If you’ve ever Googled your business and were disappointed with the results, it’s probably because that’s not an accurate portrayal of where you stand in Google's rankings.

Why? Because Google uses algorithms to make searches better – but better for the person searching, not better for your business.

Google says, “You want the answer, not trillions of webpages. Algorithms are computer programs that look for clues to give you back exactly what you want. [Our] algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals or “clues” that make it possible to guess what you might really be looking for.”

Many signals are out of your control and affect how you see yourself versus how others see you – one signal takes into account your location, for exampe. So, if you were standing on a street corner and your business building was not nearby when you Googled yourself, you probably didn’t show up. That’s because it’s more useful to searchers on mobile devices to see what’s nearby.

It's not all bad, though – these things can help you improve your rankings:

• Keywords and SEO – having a keyword in the title, tags, content, meta description, etc. acts as a “relevancy signal.”
• Mobile optimization – making your site mobile-friendly will make it more likely to appear on mobile search results.
• Multimedia – using varied forms of content (e.g., text, video, AND images) acts as a “content quality signal.”

The point is this, however: you can't get an accurate picture of where you stand on Google by Googling yourself. Consider these tools instead: SEMrush and SpyFu.

Happy Googling!