Improving Your Ranking on Google After Completing SEO Setup Checklist
Following the steps in the SEO Setup Checklist will help you improve your site's SEO so it can be crawled and indexed by search engines, but it doesn’t automatically guarantee that your website will show up on the first page of Google for your keywords. Google uses many factors to determine which websites to display on results pages. Keywords are one of them, but so is the age of your site, the number of websites linking to you, the location of the searcher and many more.

If you entered your keywords into a Google search box but you can’t find your website, here are some things to consider:An indexed site is different from a high rankingJust because Google has crawled and indexed your site, doesn’t mean you will show up high in search results. If your market is very competitive, your website may show up on Google somewhere in the long list of results for your keywords, but it may be on the 10th, 50th or 100th page of results. Even after completing your SEO Setup Checklist, there are more things you need to do in order to boost your ranking so that you appear higher up in search results. Make sure you've chosen the right keywordsQuality content is essential to ranking higher in Google. If you are not ranking on Google for your keywords, you may want to reconsider your list of target keywords. When choosing keywords, ask yourself, “What would one of my customers type into Google when looking for a business like mine?”Next, take a look at your site and check that you have used your keywords as much as possible, while always making sure that your content sounds natural. Use your keywords in your domain, in your headlines, within the text on each page, as alt text in images etc. Generate traffic to your site by creating fresh content and backlinksGoogle tends to favor sites that are well-written and frequently updated content. Regularly publishing blog posts, ones that your target audience will enjoy or find informative, is a very effective way of doing so. It also helps to get links (backlinks) to your site from relevant or reputable sites. This improves your online reputation and credibility, increasing your chances of ranking higher in search results. Click here to read more about backlinks.Search engines crawl pages of your site, not the entire siteIf you're wondering why you can see some of your site's pages in Google, while you may not see other pages (e.g. your homepage), this is because search engines crawl each individual page. Each page, therefore, is treated as separate and individual and each page is crawled for its keywords.Be patient -  Ranking high in Google takes time and effortSEO is a long term strategy and changes rarely happen within days or even weeks. Your site won’t show up in Google results for your keywords overnight and the more competitive your market, the tougher it will be to rank high. Once you’ve chosen great keywords to target, you want to put fresh content on your website as often as possible. Consider adding new pages, images or blog articles that incorporate your keywords.

For additional tips and ideas to optimize your site, check our SEO Learning Hub.Hire a Wix PartnerGet a professional from the Wix Marketplace to help with your SEO.Learn more about SEOSubscribe to the SEO Learning Hub to get the latest updates on optimizing your site's content and SEO.