I've recently come across a video about how the changes in Google effect sponsored and organic listings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSmGKrwR4c). The way Google has become the super-power of the internet domain, by controlling how internet advertising campaigns are handled on a daily basis.
Taking control of Seo Marketing
Google's new changes to local business listings are affecting the future of seo marketing for everyone. Many do not notice that Google Places has now been changed to bump the listings on the right down and give more rank to the best paying customer. It's a fact that the top 3 listings receive the most traffic in search engines, the 3rd listing only receiving about 8.44% of that traffic. (see http://www.redcardinal.ie/google/12-08-2006/clickthrough-analysis-of-aol-datatgz/ for more info) Right now as it stands, the top 3 listings are paid advertising through Google Adword Campaigns that are monitored by seo companies worldwide to guarantee the best possible conversion rates. If a website receives a 1% conversion from their internet traffic, it is considered to be successful. How is that justifiable for the businesses that have a lower ticket average per customer?
Good News: Seo is more important, for everyone to succeed
There is good news, Google has different variations of the new Google places which allow 3 Organic listings to be above the local listings right after the 3 sponsored links. This means there is still a fighting chance but now Seo is more important.
Website & Keyword Optimization Time
It's time to optimize our websites, make sure to 'dot every i and cross every t'. Google is leaving no room for error on this, but it's also giving new websites a fighting chance in the battle of the clicks. On-page & Off-page optimization is the requirement, here's a few things to check.
- Keyword Research
- Knowing the target keywords that customers will be typing in to locate the website is important. It's time to get dynamic and make sure efforts are not wasted by spreading the website too thin.
- Internal Linking
- Internal links are the only links a business can control 100%, don't leave links out of the content. Most search engines can detect a pattern in navigation placement, they give more credit to links that are spread throughout the body as it is more user friendly.
- Anchor Links
- Make sure all links coming to the website are good, relevant links that have the correct anchor text. Links coming in should only be the door to which search engines find the website. For example, if there is a link saying "Business Card Printer" when search engines follow it to the website assuming the website is a business card printer. While the search engine is crawling the website, if it finds no information about being a "Business Card Printer" it will discredit the link. So make sure all links are relevant to the content it is pointing at.
- Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
- PPC is a great way to jump right into the boat of internet advertising but it is not the most successful way to get traffic in the long run. PPC can end up costing more money than the return, use PPC as an alternative and make sure to get the assistance of a professional to help with converting traffic into customers.