Control How Your Business Appears in Organic Search

When you Google your business, do you like what you see on the search results page? Is the “headline” a tidy description of your services, or a truncated sentence that doesn’t really reflect who you are?

If you are fortunate enough to get a sections breakout of your website listed in Google, are the sections the ones that you want to present, and are the headings for the sections worded in the way that you want them to be?

You may be surprised to learn that you can exert some control over how your site is presented in Google “organic” (non-paid) search listings.

Start by inserting or editing the “title” tag in your website home page code, and, as you have time, create a custom title tag on every single page of your site. Make the title tag no more than 70 characters. If you go longer than that, Google will shorten it for you, ruining your message. To edit your title tags, check your website’s content management system instructions, or work with your web developer.

To provide Google with guidance on which section breakouts of your site to present, and what to title them, use a coding tool called schema. Schema works for product listings, and other important parts of your site as well. Setting schema requires a good knowledge of HTML and some coding skill, so it’s best left to the pros, but be aware that it’s there to help you put your best foot forward on the web!