Google’s John Mueller: Don’t Wait Around for People to Find Your Site
Google’s John Mueller recently offered some advice that’s applicable to anyone launching a brand new website.
In a Google Webmaster Hangout held on April 9, Mueller answered a question from a site owner concerned about a lack of query data in Search Console.
The site owner stated they’ve only received 5 to 10 impressions in search results, and they were hoping to see which queries they’re showing up for.
In response, Mueller said Search Console will eventually display query data when the site receives more impressions.
He also emphasized that it’s important not to wait around for people to find the site. Webmasters need to be proactive.
“My guess is that it’s just not enough queries yet.
So we do filter queries that are below a certain threshold and I don’t think that threshold is exactly defined, it might depend on various factors…
If you’re talking about 5 to 10 impressions for a website then probably that’s still below that amount.
I’m pretty sure that, over time, as the number of impressions for your website grows, then you’ll start to see more of that in there.”
Take a Proactive Approach to Gaining More Visitors
Admittedly, when launching a new site, part of the early stages does involve waiting for Google to crawl and index it.
Google has to crawl the site and understand where it fits in with the bigger picture of the web.
During that time site owners need to “get the ball rolling” on their own, as Mueller puts it.
“Sometimes it takes a bit of time to kind of get the ball rolling. What I would generally recommend though is not just to take this as something like “oh I’ll just wait a couple of months and then it’ll be better.”
Take this as kind of a situation where it’s similar to where you’re opening a business in a new location where you need to do something to get the ball rolling yourself.”
What can site owners do to be more proactive?
Mueller recommends treating the launch of a new site like opening a new business.
In other words, it requires some promotion.
That could involve advertising, or it could involve reaching out to relevant sites and trying to get mentioned.
“So instead of waiting for people to just randomly search for your website, and go to your website, maybe there’s a way you can promote your website amongst people who are interested in this topic already.
Maybe it’s a matter of doing some ads, maybe it’s a matter of doing some outreach to related sites that might be able to point at your site as well.”
Mueller emphasizes several times that site owners should think like business owners.
You wouldn’t open a business and simply wait for customers to show up.
The same approach should be taken to launching a website.
“Essentially, like a normal business would do, you need to kind of get the ball rolling. You shouldn’t just wait for people to come to your website and say “oh look, I found this new website.”
So that’s kind of my recommendation there. I think with a small number of impressions it’s a good start, but if you just wait for things to grow it’s going to take a while for all of that to pick up.”
