Google search title

maiwyck · March 1, 2016

Hey there!

When I search my full name and website on google, this comes up:

mairi
mairi.smugmug.com
(and then a bunch of content written below that Google has selected from my page)

What I want it to say is:

Mairi Chisholm
www.mairichisholm.com
(and then a bunch of content written below that Google has selected from my page)

I'm really novice at this stuff so I there must be some simple box I'm not checking...anyone know how to change this?
I already have my smugmug site pointed to www.mairichisholm.com so I'm not sure why it's showing .smugmug instead...
:dunno

denisegoldberg · March 1, 2016

Google takes time...

When I search for mairi chisholm costume design the search results show both your custom URL and your smugmug URL (as shown in the screen shot below).

You seem to have very little text on your site - and Google likes text. If I do a view page source I don't see any descriptions for the site. Your galleries also don't have descriptions. You might consider adding text.

It appears that you are allowing smugmug to create keywords based on your file names. I'd recommend turning that off and removing the numeric keywords.

To turn off file name keywording, go to Account Settings, Discovery, Search.
to see the keywords in use on your site, go to http://www.mairichisholm.com/keyword

Also take a look at the help page Will search engines find my SmugMug site?

Keep in mind that Google really likes inbound links. Do you have any?

Did you intend to allow free downloads of your photos? You might want to disallow access to the originals and not allow free downloads.

--- Denise

maiwyck · March 2, 2016

denisegoldberg wrote: »

Google takes time...

You seem to have very little text on your site - and Google likes text. If I do a view page source I don't see any descriptions for the site. Your galleries also don't have descriptions. You might consider adding text.

Keep in mind that Google really likes inbound links. Do you have any?

--- Denise

Wow! Thanks Denise!
I did a bunch of your suggestions and have a few lingering questions on these ones...

Since Google likes text, it seems to really like my BIO page. I'd rather, it found my HOME page first though. I also, don't want any additional text on my HOME page because it messes up the clean look. Is there a tricky way to add text that is not seen or something?

Inbound links....I don't think I have any but I don't know what they are...what I gather is that it's like if a peer of mine linked my site on their site?

denisegoldberg · March 2, 2016

maiwyck wrote: »

Wow! Thanks Denise!
I did a bunch of your suggestions and have a few lingering questions on these ones...

Since Google likes text, it seems to really like my BIO page. I'd rather, it found my HOME page first though. I also, don't want any additional text on my HOME page because it messes up the clean look. Is there a tricky way to add text that is not seen or something?

Inbound links....I don't think I have any but I don't know what they are...what I gather is that it's like if a peer of mine linked my site on their site?

I just checked my search results. I also don't have text on my home page. The search result is pulling the text I have in my Homepage Meta Description. To add text, go to Account Settings, Discovery, Search.

Yes, inbound links are links to your site from other sites. Do you have a blog? Or do you post on any forums? The photos I should on my blog come from my smug site. If a viewer clicks on the photo in my blog they are taken to my smug site.

--- Denise

maiwyck · March 4, 2016

denisegoldberg wrote: »

I just checked my search results. I also don't have text on my home page. The search result is pulling the text I have in my Homepage Meta Description. To add text, go to Account Settings, Discovery, Search.

Yes, inbound links are links to your site from other sites. Do you have a blog? Or do you post on any forums? The photos I should on my blog come from my smug site. If a viewer clicks on the photo in my blog they are taken to my smug site.

--- Denise

Thanks so much!! Very helpful!

Google search title

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