Most website owners continually strive for a top listing in the search engines results pages of Google, Yahoo! and MSN/Bing. Ranking #1 is a terrific method for earning more search visitors and more customers however ranking in and of itself is not always the answer.

Have you ever looked at all of your websites page listing in a search engine such as Google? Most local business owners don’t know how the search engines display their search listing.

To do so simply perform the following search, without the quotes;

“site:yourwebaddress.com”

When done so in Google, you’ll be able to instantly see all of your page titles and descriptions as a visitor looking for your services online would. You’ll notice that every page listing is really just a classified ad which shows the title or headline and a description or body text just like in a traditional classified ad.

Do your page listings have engaging Headlines? Does the description leave the reader wanting more? Does your description include a call to action; essentially asking the reader to do something, like visit your site for more information?

Most websites search engine listing is a mish mash of words, and worst yet is the website that has their business name as the title for every page. Unless you are a big local or national brand your business name is not as important as a page title as your most descriptive keywords would be.

The truth is, well into the 90% range of websites online have very poor titles and descriptions when it comes to their search engine listings. An excellent first step for most website owners, especially local businesses is to re-title each of their web pages and re-write a compelling description that evokes the click from their most valued customers.

To find out if your page titles and descriptions work, imagine taking that exact same text and placing it in print as a classified ad. Would you pay to have that ad printed? Would readers be compelled to call you or look to you for your services? OR would they not have a clue as to what your ad or business is all about?

No matter whether you have 10 pages or 1000 on your website, each is a simple classified ad in the search engines. As a business owner you wouldn’t place useless classified ads in print, don’t sacrifice your business rankings or reputation by allowing such nonsense on the internet. Turn each of your web pages into a classified ad format in terms of title and description and your website results will increase guaranteed.