Who’s who? And who cares? Google cares and so anyone who wants their website to show up on Google should care as well.

Small business owners I meet with have commonly been down the track of buying Google adwords. It works, but is expensive and it doesn’t feel like their overall marketing campaign has made any headway. An inquiry I often get is ‘How can I show up on Google when people search for my product or service without buying Adwords?’

The answer is like a multi headed beast. But one thing at a time, lets work on who you know. More precisely, who you have links to on your website (outbound links) and who links to your website from their website (inbound links). The best link is an inbound link from a website that has a high volume of traffic. The Google algorithm notes these links and places great importance on them. Just like in high school, if you are friends with a big fish then others are attracted to you – it’s as simple as that!

Good old fashioned networking is required to get these links. For outbound links I recommend to my clients a ‘My Partners’ carousel at the bottom of their website with logos from all the businesses that are integral to your business. Of course you would want to clear this first with those businesses.

Getting the inbound links is harder work. A ‘blog’ page or ‘news’ page on your website is essential, and a good strategy is to profile yourself working alongside your partner and post the blog on your own page and then adapt it slightly and give it to them. From your partners point of view it free content and as long as the blog is on-topic for them they will most likely be happy to post it. That’s it, Bob’s your uncle so take that Google!

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Do you need keyword-rich content for your website? Is this stressing you? If you want to read about stress, I am also a journalist, this is a time I went through worthwhile stress,  putting out the last issue of the community newspaper just before the first lockdown in March 2020.

Rachel Canning, Tangata Media, 10 Nikau St, Wairakei, Taupō 3332, mobile 021 677 398