Getting your website to the top of Google?

[Jon Grainger]

Hi guys

If you're bored, type into Google, 'window cleaner Norwich', and see how many pages it takes to find my website jgwindowcleaning.com.

I'm about tenth in the list on the map section, with one review.

I reckon I'm missing out on a lot of work because of this, and no doubt the illusive big commercial jobs that I've been pestering for, for the last year!

So what advice so you have for getting near the top of a search engine?

I have all my own pictures, not any stolen from other sites, I list my areas cleaned on every page, and a good amount of text, all things I have read are important.

What do you recommend?

 

[Dan Paton]

Where do I start?? Did you build the site yourself or get a company to do it? The whole site basically has no keywords. Every page is wrongly titled... IE. Your home page is titled Jon Granger window cleaning so that is exactly what google is indexing you for. I could go on all night with other things but it would only confuse you( I don't mean that to offend in any way). PM me if you need any more advice on the matter. Oh and Jon I couldn't find you on google and I stopped at page 11.

 

[MrBump]

Whats wrong with that page title? Seems pretty straightforward to me. What would you recommend it was instead then?

 

[Dan Paton]

Whats wrong with that page title? Seems pretty straightforward to me. What would you recommend it was instead then?

Google indexes pages MrBump. How do they know what the pages are about before they crawl them ? The title. If your page title is Jimmy Smith window cleaning/Home then that's what you'll be indexed for.

One photo is Jon's title and the next photo is the titles of the highest two organically ranking companies in Norwich(the bits in purple). Spot the difference. There's far far more to it as well but that's just the first thing I noticed. View attachment 5113

View attachment 5112

 

[Dodger]

So much and that's without even looking at site. Number one doing a search for window cleaner when you called the site window cleaning isn't going to work as well as you hoped. It's not just about the title either, EVERYTHING has to be optimised for that search term. Get a professional or read a lot

 

[Dodger]

And .com wasn't a great idea either better to buy .co.uk or .uk

 

[Jon Grainger]

Thanks for the comments, especially @Dan Paton who sent me PM with some ideas.

@Dodger, I tried mate, but all the suitable .co.uk options were taken.

Spent the last hour redoing the website as per your advice. Keep it coming please, need to get this up there /emoticons/wink.png

Regards

Jon

 

[Dodger]

Think about yourtownwindowcleaning.uk which for goggle etc is even better or yourtowncleaning if you do lots of services. Something along those lines anyway. Get a Google + account set up and a make sure you sort a local page with that they at top of page one so an essential.

 

[boarcity]

think id add a few images of mr. grainger onto your website Jon , he who was in "are u being served" this will appeal to the older set

AND you can even pretend he was your dad ! practice a few of his lines / or john inman , he can be your godfather, try it View attachment 5115

 

[MrBump]

Sorry Dan, clearly I'm a moron but even looking at the photo I can't see whats wrong. I guess he could get rid of the "home" bit. Other than that he's got a google+ page, his address and the fact it says window cleaning in the title makes it pretty clear for any users. I can make a website and understand about keyword repetition and so on, but by no means an expert. But all seems fine to me.

And personally I prefer .com, easier to say that .co.uk and I personally think looks better and instantly recognisable. I get that customers see .co.uk and see its local, but if they've already searched for theirtown window cleaning, it should be pretty obvious .com or .co.uk you would hope.

 

[Dodger]

I also prefer the look and sound of .com Google bots on the other hand understands that .co.uk or .uk are actually in the UK not just about anywhere in the world so that's the reason for that. Optimising a website isn't about what the customer sees when they land on the page it's about what Google etc sees so they can direct that customer to that page.

Optimising a page or whole site for cleaning won't work as well if people are searching for cleaner, it will work but not as well and most average Joe's will search for a window cleaner not a window cleaning service.

 

[Dodger]

Saying all that I have built sites that dont mention an area or window cleaning in the domain and they still rape page one. It's about lots of things mainly good original and regular new content including a good blog.

 

[Dan Paton]

MrBump. Imagine someone types in window cleaning Norwich. Google then in a nanosecond decides which pages to crawl by the title of the page (the purple part saying window cleaning in norwich). Then in another nanosecond gives you the user a list after crawling the actual pages and all your off page SEO too. Backlinks, social media etc. So if your page is named Jimmy Smith window cleaning then you wont show up for that search at all. BUT google are also good at changing their minds so that is not always the case but mostly it is.

I also agree with Dodger's comment about ranking high with next to nothing SEO wise. SEO is down to how good your competition is. Google will rank the site with the best SEO. So if you happen to be in an area where your competitions SEO sucks then you will rank high even with a poorly optimised site. I have a fair few carpet cleaning sites like this.

 

[Dan Paton]

Dodger Google stopped giving preference to domain names with the town name in ages ago. You still get a tiny bit of Google juice but not much although it is good for user experience as it might be what they typed into Google in the first place and they'll click on what they've typed.

 

[Dodger]

Lol I only meant the domain isn't optimised , the sites themselves are, up to the gonads. But yeah absolutely right.

I've also done sites that haven't changed in 3 years (against my advice) that are top of the Google local listings on page one and get lots of work just from that which is why I always say make sure you are on g+

 

[Dan Paton]

Think about yourtownwindowcleaning.uk which for goggle etc is even better

Sorry Dodger but I meant your earlier comment

 

[MrBump]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Things are obvious after being pointed out aren't they /emoticons/wink.png I stsre and stare but nothing, neve could get those magic eye posters /emoticons/biggrin.png

I get that most people will search for window cleaner rather than cleaning, but both of the two example sites have cleaning too that threw me lol. Norwich in the title rather than content, missed that bit. SEO is a funny thing, there's all these 'rules' and recommendations, then google does what it wants and chops and changes all the time moving the goalposts.

Sounds like you can do everything or nothing and still get page 1, the second choice sounds easier :rofl:

 

[Dodger]

No offence taken or anything mate, on the domain I know but ya know what Tesco say.

 

[MrBump]

Don't pay the milk farmers and swap the beef for horsemeat? /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Jake]

Forget page one, you need to be top of page 1, I used to be on page 1 and got a few enquiries here and there, then when I got to top spot, boom! Enquiries started flooding in, people almost always click the top ranking site...

Get a good professional to help you achieve it

 

[Jon Grainger]

Who would you recommend? @Jake