SEO & PPC THE SMALL BUSINESS BLUEPRINT 6EFFECTIVE TACTICS TO IMPROVE SEARCH RANKINGS & DRIVE LEADS ON A LOCAL LEVEL
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 4 8 12 13 Introduction It Begins with SEO Maximize PPC, or Lose Business Conclusion About G/O Digital 13 Contact Us 2
Introduction Consumers use 7.9 different media sources on average when shopping for products and services. Gone are the days when the path to a sale was singular and dominated by TV commercials. It just isn t that easy or fast anymore. The path to growing sales takes longer, is more complicated and involves multiple devices, pieces of content, platforms and channels. The more complicated and lengthy the path to purchase becomes, the more challenging it is for local businesses to convert casual browsers into repeat customers. Where does that path begin? For most, it starts with typing in keywords and phrases into search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing. That first search can be the difference between customers walking into your store and consumers buying goods from your competitor. It s not good enough to simply have your business appear anywhere in search rankings. To optimize search efforts, your business must have the content potential consumers find valuable to drive them through the decision making process. 3
IT BEGINS WITH SEO Across Google searches, 91.5 percent of all traffic will only click on sites that appear on the first page of search results. Getting to that page is not an easy feat, but if you tackle the tactics below, you ll have a better chance of making it to that coveted first page of search results. Half of consumers associate placement in search engine rankings with a company s prominence. -ConversionXL 2016 However, it s equally important to ensure your website ranks in at least the top five spots of search results. Why, you may ask? Because 67 percent of clicks go to the first five listings in organic search results, meaning that the farther down the page your business is listed, the less likely people are to click on your link. Without being in that coveted top five results, your business could lose out on important new business. While search may be the most popular source of information, it s also important to think about the ways consumers interact with your brand across other online properties, including social media, local listings and review sites. Average Traffic Share Based On Search Ranking Rank 6 4.4% Rank 5 6.1% Rank 9 2.6% Rank 8 3.1% Rank 7 3.5% Rank 10 2.4% Rank 1 32.5% Rank 4 8.1% Rank 3 11.4% Rank 2 17.6% 4
STEP 1 Optimize Your Business for Local Search According to Conductor, 47 percent of website visits originate from organic search results. One of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your SEO is by claiming your business local search listings. Google My Business, Bing Places and Yahoo Local are all important for your SEO efforts. However, in today s search filled with industry-specific review and listing sites, you also need to claim your information on vertical specific sites that are relevant to your business, like Cars.com, OpenTable, Vitals, Angie s List and many more. Once you ve claimed your business across these listings, the next step is to completely fill out each listing with your business name, address, website, store hours, phone number and a standard brief description (if necessary). This will not only help consumers easily get in contact with you when your business pops up in their search results, it will also increase your business website authority. Search authority speaks to the idea that search engines rank sites based on their overall knowledge and credibility. By featuring correct information across different sites and all linking back to your business website your business gains search authority, making it that much more likely to show up for relevant searches. In addition to easily providing contact information for consumers looking for your products or services, claiming your online listings also allows you to share photos of your business, provide a link to maps for directions and directly respond to customer reviews. AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT YOUR GOOGLE LISTING LOOKS LIKE WHEN IT COMES UP IN SEARCHES. 5
STEP 2 Ditch the Keyword Stuffing, Build out Quality Content A few years ago, stuffing your website s content full of relevant keywords helped your site shoot to the top of search rankings. This unfortunate practice led to many less-than-credible websites returning for searches just because they were chock-full of the keyword being searched. However, Google and other search engines recognized that judging how many times a site uses the searched keyword phrase isn t necessarily the best way to discern a site s authority. Keyword Stuffing = Bad. Quality Content = Good. Instead, today s search algorithms are looking for quality, relevant content. Therefore, you should discuss topics relevant to your business on your site and in supplemental blogs, infographics or videos. You ll also want to ensure your content focuses on quality, meaning it flows naturally around topics that are genuinely helpful to the reader or viewer. There are three primary content types: ON-SITE CONTENT The content used to describe your business, product or services on your website. Anything on your Home, About Us or subsequent pages that do not get a regular refresh because it is the core of your business offerings. PRO TIP: According to our SEO experts, About sections should be roughly 200 words. ORIGINAL CONTENT New content that lives on your site and is created by you or an external partner. Original content typically comes in the form of blog posts, infographics, videos, etc. created by you, then posted on your site in a Blog or Learn section. This also includes original videos, infographics and photos. PRO TIP: At least one blog post a week is best to keep your site relevant for search engines and new customers. EXTERNAL CONTENT A mention or discussion of your business on another site. External content can be anything from a mention in a news article to a full-blown Q&A with the CEO of your business on another blogger s website. EXTRA INSIGHT: This goes hand-in-hand with a quality online brand (coming up next). 6
STEP 3 Increase Credibility With an Online Brand Strategy Local businesses can boost online credibility by focusing on the right audience and outlets for their online content. Websites that produce valuable content can increase their online presence with the help of other credible resources that create a source of trust for both consumers and search engines. Search engine algorithms recognize that trustworthy sites tend to link to other trustworthy sites, meaning that you should regularly link to quality sources in your posts. Our SEO experts recommend having one quality link for every 300-400 words in a blog post or content piece. Now, you won t gain search authority by linking to just any site. You need to be careful of links that can hurt your SEO because they aren t quality sites. If you re writing new on-page content or a blog post, link to credible news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, etc. and pull statistics from credible research organizations such as comscore, emarketer, Pew Research Center and industry-relevant sites. But how are you supposed to generate links back to your site? The best way for your local business to get other sites to link to your website is through earned media that is, when local news publications, TV stations, online media outlets, relevant industry bloggers, etc. write and produce stories about your business. These external mentions and articles provide added credibility to your business website. Having customers share your website on social media and working with industry-relevant bloggers are also effective ways to improve inbound links to your website. 7
MAXIMIZE PPC, OR LOSE BUSINESS Local businesses can use PPC campaigns to target hyper-local audiences that are actively looking for their product and services. By utilizing geo-modified search query techniques and other targeting methods, a local business can generate a regular flow of qualified leads and sales for their business. Contrary to popular belief, search advertising is not a set-it-and-forget-it marketing channel. It requires constant attention to ensure your marketing dollars are spent effectively. If certain topics or keywords are ranking particularly well one day, you should allocate more dollars to that and away from other search queries. It s very easy to start a search advertising campaign, but the time commitment can occasionally be prohibitive for local business owners to manage on their own. Running a successful search advertising campaign requires constant measurement to ensure that your ad dollars are being spent appropriately and not running on ineffective keyword topics. With the massive amount of searches performed on search engines each year, the reach and capabilities of search ads will continue to evolve alongside how users perform searches and react to the results provided. Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines continue to innovate and find new ways to connect businesses and searchers in highly targeted ways. This means continued improvement to the return on investment for advertisers, as they can reduce wasteful spending and generate additional clicks from a qualified audience. For local SMBs, search ads drive 98% incremental traffic on average. -Google, 2013 8
STEP 4 Optimize for Mobile, or Lose Customers According to G/O Digital s own internal data on client campaigns from 2015, 63 percent of all clicks on search ads came from mobile devices. That s more than half of all search advertising clicks, which continues to prove that we re living in a mobile-first world. People use smartphones and tablets to simplify, speed up and improve their shopping experience from any location. According to emarketer, the average American spends almost three hours a day on a mobile device, making it a necessary platform for online advertising if you want to reach as many customers as possible. This means your search ads must also be optimized for mobile. 1 in 4 online searches are conducted on mobile devices -Search Engine Journal Mobile PPC optimization includes: SHORTER COPY Since there is limited screen real estate to work with on mobile devices, keep your headline copy to about four words and include top keywords for your business. AD EXTENSIONS These allow you to make your ad more interactive for mobile users, which allows people to contact your business on the go. MOBILE LANDING PAGES If your PPC ad directs consumers to a site that is not optimized for mobile devices, you risk losing both new and returning customers. Instead, direct them to a mobile landing page with click-to-call buttons and an easy-to-navigate page layout that will make it easy for them to learn about your business and contact you directly. 9
STEP 5 Refresh Those Keywords Set it and forget it is not a phrase you want to associate with your PPC campaigns. In order to ensure your business is getting the most out of your search ads, you ll want to monitor your keywords often to see which are performing the best then switch them up as needed. It doesn t make sense to continue to put ad dollars behind a keyword that s providing little return on investment. You ll also want to keep ads updated based on the season to capture the most relevant search queries. For example, an HVAC company shouldn t be using keywords for air conditioning in the winter, as their relevant customer base won t need A/C repairs during cold weather. Instead, the HVAC company would be better served by investing more ad dollars behind keywords that are relevant during the winter, such as heating repairs. However, don t forget to also switch the ad copy and not just the keywords targeted. Where does your business rank in search results compared to your competitor? Find out with our free digital marketing audit! 10
STEP 6 Use Ad Extensions Google AdWords lets you use Ad Extensions to optimize your search ads and better direct customers to what they need most on your site. This makes it easier for mobile users to call your business or get directions to your location. On desktop, they allow you to make your ad stand out amongst the clutter by including links to popular pages, showing ratings/reviews and more. With the limited amount of copy available in PPC ads, ad extensions help you maximize the ROI from your ad spend. And the best part about ad extensions is that they re completely free! Unfortunately, there is no way to know what kind of device on which your ads will be served, meaning you can t design one ad for mobile and another for desktop. What you can do is analyze the traffic generated from your search ads, decide if it s heavier on mobile or with desktop users, then add the best ad extensions for that device. Best Ad Extensions for Desktop: Sitelinks Review Extensions Seller Rating Annotations Best Ad Extensions for Mobile: Call Extensions Location Extensions App Extensions 11
Conclusion Although SEO and PPC are two distinct marketing techniques, together they produce a complementary and cohesive approach to search engine marketing. The most obvious benefit is that businesses receive double exposure on search engine results pages by including a PPC advertisement plus their organic website listing, achieved through an SEO campaign. According to research from Google, 50 percent of clicks generated from PPC ads are incremental clicks to a business website when they have a top organic ranking. This means that your PPC campaign actually helps your SEO efforts, as well. Instead of researching and trying to self-teach the ins and outs of SEO and PPC strategy, it can be of tremendous value to hire a PPC management company for one very simple reason they have the know-how and resources to deliver impactful returns for your business. Handling SEO and PPC is a full-time job, and with limited marketing budgets, staffing and resources, your options are to hire in or contract out. Working with an external provider not only saves the cost of hiring a new full-time employee, it brings the advanced knowledge of digital strategies, years of relevant industry experience and knowledge of best practices - but most importantly, it allows you to scale up or down as needed. Because in the end, it s always more effective for you to focus on meeting and exceeding your business revenue goals and leave the tactical work to the experts. 12
About G/O Digital Helping your business succeed with localized digital marketing At G/O Digital, we understand that marketing can no longer be limited to traditional advertising methods and that digital integration is the future. The conversation between consumers and businesses has changed and will continue to evolve, and our team of digital marketing specialists has the expertise to meet these changes head on. Boost leads, retain customers and grow your business with G/O Digital s team of digital specialists. For more information, visit. Contact Us FOR MARKETING, PLEASE CONTACT: G/O Digital, A TEGNA Company (TGNA) Tel: 1.866.379.4680 Email: insights@