Modern-day customers look for their favorite brands online.

Question — Can they find your brand online, especially on Google? Well, this is a critical question to ask since it is directly connected to your company’s bottom line. You see, the more people find you online, the higher the chance they’ll convert to your business.

In other words, the easier you get found in search, the better it’ll be for your company. In this post, we will figure out why people use online search, the importance of getting ranked on Google, and other key considerations when building an online search profile.

Let’s get started!

Why do people use Google?

Before building a solid online search profile, you must know the reason behind the 8.5 billion searches being made per day. This is where you need to understand “search intent,” i.e. the intent that drives users to perform a Google search. There are four different types of search intents —

1. Informational or research-driven

Informational search intent, as the name indicates, is all about helping users achieve complete information or knowledge about a specific product. The search queries show that the user is still in the research mindset.

2. Navigational search intent

This is crucial for brands that have a diverse and well-spread online profile. Users entering navigational search queries are sent to different pages, platforms, or directories.

3. Commercial search intent

These are pre-transactional searches. Commercial search intent is indicative of users’ buying intent. However, the users in the subject will need a little push to make the purchase.

4. Transactional search intent

Transactional search intent comprises searches made to purchase a specific product. The search queries here are mostly primed to get the transaction done. Users making transactional searches are in the buying mindset.

However, you must focus on the two most important search intents — informational and transactional. Your strategy to get found in search rankings should comprise of content that provides the target audience with adequate information about your product.

NOTE: Remember, only when users have complete information about a product will they make transactional searches.

Why is it important to rank (show up) on Google?

Smartphone and internet penetration across the world has made it easier to access the Google search engine, ceasing their dependence on traditional sources of information. Well, there’s a reason why people use “Google” as a verb. “Just Google it,” they say, whenever in doubt.

There are several reasons why you should aim to show up on Google. First, the sheer popularity of the search engine. As we mentioned earlier, the search engine caters to billions of search queries each day. It dominates the other search engines in almost all countries.

Second, it boosts business authenticity. Google is a well-liked online search engine, so people tend to trust the results it produces against their search queries. If your business website begins ranking on top for a certain search query, you can rest assured that it will receive traffic.

Lastly, it costs nothing to rank on Google (unless you run Google Ads). All you need to ensure is a solid website with a good user experience, a well-thought-out content strategy, and consistent content generation. If you nail your approach to SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, the return for your efforts could be beyond imagination.

What is Google Index and how do you check your site status?

Google Index or Google Search Index is essentially a complete online directory of active websites. Whenever a user enters a search query, Google pulls information from the directory of websites and produces search results. This makes it all the more important to ensure that your business website and associated web pages get indexed.

How can you check your site’s index status? It’s simple. Just go to Google.com and on the search bar type “site:yourdomainname” and hit search. You can perform such searches for specific URLs as well. All you have to do is enter the whole path to the URL, i.e., “site:yourdomainname/category”.

When you enter such commands, Google will display a list of all the indexed pages of your business website. However, the “site:” isn’t always reliable and accurate. We highly recommend you check Google indexing through Google Search Console.

Do word count and keyword frequency even matter?

Not really! Word count and keyword optimisation do not matter today as Google prioritises user experience and search intent. In other words, you must focus on producing highly informative content that serves the purpose behind searches.

We highly recommend you shift your attention from technicalities to quality content production. You can achieve a high Google search ranking if you target the pain points of your target audience and product scroll-stopping content.

The more quality content you produce catering to the pain points, the higher will be your business website’s ranking on the Google search engine.

Should you invest in Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows business owners to run ads on the Google search engine. It also advertises you on third-party websites for search queries and pages related to a particular user’s search intent.

However, you should invest in Google Ads only when your business website is well-optimised and has an excellent user experience.

After all, the traffic from the ads will land on your business website and landing pages. Without proper optimisation and user experience, it will be quite challenging to convert prospects into customers.

Final thoughts!

There you have it. We have shared everything you need to know about how to get found on Google, and ranking your brand online. However, before you embark on your journey toward Rank #1 in Google search, it’s imperative to achieve an in-depth understanding of your target audience.

Figure what they like to search on Google and the kind of content they’d like to consume once they land on your business website. After all, your content strategy will revolve around your target audience’s pain points.

Did you find this content helpful? Stay tuned for more informative posts in the future.

Note: This article has been written by my ghost writer under my direction.