Is Your Website Stuck in the Google "White Pags"?

SEO can help you get found in the “Yellow Pages”

Do you remember back in the day - before Google, Netscape, or the internet? When “search” meant thumbing through the phone book in hope of finding what you were looking for?

If an existing or potential client was searching for your business by name it was easy - the businesses were all listed alphabetically in the White Pages.

However, if a prospective customer was not searching for your specific business, but instead was looking for a service or product that your industry offered, they would look in the Yellow Pages under that particular product or services name.

If you had chosen and paid to be listed under that particular heading, your business would be listed along with your competitors, and the searcher would choose the listing that they felt best answered their needs. But what if your business did not appear in the yellow page listings - or appeared under a different heading? It would be a missed opportunity for your business’ sales and growth.

Today, search engines such as Google and Bing have, for the most part, taken the place of the “Phone Books”. The results that they offer searchers are similar to the yellow pages - a list of companies/services/products that answer their search queries.

However, from the perspective of too many Financial Advisers and other professional services firms, Google and Bing are only offering “White Pages” results - that is their businesses are only appearing on Search Results Pages when a search term specifically names their company or the adviser/service provider by name.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will help your website to appear in Google’s (and Bing’s) “yellow page” results. It is the process of determining which “headings” your business should appear under, informing the search engines that that service is part of  your client offerings, and producing content that backs up that claim.

How to Determine if your Website needs Search Engine Optimization

There are several things that ultimately need to be checked to determine how well your site is optimized, but your title tags are a good general indicator (we offer a free SEO review to Financial Services firms & other Professional Services companies if you would like more information).

Your title tags appear on either the left-hand side or the middle, of the grey bar at the top of your monitor, above your website.

Title Tag: Inbound Marketing Agency | Inbound Marketing Company | Echelon Business Solutions

If you tags are the same for most of your webpages, or are simply made up of your name, the name of your business, and the city or state where you are located; you are probably only appearing on search page results when someone is performing a “white pages” type search. 

If your web pages each have unique, service descriptive tags, and each service/product has its own page, then you may be appearing for “yellow page” type searches as well.

Have questions? As always your questions and comments are welcomed and appreciated. If you are unsure, include your website address or titles tags in the comment space and we will check them for you.

Thanks for visiting our blog today!

For more information on SEO you may be interested in these articles:

What is Search Engine Optimization?

13 Steps to Improving Your SEO

How You Can Improve Your Organic Traffic by 380% in 4 Months