Any animal lover knows that organic ingredients can positively impact the quality of your pet's food and health. Another "organic ingredient" that can make a big difference (in your store's online presence) is organic search results! It can be hard to get your name out there on the internet, especially when you're trying to compete with some big commercial contenders in the pet shop scene.

However, there is a solution to this issue: building your online traffic by understanding and optimizing your organic presence on Google. This doesn't have anything to do with running ads, but rather working on your natural and unpaid (organic) presence in search results, which can help people find your store more quickly and can help more people find your store, period.

The intricate details involved in boosting your organic presence on Google can be overwhelming, so we created this organic search engine optimization (SEO) overview to help you learn more about the topic. If you like what you see below, be sure to visit our Astro Academy page for even more helpful information and paw-ractical tips about how to give your business the biggest advantage you can.'

What's the Difference Between Organic SEO and Ads?

Before you begin focusing on your organic Google presence, it's important to understand the key differences between organic results and ads. When you type something like "dog toy" into Google, the first few results are paid ads (mostly from online retailers). The links are marked as "Ad," and they're at the very top of the search engine results because the business has paid to put them there. 

Organic search results are all about showing unpaid results based on relevance to the user's search. An article or brand's organic position on the search engine results page (SERP) is not paid for or influenced by anything other than that business's SEO strategy.

How Do I Know if My Website Appears on Google Search?

First things first—you should determine if your website appears in the Google search results when someone looks up a specific query. Figuring out if your website has been indexed on Google can be completed in just two easy steps:

1. Go to Google.
2. Type "site:" in the search box and follow it with your business's unique website address.
   • For example, if I wanted to search for Astro Loyalty's website I would type "site:https://www.astroloyalty.com" (include the parenthesis).
3. Then click Search.

There are two possible outcomes.

1. Your Website Is in the Search Results

If your website appears once you conduct this search, then you are on the right track. This means that some of your website pages are already in the Google index, which is beneficial to your organic search results visibility. 

2. Your Website Isn't in the Search Results

If your website is nowhere to be seen, don't lose hope! Your website can be submitted to Google for indexing so that it will appear in the future. You can complete this process by using the Google Search Console.

How Does Google List Your Website?

Google can assess your organic presence and rank your site accordingly using a few different pieces of information. The following are simple explanations of the process that Google goes through when looking at your organic position on results pages:

• Crawling. Unfortunately, this isn't the adorable kind of crawling your dog does when trying to sneak around unnoticed. Related to SEO, crawling is the process that Google goes through when trying to catalog new information. One common method Google uses is following links across different web pages. After your website is crawled, Google is now aware of it.

• Indexing. After your website has been crawled, the content of your website will be organized into Google's information library. For example, your pet store website being indexed means that Google not only knows that the site exists, but that it has looked through your product landing pages and knows the different things you're selling.

• Ranking. The final step involves users typing a query into the search box, resulting in Google going through its library to determine the results that best fit the query. Therefore, if someone based in your hometown types in a product that you offer or that has similarities to what you are offering, they will be more likely to see your shop and website in the search results.

SEO Basics You Should Know

In simple terms, search engine optimization (SEO), makes your website more appealing to Google's crawlers. By putting a bit of effort into SEO, you can promote your business and your products without investing in paid ads and maximize the number of customers who are directed to your website.

If you want to revamp your SEO strategy, keep the following steps in mind to get started:

• Make sure you're providing useful information about your products. To increase the success of your SEO marketing, you should create content that is legitimately helpful to customers. Product details and information should be visible on your website to give potential customers a better understanding of what you offer. Useful info can be provided through things such as website catalogs, prices, and inventory. Adding in some blog content certainly wouldn't hurt either!

• Make your website titles and headings short and meaningful. Each aspect of your website can improve or impair the customer's experience. Your website titles for each page should be short and to the point, telling customers exactly what they will find on that page.

• Include your business details. The customer might be curious to know more about your store, especially if they haven't come across your website before. You can include an "About" page that details your business, contact methods, operating locations, and physical store details such as the address and hours.

• Check all image and video tags. Search engines sometimes struggle to accurately interpret images and videos in the way that a customer would be able to. Therefore, you should use tags with all of your images and videos to allow Google search to understand them better. Changing the names of photos from generic names ("dog") to specific, descriptive terms ("small dog eating all-natural raw food") gives you a better shot of appearing higher up in search engines.

• Use relatable descriptions. A huge part of any business's successful online presence is the ability to relate to their customer through language. Include detailed information on your website that resonates with what the customer is looking for. Adding some personality and brand identity into your website is great for user experience and can also help search engines such as Google rank you for specific queries more accurately.

The Benefits of Improving Your Organic Presence

Your pet store can benefit greatly from improving your organic search presence. Tons of people own pets, (70% of U.S. households!) but many pet owners are not aware of the smaller businesses that can provide them with higher quality products and better services than the bigger corporations. Improving your organic presence means attracting more local customers to your store and being able to show off the quality of your products.

For example, that neighborhood pet that you always see being taken for walks? Your organic presence means that you have a better chance of getting that pet's owner into your store and interested in your products. Increasing your ranking on organic search results is a win-win situation for both you and local pet owners that are missing out on everything you have to offer.

Final Words

SEO and your organic Google presence are key pieces of your business's success. Improving your business's SEO and organic presence can help bring in website and foot traffic and help your store thrive. 

If you've not yet done so, consider taking the leap by checking to see if your site is listed on Google and optimizing your web pages for Google's crawlers. If you want to see more beautiful faces in your store (and more human faces, too), start strategizing for SEO!