# Search Engine Visibility - webcentive

Source: https://www.webcentive.com/shopsearchenginevisibiliy/shopsearchenginevisibiliy.html  
Format: Markdown version of the HTML page (same content, lookups and page chrome left out).

How to get a website found in search: free official guidance from Google and Bing, free webmaster tools, local business listings and site speed, with scam warnings first. No one can guarantee a #1 or first-page ranking on Google, and Google never charges for organic results or for a free Business Profile. Hang up on calls claiming to be from Google that threaten to remove your listing, and be wary of anyone promising a 'special relationship' with Google or 'priority submit'. If an SEO deceived you, report it to the FTC (or econsumer.gov for foreign companies). Tools below are commercial.  

More on webcentive: [search engines](https://www.webcentive.com/search_engines.html) | [business](https://www.webcentive.com/webcentive_business_links.html) | [domains](https://www.webcentive.com/shopdomains/shopdomains.html) | [webcentive ask](https://www.webcentive.com/ask/)  

Each site has quick lookups: who owns it (whois), its history (Wayback Machine), a safety check, and one-tap questions to AI helpers. Grok asks you to tap Send first.  
Links last checked Oct 18, 2026.  

- **Avoid SEO scams: no one can guarantee a #1 ranking (start here)**
- [bbb.org](https://www.bbb.org/) - Better Business Bureau: check an SEO company
- [developers.google.com (do I need an SEO)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo) - Google: Do you need an SEO? ("No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google")
- [econsumer.gov](https://www.econsumer.gov/) - econsumer.gov: report scams by foreign companies
- [ftc.gov](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/scams-your-small-business-guide-business) - FTC: Scams and Your Small Business, including fake Google listing calls
- [reportfraud.ftc.gov](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/) - FTC: report a deceptive SEO or business scam
- **Official search engine guidance and tools (free)**
- [bing.com](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/about) - Bing Webmaster Tools (free)
- [bing.com (guidelines)](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a) - Bing Webmaster Guidelines
- [developers.google.com](https://developers.google.com/search) - Google Search Central: official SEO documentation
- [developers.google.com (spam policies)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) - Google spam policies: what gets sites penalized
- [developers.google.com (starter guide)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide) - Google SEO Starter Guide
- [indexnow.org](https://www.indexnow.org/) - IndexNow: tell Bing and others when pages change
- [search.google.com](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) - Google Search Console: free site monitoring
- **Local listings (free)**
- [bing.com (places)](https://www.bing.com/forbusiness/) - Bing Places for Business: free local listing
- [business.google.com](https://business.google.com/us/business-profile/) - Google Business Profile: free local listing
- **Speed, structure and accessibility**
- [pagespeed.web.dev](https://pagespeed.web.dev/) - PageSpeed Insights: test page speed
- [schema.org](https://schema.org/) - Schema.org: structured data vocabulary
- [w3.org](https://www.w3.org/WAI/) - W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
- [web.dev](https://web.dev/) - web.dev: Core Web Vitals and site quality
- **SEO tools and learning (commercial)**
- [ahrefs.com](https://ahrefs.com/) - Ahrefs: SEO tools
- [moz.com](https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo) - Moz: Beginner's Guide to SEO
- [searchenginejournal.com](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/) - Search Engine Journal: SEO news
- [semrush.com](https://www.semrush.com/) - Semrush: SEO tools
- [yoast.com](https://yoast.com/) - Yoast: SEO plugin for WordPress

Number of links: 23  
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