Search Engine Optimisation Not Google Optimisation
It would be lovely to be on the first page of Google, but there are only 10 slots to fill!
Get found on the first page in Google with Google Optimisation!
Yes you have received hundreds of emails from SEO agencies advising you to get your website on the first page of Google. We even get them……. annoying aren’t they BUT I bet that’s what you’ve got installed in your mindset that getting onto the first page of Google is paramount!
Yes of course, it would be lovely to be on the first page of Google, but there are only 10 slots to fill …… OK on the top of page 2 then…… only about 5 slots there…. so.. forget the Top 10 it’s now Top 15. Yayyyy much easier…… slightly but also still incredibly expensive and difficult.
So why are we – after all, you can see we are a digital marketing company, or SEO agency, not trying to tell you to get onto the 1st Page of Google? Well, let’s see how difficult it is to get onto the first page.
Lets look at a few examples:
Example #1. Search “Plumber in London”
What results do you get?
Apart from one of the biggest plumbers in the UK being Top, the rest are review sites or directories.
Example #2. Search “Cheap Washing Machine
These are also review sites or some of the largest companies in the UK – Tesco, Argos, Amazon etc.
If you are a small retailer – you are going to get nowhere near the first page of Google.
Example #3. Search “Restaurant London”
Here again you get review sites.
So the internet is changing, Google’s algorithms are changing and so should SEO or digital marketing.
If you are paying JUST for SEO – or search engine optimisation services – then think again!! Don’t panic…….I shall explain further as we go.
If you are paying an agency just to optimise your website, without ongoing services like social media, blogs, listings, paid search – in Pay Per Click and social media, then you are probably wasting your money. We are entering into “Pay to Play” era of marketing. Facebook is not so free anymore for businesses, do you notice that hardly anyone sees your posts in Facebook business pages now a days? That Google Adwords – or Ads are everywhere – on all pages of search results, Facebook, and those ads that keep following you around? Why………. so annoying BUT they work, people have paid for those ads, they are what is called “REMARKETING” ads and they work!!
Also, Google is changing, it has a lot of data to get through to provide you with the results you want when searching. Yes review and comparison sites are everywhere but that’s what people want, and large brands are trustworthy. Wouldn’t you want a TV from Toshiba than www.cheapunknowntrustedtvbrand.com ??
Also, let’s look again at the plumber London results:
Paid LOCAL search – Google Adwords – paid ads….. but they work – that’s how Google gets their money! If they did not work, Google would not be Number 1.
SEO Is DEAD
So what does this mean? Is SEO dead? NO, not by a long shot. As long as people use Google Search, then SEO will always be alive and kicking.
So lets see what’s happening Money/Buyer (intention of purchase) the keywords are:
- Dominated by the Top brands that the majority of the world will not outrank.
- Search results return less product pages and more content
- Trigger Google’s knowledge graph, review pages and more user focused results.
So what this means is that just relying on keywords for intention of purchase keywords to rank a product or service is now very limited.
So if we want to rank a business for their products/services we need to reevaluate what we do and there are three options we need to consider.
These are:
Option 1 – Paid Advertising.
This is simple, using paid search, like Google Adwords and their remarketing service, we capture traffic from all over the web and when these people are ready to buy (using relevant money keywords) we use highly targeted paid ads to capture their business.
Facebook offers a remarketing ad campaign now too.
Remarketing is a service that relies on cookies on your website, so that if somebody visits your site and does not make a purchase (either buying a product or service) then ads or banners are used to almost follow you around the internet using Google and Facebook partner sites.
Option 2 – Content
Looking back at our examples, we see that results are being dominated by reviews and comparison sites.
Nobody shares, comments, engages or links to products and services pages.
What Google wants is CONTENT, so create quality and original content that Google and their customers, YOU, wants! By creating original, bespoke and engaging content, you provide content that people will share across social media and powerful links from other sites.
But you must first promote your content – it’s not worth adding blogs or content to your site and then not promoting it across your social media pages!!
If you want to compete with the big companies, review sites and outrank your competitors, content is King!
Option 3 – Optimise Your Website For The Web
The internet is changing. So businesses have to adapt to the changing world.
SEO is Search Engine Optimisation and NOT GO – Google Optimisation.
Facebook is a search engine, Yelp is a search engine, Twitter is a search engine, Amazon is a search engine, Quora is a search engine, LinkedIn is a search engine, Pinterest is a search engine, YouTube is a search engine. Do you see what we are saying?
Each of these platforms offer a unique set of benefits to the user. In actual fact, a lot of people searching for things will not even user Google at all.
Let me give you a personal example:
We are moving back into our home after some building work on the house. So, we are needing, no – wanting newer furniture and decorations – why not? New paint, wall paper etc. – so whilst I am busy at work, my wife has taken time off to decorate the home.
My wife enjoys shopping, especially for the home, but also lots of jewellery, clothes etc. and loves shopping on-line. Here’s how she shopped for our home:
Pinterest: She went onto Pinterest and looked at inspirational ideas of other people’s homes. She searched for “Victorian living rooms”, “sofas”, “wallpaper”, “home decorations” and more.
Amazon: She then went on Amazon to find furniture for our Victorian home, but Amazon did not have much to offer. They did, however have lots of “ceramic love hearts” for decorating the Christmas tree!
Ebay: She searched for “sofas” and found many that were too used; she was looking for new but also a bargain!
Etsy: Here she found what she was looking for, from sofas to ceramic porcelain love hearts; and everything in between.
Now she could have used Google to do the above but found it much easier and much more enjoyable to use these sites, with great images, reviews and feedback.
Also, by using these other “not Google” sites, she was able to find a lot more products, ideas and costs than using only Google. What she found in this “task”, was that she also looked on the supplier’s website and then could use Google for cost comparison too.
Google was not “dead”, SEO was still used but there is more to the internet than just Google. The internet is changing, how people surf the internet is changing, and websites are changing too. Of course the phrase “Google it” is going to remain a popular phrase but “The internet of things” is here to stay and will grow in popularity.
So, when marketing a website – go beyond Google; traditional marketing has changed as well so adapt with the moving times. In the past, traditional marketers started out using their shop window, then newspaper ads, then the radio hit big time, then television; not one method of advertising was used but several and that is true today. Still use traditional marketing but also when looking at your digital marketing campaigns, Google is not the only search engine to use!
If you need further help in promoting your business digitally, get in touch
Original Article
Read More About Google