What did Spotlight Lane and Dunelm have in common?
Hint: Google thought we both sold light fittings.
Not quite the launch I had planned
When I launched Spotlight Lane at the end of 2025, Google thought I was selling light fittings and used to bring up Dunelm in search results.
Not quite the start I had in mind for an SEO business! (and I love a trip to Dunelm!).
I’m not going to lie, I contemplated changing the business name straight after launch, but I was attached to it (you can call it female bonding!). Around that time, I was fortunate to chat to Google’s John Mueller at an SEO event in Zurich and he basically said to give it time as it sounded like I was doing everything right. So I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did.
How long did it take Google to understand my business?
It actually took around seven weeks for Google to understand that Spotlight Lane wasn’t selling light fittings on a lane somewhere in Nottingham! And this was just to establish my brand name before I’d even got to what I wanted to be known for.
It did feel like forever, but in the grand scheme of the World Wide Web, it really wasn’t.
And this can happen with a brand new business or even an established business trying to build its place in Google. Google doesn’t automatically know who you are, what you do or where you should appear. You have to build those signals over time.
Building the right signals for Google
For Spotlight Lane, that meant being consistent about how I described the business across the website, writing content around the services I offer and building clearer associations between the name, SEO consultancy and Nottingham.
There wasn’t one magic change that suddenly fixed it. It was a combination of giving Google clearer information and allowing enough time for those signals to build.
From light fittings to SEO consultant
Once I’d started building that recognition, which was mainly through content on my website, I focused on the main search I wanted Spotlight Lane to be found for – SEO Consultant Nottingham.
Bing actually put me in the top three within a couple of months. Google took longer. By April I’d settled around position 3, before moving to No. 1 where I’ve been since May.
Does SEO stop when you reach number one?
But reaching number one isn’t the point where I think, “Great, I’ve finished my SEO.” There’s still plenty more I want to work on.
If you’re trying to establish a new business – or change what an existing business is known for- it can be frustrating when Google doesn’t seem to understand it straight away. That doesn’t necessarily mean your SEO isn’t working. Sometimes the foundations are right, but Google hasn’t gathered enough evidence yet.
The important part is knowing whether you need to make changes or whether you need to give it more time.
So last weekend, I had a wander around Dunelm’s lighting department. It’s safe to say, we’re friends again.
If Google isn’t quite joining the dots between your business and the searches you want to be found for, I can help you work out what might be missing.
Send me an email or call on 0115 971 3834
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