See what Google sees when it looks at your site

It’s easy enough to do. Give your website a quick run through a search engine simulator.

Here’s a great one: http://totheweb.com/tools/spider-test/index.php

Step 1
Type in your URL (www.yoursite.com) as directed, and click Run the Simulator.

Step 2.
Wait a few seconds, then scroll down to see what Google sees when it looks at your site.

Pay particular attention to what shows up next to these three important areas:

Title, Text, and Links.

Is the space to the right of them blank, or is it populated with descriptive text that tells Google what your site is about? If any one of those areas is blank or contains little more than your company name, then your website could be in dire straits.

As a comparison, test how Google sees an ideal website:  Run National Geographic’s URL through the simulator (www.nationalgeographic.com).

You'll notice their site’s home page is well populated with text. It has descriptive words in the title and the page text, and it has links that guide Google to all the other pages of the site. These are components that Google needs in order to navigate a site, identify the content of all the Web pages, and show them to potential customers.

Graphics vs Text.
Notice that graphics don’t show up in the simulator results. That’s because Google doesn’t ‘see’ graphics, it uses text to identify page content.

Google needs a lot of juicy text in order to deliver Web pages to Web searchers.

What if your page comes up empty?

If the simulator view of your site is missing a lot of the information that appears to be present on your home page, it’s possible that your site has been developed in a way that is not search engine friendly:

• It may be built in frames
• It may have a splash page, or entry page, with very little text on it
• It may have been built in Flash
• It may be made out of sliced up graphics – even though it appears to have text on it.

Whatever the reason, if the simulator indicates your site has a problem, you must address it. Your website is a vital part of your marketing campaign.

Nowadays, companies wanting to remain competitive understand that adding a website to their marketing activities is no longer up for debate, but for too many, their website is an enigma. As a search engine optimization specialists, we see the evidence of this on a regular basis. Organizations consult EngineHounds about optimizing their website so that ‘people can find it on Google.’ But what we frequently discover is that, to Google, their site may as well be invisible.

Recovering from an invisible site

It could mean a quick fix, or it could mean your Web developer must rebuild your website in collaboration with a search engine consultant.

If that makes you cringe, think about this

There’s a very good chance that the cost of redeveloping your site using a search engine friendly method is lower than the price you’ll pay in the long term for a site that potential customers never find.

Give us a call on 215.287.8074 and let’s chat about how to make your website visible on the Internet.