An informal end of 2018 update on trends to watch out for with local search engine visibility. The word out from different publications is that “citations,” better known as links to your location that include name/address/phone/websites on other sites such as Yelp/Bing/yellowpages/etc, will have less of an impact on how you rank in the local Google snack-pack (the 3 spots on the first page in the local section that you automatically see when searching). Not true. The top factors to be competitive in local rankings still remain the same ultimately:
– Google My Business – Keep up the frequent post updates and keep GMB up to date and completely filled out with core information such as business hours/etc. This has a major impact on your local rankings.
– Citations – References back to your physical location with phone/name/address/website info are very important and confirm you exist with search engines, especially Google.
– Reviews – Reviews are more critical then ever and show Google and other search engines that your business is alive and relevant.
– Social Media? – Not yet, but keep up your Social Media presence because someday Google will put more weight on it. Right now Google assigns about 2% to it so it’s not much of a factor in rankings. So this Facebook post – for example – Google really doesn’t care about but it’s still important … maybe in 2020 this will change but keep it up now because caring about it when it finally happens is too late.
In 2019 we are planning some neat stuff at EngineX in will be evolving to focus on making money for businesses vs just the nerd aspect. The money is in (for both you and us) SEO / Digital Marketing / Online Ad management.
We will still be doing websites but it will be only a small part of the big picture. The big picture is making your business visible online and increasing your bottom line. Cool websites that connect with your market are no longer the competitive edge. They are the meat and potatoes and as fundamentally core to your business as having a phone. The odds are if you don’t already have a solid website you can’t afford to have us do one because you are out of business or heading there.
To emphasize again – we are focusing on the complete package on what we do (which we already do actually) and how we market to you (which is changing). Here are some basic packages better explained if you are a business and I’m speaking an alien language:
Stay In Business Package – If you haven’t closed your doors already get this package if find yourself behind the 8 ball on what you should already have:
– A fast loading, super easy mobile friendly website that connects with visitors and follows all C.O.N.V.E.R.T and HICKS Law. Check out our website if you need a primer
– SEO optimized at the basic level – just the basics
– Google My Business presence and visibility locally – enough said
Dominate Package – If you have the basic covered then you’re still in business and ready to spend more money with us which is great! 🙂
– SEO Dominate – Yeah, unlike the foreign people who email you all the time we are the ones that actually put people to the top of Google rankings. It will be an ongoing investment with us though – not a few pennies to India to rank on a useless low value keyword. We’re here to make money for your business.
– Local Domination – If you can’t dominate your local snack-pack it’s bad news because you are either in the top 3 spots in Google local business rankings are you go home. No exceptions – go top 3 or go home.
– Google Ads – There are more and more choices now on how and what to do it. Do it yourself and lose money or pay someone who knows what they are doing. Be very very careful if Google sends you a $75 Ad credit voucher because $500 later you’ll wonder what happened to all that business you were supposed to get…?!
– Facebook Ads- Yeah, even we do them now. If done right they are a bargain – if not, just another waste of money. You decide. Run them yourself via Facebook’s wizards and or make money and have us do them.
These packages are just a few we offer and are listed to only give you an idea on where our company is changing it’s focus to. Digital Marketing for North America which includes websites that register a 10 on the marketing dominance Richter scale as well. The big picture is visibility and you better have a the mother of all websites to match as well or the 14 year old girl with a WIX wizard will be eating your lunch.