The Not-So-Secret Secrets that Google Wants You to Know
Peter Brissette • August 28, 2017
What I want to share with you today is an excerpt from my presentation”Grow Your Business Online”. I call it The Not-So-Secret Secrets that Google Wants You to Know About in regards to what you need to do with your website. Eighty percent of this presentation came directly from Google and the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) which is a partner with Google on helping local businesses get their Google Maps listings updated, and that’s something that we do through the SBDC.
So as a part of that training program, they give you this presentation and say, “Here’s what you need to go and share with businesses.” So this is not based on my interpretation– this is directly from Google, the source.
The first thing you have to do on your website, and anything you do online, is answer the question, “How do you actually measure success?” A lot of times we think, “Oh, how many friends do I have? How many likes did I get? How much website traffic? Is the traffic going up? Going down?” That’s interesting information sometimes, but that’s not the end goal. Traffic isn’t the goal. Customers is the goal. So we always have to remember, we want qualified prospects.
Everything that we do needs to be built around that. How do I get a qualified prospect? And is the site– is the social– is whatever we’re doing, moving us towards getting a qualified prospect? These things might be interesting information in terms of traffic and subscribers and friend and followers in our total reach, but it’s not necessarily the goal of what we’re trying to accomplish. So this is a good reminder on that.
Google has really taken a mobile-first strategy in how they’re doing everything now, because so much of the search has transitioned away from desktop to mobile. At the point that someone has a need, they grab the phone, they do the search. Google calls it a “zero moment of truth.” How do you show up at that particular moment and those split-second decisions that people are making about your business?
These are just some stats that Google has. 80% of consumers use the search engine when looking for information about local businesses, 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day. So in terms of local business, what’s happening on mobile is critically important. And how your business will show up on that mobile device really matters, and we’ll talk about this, tips that they have for that.
Below is a typical search query– I’m using a bakery for this example. Someone puts in their search query and then this comes up. You can see has got the little word, “Ad” next to it. They used to be only on the top and on the side, but now they’re only on the top now and on the bottom, so Google has actually made fewer ad options. You used to be able to spend a little less, by choosing to get an ad on the side, but now that’s completely gone, so you have to compete with the top three spots and try to get there as an advertiser. But we can adjust that in the algorithms in our bidding, so you don’t have to advertise. These are organic search results, so this is just the website, but this is the Google Maps listing over on the right.
So how do you get there? If you don’t have the listing, or you don’t have a login to go in and change it, then this is what you need to do: If you go to www.gybo.com/business, you can do a search for your business. Google will probably find it, and then give you the chance then to claim that listing. The way you claim it is through a verification, which is usually a direct phone call. It will call your business phone number, and as long as someone can answer that, it’ll give you a six-digit code. You type in the code, and you’re verified.
If you can’t do it via phone, you can do it via a postcard that Google will send to you through the mail. So you’ll say, “Send me the postcard.” which will take about a week to get to you, and then you can go back in, type in the verification code, and you’re verified. Once you do that, the information you want to appear is going to show up there. A lot of times, the information is out there, but it’s the wrong information because you haven’t claimed the listing and haven’t updated it. So that’s verification.
So what can you do once you’re verified? You can edit all the info. You can add your hours and put in special hours if you’re taking off holidays and things like that. The photos are really a big piece of this. People really look at the pictures. I don’t know why. For some businesses it makes sense, but for other businesses where you would think they wouldn’t care about seeing the pictures. But there’s a dashboard in the back of analytics for this that shows how many people view pictures, how many people got directions, how many people made a call. It’s all tracked in the back end of this. Updating the pictures makes it more relevant. It also helps improve the search results, because Google sees that you have a more updated listing than your competition, then Google will give you a little more preference.
If you're trying to figure out how to make your website more visible on Google, you're not alone. One of the most common questions small business owners ask is: “What should I do to actually get found online?”
How to setup a lead magnet to capture emails on Wix Website with Mailchimp from the best in website design in Westminster, CO
Learn the many benefits of a strong learning system on the backend of a speaking, coaching, consulting business.
Read our latest blog post on Mastering the Marketing A’s: Understanding Your Audience for Better Results.
The last question that should we follow our competitors on social media? Sure, why not. You know, you want to see what they're doing and see what's happening there. You know if you're going to be active and you're really trying to use social to build your business then having a good idea what's what your competition is up to is probably important. And you know sometimes what I find with so called competitors is that we you know often times find people that we can collaborate with. It doesn't necessarily mean they are competitors so we work with a number of other marketing agencies and provides some services for them for their clients that they don't necessarily do, but they hire us to do it for them. So like I work with other marketing agencies, so they're not necessarily, you know, your competitor and everything. So but yeah, see what's going on you know, investigate, read up on them, see what they're doing, check out their websites, see what they're ranking for. You know, the more you understand the competitive landscape, the more you know what you should be doing and what you need to do.
And the last question that we have is, can you say more about running a test on TikTok yeah, I so I'm not on TikTok I'm not using tiktok. I wind up watching a lot of TikTok videos on Facebook and the Facebook reels. I think it's fascinating. I find it very interesting. But it's not a platform that I've taken the time to jump on at this point. Again, based on where I'm at with strategy and so forth, it's not a fit for me. But anytime you're using any platform, if you're going to do something, you want to come up with some means of measurement. How am I going to measure success? What does success look like? Is it I, you know, posted a video and I got a thousand views. Is that success you know or is it actually driving traffic and are you tracking how much traffic and then are you tracking what happened to that traffic? Did they fill out a form, did they make a phone call? Like what's the, where do you want that to go? So we really need to step back and think about that whole process. Of creating content, I'm pushing this through to, you know, to my website. And this is what I want to have happen. This is what I wanted the results to be. And then how am I going to track it? How am I going to measure it and do that so anytime you're spending, anytime you're doing something new in particular. Or you're spending any money you need to track it all the way through. All the way through.
The next question that we have is if you have a GoDaddy web page already and are having some issues, are you able to switch over somehow? You can build your website on any other platform and then just you just change the domain where the domain points. So yeah, you can do that anytime. Thank you, Peter.
Next question is how powerful are paid plans to things like Google Adwords or whatever it is called now regarding driving traffic, how can you possibly compete when you don't have the cash to put towards such programs? Yeah, so that's where you gotta get creative. So again we're small businesses and we don't have you know, unlimited funds to you know, just throw a bunch of ads up and you know compete with some other big companies so. Again, this goes back to what are the things I can really do better, because chances are your website is getting some traffic and it could be getting good traffic, but if your messaging isn't clear on your website, you're not getting them to take the next step. They're not making a phone call or filling out a form. So where I can put energy and effort is in that messaging and that and being very clear about who I'm working with, the problem I solve, how I solve it. So that whoever does come across my radar, I have a much higher chance of converting that person then someone else. So you know it's not the best product that always wins, it's who's the best communicator. And so that's why I talk about what you own and what you can't can control and making sure that is dialed in. And doing what it's supposed to do so that if you do go I, if I'm dialed in and I know everything is working well with my website and it's communicating clearly now, I can spend a small amount on ads and drive a small amount of traffic knowing that I'm probably going to get a decent amount of conversions because my messaging's on point and so I don't have to spend as much as the big guy. But I can be more effective because I've spent time working on the stuff that really matters. Thanks, Peter.
The next question is, we have a couple more here. What is your choice for a website hosting platform? So if you're going to host WordPress, my number one choice would be sitegroundsiteground.com That would be my top choice for WordPress hosting that, great support and all that. And again, you can have your. Domain on GoDaddy and it can point to wherever. It can point to Squarespace. It can point to site ground wherever it needs to go. But yeah, for WordPress site ground would be my top choice.
The next question is, can other businesses similar to mine attach to my website and then their ads show up on their Facebook page? No, I don't see how that can happen. Thank you.