Unlocking the Power of SEO for Solicitors: Boost Your Law Firm Online Presence

23, Apr 2023 | SEO

Legal services is a hugely competitive industry sector and for those carrying out an online search for legal services, there is a myriad of search results options presented. When it comes to gaining competitive organic search traffic advantage online, solicitors must invest their efforts effectively into shaping their online presence in order to rank well.

SEO for solicitors and law firms doesn’t necessarily differ hugely compared to that of businesses in other sectors, but there are specific actions that can be taken to benefit law firms Search Engine Optimisation practices and boost how they present digitally – to both existing and potential clients.

The Basics of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation and refers to the practice of developing and optimising websites in order to meet the needs of search engines so that they’re able to best understand and ‘read’ them, to rank them appropriately in search results when users carry out an online search for something related to their products or services.

Search engines use algorithm programming that weights factors it gleans from websites to decide how and where to rank them on SERPs (Search Engines Results Pages). While the exact method of calculation is confidential, it is widely based upon:

- The perceived positioning of a website within its industry space and its relevancy
- The perceived authenticity of the brand
- The user experience (UX) of the website.

While there are a whole host of other search engines, the practice of search engine optimisation is widely referred to as meeting the Google search algorithm, as this is by far the most used search engine worldwide: frequently attracting 90%+ of all search engines traffic!

How does SEO for Solicitors Differ to that For Other Business Sectors?

There are basic Search Engine Optimisation practices that all businesses with an online presence should adhere to, but law firms do need to make some additional considerations that many of those in other industries do not.

These include:

Maintaining an air of professionalism through all website content and design that conveys the serious messaging and prestige consumers look for in a legal website, whether for personal injury, family law, or other legal expertise.
Ensuring contact details are easily found on every law firm website page so that potential clients are able to make direct contact or ‘convert’ as soon as possible, thereby generating leads.
The inclusion of set legally mandated and binding text and disclaimers in relevant website content, as required by the legal industry specific areas of practice.
The inclusion of up-to-date relevant content at all times in order to ensure any disclosed information is correct even as the law shifts and changes.

This means that where organisations in some sectors may be able to update their website and just leave it ‘as is’ for long periods of time, a law firm website and content does require a more involved approach that maintains thorough and continued management.

The Most Important Law Firm Search Engine Optimisation Ranking Factors

While the algorithms behind search engines are updated all of the time, there are still a number of factors that contribute heavily toward positive search engine results pages rankings. Specifically in SEO for solicitors, these cover three main areas.

Content refers to any content created to engage uses; be it to educate, inform or to encourage conversions. For SEO for law firms, this includes articles and blogs on themes related to their area of legal practice, videos, podcasts and audio files. Where content is relevant to the legal service sector or area of expertise that law firms operate in, it will contribute toward the appropriate ranking of a law firm’s website as well as encourages sharing, and assert brand perception.

Backlinks and off-page citations are links to or mentions of a domain that influence how a search engine perceives its authenticity online. The impression, credibility and authority that a law firm holds is reinforced through third party references toward them. When it comes to the contribution this makes for law firm SEO, it should be noted that authenticity is key: the likes of random directories and low-grade websites linking to them will not help to bolster such authority.

Overall UX (User Experience) is now a major factor for Google rankings; taking into account the positive experience of using a website rather than just the content within it. Such components of a site include security protocol, page loading speeds, site structure, title tags, engagement metrics and the ease of navigation,

It is critical, therefore, that those providing SEO for solicitors and law firms have a comprehensive understanding of best practices, and are able to provide an all-encompassing SEO service covering all bases in their SEO strategy.

Asserting a Positive Online Reputation Through SEO

An essential part of SEO for solicitors is the assertion of a positive reputation online – as it’s well known that any negative perceptions are easily created and shared, and can spread rapidly even if not entirely accurate.

Law firms must ensure that their presence is as professional as the rest of their practice and that no standards are compromised. This requires the thorough and expert management of not just Search Engine Optimization efforts, but all online presence – through social media, webmaster management, digital PR and communications.

Local SEO for Solicitors

Where law firms practice in a set geographical location or have a bricks-and-mortar office for which they wish to attract custom, local SEO can prove hugely beneficial for organic search results.

Google Business Profile provides additional search engine rankings opportunities for ‘local’ businesses that stipulate their location online and so allows for specifically targeted ranking. This includes their presence on Google Maps, the ability to list contact details, photos, and for Google users to leave service reviews. Where users are searching for a law firm in a certain location or are browsing businesses in an area, they will be able to see a whole host of additional information that usually otherwise wouldn’t be presented without clicking through to a website.

While survey results differ, some businesses focused on servicing specific locales report that Google Business Profile provides up to 25% of their total business, and a great deal more of their overall organic traffic. Local SEO services provide further competitive advantage with an enhanced Search Engine Results Pages presence for free: proving great value.

Where To Start with SEO for Solicitors

Law firm SEO should be managed by a specialist SEO company who is able to not just provide a comprehensive and all-inclusive service, but also able to adapt search engine rankings efforts and SEO tactics continuously in order to meet the shifting needs of algorithms and the changing best practices along with them.

Woya Digital are experts in law firm SEO, driven by a specialist, expert SEO team working to constantly remain at the forefront of the changing SEO landscape.

With experience spanning businesses in all industries, we are experienced in working with a variety of law firms and are fantastically placed to meet the needs of practices operating within the sphere of law and justice. Contact us to discuss what an organic SEO campaign for your business would look like, and begin with a free SEO audit.

The Importance of Internal Linking for SEO

17, Mar 2023 | SEO

There are countless factors of importance that contribute toward a website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) performance and SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) rankings, and one is internal linking within a site.

Given that there are now so many aspects of SEO for marketers to manage, anything that doesn’t reach off-site can be under-estimated and left unconsidered: but internal linking for SEO should not be overlooked and here we explain why.

What is Internal Linking?

An internal link is any link from one page to another within the same website or domain. Users of a website use these links to navigate around the content on the site and to find the content they want, and (hopefully) take a desired ‘conversion’ action. Internal linking for SEO refers not just to the easy navigation of a website for its users, but also for the navigation of search engine crawlers around the domain to determine its content, appropriate audience, authenticity and usefulness.

How Internal Linking For SEO Fits in With Other Aspects of SEO

Internal linking is not a direct SEO contributor in the way that keyword usage or mobile responsiveness is. It does, however, act as an indirect contributor. Internal linking around a website connects content and helps the ‘crawlers’ of search engines build a contextual map in order to rank it appropriately.

While external linking may demonstrate authenticity and trustworthiness to search engines from external sources, internal linking helps it then decide how to rank its content: creating a hierarchy by providing more important, content-heavy and most-visited pages more link equity than those that aren’t frequented or found to be useful. As a result, the more internal links to a page establish higher potential for good SEO ranking performance.

Why is Internal Linking for SEO Important?

Google and other search engines may be able to read your webpage as it stands alone, but there is only so much information that can be gleaned from a single page. Internal linking allows search engines to better comprehend not just the topic but also the value of a website, by maximising the content to be analysed. Internal linking allows search engines an indication of which pages are most important, and so help best present websites on SERPs in the most effective manner.

Internal linking is also positive for UX (User Experience) as it allows users to navigate and identify useful content, engaging users for as long as possible on the site and ensuring they’re able to access as much information as they need to before leaving.

Both benefits of internal linking are important, but it is critical that webmasters and marketers balance the two.

How do Internal Links impact on Bounce Rates?

The Bounce Rate of a website or page is the amount of users, usually expressed in a percentage, that arrive on a domain and then leave the domain to ‘bounce’ elsewhere: either to head back to a search engine, to visit somewhere else online, or to close the browser entirely. Bounce Rates vary hugely across industries and page types, but generally speaking, a lower Bounce Rate is better than a high one as it indicates the content within a page is engaging, valuable and relevant to the audience.

Internal linking for SEO or just for navigational purposes helps lower a website’s Bounce Rate and increasing the average overall time on-site as it encourages users to spend longer on the domain and ensures they needn’t immediately click elsewhere for information. This can help organisation’s websites gain competitive advantage above others and better their conversion rates.

How is Internal Linking Positive for UX?

Without internal linking throughout a website, users will only access the information or content on the page which they’re on and will be unable to take any further actions. This will inevitably result in them having to leave the site and search elsewhere for whatever it is they’re looking for if not immediately found; unless it is somehow addressed on the single page.

Internal linking for SEO promotes a good UX: keeping users on the domain for longer, presenting them with links relevant to their interest and encouraging further exploration. All of this demonstrates brand authenticity and trustworthiness, creating an overall positive perception of the website.

Types of Internal Links

There are two main types of internal links within a website.

The first, and almost always present (and certainly almost always required!) links are navigational links. These are those present on the homepage and supplementary webpages and menu that allow users to easily move around the site, accessing the pages they need to.

The second type of internal links are contextual links. These are links embedded within other on-site content, pointing users to other interesting and related content within the site. Contextual links encourage users to work around the website and allow search engines to understand the value of such content. The more contextual links a webpage receives, the higher up the hierarchy and the added importance search engines will add to it.

Both types of internal links are important and both can be considered positive contributors toward both UX and SEO.

Internal Linking Best Practices

Search engine algorithms and best practices shift and change all the time, but there are some that can be followed for internal linking processes.

While there is no definitive limit to how many links should be included on any one webpage, Google has indicated that its crawlers have the ability to read hundreds of links per page. However, a balance must be drawn here between ability and functionality. While it may be considered beneficial for search engines to have hundreds of links to move between and read, this is likely to result in a poor UX through the likelihood of incorrectly or mistakenly clicking links and the interruption of content.

It is best practice for webmasters and marketers to review their internal linking regularly in order to ensure they are not missing any obvious opportunities that could prove beneficial for users. This includes a scan of content that may be appropriate for related topic linking and the inclusion of descriptive and appropriate anchor text.

Where to Begin with Improving Internal Linking for SEO

Businesses should begin their internal linking and SEO practices with a full website audit to ascertain a current position and to assert the best areas for improvement and work moving forward.

Specialist SEO experts such as Woya Digital are able to offer full service packages that help better internal linking for SEO and best practice, as well as ensuring these processes line up with other aspects of SEO to rank higher, reach the right audience/s and gain competitive advantage above competitors.

What Is Your Website Bounce Rate Telling You?

8, Feb 2023 | SEO

SEO can seem a minefield, with a myriad of acronyms, jargon and industry terms to navigate and ever-changing goalposts of algorithm preferences, best practice protocols and software tools.

One such term amongst the many is ‘website bounce rate’. Let’s explain what it means, how important it is, and how it can be improved to boost overall SEO performance.

What is a Website Bounce Rate?

A website bounce rate is a statistic usually expressed in a percentage, and refers to the amount of users who arrive on a web page and then leave the site altogether without navigating through to another page, or taking an action on page.

Also known as a ‘single page session’, it gives an indication of the prevalence of those visiting a page, not taking any other action on the website, and leaving. This is considered a sign of the effectiveness of any given webpage on a site as, unless the desired effect for a page is solely to be read and then abandoned, its purpose is not being properly fulfilled.

What is Considered a Good Website Bounce Rate?

Website bounce rates vary hugely between industries and site types and so a perceived ‘good’ or ‘bad’ rate can be difficult to ascertain. The average website bounce rate online varies hugely, and so it’s near impossible to set a goal for a business’ online presence without some solid market research.

Website bounce rates also vary dependent on the device users are accessing the site from. Mobile devices result in an average bounce rate of 51% across all industries simply due to the brief nature of their typical usage, whereas tablets sit at around the 45% mark and desktop computers nearer 43%.

This means that it’s critical for businesses to take device usage into account, as they are more likely to have a higher website bounce rate if the majority of their users are using mobile devices. Traffic sources are also sometimes responsible for increasing website bounce rates, with visits originating from social media and paid ads often resulting in less engaged traffic.

It’s near impossible for any website bounce rate to be below 20%, as human behaviour simply can’t be accounted for, and so it’s not advisable for organisations to aim for 0%.

A bounce rate over 70% would, in most industries, be considered negative but is usually fairly easy to decrease as it’s often due to UX (User Experience) issues: such as poor design, excessive bots, browser incompatibility or tracking code errors.

How Website Bounce Rate Interacts with Other Aspects of SEO

There are many aspects to the overall discipline of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and so it’s worth noting that website bounce rate is just one of many factors that contribute to digital activity, presence and performance.

Technically, website bounce rate doesn’t directly influence page ranking – but it is an indirect factor. Higher bounce rates are often indicative of a UX issue that will impact on the overall performance of the site and demonstrates its usefulness to the algorithms of search engines.

How Overall Time-On-Site Affects SEO

Similar to website bounce rates, the time on-site (also known as the dwell time) is the amount of time a user spends on a web page or site before clicking elsewhere. A very low dwell time indicates that the page doesn’t meet the user’s search intent, and a longer dwell time shows genuine engagement. This metric demonstrates to search engines the authenticity, topic and overall usefulness of the website and so longer times are considered bette, but after 30 minutes of inactivity on a site, the session ends to account for untrue inflation due to windows/tabs left open unintentionally.

Website bounce rates and dwell times are different measures but both allow marketers and webmasters to understand user satisfaction and engagement with the content created.

What Bounce Rates Tell Us About a Site/Page

A website’s bounce rate can be considered a reliable informant factor of a page’s perceived value by users. Where a bounce rate is high or conversions aren’t happening where desired, new approaches can be trialled as the existing content obviously isn’t landing correctly with its audience.

One important metric to monitor is bounce rates from content that’s being linked to as a part of a paid campaign, as this can demonstrate the ROI (Return On Investment) on money spend. High bounce rates or low conversions from paid ads indicate a disconnect between the advert and the landing page and may result in wasteful expenditure unless the issue is addressed and resolved.

Website Bounce Rates Should Be Constantly Monitored

People change, attitudes change, online best practices change and website bounce rates change – and this is exactly why bounce rates need to be monitored on a continuous basis and not just as a one-off measurement of website performance.

With the algorithms behind search engines being constantly updated as well as consumer behaviours shifting, it’s not unheard of for bounce rates to ebb and flow, too. A rapidly changed website bounce rate can indicate a sudden website error or issue and so may be the first symptom of a problem that can be rectified swiftly.

Get Support With With Your Website and SEO

If you need to improve your website’s bounce rate or just need to understand where it currently sits and why, a specialist SEO company such as Woya Digital can help you comprehend things – and better your position.

Bounce rates are often easily shifted into more positive territory with a little knowhow, and with the expert team at Woya on-board, you can be sure of a move in the right direction.

What Is The Google Algorithm, and How Does It Work?

12, Dec 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Businesses worldwide are competing to rank highly on Google search and other search engines, and the internet is full of tips for ranking number one on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), SEO tips and tricks and ways to influence the Google search algorithm behind-the-scenes to do better without having to pay for traditional web advertising.

Indeed, much is said about the Google algorithm and how it works, but here we present the facts: in order to best help you strategise your SEO and plan it to benefit your digital presence.

What is the Google Search Algorithm?

The Google search algorithm is a complex system of programming and coding used to retrieve data from its search index which can then present the most appropriate search results for the search queries made by the search engine user.

Google’s ‘crawler’ bots index the internet and store the data on what it thinks each web page is about, what purpose it serves and who the appropriate audience for its content are. The Google algorithm then works through the index it has created to deliver web pages ranked by relevance on its SERPs. Google’s search algorithm prioritises and marks out relevant results it believes best suited to the user’s search intent to give them the answer, information or data they’re trying to find.

What is an Algorithm?

Algorithms are now referred to often as consumers better understand the internet and the presence they hold on it, and in many circles are seen as a mythical beast to be defeated in order to get more likes, gain more exposure, get more traffic, or be ranked above competitors in search query rankings.

While indeed it is true that only a very few senior coders at any tech company will know the exact details of a website’s algorithm and its calculations, much of what an algorithm follows can be worked on through common sense.

In general terms, an algorithm is a set of rules to be followed in calculations by a computer program. For example, the Google’s search algorithm is the program that calculates which webpages rank where for a specific user search query made. In the case of Instagram, the algorithm is the program that calculates which users are presented with which content. In the case of TikTok, the algorithm is the program that calculates what the user is interested in, and features videos related to this in their feed.

Every website or program that has a bespoke user ‘feed’ will have an algorithm operating behind it.

How Does Google’s Algorithm Work?

Google search algorithm works by referencing its search index and analyses the factors upon each page to determine its relevance for ranking. While we don’t know the exact weight that Google puts behind each of the many factors of a webpage, we do know what constitutes a priority for SEO purposes. This includes:

- The exact search terms of the query made on the search engine
- The domain age, authenticity and domain authority (DA)
- The usability of the website including its loading speed, accessibility functions and security
- The mobile responsiveness of the site’s performance and its ability to switch format to one appropriate to the device on which its being viewed
- The keywords and topics used throughout the content on the site, and if there is relevant content
- Other websites that link to the site and how trustworthy they are.

Considering all of these factors, the Google algorithm judges which website pages are most appropriate to be featured and in what order.

This means that the more concise, clear and usable a site is, the higher it will rank when a relevant search query is made.

What are Algorithm Updates?

Of course, as with all tech, the Google algorithm is constantly changing to improve the service it delivers. While there are a couple of major updates made every year which cause a considerable shift to the algorithm and its programming priorities, its estimated that smaller algorithm updates are made around once a week!

Where a major update does occur (referred to as a broad core algorithm update), Google announces this ahead of time and provides some basic details on it so that businesses are able to prepare and shift their online practices to meet the new ranking factor requirements.

Top Factors of the Google Algorithm

No one knows exactly what the exact formula is for Google top ranking factors, as this information remains confidential to all but a few senior execs within the company. However, we do know that the following ranking factors are amongst the most important:

- High-quality content
- A mobile-first experience
- Page experience
- Page loading speed
- On-page optimisation
- Internal links between pages
- External links to and from other relevant sites.

Historically focus has been laid just on the usage of keywords and search query phrases but since Google’s technology has developed and improved, many more factors are now included and considered. While there are businesses who do continue just to rely on the same keywords and keyword repetition throughout their content, this can no longer form a comprehensive and strategic SEO approach.

Realistically, it doesn’t matter exactly which ranking factor is the most important, as all should be focused on with equal priority in order to develop a well-rounded user experience (UX).

What is the Latest of the Google Algorithm Updates?

The most recent minor Google updates were both in September 2022. One was a core algorithm update and the other focused on new product reviews. The latter didn’t offer any particular advice for site owners but the former was covered in an entry on the Google Search Central Blog. This advised that the update wasn’t anything for webmasters to worry about or that they should need to take direct action, but that high quality content was being uprated in its priority rating.

The most recent major Google broad core algorithm update was in August 2022 and was known as the Google Helpful Content Update. This focused on the concept of ‘people first content’. This update advised businesses to strive toward content creation for a target audience with their search intent and needs in mind, rather than the common approach of creating content simply for SEO purposes and because the business assumed that their website’s ranking would benefit from the repeated use of keywords and phrases.

While other small algorithm updates take place in Google weekly (if not daily), these do not require any specific action and businesses can consider their existing SEO efforts sufficient to weather such changes.

How Does the Google Algorithm Affect SEO?

The Google search algorithm is what businesses are speaking to when they enact their SEO strategies, and must ensure that relevant, accurate and clear information is conveyed throughout their site in order for the algorithm’s programming to best understand it.

This means that continuous improvement of all the website’s page factors must be made a digital marketing business priority, in order to rank as high as possible and ideally do so above competitors. While it may not prove productive for businesses to focus too much on the search algorithm and what it demands, it can make for a great foundation from which companies can understand what smart content creation and a positive UX means.

Get Support to Manage Your Business Google Ranking

Of course, not all businesses can hire a full-time SEO lead to work in-house. That’s why businesses choose to work with Woya Digital.

Our team of SEO specialists stay at the forefront of Google’s updates and best practices in order to ensure our clients gain competitive advantage and receive great exposure to both new and existing customers. Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can support you and to best understand what impact this could have on your bottom line.

Why Duplicate Content is Bad for SEO

30, Nov 2022 | Content Marketing, SEO

Navigating SEO can be a tricky job for businesses, particularly if there isn’t the resource in-house to focus on digital marketing full-time.

We support organisations of all shapes, types and sizes to grow their organic digital presence, increase their search rankings, and to ensure their online exposure to both potential and existing clients within their target audience.

A common aspect within SEO is duplicate content issues. But why is duplicate content bad for SEO, and why? Read on to learn more and ensure you are producing valuable content and managing your online content in the best possible way.

How Does SEO Work?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), is the process of making sure that the content on a website is as apparent and clear as can be so that the automated algorithms behind search engine rankings know what the site is about, who it’s for, and what purpose it serves.

This, along with several UX (User Experience) metrics such as fast loading speeds, good accessibility, mobile responsiveness, web design elements and high security standards allow search engines to identify the best possible results for users when they make a search query through.

SEO is usually considered to be the optimisation of websites and web pages specifically for Google, as this is the market leader in the space. In most of the world, Google holds a 90%+ market share of online searches completed, although there are geographical variations that businesses will need to be aware if they’re targeting audiences in locations other than the western world.

What is Duplicate Content?

Duplicate content issues can be considered any identical content that appears in more than one URL online. This may be the result of a bot or other website copy-and-pasting content onto their own domain, or from a company publishing duplicate content or duplicate pages. This applies to written content and not necessarily to shareable content such as videos, photos or infographics.

Shorter bursts of text that are likely to be organically repeated such as strap-lines or short descriptions are not considered duplicate content for search engine purposes.

Google instead indicates that duplicate content refers to “substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content in the same language or are appreciably similar”. There are no specific limits or word counts given to the definition of ‘substantive’ in this case and so it could be anything from a product description paragraph to a lengthy article.

Duplicate Content IS bad for SEO, But Why?

Technically, Google doesn’t penalise a site for producing content that is duplicate within its own domain, saying: “Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don’t follow the advice listed in this document, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results.”.

However, this doesn’t stop internal or external duplicate content issues being bad for SEO. Where duplicate content exists – particularly where it is spread across more than one domain – the search engines algorithm must judge which is the original and which is the most relevant to appear in each search engines results or search rankings – which is an automated process and may not necessarily decide in the original website’s favour.

If a site duplicating content from another is an older domain, has more backlinks to notate authenticity, hosts other content more relevant to the topic or has a higher DA (Domain Authority) than the original, the search engine’s algorithm may decide to feature that same content above other results.

This can mean that competitors, industry press or even entirely unrelated websites gain competitive advantage above the original and are subject to more click-throughs and completed actions. For this reason, the removal of internal duplicate content across your website web page can be considered improving its UX.

How Does Duplicate Content Affect SEO Rankings in Search Engines?

Generally speaking, the issue with internal duplicate content that results in it being bad for SEO is that it will confuse search engines. This is due to two primary issues:

Search engines will usually only show one version of content where the same content appears online more than once, and so it must differentiate between multiple versions.
Duplicate content dilutes link equity as other websites also must choose between which version of a duplicate content to link to. This can affect the number of inbound links to the original source of the content, and as inbound links are a Google ranking factor, it can impact negatively on search engines ranking and search visibility.

Managing Duplicate Content Issues

Remove Duplicate Blocks of Text

Ideally, a website will have no more than one instance of anything that may comprise a ‘substantive text’, and so webmasters and digital marketers are wise to remove any multiple versions of copy to improve the UX of the site and make it clearer for site users which version is best suited to their needs.

Minimise Boilerplate Repetition

‘Boilerplate text’ is the repetitive text that some businesses are required to repeat around their domain for legal reasons, such as copyright notices or legal disclaimers.

Where this appears in the main body text of a page, it is likely to be considered as standard duplicate content by the algorithm, but of course the organisation may have no choice but to feature it. Instead, it is best practice for webmasters to use a shortened version on each page and link through to the full required legal text. This avoids unnecessary duplicate content and the confusion it may cause for search engines.

Prioritise URL Parameters and Variations

Minor page URL variations may result in unintended instances of duplicate content, and can prove pretty harmless but should be dealt with and removed if possible. Most commonly, these small variations are as a result of analytics codes, click tracking, print-friendly page versions and session IDs. Despite the URLs only having tiny differences due to their sub-domain status, this can result in search engines indexing two versions of the same website page.

The Google Search Console can be used in these incidences to set the preferred domain for crawling and to tweak parameters around these so that the search engines algorithm knows which to ignore. Google search console often provides many immediate answers that will affect search results. Ensuring early Google search console connectivity with your website will provide insight on matters such as duplicate page issues, multiple pages of external duplicate content and even internal duplicate content across multiple urls that could affect search results.

Pay Attention to Any CMS-Generated Pages

It is not uncommon for content management systems to inadvertently create duplicate content on a website without the business realising. This may be a result of a bug or a shifted standardised setting on the back-end of the software. It is imperative that businesses understand the inner workings of their CMS and know how to remove same content when it does duplicate.

Get Website, SEO and Duplicate Content Support

Duplicate content is bad for SEO, and is an important aspect of your SEO that needs to be managed efficiently. Woya Digital manage SEO for businesses of all shapes and sizes, and can help advise on how best to manage and fix duplicate content issues. Get in touch to learn more and let us optimise your site to gain the best possible online search results!

What is Google Indexing in SEO?

21, Nov 2022 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Businesses simply can’t afford for their website to not be listed on Google. With the Google search giant processing over 99,000 searches every single second, the potential is extremely important.

But for Google search results to list a website or page, it must first know it exists and match it up to relevant search terms ‘behind-the-scenes’ using its algorithm programming. This is called Google indexing.

But how does this happen and what is its relevancy to an overall SEO strategy?

What is Google Indexing?

Search engine indexing (or Google indexing in the case of Google), is the automated process of a system collecting, parsing and storing data it finds online. This data is then stored in the Google search index database so that when a search engines user carries out a search, Google can reference this index for the appropriate information and indexed pages, rather than scouring the entirety of the internet every time.

Google indexing is a highly complex process and incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from computer science, cognitive psychology, mathematics and probabilities, informatics and even neuro-linguistic programming.

Why is Google Indexing Important?

Google is the world’s biggest search engine, with a market share of over 90% worldwide. This means that even if it isn’t the most popular search engine in a business’ target location, it is still simply too large to ignore when it comes to strategizing for digital marketing.

If Google doesn’t undertake crawling and indexing on your website, it won’t just not rank well on Google – it won’t rank at all on Google.

If businesses don’t ensure that their digital presence is listed on Google in some way, shape or form they will lose competitive advantage to brands who are listed, who will benefit from the massive traffic that ranking well on the Google search engine can bring.

While not all other sites rely on Google’s search index in particular for their search results, several other systems do, and so it should not be discounted even if it isn’t the primary target system.

How Does Google Indexing Work?

Google indexing takes place when Google’s ‘crawlers’ (that is, automated software programs) visit publicly accessible website’s pages and follow their links.

This helps them travel from page to page and store information on what the pages on your site are about, who they’re for and what they’re aiming to do. The Google algorithm also judges the the site/all of your pages on their User Experience (UX), performance, accessibility and content quality to ascertain how and for what the site should rank when users completes a relevant search.

Google indexing can only happen if a website is publicly available. If it requires a log-in, is in a test environment or is ‘hidden’ from public consumption, this will prevent Google’s ability to read the site and it will remain un-ranked. This allows businesses to present exclusive content to subscribers or members but does mean that anything they wish to include on search engine rankings must be prioritised for public pages.

How to Tell Google to Index Your Site

If a website or page has yet to be indexed by Google, the webmaster can request that the crawlers navigate it on the next occasion they’re able to. To do this, a webmaster tells Google through the Google Search Console tool and the crawlers will index the page/s whenever possible.

Where webmasters or digital marketers wish to rank, they should prioritise Google indexing as once a site has been crawled it will be periodically re-visited, so can be ranked on search engine results pages even before the full site content has been populated.

How Long Does Google Indexing Take?

There’s no one-size-fits-all timeframe for Google to index a website, although generally it takes longer for larger sites with more content than it does individual pages with little or short-form content.

The amount of time it takes to get a site indexed is influenced by Google’s current workload (ie it will take longer during periods where a major update or change is being rolled out), but also how many websites are being submitted for indexing at any one time.

Anecdotally, webmasters and digital marketers state that it has taken anywhere from 4 days to 6 months to get their site indexed for the first time. However, this is almost always expedited by requesting indexing through the Google Search Console (as mentioned above), so this is recommended.

Duplicate content will harm the quality of your site and Google will penalise you for this.

How Does the Process of Google Indexing Relate to an Overall SEO Strategy?

Any digital marketer embarking on enacting an SEO strategy should prioritise Google ranking as an effective way to gain targeted organic traffic. In order to best ensure adequate and appropriate ranking for relevant searches, all websites should be subject to timely, consistent and pertinent new content upload as well as hosting a clear sitemap, offering mobile responsiveness and ensuring fast load times.

Google indexing can be considered the foundation for an SEO strategy. Once the site and all the pages have been indexed, a more thorough online presence can be built using target keywords and advertising, further new content creation and an increased focus on the overall User Experience.

How To Fix Indexing Issues

It is not enough for webmasters to create web pages and just expect them to be crawled and indexed by Google, instead there are a variety of best practices they should look to meet. If any of the following issues are experienced, they can be easily rectified by doing the below:

Site is not indexed because it’s too new – you can still request indexing through Google Search Console, but a newer domain is unlikely to get higher rankings than an older one as its authenticity and trustworthiness can’t yet be fully verified. As more website content is added and the site ages, it will be re-indexed and re-prioritised.

A recent redesign should have improved SEO, but hasn’t – it may simply be that Google hasn’t re-indexed the site since it has been improved. A request for re-indexing can be submitted through Google Search Console.

A sitemap wasn’t in place when the site was indexed – all websites should have a sitemap somewhere in order for Google to easily crawl its pages. If, for whatever reason, this wasn’t the case when the indexing happened, the site map can be submitted directly to Google through the Google Search Console tool and then it’ll be re-read the next time the site is crawled.

Site isn’t mobile responsive – Google prioritises websites that provide a good User Experience over those that don’t, and so if a site isn’t mobile responsive, Google is very unlikely to favourably rank it. In this instance, the webmaster should seek out a redesign of the site to ensure better accessibility.

Where to Get More Help with Google Ranking

At Woya Digital we have a whole team of SEO specialists who work around-the-clock on keeping up with Google’s latest updates and developments.

We work not just for but also with our customers to ensure their SEO goals are met and that their online presence works perfectly to fit their needs and wants, as well as the idiosyncrasies of their business and target audience.

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