You’ve heard it and done it so often… “Google It ” … “Search It Up” … “Go Online and Find It”. Internet searching, research, and online shopping has become a regular part of our daily lives, both for local and non local information. Though Search Engine Optimization (SEO) sounds terrifying, it is actually a friendly lil fellow.
If you have a website, and a product or service to sell, you may be pondering,”How do I get Google to put my website at the top of its search results?” There are a couple of key approaches to this, let me explain:
- NATURAL SEARCH RESULTS Google looks at many aspects of your website, including the writing on your pages, the titles, descriptions, links and tags to determine relevancy on certain search phrases, then ranks your site accordingly. A lot of people are somewhat familiar with adding keywords into their webpages. However, simply adding keywords or tags here and there do not equal success with keyword searches. The criteria is a lot more complex as Google must sort through millions of websites daily. An experienced web developer with search engine optimization and copywriting skills can look to improve natural search results on a new or existing website. Results are not immediate, and can take up to 6 months or more for Google to rank or re-rank your webpages. Optimizing your website is a crucial step as it improves your website’s overall clarity, purpose and integrity. The resulting keyword relevancy is an important factor for both organic search results and for advertising with Google.
- GOOGLE ADVERTISING Many website owners are concerned with coming up at the top of the search results when their market is searching for them using keyword phrases relevant to their business. In addition, if your competitors are showing up in the top positions, you want make sure you are getting equal (if not better!) exposure. This is where a Google Ad Campaign can put you at the top where the paid ads appear, above or to the right of the natural search results. You may be surprized however, to learn that certain keyword phrases are more popular or more relevant to the product or service you are selling:
- Popularity: Google tracks the history of all its searches and presents ‘average monthly searches’. So for instance, if you were selling board games, we will find the term ‘games’ is very popular, with 33,000 + people searching on average each month, within British Columbia.
- Relevancy: We also want to consider how many of those people searching for games would actually click through on your ads and purchase something from your website. Maybe they were looking for a different type of game and therefore this may not be the most effective use of your advertising dollar. ‘Board games’ is less popular, with only 1,300 + people searching on average each month within British Columbia, but this search term is more relevant to your product, therefore a closer match to your hot prospects.
Be aware that while an Ad Campaign can offer immediate results, the success of your Google Ad Campaign is influenced by additional factors. Keyword advertising is competitive. A well designed website with a clear purpose, optimized for visibility in Google, will generate more impressions (and resulting click-throughs) than one that is not. In other words, the two basic approaches we’ve explained thus far, are complimentary to each other.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA Your website is often considered home central in your online presence. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Tiktok and YouTube also form an integral part of your presence online. Your business profiles on social media significantly influence your ranking in search results. For optimal results, it is essential that your social media platforms also contain relevant keyword phrases contained in your marketing plan.
LANiMedia has experience in online marketing, copywriting & search engine optimization and can help you with both natural search results and Google advertising. For information on these services, or a custom quote, feel free to contact us.