As it continues to evolve into something more tricky, Search Engine Optimization still has a lot of options to offer to small business owners. This means that if you are a local business owner discovering digital marketing for the first time or if you are simply interested in the latest SEO news on the web, you’ve come to the right place.
- Accumulate More Ratings, Improve the Conversions
Ratings were used to help consumers understand what the product or the service has successfully or terribly done in the company’s past transactions. Positive ratings are usually interpreted well by new and old online consumers while negative ratings can simply halt incoming sales. These stars also help companies define what they lack and is the source of data for reports. In digital marketing, major companies have already kicked off this method to also fuel other purposes using channels like Google.
In a recent study, online ratings are seen to be very helpful in increasing conversions (post-click consumer actions) with the help of SEM. Based on the data provided, the best-rated services end up gaining a higher conversion rate compared to the ones with an average below 4 stars.
· Average conversion rate of businesses with the lowest rating: 10.42%
· Average conversion rate of businesses with high ratings (average of 4.96 stars): 12.83%
Source: SearchEngineLand
Local businesses can easily take a spot on the first page of a SERP once they start earning favorable reviews (usually above 3 stars.) Response rate is as important as well. Not only does it allow the company and the consumer to connect but it also improves the company’s reliability in providing great customer service. This proves that neglecting the use of online reviews of any sort can only leave the business with less conversion which isn’t an ideal result for SEO.
- Non-mobile Accessible Sites Are About to Be Replaced
If they continue to generate a site that only works on PC that is. Google has already sent out their mobile-first indexing notifications and if you are one of the few webmasters who got it first, congratulations. In the notification, Google informs a webmaster that their bot will begin paying close attention to the mobile version of their site and use it for indexing and ranking, in order to guide mobile search engine users well in their searches.
This isn’t the first time Google reminds webmasters of the importance of responsive web designs. Long before, it was already there just waiting to be noticed. Except this time, site owners have to comply whether they like it or not for the benefit of earning more traffic.
- Consider the Advantages of Clickbait from Time to Time
Clickbait does not really sound so good in our ears especially when we’re haunted by the awful ones that did not really offer a good read on the web. Except Clickbait continues to be effective for many and by not trying to level with the mass, we might be missing out on something useful.
It is not a very challenging option, that’s for sure. You can start by working on your page titles to upgrade your click-through rate (CTR.) Here are other important tips that will come in handy for your page titles too:
· Use the current year to inform viewers that its content is up to date.
· Relate it to the topic as much as possible.
· Develop an effective template that works in every or the majority of your posts. (This is a method often used by TripAdvisor and other travel websites that have pages at the topmost search.)
· For local business owners, appeal to the mass by relating it to a town’s recent event and slowly soft-sell your services.
· Brevity.
· Include numbers if possible.
· Use words that don’t have negative connotations. If it is necessary, see to it that the title will not encourage readers to think that the content is purely negative.
· Include your location for the users to easily determine if your site is the local business they are looking for.
· Romanticize your services if necessary by using words that highly appeal to people like: Free, inexpensive, best, safety, guaranteed, ultimate, etc.
· Use the “How-to” style if your content is offering instructions related to your industry.
· Accuracy and honesty is key.
Hopefully we are not teaching you how to be masters of clickbait. At the end of the day, overusing clickbait to the point of decreasing your brand’s quality will only lead to nothing in return. It’s a risk not worth taking which is why the last tip is in bold, to intensify how important it is to promote pages that are real and reliable for search engine users.
- Determine the underutilized Schema Markups and Take Advantage of Them
If up until this point you are still unfamiliar with all the schema fuss, then you have some catching up to do. It won’t take a lot of time so you might as well consider learning it slowly to develop more ideas in increasing your site’s popularity. It’s not really the number one SEO secret ingredient but it does improve compatibility. There are a few little-used markups out there that can be useful for everyone. Two of the examples are:
· The ImageGallery schema markup – which can be considered as a method to optimize photos organized in one gallery in a page. If your pages promote products by showing a bunch of photos to provide details, you may organize them through the use of markups.
· App Schema Markup – If your business does not involve app creation or maintenance, it’s okay to skip this part. But with the rise of mobile friendly sites, plenty are opting to apps as a means of reaching out to more consumers.
Conclusion
Fortunately, SEO did not change dramatically. More guidelines were just implied for search engines to improve a web user’s experience. Local business owners who use their sites to manage clients and advertise their products can cope by using non-expensive opportunities they can find. Consulting with an SEO specialist is a good start for those who are totally unfamiliar with SEO. Give it 3 to 6 months, you’ll eventually get the hang of it.