I have a small company named after my last name, which is also unique (I am the last descendant of my very small family). When I google the name I get results from company directory listings instead of my website.
Is there any way to bump my website to the top of google searches?
Yes. You pay Google.
How?
I don’t know, but a small company I worked for in 2002, or so, did just that; they paid Google to have our company name come up on top when a specific technology search was performed.
Why do you want your company to be top result for a search by name? How likely is it that people will try to google your company by name? (as opposed to finding you by a search for whatever service you provide).
The thing you’re looking for is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but a lot ‘SEO agent’ services will take your money and deliver nothing, or will use unethical practices to deliver an effect that looks better in a short term, but worse than nothing in the longer term.
What service does your company provide? If it’s something fairly unique and interesting, you could just start your own blog about it and try to get interested other bloggers to link/write on it too.
Here’s a starting point.
Other than the likelihood that buying Google ads pushes you up the rankings, it’s called SEO - search engine optimization - and be forewarned that 95% of it is bullshit and voodoo.
You start by making sure your site conforms to search requirements and then load in keywords and content in certain ways. It’s then a matter of getting as many cross-links with other sites and so forth. Those are the legitimate, “white hat” methods and the only ones that work.
When you get into “black hat” techniques, it’s trying to outguess, fool or bypass Google’s algorithms and while certain tactics work, Google will detect some and they will backfire - you will go down in search rankings or even be blacklisted. Trying to cram your pages with hidden keywords is one bad technique. Using any kind of spam or bogus posting scheme to up your link count is another. Hiring alley firms in Korea or Poland to pump your visits and links is expensive and iffy.
The only proven way is to (1) optimize your site structure and code; (2) use Google’s webmaster tools to enter as much back-channel information as you can; (3) try to get as many “organic” cross-listings and hits as possible; and (4) wait. Buying some Google Ads with a budget of $50-500 a month can help, both “organically” - driving interested traffic to your site - and probably “FOAFily” as Google likes money.
I would invest $10 in an SEO book and not pay anyone, anywhere another dime for it. Most SEO firms might as well be offering Psychic Readings and stock tips, if not wet work.
I suspect you mean that they bought Google Ads. You can set up your ad to come up (on the right) when any keyword combination you specify is searched; they later added a more expensive option to have it appear at the top of the main search list. The cost is by bids per impression and click-through. If you are the only supplier of left-threaded plastic ball bearings, you can bid very low amounts - pennies - and if you’re trying to compete in hot market segments, you can bid $10-100 or more and not be assured of frequent impressions.
“They” say (sorry, that’s the only site I have) that Google rankings are largely based on how many *other *pages point to *your *page. So spread around your links everywhere you can. For instance, put a link to your site in your signature, and then post a lot on websites that allow signatures. Have all your relatives/friends/employees do the same.
I don’t know it it will work, but it’s free. I’ve done it and it (anecdotally) seems to help.
PS - I’ve tried the Google Ad thing, too. My own sales statistics show that it didn’t up sales by a dime. It may or may not have driven traffic to my site, but certainly not *buying *traffic.
“FOAFily?”
Dog80, the best advice I can give you is to read Amateur Barbarian’s posts very carefully, then read them again.
They say everything I say to my clients, who sadly fail to believe me :mad:
Agreed that this is free and unlikely to do any harm, so is worth doing. But my understanding is that to be truly effective, the inbound links need to be from sites that have a high ranking themselves.
Amateur Barbarian may have some input on that?
<fx exaggerated oriental bow /fx>
The SEO firms are so good at self-promotion and BS that when you tell a new client anything like “it’s mostly voodoo” they end the meeting. And, honestly, I’m usually happy to leave. The ones that listen for the subsequent five minutes usually end up happy with what I do for them… partly because it’s a fraction of the cost of Industrial SEOing.
Does your company have a Wikipedia page? That could help, no?
In general, Google keeps everything about its algorithms highly secret and at least nominally “fair and honest,” which is why there’s an entire industry in trying to game them. They have made two or three major revisions of the process and (again, in general) their aim has been to emphasize quality and “organicness” of links and clicks over sheer quantity, which had a greater effect in the earlier days.
And to drive participants to the pay end of their services, but that’s neither here, there nor on the first page of search returns.
Completely agree on every point.
One of the best ways to improve your ‘organic’ traffic is to offer fresh content that people will find useful, interesting or fun - this can be really simple, like a review of products relevant to your market sector, or an editorial type blog talking about developments and news in your industry, or (if you have the talent and imagination for it) a series of wacky videos that people want to watch without realising they’re burning your brand into their brains (best example of the latter I can think of is Will It Blend)
Content, content, content. Even if your service is the same from one day to the next, you can suck in a lot of traffic by serving up fresh, regular content of some kind.
You can buy keyword placements from Google, and you’d buy the keyword of your company name. When you search for something like “clothing”, you’ll see a yellow box at the top of the results-- that box is an ad placed by whatever company bid the most money for the word “clothing” (and considering geolocation, language, and other targeting factors.)
If you do any advertising, ask your agency about it.
Other than that, you can “naturally” bubble-up to the top of Google, but it takes time. Guidelines here are:
Don’t do anything sleazy to influence your rank (like: hiring a spammer to post it all over various forums). It might work in the short run, but the instant Google discovers it (and they will, sooner or later), you’ll shoot straight to the bottom and stay there.
Make sure your website is up-to-snuff, for example, make sure all your images have “alt” tags, make sure any text content Google would like to index isn’t hidden in JavaScript, make sure all your links are working and there’s no 404s, etc.
Sign up for Google Webmaster Tools, and participate in all of them. Particularly important for search ranking is creating a site map.
Be patient. One of the factors determining placement is how long the site has existed at its current location, and how stable it is. It takes years for relatively common keywords; it sounds like you have a pretty unique one so it should go more quickly for you.
Against Wikipedia rules. You can try creating one, but don’t be surprised when Wikipedia deletes it.
What rule? I just looked the Wikipedia pages for 3 or 4 companies I used to work for.
Notability. Not every small company rates the space. There has to be value beyond promotion and yellow-pages content.