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SEO First Step: Google Search Console

Transcript from Video:

Hi, I’m Geoff from LeapFrog Internet Marketing. This video, in association with SixthSense Marketing, is where do you actually start with SEO. What is your first step? Well, as an SEO agency, this would be a very, very first step with a new website as a client. And this is Google Search Console. So, why would you need Google Search Console? There’s probably five reasons you need Google Search Console. You actually need to tell Google the website exists, we’ll go through this. You need to actually show Google your website content through something called an XML sitemap. It really helps you understand what your rankings are so you can then do something about it and improve those rankings. And it’s Google telling you if there are problems with your website, Google actually wants you to have a good website with a good user experience. And you can also tell Google if you wanna target a particular country like the UK. So, let’s go through those in more detail.

So, first of all, connect and verify. So, to actually connect your website to Google Search Console, you just need to add your website in the top left here. So, go to search.google.com, that sitemap, and click Add a property. And then in URL prefix, just add in the domain you want to add and press Continue. You then need to tell Google that you are actually authorized to take over this property in Google Search Console. And you can do that in two ways. We’d recommend doing it through Google Analytics, but you could also do it especially if you’ve got a WordPress website. If you go into the Yoast plugin in your WordPress site and add in the Google verification code there. The next step is to submit your XML sitemap. So your XML sitemap, you can normally find if you go to your website and then do sitemap.xml. It will take you to your sitemap. Sometimes it redirects you. And then you need to take that URL, copy it, and submit it to the sitemap here. The XML sitemap is one of the first places Google goes to on your website.

It’s basically a list of all the content on your website, which you can see here. This is, for example, the blog. The third reason is actually see your rankings. If you then navigate within Google Search Console, up to…it’s towards the top, search results, you can start to see your rankings over time. This is over the last 28 days. And you’ll be able to see what the keyword is your ranking for, how many clicks you got, how many searches were made in the last 28 days where your website showed up, and more importantly, what your actual ranking was. One to 10 is page 1 of Google. This gives you the power to take further action in terms of your SEO. The fourth reason is to actually find problems. Google will tell you via Google Search Console, not through any other kind of intermediary, if there are problems. If you click on to coverage, it will tell you if there are any technical issues. And it’s good to work through these technical issues with your web developer, whoever built your site to clear these, and that should improve your rankings further.

The final reason is, and this isn’t very well known, you can actually tell Google which of their search engines to target. So, let’s say you’ve got a dotcom website, Google will assume as default that you wanna target the world basically, worldwide. But actually, with a dotcom, you may decide to actually prioritize people searching for you in the UK. So if you scroll down and open up the legacy tools, and then click on international targeting, you can then basically select what country you wanna target, and that should mean you’ll get a 10, 20% increase in your rankings for that target country. So, that’s it, really, five reasons why you should connect Google Search Console and how you go about that.

Geoff Roy
  • "As part of the service, the team at Leapfrog reviewed one of my websites for SEO and presented their findings in video format. I’ve never seen anything like this before and I could see the results of the tests and clear recommendations for action. I can thoroughly recommend this part of Leapfrog's service!!"

    Peter Clarke, PPG Proofreading
  • "One area in which Leapfrog has excelled is communication. Any queries are always promptly dealt with and we also receive excellent monthly reporting, with videos that clearly explain our progress. This is great as it gives us a clear picture of what’s going on."

     Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
  • “Leapfrog provides fantastic video reports, to help explain the topline results. As SEO is a hidden science, this has made the whole process a lot clearer.”

    Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
  • "When it comes to organic SEO, Leapfrog's your company. Thanks for everything you've done for my business."

    Paul Deach, Deachy Social Media
  • "Over a 6-month period, we’ve improved from a position of no ranking at all, to achieving page 1 rankings for our key search term. In a highly competitive market, this is really impressive and has already increased our organic traffic by more than 400% over a 6-month period. We can definitely recommend Leapfrog to other businesses struggling to get seen by Google."

    Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
  • "Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been key in supporting my clients, providing SEO services to allow them to achieve increased and more qualified traffic to their sites. I've worked with Geoff and the team on several different sized projects and am very pleased with the results achieved. I highly recommend Leapfrog Internet Marketing for your online SEO needs."

    Oliver Schlieben, Digital Marketing Strategist
  • “The company is really helpful and approachable and you’re never made to feel embarrassed when asking questions.”

    Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
  • "Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been a key resource in providing insights and strategies within the SEO arena. Their work is always of a very high standard and always delivered on time. I would have no hesitation in recommending Leapfrog to any business."

    Drew Griffiths, Mosaic
  • "I've been benefitting from Leapfrog’s expertise and experience for several months now and really value the way in which they make knowledge so accessible. We've worked on improving website authority and content, list building and social media optimisation. A great company to work with and very good value."

    Chris Farrance, Frontier Digital Business Consultants
  • "Month-on-month we’ve seen fantastic improvements. Over the first 6-month period, search traffic has increased by over 550%. We've achieved page 1 rankings for at least 85 keywords relating to our key products, the site is now found on Google nearly 5000 times per month and an additional 800+ users visit the site monthly."

    Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
  • "The team at Leapfrog has been able to keep an eye on our site, using their specialised knowledge to not only spot any invisible problems that will affect SEO and site speed, but also identify any coding errors. This kind of value-added benefit is a great asset and makes a real difference for our company."

    Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
  • "Leapfrog Internet Marketing have been working on our website for 6+ months now and we have certainly seen the benefits of professional SEO. Organic leads have significantly increased in line with our Google position and ranking. I’d highly recommend Geoff and the team at Leapfrog Internet Marketing."

    Mark Dalton, The Tech Lounge
  • “We’re really happy with Leapfrog Internet Marketing. We feel every step has been clearly explained, the communication is excellent and we’ve seen month-on-month improvements that have converted to enquiries and those all-important sales. We’ve definitely received the return on investment we were looking for.”

    Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery