Summary: When you’ve created your search engine friendly website, you need to make sure Google knows about it. The best way to ensure this is to submit your website to Google, and then to submit an XML sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. Here’s how!
The most important steps to take when you’ve optimised your site are:
1) Submit your site to Google, at http://www.google.com/addurl.html.
2) Create an XML sitemap – there are various tools for doing this automatically. This tool: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ is the best if you have less than 500 pages of content. XML sitemaps are not for your visitors – they are for the search engines. They help the search engines to find all of your pages.
3) Create an account with Google Webmaster Tools if you don’t have one already – https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en. You’ll need to add your site and then verify it – either by adding a little bit of code into the header, or by uploading a file that Google gives you, to the main directory of your website.
4) Submit your XML sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. You can do this in Site Configuration > Sitemaps (Add a sitemap). It takes a little while for Google to check your sitemap so make sure you go back and check that Google accepted your sitemap and there were no errors.
5) It’s time to start link building, blogging and getting your site out there! There’s loads of advice on this site about how to increase your online presence so have a look through our knowledge base for further advice.
6) Consider adding your business to Google Maps. Google states:
“Millions of people search Google Maps every day. A free listing on Google Maps makes it easy for them to find you. Use Google Places to create your free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they’ll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even photos of your storefront or products.”
This can bring your business valuable local traffic.
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