Why Google Visibility Matters: 6 Steps to Rank Higher

Many people look for products, services, and answers on Google. If your site does not appear there, those people will not see it. Google remains the most used search engine, and no rival platform reaches the same global audience.

If a global audience is what you need, many point to social media. However, most users do not open Instagram or Facebook to locate a plumber, buy shoes, or check store hours. This also may not lead a new customer anywhere to actually booking you.

Some have recommended things like link-in-bio tools, and some are touted as replacements for every tool imaginable, but this too only shortens the path to the penultimate goal of guiding a visitor somewhere else.

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If you’re not in Google’s bank of links, you’re effectively invisible. Without solid trust from Google, your entry sinks below thousands of others. There is a basic process that moves your content into Google’s all-seeing eyes.

Discover: Google finds your website through a link from another site, a sitemap you’ve submitted, or sometimes by guessing URLs exist.

Crawl: Once Google is aware of your presence, Google will begin to crawl your website for its content.

Index: Google is like a library; your website gets put into a long yellow pages-like directory of information.

Rank: Finally, Google decides how your page compares to others when someone searches for something relevant.

Ranking a website has the most factors in it, and it’s what some brands struggle with, as the index is a vast sea of similar content. For example, Google will look at how much authority your website has. Links that point to you on other websites (these are called backlinks) help Google understand your authority on a topic.

Rank is also based on your website performance. Slow websites are ranked higher much less frequently compared to modern, fast, and high-quality websites. The higher quality your site is, the higher rank you will achieve. For the most part, it doesn’t matter what CMS or builder you use as long as it’s not Weebly, I mean, outdated or not meant to be indexed.

I have covered this in more detail by comprising a basic framework of the initial steps you need to get a good search presence.

Prerequisites

Your website should be operational (so you must be out of testing and remove any passwords on your content). If you’re on a slow website host, it will be worse for your ranking. You must use a premium host.

Make sure “Discourage search engines” is disabled in your content management system (CMS), such as WordPress.

Sometimes you can accidentally prevent a website from being indexed. Use PageSpeed and see if your site is rated less under SEO for blocking robots.

This is the bare minimum; if any of these things are not configured correctly, then your site will have no Google visibility.

Step 1: Submit your site to Google

Although Google can find your website on its own, you should submit it to them so they can guide it in the proper direction. You might then think about publishing your website on other websites, such as Bing.

How to submit your website:

Click “Start Now” in Google Search Console, then add your domain (ideally using the Domain option).

Verify your ownership of the website; sometimes this can be done with where you registered your domain; other times, your website builder/SEO plugin will include an option to import their special code.

Enter the URL of your XML sitemap (this is often yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) after selecting “Sitemaps” in the left sidebar. Enter in other sitemaps if your plugin or builder has any others.

The majority of CMS systems include a sitemap, and other systems typically follow suit, though occasionally they do not. Static site generators, for instance, could require further work.

Step 2: Set up the website SEO basics

Google needs to know what your site is about, not just from what it crawls but from what it sees when it crawls.

These are the foundational on-page elements that help Google understand each page:

• Title tags: Each page requires a distinctive, pertinent title (but it has to be less than 60 characters).
• Meta descriptions: Provide a good description encapsulating the content without spoiling the entire article.
• Keywords: Integrate what you are organically in headings, the introduction, and throughout the text.
• Image alt text: Use straightforward language to describe images to enhance indexing and accessibility.
• Internal linking: Connect to relevant pages on your own website to assist Google in finding more.

For best accessibility, do not spam your content with excessive keywording, as it would be difficult to read. Another general thing is to not use bad alt text that doesn’t actually describe anything in the image (the key is to naturally integrate the keywords) or too many images.

Duplicate or missing meta descriptions and title tags are common issues.

Clean these up for better visibility. Some CMS systems lack this functionality by default. Using a WordPress plugin like Rank Math will help you set an individual title tag and meta description for each page.

Step 3: Optimize site speed

Google ranks mobile versions of sites first. If yours is slow or challenging to use on a phone, you’ll struggle to appear high in results, as a large majority of internet viewers use their phones.

Site speed is the most variable part of the whole process. While some systems work for one, they may not work with others. No plug-and-play infrastructure is going to instantly improve website speed.

However, there are some general things you should do that drastically increase your speed.

• Enable caching. If you use a CMS like WordPress, you’ll find many great free and paid plugins that will help.
• Minifying CSS, Javascript, and even HTML (the standard files making up a website) can help. Instead of a browser reading long lines of code, minifying reduces it to just one. Usually increasing performance. Most WordPress plugins can do this automatically.
• Swap fonts, as this will help you get a great performance boost, as now your site doesn’t have to wait for the proper font to load and will simply use a system one before loading the correct one. (This can be done by adding display: swap to your @font-face rule with things like fonts.)
• Use a CDN. You may benefit from Cloudflare, as it’s the easiest to work with while also including a premium authoritative DNS provider. Which can be crucial for lowering the time it takes for your website’s initial connection to your clients. Sometimes your hosting provider already includes a CDN with your plan; be sure to check in with them to see what they offer.

Make sure to test your website weekly. Even the most minor of changes you make can have an impact on the final results. When testing, check your site speed with PageSpeed Insights and follow the suggestions by changing your plugin’s settings. Contact support for your plugin/builder or follow tutorials if you get lost.

If your pages load in 1–2 seconds on desktop and mobile phone, you already are well optimized. Test it in the real world and ask friends or family to visit your site; diagnose any encountered problems from there.

Step 4: Build backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to yours, and Google treats them like “votes of confidence,” if that makes sense.

• Submit to regional and specialized directories (such as Yelp and Clutch). Post on Reddit or Twitter/X with something interesting to share.
• Compose guest posts with a backlink to your website.
• Work together with affiliates or partners and request links.
• Make infographics and other visually appealing information that people will want to share.

Prioritize relevancy above volume. A small number of high-quality backlinks are preferable to numerous spammy ones. Spread the word about your website to your city’s friends, and don’t be afraid to ask them to endorse it on their own blog or Instagram profile.

Step 5: Take advantage of structured data

Structured data helps Google understand your content and can earn you rich results in search, like star ratings, product details, or FAQs. Some benefits of this data include:

Showing FAQs in search results. Use it by adding markup to question-and-answer sections to appear in expandable results.

Showing products in search results. Highlight pricing, availability, and reviews to stand out in e-commerce listings.

Adding context to articles/blogs by showing author name, publish date, and headline clearly in search results.

Google has many tricks up its sleeves, so this won’t instantly have a “traffic-doubling” effect on your websites right from the start, but it will improve your website's look on search results when done correctly.

Step 6: Monitor your progress

Like with other aspects of website management, there are many moving parts, and the entire ecosystem evolves.

Regularly check Google Search Console’s Coverage and Page Indexing reports to stay on top of issues.

Use Google Search Console to track:

• Pages that are indexed
• Keywords you’re ranking for
• Impressions, clicks, and CTR (click-through rate)
• Crawl errors or mobile issues
• Pair it with Google Analytics to understand visitor behavior: time on page, bounce rate, traffic sources, etc. This is a default integration of the search console, but you are welcome to use another analytics if you prefer it (and for privacy, it’s better to try not to)

Even if you’ve done everything else right, a few hidden issues can harm your site’s visibility:

• Noindex tags
• Duplicate content
• Thin content (not enough value by having less than ~300 words)
• Broken internal links or 404 errors.

This is why it is important to monitor the search console.

These suggestions help you improve your content and SEO approach over time, even if it’s not always a winning endeavor.

Sound hard?

That’s because it can be without help. Having a consistent brand takes dedication that can be difficult to do while you are busy with your current work. Take the guessing out of the equation and work with me to see what we can do together.