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If you’ve ever struggled to get your website noticed by Google, today’s chat with Laura Jawad is a must-listen. Laura, an SEO expert, breaks down common pitfalls that keep your site from ranking. We talked about the practical steps you can take to make your site more visible without relying solely on social media. As someone who’s used her strategies on my own site, I can vouch for their effectiveness. Laura brings a mix of technical prowess and real-world experience, making this advice invaluable for anyone looking to boost their online presence. Join us as we explore how to get found on Google and make your website work harder for you.
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Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:
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Laura’s Links:
- Connect with Laura on LinkedIn and Instagram
- Grab her Free Simplified SEO Guide
- Download her Free SEO Kickstart Kit
- Check out her SEO Audit Services
Speaker 1:
Well, hi there, we are back with Laura Jawat, and she is a SEO specialist. There’s actually a lot that you’re going to get from this episode, but if you’ve wondered specifically what are the biggest mistakes that online business owners make that hold them back from being found on Google, you’re in the right episode, because this episode is called Get Found on Google, and Laura’s quite good at doing that. She’s helped my website get found on Google. No-transcript power of their websites. She built two successful businesses through SEO, demonstrating firsthand the transformative power of well-executed SEO in competitive markets.
Speaker 1:
And it’s ultra important because it’s not like she just teaches SEO but has never really done it for herself. She is living proof that it works twice over, and she’s a PhD, by the way 20 years of education experience and she has a deep passion for helping women-owned businesses thrive. So she’s the go-to. Laura’s the go-to. If you wanna fill your client roster without having to rely on social media and feed the Instagram and Facebook and TikTok algorithms, then listen to what she’s about to say about how to get found on Google. Especially now, in 2025, this kind of knowledge is more important than it ever has been. Laura, welcome back to the episode or the show. Welcome back to the show, laura.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, I’m so happy to be here again. Thanks for being here, laura.
Speaker 3:
So we’re going to kind of jump right into it, just how Guido had teased it in the intro here. But what are the biggest mistakes that online business owners make that hold them back from being found on?
Speaker 2:
Google God. How much time do we have?
Speaker 1:
We could talk a bit.
Speaker 2:
How many mistakes can I share?
Speaker 1:
The biggest two.
Speaker 2:
Let me start. I’ll limit it to three. There’s a lot, apparently there’s a lot, but let me start with the biggest one. Okay, I’m going to start with my biggest, neediest one. That is going to sound so obvious, but like, don’t discount this. Okay, people do not say what they do on their homepage. People do not say what they do on their homepage and everyone thinks they do. Hardly anyone does. The number one thing that I tell people after I audit their website is you never said what you do on your homepage. You talk around it, you provide a lot of supporting information, but the words are not there. And if the words aren’t there, you’re not providing the right context to Google. So you have to say explicitly what you do if you want to be found for that thing that you do.
Speaker 2:
And so it sounds very obvious. It’s not fancy, it’s not techie, but it’s a thing that I find that most business owners are missing.
Speaker 1:
I might be one of those, unfortunately, I believe you are, Quajo.
Speaker 2:
I am looking at my page right now.
Speaker 1:
This is a plug for the YouTube channel, because we are looking at my page right now.
Speaker 2:
I’ve been begging Quajo to let me do a full audit of his website and, yes, you are in fact missing this, quajo.
Speaker 1:
All right, we’re going to be working.
Speaker 3:
But it says that we’re Facebook and Instagram ads managers.
Speaker 1:
Maybe when Kind of Not specifically.
Speaker 2:
I don’t believe that you actually say facebook ads manager anywhere on your page it does say strategic partners, who will bring you more like you have like this is what people do as we’re looking at your page. So you have strategic facebook ads partner, but no one’s googling strategic facebook ads partner the word ad manager or meta ads manager, right as management okay, I just.
Speaker 1:
I did a command f to find that phrase.
Speaker 3:
Facebook ads manager is oh, I have a file on my desktop.
Speaker 2:
I have a file on my desktop of, like my command f yeah where it says zero out of zero, because every website I do like, I always ask people what do you imagine that people are typing into the search bar to connect to your services? Right?
Speaker 2:
And then the first thing I do is I go to their website and I type those, I do a command F and I look for those phrases and they’re never there. I have a little like folder of, just like you know, zero over zero search results. I don’t even know why I keep that.
Speaker 1:
I think it’s, you know, like zero search results.
Speaker 2:
I don’t even know why I keep that. I think it’s you know, like as an seo strategist. It’s just like maddening to me. I’m like how can you not say what you do? But I think it is, it’s the curse of knowledge, right yeah knowledge, yeah, but for any, for everyone listening. Go, do this. Go to your home page. Do a command, do you do? You say what you do on your homepage. And if you don’t put it there and put it on title, okay, we’ll work on this. Quite, john Genie, it’s all right.
Speaker 1:
We’ll be working on this. It’s mistake number two, Geez. Now I’m like what?
Speaker 2:
I know Well it’s like when you’re so close to your business and it’s so clear in your mind right, it’s the personal knowledge, and this is why I think it is so important for people to get an audit right. This is why I think it is so valuable for people. And this is we’re going on a little tangent here, but it’s you know, people are like, oh, can I do like a DIY audit, like I can just go to Uber, suggest or SEMrush and like just do an audit there. And it’s like, yeah, but you’re not going to have a real human looking for these things on your website, like you need someone coming to your website and approaching it like a searcher because you can’t.
Speaker 2:
Right and an automated algorithm like an Uber Suggest or SEMrush. It can’t either. You need someone to look at your website like a searcher would. And that’s what you get if you pay a human being for an audit.
Speaker 1:
All right. So, you’re linking an audit link by you in our show notes so that everyone else who doesn’t have their SEO app together including me can go look you up and get an audit. I want to know the second and third biggest mistakes, but before that I feel like the listener has to hear about this Kickstarter kit that you’re offering. Can you tell us a little bit about the SEO Kickstart Kit?
Speaker 2:
Sure. So the SEO Kickstart Kit. It is a collection of five step-by-step checklists that I’ve designed to kind of meet you, where you’re at, wherever you are, with your either understanding of SEO or your progress with SEO and help you move forward to set up your website to attract qualified leads on autopilot. So hopefully it will help point out some of these things to you so you can go and check for them yourself.
Speaker 1:
These apparently obvious things that we should know, yeah you know, like I just want to give a quick. It’s a plug and I’m just kind of it’s a confession moment, but it’s like I’ve just put it off and not putting it off any longer working with you because SEO is just like in the back of my mind, like, yes, I need people discovering my website and coming to me for services organically from Google, but I still understand. And then there’s other things that seem more pressing but really, based on how I know, I have clients that have strong SEO presence. Like I know what’s on the other side of this and how good it can be for my business, but I just haven’t put it off. So I hear what you’re saying and a thing that we’ll talk about later.
Speaker 2:
So Google is increasingly looking at your overall brand presence on the internet. It’s looking at your overall digital footprint when it’s ranking your website and ranking your content, and so having a strong online presence, having a strong brand, is really beneficial for your SEO. And so you, quajo, you’ve got a really really strong brand presence, and so for you, like once you like getting your what we call on page and technical SEO in order.
Speaker 2:
I mean, it’s just going to be like fuel on the fire, like you’re so well set up now that we have your website indexed, like doing those other small weeks. I know right Like you’re set up really, really well to get traffic. Okay, you have a lot of great foundations, but do you want to go back? Second biggest and third biggest.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay, you have a lot of great foundations, but do you want to go back to the biggest and third biggest? The listener doesn’t know, though, that we met in person and you had a little session with me, because my website was not even discoverable by people, so, and that’s already a year and a half story after.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I’m going to finish the mistakes and then we can talk about that story, because I’d love to talk about that story, but we we’ll never answer this question.
Speaker 2:
Otherwise we’ll never answer it. I’m trying to decide if I want to give you like. There’s so many different ways to approach it. Okay, I’m going to approach this the biggest mistakes I see like big picture as opposed to like little stuff. So one One is keywords, right, and starting with that thing that you do, that you want to be found for. So we’ve covered that. Everyone’s going to go to their homepage after listening to this podcast. They’re going to go and they’re going to make sure they’re listing the thing they do. Second is creating content for their website. So I see people creating beautiful content for Instagram, sending out these robust, beautiful, well thought out emails, and they don’t put any of it on their website, where it could be actively vesting in the background. We talked about this term on the last episode, but all that content you’re creating could be working for you, right?
Speaker 3:
The podcast, the emails, social stuff the stuff you’re putting on your website, like for, for example, a blog section, or you do have a blog section.
Speaker 2:
We do. You used to use it. You used to use it to put podcast show notes, but you haven’t used it in quite some time because obviously I creeped your website before this is everybody’s website.
Speaker 1:
Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, right now, as we’re recording this. I did have my EA start uploading. Oh, did you? Okay, and it’s November 27th. I just want to go out officially on the record and say, at least, from that SEO sin, I have reprinted, I have turned the proverbial 180 degrees and there are podcast episodes. Now there might not be many written words, but we’re up to.
Speaker 2:
That’s okay. Yeah, okay, this is a situation where I would so much rather have you posting anything because it’s a habit, right, it’s like going to the gym. Right, like you, you work out. Right, like you go to the gym and you know that, like, it’s better to do like a 10 minute workout than no workout at all. Right, that 10 minutes is way more valuable than doing nothing and you can’t optimize a habit that doesn’t exist.
Speaker 2:
And so if you can get in the habit of just putting up like a quick show notes, or putting up your Instagram content or putting up your emails even if it’s maybe not as like robust and optimized as like you wish or hope, it could be getting into that habit of putting up, pressing publish on your website once a week, putting something up on your website once a week and then over time you can optimize that habit right. You can learn some of the little like SEO tips or tricks, or you can spend a little extra time like molding the content a little more specifically for your website. But when you’re starting out, or if you’re, if you haven’t been posting stuff on your website, just start recycling some of that content that you’re creating for your other platforms and put it on your website so it can be working for your SEO.
Speaker 1:
We got the whole episode transcripts on there too.
Speaker 2:
Perfect. See, that’s wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 1:
Yay, all right, I can tick that box. I can tick at least that box. The second biggest mistake I am no longer making I’m really proud of you.
Speaker 2:
I am really proud of you. This is really good. I’m proud of myself.
Speaker 1:
Like, can you? Find a gold star for me, jamie, somewhere from our kids.
Speaker 2:
I love it All right, mistake number three Okay, and then mistake number three is not diversifying your platforms, not building your brand outside your website. Now, I know there’s a lot of people, on the other hand, that come to SEO because they don’t want to have to show up on social, or they don’t want to have to show up on social or they don’t want to have to do some of these other marketing tasks. But as we move forward into the Google of 2025 and beyond, those things are important. It is important to have some amount of footprint beyond your website and to build brand authority beyond your website, and that can be your socials, that could be your podcast it could also be what I’m doing right now and guesting on other people’s podcasts.
Speaker 2:
But you need to be showing up in other places. Your name and your brand need to be showing up in other places besides just your website, because those that is a signal to Google, that one that you’re active, that you have a real brand, that other people trust you and that they should trust you too. So you do have to expand your online footprint. It doesn’t have to look the same for everyone, you don’t have to be dancing on reels, but finding a way that feels comfortable to you that allows you to sort of like let your tentacles like go forth and colonize the internet a little bit. It’s super, super important.
Speaker 1:
So when you say show up on other platforms, and the listener is like but Laura, I’m already so busy, like are there? Are there, like, what are the top two other places that somebody should show up in first on their way to showing up on all the other things?
Speaker 2:
So this is my favorite way, right? I love guesting on podcasts because now I’m going to my name, my links, they’re going to be in your show notes. You’re posting these on your website. Now it’s going to be on your website. So immediately I’m getting the brand awareness and publicity from being on your show. I’m getting the links, those trust signals going back to Google, telling Google that I’m a real brand with real expertise that other people trust enough to invite onto their platforms.
Speaker 2:
Right, and to me, this is to me, this is a low lift, and to me this is a low lift, right, like to me, instagram is a large lift that takes a lot like a kind of energy. I don’t have this I really enjoy. So I invest more energy into finding these opportunities where I can come onto podcasts, get to know the host, get in front of their audience, get these nice juicy links. This is a platform. This is a platform. So this is one that I choose, and then I encourage folks to be on a social media platform.
Speaker 2:
So, historically, I’ve been on Instagram. I’m exploring LinkedIn now because my audience has changed, but I’m also finding that the energy aligns a little bit better with me because I can post all this real nerdy stuff and people are are there for it. You know, on Instagram you have to be like a little bit better with me, because I can post all this real nerdy stuff and people are there for it. You know, on Instagram you have to be like a little more entertaining. On LinkedIn you can be like a little more cerebral.
Speaker 2:
And like I’m just like I’m pretty nerdy and so I’m finding that aligns with my interests and energy a little bit better. So I don’t think that I can tell anyone what their best two platforms are. I think you have to think about where is your audience. Is it on TikTok? Is it on Facebook? Is it on Instagram? Is it on X? Is you know like, where is it? That’s a great place to show up, and then I think that doing some sort of getting in front of other people’s audiences it has so much bang for its buck. And I think it’s also important to point out that showing up on these platforms doesn’t mean that you have to show up at any particular frequency, right Like it’s what can you afford in your life.
Speaker 1:
What can?
Speaker 2:
you handle, Pick a frequency or consistency that works for you and that is like that’s great. You know, and obviously with anything, the more you put in, the more you get out.
Speaker 3:
But like put in something, Right, I liked what you said. That you said pick a social media platform. That doesn’t mean you have to be on all of them, Just focus on one. And and collabs.
Speaker 2:
No, look, I mean, we’re all like. I imagine your audience is is a lot of small business owners Like I don’t have a team, I’m not working with a team, this is just me showing up to do these things. So I’m doing what I can, right, and I’m not going to show up in the same way that a big business with a marketing team is going to show up, right, ok, right, because people are coming to me for different reasons.
Speaker 3:
Good, so let’s get into, unless you wanted to add anything else.
Speaker 1:
There was.
Speaker 3:
That was the third one.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so our three use the right, use the right keywords on your website, starting with that thing that you do.
Speaker 3:
Right.
Speaker 2:
Okay, Create content for your website, and a great place to start is by repurposing the content you’re already creating for your emails, your social platforms or perhaps your podcast or YouTube channel. And then the third is expanding your online footprint beyond your website in some capacity, in a way that feels aligned with your energy, with your interests and your audience.
Speaker 1:
Great Nice, I mean, I feel like that’s a complete episode right there.
Speaker 3:
Right, but wait, there’s more.
Speaker 1:
What else do you want to share with us about how one gets started with SEO?
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, that’s such a big question, Kwejo.
Speaker 1:
Oh well, the listener is listening right now and I’m not talking about the listener who has all their stuff together, but the one who doesn’t and they’re like, oh my gosh, is it go guest on the podcast now to get links back here and my name out there? Or is it go to my website and bring content that I have on Instagram, like those wonderfully performing organic Instagram posts, but publish those as articles on my website? Or does it take some emails and publish those? What do I do? Or is it getting on it?
Speaker 2:
So I think, well, one you could go and download my SEO kickstart kit and you can start using that to organize your SEO efforts, right? So I’ll give a little plug for that, because part of the reason I made that is because it can be really really overwhelming to just decide like, ok, today is going to be SEO day, like where do I start? And it’s like I can’t even answer that question because it’s such a big question when do you start?
Speaker 2:
There’s so many places you could start. So if you start with something like that, I give you a few lists, you can cross out the things that you’ve already done and then you can choose the actions that feel like the either the lowest lifts or the biggest ROI for you right now. Okay, but that will help you organize your efforts a little bit so that it doesn’t feel like you’ve got everything like this insurmountable to-do list sitting in front of you.
Speaker 2:
I think having I mean, I think an audit is wonderful because, one, someone’s going to look at your website like a searcher would, but two, it’ll also help you prioritize your SEO efforts because, again, like, not all SEO tasks are created equal, like some have a greater ROI than others, and if you have someone external look at your website and your to-do list, like they’ll help you focus your time on the things that are your to-do list.
Speaker 2:
Like they’ll help you focus your time on the things that are going to give you the biggest bang for your buck, so you can make the most of your limited time. With respect to the things that we’ve talked about today, think about which ones are going to be most impactful for you right now. It’s obviously very easy to go to your website and just do, like a quick search and see if you’ve like listed this thing that you do right, so that’s easy. Everyone should go and do that. But then, you know, think like have you done a good job already at outreach? If you’ve already done a great job at outreach and that’s something that’s already a habit for you and you are already doing then start with content.
Speaker 2:
If you already have a strong content game, but you have not spent a lot of time getting your content out into the world. Start doing that. So look at where you’re already strong right and look at where you have opportunities and that’s where you start Like start with those opportunities, Don’t double. I mean, there’s something to be said for doubling down on the things that you’re good at, and we know that SEO rests on multiple pillars. It’s not one thing.
Speaker 2:
And so if you’re already good at outreach, spend some time focusing on your content. It’s not one thing, and so if you’re already good at outreach, spend some time focusing on your content. If you’re already great with content, spend some time focusing on outreach. If you’re doing great with both of those and you’re not getting traction, get someone to look at your website so that you know what to do next, because there’s also the tech right. There’s the tech user experience and sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to uncover that stuff for you.
Speaker 1:
Well then, here’s something that. So I’m curious what you think about this. Jamie and I have been writing. We’ve been building a new email funnel to introduce folks to my course the lead Gen T code how, like you know, folks can cut their lead costs in half for Facebook Instagram ads. Now it’s been in a very simple format, like value email, value email, sales email but these value emails we’ve basically been going back to previous podcast episodes about Facebook ads, facebook and Instagram ads and then writing out an email condenses the value in that episode but in a way that also teases the remaining value and has a link to that episode. Is that kind of email something where we could pull those emails out and put them into the show notes that are on the website for the episodes? So now they’re become almost like super show notes.
Speaker 3:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so you know when it comes to SEO for your podcast show notes. So I haven’t gotten to look to see what you’ve been doing with your show notes since we last talked about your website, but I think you know, like having a transcript there is great, having the links is great, having the embedded audio is great and the subscribe links, but if you can also have like a narrative that people in the conversation or that you really want to highlight towards the top of the page, it’s a really great use of that.
Speaker 1:
Taking notes right now. Thank you for that. I feel like the listener and us have such concrete things that we can do to improve our SEO presence. In the last episode previous episode, sorry you had said that this can take like a certain amount of time. Can you refresh our memories with like the time range that this could take for our SEO to vest to where it really starts getting good and we start getting that good SEO like organic traffic?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So depending on where you look, you’ll see people say it takes three to six months or six to 12 months and really like how long it takes for any given piece of content to start really gaining traction depends on a lot of things. So for someone who’s already got like an established brand and an established website that’s already getting good traffic, they can probably get a paid a new page up and ranked within days to weeks. Quite honestly, for someone who has a website that is new, that doesn’t already have a lot of content or doesn’t already have a lot of content or doesn’t have a lot of traction, so at the beginning of their sort of SEO journey, then that could take three to six months, six to 12 months. Generally we say that the SEO on a page matures by 12 months.
Speaker 2:
If something’s not getting traction by 12 months like something is very like needs to be tweaked there. But for you know, like average, like small business owners website, the website’s been up for a while. They get like a little bit of traffic but not a ton and they’re trying to build it. I would say probably in the three to six months range is probably like a good amount of time to start expecting to see some traffic from a new piece of content Also depends how competitive your niche is. So that’s also important to point out. But unfortunately I can’t give you a very because there’s all these factors like what’s the authority of the existing website, how competitive is the niche, how good is the piece of content. Can’t give you an exact timeframe, but it’s definitely on the timescale of months.
Speaker 3:
Sure, that’s our favorite answer on the show. Anyway, it depends. There’s so many factors involved.
Speaker 1:
A new question popped into my mind and I know we got to bring this episode up. But this question so when I send out weekly emails because I know a lot of listeners do this too to summarize their most recent podcast episode, if it was once a week or twice a week, is it better to link to the, let’s say, apple podcast or Spotify podcast episode link, or is it much better and more worthwhile to link to the episode on your own website?
Speaker 2:
I think it’s always better to link to your own website, okay. I think, whenever possible, it is always better to link to your own website, even when so Google, for better or for worse. For I mean, it’s like very creepy, but Google’s always watching what people are doing on your website, whether they land on your website via search or whether they land on your website via referral, and so the more people you can get onto your website and then the more engaged those people are on your website, it makes your website look better to Google.
Speaker 2:
So if you can send people from your like what you’re doing is great, right? You’re teasing the episode. Then you’re sending them to the episode, right? If it was a blog post, I would say tease the blog post and send them to the blog post. Don’t put the whole story in the email because you want to get those people over to your website. And so if you can get people over to your website and then, like you know, like the the Holy grail would be, those people listen to the episode from your embedded player and then they’re spending all that time on your website, that’s the best case scenario.
Speaker 2:
But, in absence of that, maybe they’re clicking over from your website. That’s still great. You want to get people over to your website.
Speaker 3:
That makes sense. You want to draw them into your little business ecosphere and hopefully, while they’re there, they’ll stay and click around a little bit. Well, I had always wondered.
Speaker 1:
Well, I hadn’t always wondered, I just said the question popped into my mind, but I had always up until right now. Now I have a conflict in my brain, but up until now I had always thought okay, I want to send people directly to the platform that I’m trying to grow for the podcast, like Apple Podcasts or directly to YouTube. But now I’m trying to grow for the podcast like Apple Podcasts or directly to YouTube. But now I’m like huh, so I want to embed on my website and send them there and then maybe, from the website, have links to the Art of Online Business on the Apple Podcasts or YouTube channel.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
That’s the better way.
Speaker 2:
That’s what I would do. From an SEO perspective, that’s the best approach. You should have all that stuff embedded, like embed the podcast episode, embed the YouTube videos so people could watch directly on your website, but then also enable them to click out to those platforms if they so choose.
Speaker 1:
I am literally in my Apple Notes, making notes for my EA to do, to change the website at the podcast episodes. Like this is such practical, tangible, like demystifying advice. I actually had none of this info in my head, like usually when I have a guest on the episode and they tell me what they’re going to say, like I. I do know a good amount about it just because I’ve been around in the space the online course creation, business space for a bit, but the things that you just told me yeah, I didn’t know much about this is gold and I should have been doing
Speaker 2:
them well, like we said at the end of the last episode, like the best time to do this stuff was, you know, six months ago, but the next best time is today and you’re well on your way. Right you have, your website is indexed, you’re posting new content on there, so you’re you’re well on your way to having your website get found for the things that you want it to get found for having your website get found for the things that you want it to get found for Sweet, sweet yeah.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for being on this podcast and it was obviously so cool to meet you in person. It’s not every podcast guest that I actually have built a relationship with in person but, like you and I have hung out in person and I can’t wait to hang out with you again.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for having me on. It’s really been a pleasure to chat with both of you.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, the pleasure has been ours For sure.
Speaker 1:
Well, listener, that has been a really solid episode. It’s pretty meaty. Probably, scrub back and listen to it a few times. And if you want to go to my website and listen to it on my web page, do that too. Do that too. You know, send some of that seo love my way. But until the next time that you see us or hear from us on the website’s podcast episode web page, take care, be blessed, and we’ll see you in the next one. Bye.
