The Google Doctor Is In—But You Might Be Misdiagnosing Your Website
Spoiler Alert: Literally No One Gets a Perfect Score
- Google.com: 70
- Amazon.com: 49
- Hulu.com: 36
- YouTube.com: 35
- Yelp.com: 31
- Walmart.com: 30
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![](https://www.prospectgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pagespeed-amazon.jpg)
![](https://www.prospectgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pagespeed-hulu-889x1024.jpg)
![](https://www.prospectgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pagespeed-youtube.jpg)
![](https://www.prospectgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pagespeed-yelp-894x1024.jpg)
![](https://www.prospectgenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pagespeed-walmart-896x1024.jpg)
Last Updated: August 30, 2024
Last Updated: June 27, 2024
Welcome back to our SEO Myth-Busting series! Today, we’re diving into a myth that’s as persistent as a tick on a hound dog in July: “If one Google Business Profile is Good, 7 Must be Better!” Many business owners believe that creating multiple Google Business Profiles (GBPs, aka Map Listings) for a single business will boost their online presence. But is this really true?
Here’s the scoop: Google’s policy clearly states that you can only have one listing per business location. Yes, you read that right—one location, one listing. Creating multiple GBPs for a single business is a violation of Google’s guidelines and can lead to serious consequences. These include the suspension of all your listings or even being flagged as a spammer, potentially barring you from ever creating GBPs again. Yikes!
Ah, the old “keeping up with the Joneses” argument. It’s something we hear more often than we’d like. While some businesses seem to get away with having multiple listings, the reality is that they’re, at best, flying under the radar for a while. Google handles many millions of listings, so some do slip through the cracks—until they don’t. Often, these are older listings that haven’t been touched in years and are therefore unnoticed.
The issue arises when these listings are disturbed. Maybe you or someone on the internet (through the “community edit” feature) make a change. That tends to bring attention to the Business Profile and any/all associated profiles. Once you’re deemed naughty, you’re in for a world of hurt when Google starts to dole out punishment like God Himself with a lightning bolt in each hand and a thunderstorm for backup!.
Sticking to Google’s guidelines is like using a reliable plumber—you’re ensuring everything works smoothly without unexpected leaks or bursts. Operating within the rules may not give you an immediate spike in visibility, but it builds a solid, sustainable foundation for your business.
We’ve seen many clients who tried to take shortcuts only to end up knee-deep in penalties and regret. Resolving these issues can take months, if a resolution is even possible.
In the world of SEO, shortcuts are often long cuts in disguise. We’ve seen, repeatedly, that sticking with a single, legitimate, and well-optimized GBP is far more powerful and sustainable than spamming multiple listings into Google’s ecosystem. This path may seem longer, but it’s much smoother and more predictable.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need help with your SEO strategy. We’re here to help you navigate the digital landscape and grow your business sustainably.
Last Updated: June 7, 2024
Ever wondered why some folks are obsessed with how fast your website loads? Let’s cut through the tech talk and get to the point.
Google cares about how fast your website loads because they want users to have a good experience. But here’s the kicker: faster page load speed doesn’t automatically mean a higher Google ranking. It’s just one factor among many.
Google uses page load speed more like a “you must be this tall to ride” sign at an amusement park. Your site needs to be fast enough to meet their basic standards. Once you’re over that threshold, other factors come into play. So yes, if you’re under the threshold, you’re banned from the ride. But taller people don’t have more fun on the ride than average height people, do they?
Ever run your site through a free speed test tool and felt like a failure? Relax. Even big players like CNN and Amazon get told they’re too slow. These tools often set unrealistic goals in order to ensure a poor result. Why would they want a poor result? No one spends time and money on a tool and then gives it away for purely altruistic reasons so you can be assured there’s a sales pitch behind that tool. We’ve gone into detail about what a scam these tools tend to be. So, take their results with a grain of salt. Verify for yourself if your site is genuinely slow in comparison to some of your competitors’ sites.
Curious about the details? Google provides lots of nitty-gritty detail with hard numbers on their developer site. This is another detailed resource from the horse’s mouth. Ultimately, they continue to say that relevance is the most important factor. In short, page load speed only comes into play if it negatively impacts user experience. So, in other words, if you’re not tall enough to get on the ride.
Keep your site reasonably fast to keep Google happy and your users satisfied. But remember, speed is just one piece of the puzzle. Focus on providing great content and a solid user experience.
So, don’t lose sleep over speed scores. Make sure your site isn’t painfully slow, then focus on the bigger picture.
Last Updated: May 29, 2024
Welcome to another edition of our SEO Myth-Busting series! Today, we’re tackling a common misconception that still manages to confuse people: the idea that optimizing for the words “near me” as if they were actual keywords will boost your local SEO. Let’s delve into why this simplistic approach is outdated and what you should be focusing on instead.
At first glance, it might seem logical to optimize your website content with “near me” keywords. After all, many people use phrases like “restaurants near me” or “gas stations near me” when they search. However, this is a misunderstanding and oversimplification of how local search algorithms work. Using “near me” as a keyword in your content, business name, or URL is not beneficial.
When someone types “near me” into Google, the search engine uses various data points to determine the user’s location and provide the most relevant results. This includes:
Google automatically incorporates these location signals to return the best local results, effectively treating “near me” as a variable. This means the search engine dynamically inserts the user’s location into the query to find the nearest relevant businesses. Therefore, there’s no need to include “near me” in your site’s content; Google handles this on its own.
Rather than stuffing your content with “near me” keywords, focus on more effective local SEO strategies:
The belief that using “near me” as a keyword will enhance your SEO is a myth. Google’s algorithms are sophisticated enough to handle local searches without needing such direct prompts in your content. Instead, focus on optimizing your Google My Business profile, using specific local keywords, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and contains accurate information. These steps will help you rank better in local searches and attract more customers.
Stay tuned for more SEO myth-busting insights in our ongoing series!
Last Updated: May 28, 2024
Welcome back to our SEO Myth-Busting series! Today, we’re debunking a myth that can seriously mislead business owners: the idea that having more than one website for your business will provide an SEO benefit. Let’s dig into why this isn’t just ineffective, but also against Google’s guidelines, and how it can end up hurting your SEO efforts rather than helping them.
The concept of using multiple websites to boost SEO might sound logical at first glance. More websites mean more chances to rank, right? However, this strategy is outdated and misinformed. Years ago, some businesses tried to game the system by creating multiple sites to dominate search results. But Google’s algorithms have evolved, and they now penalize such practices.
Google’s guidelines are very clear about this: creating multiple websites for the same business can be harmful to your SEO efforts. According to Google, having duplicate or very similar content across multiple sites can confuse both users and search engines, leading to a poor user experience and diluted SEO value.
In fact, Google strongly advises against this practice. They recommend focusing your efforts on one strong, comprehensive website rather than spreading your resources thin across multiple weaker ones. This ensures that all your SEO efforts contribute to a single, authoritative site that can perform well in search rankings.
When you have multiple websites for the same business, you’re essentially competing with yourself. Each site vies for the same keywords and audience, which can split your traffic and reduce the overall impact of your SEO strategy. Instead of one strong site, you end up with several weak ones that don’t perform as well in search results.
Even Google itself has faced issues with managing multiple websites. An internal audit revealed that they had developed several near-duplicate sites for different campaigns, which ended up confusing users and search engines alike. By consolidating these sites into one cohesive website, they saw a significant increase in organic traffic and a higher click-through rate on call-to-action buttons. This clearly illustrates the benefits of focusing on a single, strong website (Think with Google).
The only valid reason to buy multiple domains is to protect your brand. For instance, buying variations of your primary domain (like .com, .net, .org) can prevent competitors from using them to mislead your customers or damage your brand. However, these should not be developed into separate websites but rather redirected to your main site to consolidate your SEO efforts.
The myth that having multiple websites for your business will boost your SEO is just that—a myth. Following Google’s guidelines and focusing on building one strong, authoritative website is the best strategy for sustainable SEO success. By doing so, you’ll ensure that all your efforts contribute to improving the visibility and ranking of your main site, rather than diluting your SEO potential across multiple weaker sites.
Stay tuned for more myth-busting insights in our ongoing series!
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