First, congratulations on a very interesting website, Alan! I had no idea that country music was popular in France!
I agree with Rimram that you need to better describe and prioritize what you do on your homepage. I had good luck with Google on a site I made for a glassblower by writing a paragraph about him on his homepage: capecodglass.net
I included all of the keywords I imagined that visitors would search for. His site ranks #1 over other such artists in our area.
One suggestion I offer is to remove the visitors counter from your website. Very out of date now. Et pas jolie:)
Also, listing every city in France ? I know itās an old trick to get Google to notice you, but I donāt think itās so helpful anymore. Plus, itās ugly and clutters up your nice site
Merci beaucoup sir
The site is vastly improved over the previous one thanks entirely to Sparkle, which is ideal for dummies like me
Was your visit to my site last night (Sunday evening ? If so, I have added quite a few words and changed descriptions etc since then.
Iām still in doubt about the keywords (coz you donāt wake up more intelligent than your were the day before ) Am I putting them at the right place ? 2nd box down on the right, below where you choose the type of page ?
Also, do there have to be only single words separated by commas, or can you put (example) ācountry musician,drinks too much,ā¦ā ? Thanks again !
I agree about the counters !
However, having all the towns etc doesnāt look good but I come almost first when you search for a country singer in Toulouse as an example.
Iām a bit torn between leaving the page ugly or risking (even) less visibility.
You need to be careful with your Title tag. You will get ranked higher if the tag text is shorter and more precise.
What you also need to think about is thisā¦ If a human reads your description tag, does it make sense? Is it concise, and readable, does the text flow etc
Title tag: Alan Carter country artist, singer musician balls festivals country festivals, English pop-rock, Irish music, animation for the elderly, animation for seniors
description tag - Singer Country, Pop-Rock and Irish musician. Prom, ball, party, festival and all country and western events. France, Europe and international
Points to consider:
Title tag - is too long! It will be cut off in google search it is 158 characters (donāt forget this is also what shows at the top of the browser window as well), recommended length is 50 to 60 characters. The optimal format is:
Primary keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name Donāt over do it with keywords etc.
So as an example for my site the title tag could be:
Piano and Keyboard Lessons in Worcester | Music Chamber
Description - Does the text flow if you were a human reading it, again be careful not to stuff it with too many keywords.
Thatās great Scott ! Iām amazed at getting so much useful info so fast from you guys
Itās been a huge help to a dummy like me who struggles to get round this sort of technology !
Our internet connection is down right now
But Iāll have another shot at improving when itās running again.
I actually managed to get google to check my main page and was surprised to read that for mobiles everything is too small ! I thought I had sized correctly in Sparkle.
Oh well, one thing at a time!
@AlanC76 If you want to check the readability or accessibility of your site, use this free online tool to assess your website. Just enter your website URL and then adjust the browser window to evaluate each device variant of your website. It will tell you if your text is too small and it will highlight contrast issues. It will also give you information about missing alt tags and a host of other things that can cause accessibility problems.
Hi Larry
Looks like all the best musicians are using Sparkle
Nice site (and music !)
I only do covers, solo entertainer since way back when
Hope business gets up and running again soon for you.
Next gig in March for me
Thatās why Iām asking questions to get better visibility on the net
Thanks Al. I donāt sing and you wouldnāt want me too. I do the website for a fella. My sites are for non profits, but musicians at the moment are not making much coin. Stay well, and keep on playing.
Me again folk !
If anyone has enough patience to try and help me on Google indexing, I would be really grateful
Iāve followed all the tips you gave me and thought that all was ok. But when I go to the Google search console, whatever I do, it comes back telling me my page is ok and āindexableā, but each time I request to be re-indexed, it says āthis URL has not been indexed, but itās not due to an errorā (??)
The āwaveā online tool says all is ok.
This is happening at a time when I really need to be āfindableā on Google with clients looking for artists to book as of September.
A million thanks (canāt do it in dollars ) to anyone who can find what Iām doing wrong !
I think I haveā¦ but itās so bleeding complicated now !
My previous site was just found by the search engines, never did anything and was always on first page.
Now you need a PhD in science to understand google
Making sure you have offered up your sitemap.xml (like @rimram suggested) to Google is important.
Then you have to make sure your character count for your page title and description is within the limits.
There is so much to this topic, and Google keeps changing the goal posts especially now that it has an AI running the show and it is thinking more human every day! Ouch!
) Am I putting them at the right place ? 2nd box down on the right, below where you choose the type of page ?
but I come almost first when you search for a country singer in Toulouse as an example.
) but will go back later and check it all again.