Many of us have recently read numerous blog posts about how long it takes the search engines to recognize and index new sites. I’ve read anywhere from three to six months is a reasonable length of time for this to happen.
And while there are different measures of how successful a website is, my company co-founder Yael K. Miller and I like to use the Alexa ranking. Under this system, 1 is the best, and the larger the number the less popular a site is.
When the search engines return results for a specific search, the better ranked (meaning the lower Alexa ranking) are more likely to come up higher on the search engine result pages.
I just had a huge surprise when I checked the Alexa ranking of the new site HumanResourcesGlobal.com of our client Nicole Le Maire, whose WordPress website Miler Mosaic built and which has been live for less than two months!
Nicole’s site’s Alexa ranking was 1,450,781. While that may sound high, I’ve often checked the Alexa rankings of sites that have been around for years and these sites either haven’t yet earned an Alexa ranking or their ranking is in the 6 or 7 millions.
Nicole’s site’s ranking is excellent for a site less than two months old with no major affiliate relationships to help push its recognition factor.
What does the swift success of Nicole’s site have to do with the effectiveness of search engines finding your site?
There are two major components Nicole has going for her:
First, Miller Mosaic built a WordPress website that included basic search engine optimization techniques, and we coached Nicole on writing blog posts on specific topics connected to her company.
Second, Nicole committed to frequently adding original content to her site – check out her blog now at www.humanresourcesglobal.com/blog/ She is continually adding valuable original content to her site.
Does your site/blog have these two components of basic search engine optimization and continual original content being added?
Yael and I are thrilled that Nicole’s dedication to her site/blog has already paid off in less than two months with an enviable Alexa ranking for someone who is doing all her own original content.
And she’s not even writing in her first language! She’s Dutch. As I told her, I wish most Americans could write English as well as she does.
Bottom line of this blog post?
If you have a new or old site and it doesn’t have basic search engine optimization and you are not continually adding original content to your site/blog, you will have a long uphill slog to get any reward/recognition from the search engines.
Check out your site’s Alexa ranking by going to www.alexa.com and putting in your site URL.
If your own site is more than a few months old and you have no Alexa ranking or rank in the 6 or 7 millions, consider making changes right now to the site itself and your activities on the site. (Also make sure the copyright on your site is up-to-date.)
And if you need help in pinpointing what can help your site, see our website review service at www.millermosaicllc.com/website-review/
(c) 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: tonyeldridge
March 21, 2011 at 2:50 pm
This is a great, piece. With all the things we can do to increase our online presence, continually adding great content is one of the best. It will cover a lot of other mistakes we can make.
Tony –
So glad you like this post. And I agree that adding great content can go a long way towards rectifying other issues.
It takes 48h to be indexed in Google, You’re not obligated to write about things you really do not know:)