How to make your website SEO friendly in Ireland

What Google needs from your website

For a local business, three things do most of the work. Each has its own guide below.

• 1. Google can find and read it

  No settings telling Google to stay away, no pages hidden behind passwords, and a sitemap in Search Console. If you’re not on Google at all, start here.

• 2. It’s quick and easy on a phone

  Many of your customers will find you on their phones. Pages should load quickly, stay still while they load, and let people ring you with one tap.

• 3. A page for each thing you sell

  Search results point to individual pages, not whole websites. A clear page for each service, written the way people search, is what gets you found for more than your own name.

A ten-minute health check

Do these on your phone. Anything you can’t tick is worth fixing first.

• Search site:yourdomain.ieYour pages should come up. If nothing does, Google doesn’t have your site.
• Google Search Console is set upIt’s free, and it’s the only place Google tells you which pages it has, which it doesn’t, and why.
• Each main service has its own pageNot one Services page listing everything.
• Your page titles say the service and the placeSearch your business name and look at the blue headlines. “Home” or your business name alone tells Google and customers very little.
• Your name, address and phone match your Google Business ProfileSame business name, same number, everywhere.
• Your address includes your EircodeOn your contact page and in your footer, matching your Google Business Profile. If Google Maps can’t find it, see Eircode not showing on Google Maps.
• Your site says you’re in IrelandA .ie address, or on a .com, your Irish address, phone number and prices in euro. Google uses all of these to work out which country you serve.
• Your phone number rings with one tapTry it. If it’s an image, or it opens nothing, fix it today.
• Your contact form actually worksSend yourself a test. Broken forms are more common than you’d think, and nobody tells you.
• Pages open in a few seconds on mobile dataTurn off wifi and check your homepage and a service page.
• The address starts with httpsBrowsers warn people away from sites that don’t use https.
• The photos are your ownReal jobs, real team, real premises.

The guides

Plain-English fixes for the most common website problems.

• Not on Google

  Find out why your site is missing, and fix it

  Read the guide →

• Website speed

  How to test your site properly, what usually slows it down, and the fixes you can do yourself.

  Read the guide →

• Service pages

  A service page template you can copy, with a worked example and the mistakes to avoid.

  Read the guide →

Where to start

• Your site doesn’t show up on Google at allRead why your website isn’t on Google. It’s usually one setting.
• It shows up for your name but not your servicesYou need a proper page for each service, and a template is waiting for you.
• It feels slow, or PageSpeed is all redSee how to make your website faster, and how much it really matters.
• You’re getting a new website builtPlan the SEO before the design, not after. Google itself says the earlier the better. Keep your old page addresses, or redirect each one to its new home, or you’ll lose rankings you already have.

Your website and your Google profile work together

Most local customers meet you first on Google Maps, through your Google Business Profile (see how a Google Business Profile works). Many then tap through to your website before they ring. A profile that sends people to a slow, vague homepage loses them at the last step.

Your website also helps your profile. Google says local rankings depend on relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence takes in your reviews, and what Google knows about you from across the web, such as links to your business. A clear website with matching details backs up everything your profile says. More in our local SEO guides.

Our own checks in Irish towns back this up. In Cork, all 81 businesses in the top three on the map, across the 27 searches we checked, had a website. In Tullamore, businesses’ own websites took 46% of the ordinary results below the map. See SEO in Cork and how to rank on Google in Tullamore.

When to get help

Most of the health check you can sort yourself. It’s worth getting help in three cases. You can’t find why pages aren’t showing, or a redesign or move has knocked your rankings. Or you’d rather spend your time on the work than on your website. Fixing what’s broken is our technical SEO service, and writing the pages is our SEO content service. See our prices.

Questions people ask

Something else on your mind? Email info@leadsireland.com.