When an inquiry is made as to how much a website and online marketing will cost, a business owner should understand what we call the “Google factor.” Those who don’t understand the role Google plays in their marketing efforts are at risk of losing money from poor sales.
Google looks at the content of the website from a consumer’s perspective. When a consumer types a word or phrase into Google’s search bar, Google’s goal is to provide a list of webpages that will most likely answer the consumer’s exact question.
How do you get your website to be on that results list Google serves up to answer searcher inquiries? The process begins with your website design. Then the process continues with your website’s copy, and your full suite of marketing efforts.
1 – Design (Mobile) – Your website needs to be mobile compliant.
2 – Design (Secure) – Your website needs to have a secure certificate. Google prefers the site to be “https” instead of “http.”
3 – Keywords – The words on your website should be written to incorporate your most important keywords and phrases. As the business owner, it is wise to come up with a list of the words and phrases that people use to search for your products and services. These words should be woven in to the page titles, headlines, and body copy of the site, as well as meta tags and descriptions. Using Google Analytics on your site is a good way to supplement your brainstorming.
4 – Dynamic Content – Google is less fond of static sites and favors websites that have dynamic (regular, fresh, changing) content. Google watches your site to see if fresh content is added that could answer consumers’ questions.
5 – Social – Google watches social media to see if people are talking about your website content and sharing information obtained from your site. Google even monitors how many links are on the web that drive people back to your site.
It is our job to help you understand how the Google factor can impact your business and drive traffic, or slow down traffic to your website.
As part of our process of working with clients, we educate business owners about which additional features they may need to consider for their sites. We believe it is important to understand how Google will view their website and their content because Google’s opinion of their website will determine how frequently their site is displayed as a result of a search query.
Your website needs to satisfy Google so you ultimately satisfy the needs of your potential customers.
Give us a shout and we can chat about how to make your site more Google-friendly.
