Everybody wants their company to be on page one of Google. And now, thanks to Google’s tailored searches, everyone thinks they are.

Simply put, Google will look at your search history and tailor search results so you get the websites it thinks you’re looking for. So, if you visit your own website a lot (and you really ought to be), then it will feature higher in SEO terms than, say, your rivals’ sites.

This is great if you’re a consumer, as it means you spend less time trawling through results you don’t want.

But it doesn’t work if you’re looking for an honest reflection of how your company performs against your key search terms.

As it stands, Google is a little like a tinted mirror – flattering, but not necessarily how everyone else sees you!

The best, and easiest, way to find out how you’re actually performing, is to open a private browser window and then run the search again. Depending on which browser you use, you’ll need to do the following:

Internet Explorer OR Firefox: hold down ctrl + shift + p

Chrome: hold down ctrl + shift + n

Then, head to Google and run your search again. This will look for your search terms without using any of your stored preferences.

Try it with a few of your preferred search terms. Chances are, your site won’t perform as well as you’re expecting.

Upset? Sorry. But there are things you can do to improve matters.

Do bear in mind Google has clamped down on people who take shortcuts, and they will find themselves blacklisted. The only way is to do it properly, which means a lot of hard work managing the ‘unseen’ technical elements of the site, and yet more hard work to ensure your site is vibrant and frequently updated.

In addition to that? Yep, you guessed: still more graft, promoting your content and your product to audiences to draw them to your website and improve search rankings.

There is one short cut you can take, of course: speak to Podium. We specialise in boosting Google rankings using entirely natural, sustainable methods.

We also have many, many years’ experience of copywriting, so we can give your site the sparkling, up-to-date news and blog items it deserves, and which will keep your audiences coming back. Finally, we have in-house PR experts who can promote your content in the right ways, and we’ll offer clear, monthly reports so you can see what’s been done and how you’ve improved.

It can take a while – it’s an organic process – but anywhere from three to six months should see an improvement, with a longer-term campaign delivering better still results. Best of all, though, is that you’ll know for a fact your SEO results are where they should be.

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