How to get your website and your business on Google, step by step

What "getting on Google" actually means

In the UK, “how to get my website on google” is searched 880 times a month and “how to get my business on google” 210 times. Behind those words are three separate steps, which Google describes itself: crawling, indexing, serving search results.

1. 1
   Crawling: Google discovers your page, by following a link or because you tell it the page exists.
2. 2
   Indexing: Google reads the page and stores it in its index. A page that is not indexed cannot appear for any search.
3. 3
   Serving: when someone searches, Google picks the pages of its index that answer best. Being indexed is not enough: the page has to answer the search better than the others.

Step 1: tell Google your website exists

A new site can be found on its own, through a link from somewhere else. The surest route is to register it yourself, for free:

1. 1
   Add a property in Google Search Console for your domain and verify it (most often with a DNS record at your domain registrar or host).
2. 2
   Submit your XML sitemap in the Sitemaps report: it is the list of pages you want indexed.
3. 3
   For an important page, open the URL Inspection tool and click Request indexing.

Step 2: get your business on Google Maps

For a local business (tradesperson, practice, shop), the map often comes before the websites. You get on it with a Business Profile, which is free. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and the rule is the same as for websites: there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

1. 1
   Create or claim your profile, then verify it: until it is verified, it does not show as yours.
2. 2
   Choose the primary category that says exactly what you do, then only the secondary categories that are true.
3. 3
   Fill in opening hours, service area, phone number, website link and photos of your real work.
4. 4
   Ask every satisfied customer for a review, and reply to all of them, including the bad ones.

Step 3: write the pages your customers search for

Once indexed, a site only appears for the searches its pages answer. Your customers rarely type your name: they type a need and a place, “emergency plumber leeds”, “accountant for sole traders”, “boiler service near me”. The basic rule:

1. 1
   One page per service, with a title that names the service and the area the way your customers write it.
2. 2
   A single main heading (H1) per page, saying what you do.
3. 3
   A first sentence that answers straight away: what you do, where, for whom, and the price if you can show it.
4. 4
   Facts only you can give: your past jobs, your lead times, the areas you cover, the questions customers ask you.

Free listing or paid ads: the difference

Organic search (SEO) is not paid to Google: you only pay for the time spent, yours or a provider’s. Google Ads are paid per click and stop when the budget stops.

The two work together: ads to be seen at once on a precise search, organic search for visits that keep coming without paying for each click. A local business almost always starts with the free steps above, which also help the ads (an ad that lands on a clear page costs less per enquiry).

Check that you are on Google

Three checks, once a month:

1. 1
   Type “site:yourdomain.co.uk” into Google: you see part of the indexed pages. Nothing shows? Go back to step 1.
2. 2
   Open the Pages report in Search Console: it lists indexed pages and the reason each other page is not indexed.
3. 3
   Open the Performance report: it shows the searches you already appear for, your average position and your clicks.