{"id":980,"date":"2021-03-30T14:36:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T21:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torawriting.com\/sandbox\/?p=980"},"modified":"2021-04-06T09:50:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:50:01","slug":"i-do-not-want-to-please-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torawriting.com\/sandbox\/i-do-not-want-to-please-google\/","title":{"rendered":"My Desire to Please Google Decreases the More I Learn About How to Please Google"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I love Google. Absolutely, no doubt, when looking for an answer, I start with Google. However, if I want to be the answer Google gives to other people (thus, I please Google), I\u2019m not so much of a fan. Good thing having Google find me is not high on my priority list.<\/p>\n

There seems to be two ways to earn a page one rank on Google: pay a lot of money or do a lot of work. As a business of one, I\u2019d rather do a lot of work for my clients than for SEO; additionally \u2013 as a business of one \u2013 I can think of much better ways to spend my limited funds.<\/p>\n

Why Care<\/h2>\n

Google wants to provide relevant and accurate answers. They are even pretty good at it \u2013 why I love them. However, with the MASSIVE amounts of information on the web, finding relevant and accurate is not as easy as it sounds.<\/p>\n

So, for those who really want to be found online, to be the answer Google provides, they need to stand out from the rest of the noise.<\/p>\n

What Google Needs<\/h2>\n

\u201cRelevant\u201d for Google depends heavily on location. If someone already knows the name of the business they are looking for, they are probably not doing a search. Or they\u2019re only searching to find out if the company\u2019s site is a .com, .net, or dot something else.<\/p>\n

Nope, people tend to search for a type of business and they generally want that business to be near their location. In that search, what does Google provide? First, the paid advertisements. Luckily, those entries have an \u201cAd\u201d note (personally, I keep scrolling). Next comes the listing of sites that use the search term entered and meet the location requirements.<\/p>\n

Address<\/h3>\n
\"Location
Publish address for more Google credit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, how does Google know if a site meets the location requirements? Well, first off, if the business has a Google My Business account, they\u2019ve provided a location. Now, here\u2019s an annoying thing, Google gives preference to a verified brick and mortar address over a service area (hidden address).<\/p>\n

And this is complaint number one.<\/strong> I work from home. Just because I know it\u2019s easy to find an address online these days, doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m making my work location public.<\/p>\n

Local Articles<\/h3>\n

Complaint number two<\/strong>: just having a local address doesn\u2019t make you as relevant as you might think. You become more relevant the more posts you have that talk about the region. And just creating a post that names your location over and over will not cut it. (People used to do that, Google got smarter.) Instead, you need a variety of pages\/posts that logically mention the region you want to be associated with.<\/p>\n

Keywords & Structure<\/h3>\n

Keywords, or search terms, should make more sense. The problem is that how a person may define their business can be different from how a client may define what they need.<\/strong> In this case, restaurants have it easy. Look for Italian restaurants in any city, and you\u2019re going to get Italian restaurants, or articles on Italian restaurants, or reviews of Italian restaurants. A speech therapist, however, is not going to be on page one.<\/p>\n

\"SEOA speech therapist is going to have a long list of keywords and will probably still be confused with a speech coach, speech writer, or someone who speaks to the dead.<\/p>\n

Even if you know what words to use, you need to arrange them properly; and my writing soul has real problems with that.<\/p>\n