Hi,
It's Albert.
Was on a video call with a client last week and he kept asking me why his competitors were ranking on Google and he wasn't.
His website looked nice. His business was solid and he had been at it for years. The work he did was good.
So I scrolled to the top of his homepage and asked him a simple question.
"What's the big title at the top of your page?"
He read it out loud. It said "Welcome to our website."
That was his H1, which is the biggest piece of text on a webpage. It's also the thing Google looks at first when it tries to figure out what a page is about.
And his said... welcome to our website.
So Google didn't know what he sold or where he sold it. It read the biggest words on the page and those words said nothing about his actual business.
I told him to change it to something simple. Something that says what he does and where he does it. If he was a plumber in Birmingham, then his H1 should say "Plumber in Birmingham."
He pushed back a bit at first. His designer had told him the headline needed to be catchy, and his old marketing guy used to say it should be creative.
Google doesn't read the way a human reads though. It reads like a robot reads. If the biggest words on your page say "Welcome" then Google figures your page is about welcoming people. If the biggest words on your page say "Roof repair in Dallas" then Google figures your page is about roof repair in Dallas.
Not very complicated.
We changed his H1 that same afternoon. A few days later his ranking improved.
So if you want to move up on Google, go look at your own H1 right now. The big title at the top of your homepage.
Does it say what you do and where you do it? If not, you have an easy fix sitting right there waiting for you.
Talk soon,
Albert
P.S. If you want my team and I to take a look at your website and tell you what's blocking you from showing up on Google, get in touch with us. We will happily go through it with you and point out the quick wins.
