Most businesses are highly dependent on Google for generating customers, whether they like it or not. While you may get some consumers searching you via Bing, a lot of consumers are likely to be Google users. Understanding how to appeal to these users can help you direct more traffic to your website, build brand awareness, improve your reputation and more. Below are just some of the different ways your business should be taking advantage of Google.
Improve your organic Google rankings with SEO
Getting customers to discover you via Google requires having decent search engine rankings. SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of using keywords, hyperlinks and other tactics to boost rankings. While it’s possible to do some SEO yourself, most websites find it much more effective to rely on an SEO agency. This allows you to more easily carry out SEO tasks like backlinking which require a large network, as well as keeping up to date with the latest algorithm changes.
Start creating adverts with Google Ads
Online adverts are key to creating brand awareness and generating more leads. Google Ads is a platform that allows you to create and customize your very own advertising campaigns. While it’s fairly straightforward to use, it’s worth noting that there is an art to creating effective advertising campaigns. This is why many companies hire the help of Google ad experts like Claire Jarrett to consult them. You can then maximize the chance of launching an effective ad campaign.
Set up a Google My Business account
Setting up a Google My Business account allows you to display a business profile along with your search results whenever someone searches for your business. This profile displays to the right of the search results and contains key information such as your address, opening hours and phone number. Unless you set up an account, this information will not display when someone Googles the name of your business.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on Google
A Google My Business account also allows you to display reviews. Make sure that lots of positive reviews are being left online. How do you do this? Every time you work with a happy customer, encourage them to leave a review either by asking them in person or sending a friendly email. Given a prompt, many customers will leave a review. Obviously, avoid asking unhappy customers to leave reviews.
Optimize your location on Google Maps
A lot of people use Google Maps when searching for local businesses. If you want to encourage Google Maps users to visit your business premises, make sure that your GPS location displays. You can also optimize certain keywords to display your business. For example, if you own an Italian restaurant, you can optimize your location to come up whenever someone types ‘Italian restaurant near me’ into Google Maps. There are guides online that explain more on how to optimize your Google Maps location.
Analyze your web traffic with Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a fantastic tool that can help to monitor all the website traffic you’re getting. It can allow you to pick up key information on your visitors such as the time they are visiting, their gender, the devices they’re using, the browsers they’re using and more. You can also see exactly which pages are getting visited. It’s great market research for working out how to market to your customers – make sure that you’re regularly checking this data and using it when forming new marketing strategies.
Find what’s trendy with Google Trends
Google Trends is a tool that allows you to monitor the popularity of search queries over time. It can help you to recognize when something is becoming more or less popular, which could be useful when it comes to choosing products or creating content. You may even be able to use it to detect seasonal increases in certain terms, which you can then exploit. For example, you may find that Google users seem to be searching for a specific question every winter related to your business, which you may be able to reply to using a blog post on your site.
Track search terms with Google Alerts
Want to know if your company or name has been mentioned on another website? Or perhaps you want to track every time a competitor product is mentioned? Google Alerts can send you alerts every time new content is created containing your search term. This could allow you to quickly react to important media coverage. You can also use Google Alerts to check that no-one is stealing certain content and using it without your permission. Google Alerts is free to use – this post by Andy Wolber explains more about how to use it efficiently.
Keep your site in full working order with Google Search Console
Google Search Console can be a great tool for maintaining your site. You can use it for checking the mobile friendliness of your site, identifying broken links and detecting pages that may breach rules. All in all, it can help you to find problems with your site and make improvements, which could help to make your website more user-friendly and more SEO-friendly. Google Search Console is similarly free and easy to use – consider looking into it today if you haven’t already tried it.
Embrace video marketing on YouTube
YouTube is owned by Google and is the biggest video sharing platform in the world. It’s worth exploring the possibilities of YouTube to help boost your customers. By setting up a company YouTube Channel, you can start creating your own branded videos, which could include information vlog posts, product demos/walkthroughs, behind-the-scenes videos or explainer videos. You can also create video adverts, which can be triggered to play before or during other people’s videos. When getting involved in video marketing, it’s worth hiring a professional video production company. You can make your own videos, however you’ll need to invest in the right equipment and get to grips with video editing in order to make your videos look professional.