As a business owner in Mississauga, Ontario, having a strong online presence is crucial for your success. With the majority of consumers turning to the internet to find products and services, getting found on Google search results is essential. Good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should always be part of a business’s strategy to increase their organic growth through online search. However, many business websites in Mississauga struggle to achieve a prominent position on search engine result pages (SERPs).
This doesn’t have to be true for your business. Especially if you target getting found in local search results, you should be able to rank higher than a lot of your competitors in your area. However, there are some common mistakes or things that businesses don’t know which prevent them from ranking higher in Google searches.
5 Errors to Avoid to Get Found on Google
Oftentimes, people immediately think that just having a “pretty” website is enough to attract customers. Now, while you should invest in beautiful web design to get your business noticed and elevate your brand’s perception, it’s not enough to get ranked on Google. Google uses a lot of different criteria to determine how they rank your website in their search results. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 5 reasons many businesses are not getting found on Google through local search and what you can do to help avoid these mistakes.
1. Inadequate Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
One of the primary reasons why business websites fail to rank on Google searches is the lack of proper SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing your website to improve its visibility on search engines. Without implementing effective SEO strategies, your website will struggle to compete with other businesses in Mississauga.
To improve your local SEO and boost your website’s ranking, consider the following:
- Optimize your website’s meta tags, including title tags and meta descriptions, with relevant keywords related to your business and location. Location-specific meta tags are a great way to optimize your content to be found by the people searching in your area.
- Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that incorporates local keywords and provides value to your target audience. The more specific you can be to your area and the questions or problems that people are searching for solutions to, the better you’ll perform because one of the metrics Google uses to rank your page is how well it helps people find what they’re searching for.
- Ensure your website has a mobile-friendly design, as Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results. This is an often neglected aspect of web development that hurts a site’s Google ranking since a large chunk of web traffic comes from people searching on their phones.
- Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, including accurate business information, photos, and customer reviews. This should be one of the first things you do as a business owner to establish and manage your web presence. It’s simple to set up and worth the time!
2. Lack of Local Relevance
Google’s search algorithm considers the user’s location when displaying search results. If your business website lacks local relevance, it is less likely to appear in the top results for Mississauga-based searches. Optimizing your website for local SEO is crucial to ensure it ranks well for relevant local searches.
To enhance your local relevance and increase your likelihood of getting found on Google:
- Include your business address, phone number, and other contact information on your website. This should be one of the first things you do, but you’d be surprised how many business websites overlook this!
- Create location-specific landing pages that target keywords related to your products or services in Mississauga. Landing pages are additional pages (other than your homepage, about page, etc) that are made to target specific keywords and phrases. Building a landing page that is specific to the niche that you serve in your local area is a great way to increase the likelihood of getting found on Google.
- Get involved in the local community and seek opportunities for backlinks from other reputable Mississauga businesses or organizations. When Google sees that other websites of businesses, organizations or people in your area are linking to your site, it tells Google that your website is a good source of authority in your niche. Sometimes you can try to get your site listed on business listings or yellow-page type websites, community blogs or forums, and other local community networks to boost your local relevance.
3. Slow Website Speed
Website speed is a critical factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. If your website takes too long to load, it can negatively impact your search ranking and user experience. Visitors are more likely to leave a slow-loading website and look for alternatives, leading to a higher bounce rate (people clicking off your site and back to Google’s search page) and lower conversion rates.
To improve your website’s speed:
- Optimize your images and use a content delivery network (CDN) to reduce load times.
- Minimize the use of heavy plugins and scripts that can slow down your website. You should make your website as efficient as possible. Unfortunately, many free and popular page-builders write bloated code which slows down your site performance and decreases your site’s chances of getting found on Google.
- Regularly monitor and optimize your website’s performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Enter your website address into the analysis tool and it will give you a breakdown of how Google is rating your site’s performance and what areas you can improve. We regularly use this tool to help optimize each site we build.
4. Lack of High-Quality Backlinks
Backlinks, or links from other websites pointing to your website, are an important ranking factor for Google. Having high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your industry can significantly improve your website’s authority and visibility in search results.
To build high-quality backlinks:
- Create valuable and shareable content that other websites will want to link to. This helps with organically building backlinks since if your content is great and helping people, they will likely link to it from their platforms or website.
- Reach out to other local businesses, bloggers, or industry influencers for potential collaboration or guest posting opportunities. This is where networking within your industry or niche can be super powerful! When you collaborate to create content or share each other’s content, you leverage each other’s audience to expand your reach in a mutually beneficial way.
- Participate in local events or sponsor local organizations to increase your chances of earning backlinks. Nothing beats making connections in person! Share resources from your website to people you meet who can genuinely help and add value to their lives. People tend to want to respond in kind and reciprocate when you give them value for free. So, this is a great way to help one another and also get organic backlinks.
5. Neglecting User Experience
At the end of the day, remember that algorithms really just represent people at the other end of the screen. These are real people with their own personalities and preferences. So, keep your ideal user or audience in mind when you’re building your website or creating content.
User experience plays a crucial role in both search rankings and customer satisfaction. If your website is difficult to navigate, has broken links, or lacks a clear call-to-action, it will negatively impact your search ranking and conversions.
To improve user experience:
- Ensure your website has a clean and intuitive design that is easy to navigate. Cluttered sites are a sure way to lose people and hinder getting found on Google.
- Regularly check for broken links and fix them promptly. Nothing is more frustrating than being assaulted with a 404 page error which often results in people not returning to your website.
- Optimize your website for mobile devices to provide a seamless browsing experience. Your site design should look great on any size screen and have easy navigation controls for desktop and mobile.
- Create clear and compelling calls-to-action that guide visitors towards desired actions, such as making a purchase or contacting your business. People should know within the first 5 seconds of coming to your website: what solution you provide to the problem they’re seeking an answer to and what their next step is towards that goal.
In conclusion, ranking your business website on Google search is crucial for attracting more traffic and increasing sales. By implementing effective SEO strategies, optimizing for local relevance, improving website speed, building high-quality backlinks, and prioritizing user experience, you can significantly improve your website’s visibility and achieve higher rankings in Mississauga. Invest in your online presence today, and watch your business thrive in the competitive digital landscape.
We’re here to help
This can all seem overwhelming for busy business owners to keep up with trends, optimize their websites and plan and execute their content, but we’re here to help!
We help you establish businesses build their brand identity, strategically design websites to not only look beautiful but also be functional and SEO-optimized, develop a content strategy and produce your creative media. We’re focused not only on aesthetics but also on performance so that your business can see a good return on investment (ROI).
It’s a ripe time to set your business apart from the rest and get found on Google.
Contact us now or set up a free consultation. We’d love to create something awesome together!