the URL you need to have listed.

Now it’s time to confirm the site. Google Search Console will give you a few options on how to verify ownership of your website, such as adding a line of code or by connecting to your Google Analytics account if it is set up with the same Google account you are logged into. You will have the choice to confirm your site later on, but you won’t have the ability to submit your site until you do this step.

This seems complex, but it’s very easy to accomplish. Google will give you detailed instructions on how to confirm and verify ownership of your website.

On the left menu, you will see a category called “index” with a link to “sitemap.” Click on “sitemap” and you will be given the option to submit your XML sitemap.

As soon as you click “submit sitemap, then you’re going to be permitted to go into the sitemap info. It is usually something similar to “www.yourdomain.com/sitemap_xml.”

If you are using Yoast SEO, it can typically be “https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml.”

After the site was submitted, you’ll get an email confirmation your site is being indexed. Google will occasionally crawl the website. So if you don’t make major changes, you don’t have to submit it more than once.

There is a similar process with Bing webmaster tools. You can set up a Bing webmaster tools account, add your website and confirm ownership of your website in similar ways. Then, you can submit your XML sitemap to help Bing crawl and index your website.

Submitting to Yahoo is just as easy as Bing because they use the same submission platform.

Once you’re there, look for the choice to submit your website.

Once you decide on the option to submit your site, you’ll be redirected to Bing’s website submit page. When you are there, you merely have to enter the URL that you want to get crawled.

After you perform a captcha confirmation, you’re going to be all set.

SEO Tips for Your Website

If you’re looking to improve your website’s search engine result position, you’re going to be interested in learning about SEO and how does this helps your website appear in major search engines.

Once you submit your website using the different webmaster platforms for Google, Bing and Yahoo, you can move on to optimizing your website so that you can make it easy for search engine bots and crawlers. It is crucial that your site can be easily crawled by search engine bots because these bots are responsible for gathering information about your website that can determine your website’s position in search engine result pages.

Optimizing your website can ensure that you’ll shoot to the top of search engine. Search engine crawlers and robots require you to follow SEO best practices and proper site optimization. By optimizing your site, you are making it easier for crawlers and search engine bots to understand the content on your website. When they understand your website, search engines will reward you by showing it to more people searching for relevant information that is on your website.

A marketing agency or SEO expert can help you figure out a targeted SEO and online marketing and advertising plan. Their years of expertise in the SEO world and following trends in how search engines works allow them to better understand how to strategically approach a website’s search engine optimization plan. But for the time being if you are a small business owner or independent business owner who owns a website, you can follow the advice below to boost your search engine optimization and position in search result pages.

Location-based keywords make sense when you’re trying to improve online visibility in a local market.

If you are a small business owner, the majority of your customers are people nearby. Most of your customers either reside in your exact city, state or region. You can become more visible to these customers by targeting location specific keywords on your website.

Trying to rank for a broad keyword that targets a national audience like “women’s shoes” could be nearly impossible. You are competing against too many big retailers and your website will be pushed into the very end of the search results page.

By incorporating location specific keywords like “women’s shoe store in charlotte nc,” you will have more of a chance to show up in search results for customers in and around your location that already interested in what you sell.

When you search for something in your browser on Google and you have location settings enabled, the results that show up are more likely to be locally based businesses. For that reason, it is important that the words and content on your website mention when you are located so that search engine crawlers become aware of your location and you are more likely to show up in locally geared search results.

Internally Link Content

Having a good navigation map not only helps individuals get around your website, but it can also help you figure out how to use internal linking as an SEO tactic. A couple of strategically placed links can improve site navigation and help enhance SEO.

Site crawlers and search engine bots like internal links because it can improve the total user experience. Internal links also add value to the links that are in the content because they are viewed as authoritative pages.

Make sure you that whenever you use the words “contact us” or anything similar, you link to your contact page. Links should also be added within pages and blog posts that link to other relevant content, whether it is a product category page or service pages or blog post.

Internal links also can expose your website visitors to more of your content while they are still on your website and they may end up spending more time on your website as a result. This could lead to an improvement on average time spent on your website and could also mean they are more likely to learn that they can trust your brand and business website as a credible source of information and a company they would want to buy from or do business with.

Edit Your Website Content

When is the last you added something new to your website? Have you made any content updates since you first launched your business’s website?

Your business is constantly growing and shifting and potential clients and customers need to learn about your new service offerings, new product or any promotions you may be offering. Maintaining your content can help improve your rankings after you get your business’s website crawled and indexed.

Search engines have a preference for websites that update their content periodically and consistently. An active site is a website that individuals want to be on, but a site that has not been updated in years or even months might not have the relevant information users are searching for.

Do you want to keep your site up-to-date, but can’t see yourself updating the pages frequently? This is the case for a lot of businesses because you might not have any new services to add to your business, but do not worry, there’s an easy solution for this…

Create Regularly Scheduled Blog Content

You don’t need to have weekly small business news to keep content updated and fresh on your website. Blogging is a simple way to add new content on your website that keeps search engine crawlers engaged and it a strategic way to find and reach out to new potential customers.

You can write about business news and updates, tips and tricks and even how-to guides or whatever else you believe your intended customer base will want to read and search for. The website blog posts you write should use certain keywords to ensure that you obtain an extra search engine optimization post. Use the keywords in the post name and add them throughout the body copy.

Make sure to share your blog articles on your social media profiles for your business. It can help boost visitors to your site and give you some additional backlinks and send social signals to search engines.

Blogging can also help you gain authority as a credible source in your industry and niche. When customers search for a topic that you have written a blog post about and you provide them with the information they were searching for, they begin to trust your brand and business. This mean that blog content not only helps you rank better in search engines, but it can also help you gain new customers.

Get Your Company In Other Places

You know how to get your business listed with the major search engines and found in search engines, but getting your business listed on different sites can be just as useful and impactful.

With an up to date Google My Business profile will help ensure that clients and customers can find relevant business information like your site, hours of operation and contact information when they see your business in Google.

Claiming your business page is simple. You may use it to post images of your small business, gather customer reviews, and update important information. It may also give you the choice to respond to customer reviews.

Don’t just stop with Google. Claim your profile with Yelp and do a quick search to figure out what other business directory websites are out there that you can submit your information to. You are going to be showing up in hyperlinks all over the net, and search engines will have to take notice.

Some major business directories that are worth mentioning are where you should have your website listed are:

• Facebook
• Apple Maps
• Manta
• Better Business Bureau
• Yellow Pages
• Foursquare
• Yelp
• Bing Places
• MapQuest

Wrapping Up The Best Way to Appear in Search Engines

Now you know what it takes to get your company and business website to show up in search engine results. You are now on your way to growing your business’s online presence and killing it in the search engine results for Google, Yahoo and Bing! Woohoo!