87% of all searching online is done at google.com. Google is responsible for a third to half of most web sites’ traffic. Most of this traffic is ‘free’ (your site appearing in the free search results) but a proportion is due to Adwords (the paid for bit in the shaded area).
For branding purposes, traffic, enquiries and leads, Google is all important. Being on page one of the results on Google is critical, as 70% of searchers do not go past page 1. If searchers do not get what they want, they will key in another search phrase rather than click to page two. After all, if the Almighty Google has not found the best results on page one, what sort of results will be on page two and beyond?
Furthermore, not only do you need to be on page one, you have to be as high on page one as possible. 70% of searchers alighting on page 1 will click on the first link, it then falls to 30% clicking the second result and 14% the third. Yikes.
Search Engine Optimisation becomes critical. SEO is the alchemy that gets your site to the top of Google. So much nonsense is spoken about SEO, and (understandably) most people glaze over when it is discussed. But knowing someone who can code your site so it has a good chance of making the Top 3 results on Google for our chosen search phrases is paramount. It is free traffic, free branding and differentiation. More leads, more enquiries, more business. Amaze your friends at parties, be the envy of all your survey. Well, maybe.
SEO is not that hard – you just need to know what Google deems important and make it easier to be indexed. HINT: get your title tag right – Google reads the first 80 characters of your title tag. If you don’t know what a title tag is, please Google it!
One easy thing (and yes, also free) for businesses to do is to claim your Google Places page. Since 2010, Google has been displaying local businesses on search maps inside the normal results. Claim your page (for “Subiaco dentist”) and it will sit there on page one. Google actually ring you to verify your page, and once set up you can upload photos, reviews, videos and information about your business. How good is that?
Finally, if someone “googles” your name, do you control all the links that show on page one? If you have a Facebook page, twitter account, LinkedIn, YouTube channel, reiwa.com agent page, your own web site profile page…, then it is not hard to ensure all results are ones you can edit. Remember, people will check you out online (before ringing you), whether you like it or not. What do these search results say about you? What can you do about it? Reason enough to have a LinkedIn page, a twitter account, a Facebook page and a blog perhaps.
Image Credit: Ivanz.com
