Getting found on Google

Plain answers about Google for business owners, with no ranking promises.

• Your website on Bing and other search enginesHow to claim Bing Places for Business, add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools, and which other search engines and maps a local business should check.
• Why your website isn't showing up on GoogleThe usual reasons a site is missing from Google: too new, hidden by a setting, blocked, too thin, or showing but not for your search. How to fix each.
• Why your competitor shows up above you on GoogleThe real reasons another business appears above yours, from distance and reviews to categories and service pages, and the parts you can actually change.
• What is local SEO? A plain explanation for ownersLocal SEO helps Google show your business to nearby people searching for what you do. What it involves, what you can do, and what nobody can promise.
• What is E-E-A-T? A plain explanation for local businessesE-E-A-T means experience, expertise, authority and trust. What Google means by it, what it is not, and how a local business shows it on its own site.
• What is a sitemap and does a small business need one?A sitemap is a file listing your site's pages for search engines. Most builders make one for you. How to find yours, check it and submit it to Google.
• What happens to Google when you change website buildersSwitching from Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy or WordPress changes your page addresses. What Google sees, why a short dip is common, and how to recover.
• Website speed and Google: what owners should knowSpeed is one of many things Google weighs, and rarely the deciding one. Why it still matters for customers on phones, and what slows small sites down.
• Website security and Google warningsWhat "This site may be hacked" and the red "Deceptive site ahead" screen mean, how to clean the site, and how to ask Google to remove the warning.
• Website ownership and Google: who controls your listingWho really controls your Google Business Profile, Search Console and domain, how to check the roles, and how to keep the keys inside the business.
• Website address with or without www: does it matter?With or without www works equally well for Google and customers. What matters is choosing one, forwarding the other to it, and using it everywhere.
• Voice search and local businesses: what's realWhen people ask Siri, Google or Alexa for a local business, the answer comes from map listings. What matters is correct hours, phone and plain answers.
• Thin pages: when a page has too little to sayA thin page gives a visitor too little to act on. How to spot thin pages on your own site and decide whether to expand, merge or remove each one.
• Structured data for local businesses, plainly explainedWhat local business schema is, what it can and cannot do, whether your website builder adds it already, and how to test it with Google's free tool.
• Spammy pages on a hacked website: what to doCasino, pill or foreign-language pages under your domain mean a hack. How to find them all, remove them, and get Google to drop them from search.
• Should you pay for SEO services? Questions to ask firstWhen paying for SEO help makes sense for a small business, what good work actually looks like, and the questions that separate honest providers from the rest.
• Service-area businesses on Google: hiding your home addressIf you work from home and go to customers, Google lets you hide your address. How to set up a service-area profile and what to show on your website instead.
• SEO scams: offers small business owners should ignoreThe cold emails, calls and packages that sell search results nobody can deliver, how to recognize each one, and what to do when they arrive.
• Robots.txt explained for small business ownersRobots.txt tells search engines which parts of your site to skip. How to read yours, the one line that blocks Google, and how it differs from noindex.
• Responding to Google reviews, good and badHow to reply to Google reviews in your own words, with example replies for praise, complaints, unfair reviews and ones from people who were never customers.
• Page titles and descriptions: what Google showsHow to write a page title and meta description for each page of a small business site, how long to make them, and examples you can adapt.
• Old page addresses: why forwarding them mattersA 301 redirect forwards an old page address to its new one, like mail forwarding. What it is, why it matters for customers and Google, and how to test yours.
• Name, address and phone: why they must match everywhereNAP consistency means your business name, address and phone read the same on your site, Google and every directory. Why it matters and how to fix it.
• Moving your business: updating Google and your websiteThe order to update your address when your business moves, from your Google profile and website to Apple Maps, directories and the places owners forget.
• Mobile-friendly websites and GoogleGoogle reads the phone version of your site first. What mobile-first indexing means, how to check your own site, and what to fix before anything else.
• Local landing pages: when town pages help and hurtA page per town can help customers or look like spam to Google. How to tell a genuinely local page from a doorway page, and what to write on each.
• Keywords for small business: using the words customers searchKeywords are just the words your customers type. How to pick the right ones for each page, where to put them, and how to avoid stuffing them in.
• Keeping your Google traffic when you move to a new websiteA before, during and after checklist for moving to a new website while protecting the visits your old one gets from Google.
• Is your website hidden from Google by mistake?A forgotten noindex tag, a robots.txt block, a password or a coming-soon page can hide a whole site from Google. How to check each one and switch it off.
• Images and Google: file names, sizes and alt textWhat Google reads from your photos and how to prepare them: clear file names, sensible sizes, the right format and alt text that describes the picture.
• HTTPS and the padlock: why it matters for your siteWhat HTTPS does, why browsers mark sites without it as "Not secure", where free certificates come from and how to check that yours is working.
• How to test your website speed for freeTest your website speed for free with Google's PageSpeed Insights. Where to click, how to read the score and colors plainly, and which suggestions to act on.
• How to read the search terms report in Search ConsoleWhere to find the words people searched before seeing your site, what clicks, impressions, CTR and position mean, and three useful things to do with it.
• How to find what customers search forFree ways to see the exact words people type into Google about your trade, from autocomplete and People also ask to your own Search Console report.
• How to check if Google has your websiteTwo free ways to check if Google has indexed your site: a site: search typed into Google, and the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. How to read each.
• How long does it take a new website to show up on Google?A new site often appears for its own name within days to a few weeks; service searches take longer. What affects the wait and how to help Google find you.
• How Google finds a new websiteGoogle finds a new website by following links to it, reading its sitemap and being told about it in Search Console. How each works, and why it takes patience.
• Google's helpful content guidance for business websitesWhat Google means by people-first content, the questions it asks site owners to consider, and what that looks like on a small business website.
• Google search results for your own business nameWhat a healthy search for your business name looks like, how to check it properly, and how to fix wrong hours, old addresses and odd listings.
• Google Search Console for small business ownersSearch Console is Google's free tool showing how your site appears in search. How to set it up, the four reports worth reading, and what to ignore.
• Google reviews: asking customers the right wayWhen to ask for a Google review, how to get the direct review link, what to say, and the rewards and shortcuts that break Google's rules.
• Google posts, photos and updates on your profileWhich Google Business Profile posts, photos and updates are worth an owner's time, how to add them from your phone, and what you can skip.
• Google penalties: what they are and how rare they areWhat a real Google penalty (manual action) is, how to check in Search Console whether you have one, and why most drops in visits have other causes.
• Google Maps and your business: getting the pin rightHow to check where Google Maps puts your business pin, move it to your real front door, fix directions that go wrong, and match your website's map.
• Google Business Profile and your website: how they work togetherYour Google profile sends people to your website, and your website confirms what the profile says. How to make the two support each other.
• Google Analytics for small business: do you need it?What Google Analytics shows a small business owner, what it costs in time and privacy, and the simpler free tools that answer most owners' questions.
• Google Ads vs showing up for free: an owner's comparisonHow Google Ads, Local Services Ads and free listings compare on cost, speed and control for a small business, and the settings that waste money.
• Getting your Google Business Profile back from an old agencyStep by step - asking the agency first, using Google's request access form if they ignore you, proving it is your business, and locking it down after.
• Fake reviews: why buying reviews backfiresBuying Google reviews breaks Google's policies and the FTC's rule on fake reviews. What happens when you get caught, and the honest ways to get more reviews.
• Duplicate content on small business websitesWhat duplicate content really is, why copied town pages and pasted manufacturer text cause trouble, and how to fix each kind on a small site.
• Do you need a blog to show up on Google?Most local businesses do not need a blog to be found on Google. What matters more, when a blog does help, and how to run one without it becoming a chore.
• Directory listings: Yelp, BBB, Angi and your websiteWhich business directories are worth your time, which ones to skip, and how to keep your name, address and phone the same on every listing and your website.
• Counting website enquiries: the number that mattersThe simplest useful way to track website leads: count calls, forms and emails each week, ask every new customer how they found you, and keep it in one sheet.
• Citations explained: your business listed around the webA citation is any listing of your business name, address and phone on another site. Which ones matter, how to find wrong ones, and how to clean them up.
• Changing your domain name without losing GoogleHow to move to a new domain while keeping what your old one earned - page-by-page forwarding, Search Console's change of address, and listings.
• Changing your business name on Google and your websiteHow to rebrand without losing customers: updating your Google profile name, your website, your domain and email, and letting people know who you used to be.
• Broken links on your website and how to find themFree ways to find broken links on a small business website, from Search Console's not-found list to a simple click-through, and how to fix each kind.
• Apple Maps and your business listingHow to claim your business on Apple Business Connect so Apple Maps and Siri show the right hours, phone, photos and website to iPhone users.
• AI answers in Google search and small businessesWhat Google's AI Overviews are, what changed for local businesses, what did not, and the plain facts your website and listing should state clearly.
• Adding your website to your Google Business ProfileStep by step: where to click to add or change the website link on your Google Business Profile, which page to link, and how to check it saved.