Make sure you’re indexed by Google Whether you’re a newbie or an expert in search engine optimization (SEO), Google changes so often that it can be overwhelming to keep up with. That can be pretty frustrating since businesses of any size need to get people to their sites in order to really grow in our web-driven culture. Thankfully, here are 4 tips to improve Google indexing that are tried-and-true methods for improving your position in Google’s index and optimizing your site's ranking Go to Google.com and search ‘site:’ with your website domain listed after the colon (example: ‘site:acme.com’). If you don’t see any results from your page listed, that means Google hasn’t added your site to its search results yet. Although some advisers recommend filling out a request form that Google offers, there is a much faster way to get recognized by the search giant. Google is constantly scanning web pages for updates in content to include in their search results. When they see a link to an external site on one of their already indexed pages, Google will add that link to the queue of new sites to be scanned and indexed. If you can get your domain name linked on a popular or trusted page, you’ll start seeing your page in the search results in no time. Go out and get more links The more links to your site from external pages, the higher you climb in the search results. Other than getting affiliate businesses to link you on their pages, consider managing a blog or RSS feed. ... [Read More]
HTTPS Matters More than Ever for Your Website
HTTPS usage on the web has taken off mainly due to Google and their Chrome web browser. HTTPS has now become a requirement for many new browser features, and Chrome is dedicated to making it as easy as possible to set up HTTPS. Let's take a look at how. For several years, Google has moved toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that sites adopt the Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) encryption. And last year, Google began marking some HyperText Transfer Protocol(HTTP) pages as “not secure” to help users comprehend risks of unencrypted websites. Beginning in July 2018 with the release of a Chrome update, Google's browser will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure.” Chrome's move was mostly brought on by increased HTTPS adoption. Eighty-one of the top 100 sites on the web default to HTTPS, and the majority of Chrome traffic is already encrypted. Here's how the transition to security has progressed, so far: Over 68% of Chrome traffic on both Android and Windows is now protected Over 78% of Chrome traffic on both Chrome OS and Mac is now protected 81 of the top 100 sites on the web use HTTPS by default HTTPS: The benefits and difference What's the difference between HTTP and HTTPS? With HTTP, information you type into a website is transmitted to the site's owner with almost zero protection along the journey. Essentially, HTTP can establish basic web connections, but not much else. When security is a must, HTTPS sends and receives ... [Read More]