What is going on and what has changed on Google
Over the years, local businesses have come to accept digital marketing is critical. Now, nearly all businesses have a website, and many have social media presence.
You might not be surprised to learn that your site is no longer the one key to success. There are other vital ingredients needed in your digital tool box, driving traffic to your site, google ranking and carrying more weight these days is Google Business Profile (GBP).
For you to continue to grow your business by attracting more customers and increasing leads or sales, GBP needs to be at the top of your 2023 to do list. This means not only do you need to claim your account if you have not already done so (please go and do it right now) You also need to populate your account with timely, relevant and engaging content whilst optimising your account for maximum effectiveness.
Google has taken stayed ahead of the game of the websites listed on its platform. In the past, a Google search would display the listings in the form of links to attributed websites based on the quality of their SEO, competition or paid ads efficiency. These days google search results look quite different: here is an example from the term 'Aston Martin specialist Warwickshire'.
This search produced a map, images, business listings and review ratings, but what you do not see unless you scroll are business website links.
Due to the smaller screen size of mobile phones and tablets, the time spent scrolling needed to locate organic listings makes for heaving lifting, and over 56% of searches take place on a mobile phone, so time spent scrolling is pivotal.
Google has changed its priorities, businesses either need to pay for ads (google ads/ppc) or they want to maximise the amount of time traffic stays on their platform, why wouldn't they?
Ok so what about SEO?
We like to emphasise that it is still imperative to manage your SEO, Google Business also enhances your SEO, its important to rank high in Google's organic search listings. According to a study conducted by Google, the highest position in Google's organic search listings comes with a CTR (clickthrough rate) of 31.7%. By ranking on the first page (or perhaps even 2 or 3 pages), you will hopefully be able to generate a lot of traffic to your website.
The long and short of it is, people don't want to spend ages hunting for things these days. Your customers need to be able to find you quickly and efficiently and Local businesses need Google Business Profile to get in front of their audience and can become a game-changer, you just need the right approach.
Some data for you to consider:
90% of people read reviews before purchasing
50% of all organic search queries include four or more words
Local businesses receive 94% of calls from GBP on weekdays
A regular enterprise gets discovered in 1,009 searches monthly
56% of actions on Google My Business listings are website visits
49% of companies obtain +1,000 Monthly Views on Google Search
A typical business gets 59 actions from its GBP listing every month
Enterprises with online reviews are entrusted by 73% of consumers
70% of consumers will visit a store because of information found online
90% of the world population only clicks on links that result in the first page
64% of consumers have used GBP to find contact details for a local business
70% of clicks in Google search results go to organic, with 30% going to paid AdWords
Every month, searchers visit 1.5 billion locations related to their Google searches
88% of potential customers look for online reviews before choosing local services
Have we convinced you? I do hope so!
What can we do to help you?
If you need help optimising and managing your listings, please get in touch!
We can help you get set up and keep your Google Business profile listings up-to-date with any changes, events, and social posts on a regular schedule so you're always maintaining your optimal Google SEO.
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