Search Engine Optimization – Page 6

Important Stats About Google Business Profile For 2022

We wanted to end 2022 (and start 2023) with a ton of stats about Google Business Profile that you should keep in mind while planning your marketing for 2023.

We divided the stats into 3 Categories:

– Fun with Numbers

– Did You Know

– Little Known Facts

So, without further ado…

Fun with Numbers

The number of searches containing the keywords “near me” have increased more than 200% over the last two years.
28% of searches that include the keywords “near me” result in a purchase.

More than half of the interactions between customers and businesses in Google Business Profile result in a store visit.
76% of people who search for local businesses on Google Business Profile visit the business within one day to make a purchase.
88% of people who search for local businesses on Google Business Profile visit a business within one week to make a purchase.
60% of consumers contact businesses directly through Google Business Profile, using the “click to call” feature.

In 2020, there was a 61% increase in calls from Google Business Profiles.
72% of local users visit a business within five miles after finding them on Google Business Profiles.
There are almost 4,000 Google Business Profile categories to choose from.
84% of searches in Google Business Profile are ‘discovery searches,’ which means consumers were not looking for a specific business.
Google, along with the many other platforms the tech giant owns, account for about 92% of the search engine market share in the United States.

Did You Know…

97% of consumers learn about local businesses online.
64% of consumers have used Google Business Profile to find contact information for a small business.
On average, businesses listed in Google Business Profile receive 33 clicks per month.
16% of Google Business Profile listings receive more than 100 calls per month.
Local businesses receive 94% of their Google Business Profile visits on weekdays.
Over 5% of Google Business Profile views result in a conversion, and that number is increasing every day.

18. Google Business Profile is completely free!

Little Known Facts

19. Listings in Google Business Profile that include photos are twice as likely to appear as reputable to users.

Using images in Google Business Profile has increased revenue for businesses by 17%.
Local businesses have, on average, 11 pictures per Google Business Profile listing.
Google Business Profile syncs with Google Maps to display the location of a business.
Businesses can create a Google Business Profile listing even if they do not have a physical address.
Complete Google Business Profile listings are seven times more likely to get clicks than those that are incomplete.

With the increased usage of cell phones and smartphones, it is not surprising that Google Business Profile has more searches on mobile than desktop.
90% of searchers read reviews before making a purchase.
20% of consumers expect a response in a timely manner after leaving a review.
The average Google Business Profile listing has 39 reviews.
When higher-end products have reviews, the conversion rate increases by 380%.
When lower-end products have reviews, the conversion rate increases by 190%.

Data Sources

https://www.themediacaptain.com/25-google-business-profile-stats/

https://www.e2msolutions.com/blog/google-business-profile-usage-growth-statistics/

Need Help?

IFTS specializes in helping companies get found on Google. For a free consultation on how we can optimize your profile, call us at 412.715.6266.

How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile Listing

Is your Google Business Profile optimized to the fullest extent?

If not, you could be missing out on amazing clients!

You can build a Google Business Profile listing, but it might not be as potent and dynamic as it could be. That’s because it takes more than just putting up a sign with your company’s name, address, and phone number for people to know who you are.

To be shown in the “Google Map Pack”, which is the set of 3 results that Google shows with the local map, you have to be what Google considers one of the best results for the searcher.

There probably are more than three other companies in your field operating in the immediate area. So, you’ll need to know what to include and how to fully optimize your listing if you want it to appear in the top three slots. The result will be the highest possible placement in relevant searches.

Use the advice below as a guide.

Don’t Forget the Details

Listing information, such as the company’s name, address, and phone number, should be consistent and include all necessary information. Use the full street name, not the abbreviation “Main St.” if your website states that your company is located on Main Street. If you want the same high search engine rankings across the board, it’s important that your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent throughout all directories, including Google.

Don’t lose sight of the big picture when you’re making progress on the little things. The category “Italian Food” will boost the visibility of a restaurant more than the generic “Restaurant” would. Be specific to attract the right people.

After you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you may shift your attention to the finer points of your profile. Upload your company’s logo, a profile background and a short slogan or tagline. You may increase your internet visibility, your audience, and the likelihood that they’ll become paying customers by maintaining this kind of consistency.

Don’t forget to include a description of your company; doing so will reassure potential clients that you are who they think you are. Don’t forget to use relevant keywords when creating that description; Google will appreciate it and you might even move up in the rankings as a result. Make sure to use location words, such as the name of your city, as well.

Make Sure Your Website is Worth Visiting

There is more to your Google Business Profile than just the listing itself. Your website is also a part of this.

Listings get a boost when you have a website that is engaging and informative for visitors. Having an interesting website that provides value to readers and has helpful and useful information helps your listing, too. Google prioritizes readability and usefulness above all other ranking elements.

However, Google’s internal algorithm and rankings are also important considerations. To help Google find your site, it is crucial that you make extensive use of keywords and metadata. Be sure to follow their SEO rules.

You should also work to increase the number of inbound links to your site; Google sees each link as a vote in favor of your site, and a higher number of links improves your position in the search engine results.

Make Sure You’re Mobile and Know How to Use it

Mobile internet search is quickly becoming the norm, and this development cannot be reversed. Today, mobile device usage far outstrips that of desktops, laptops, and tablets combined. Google’s algorithm takes this into account, giving preference in search results to sites that are optimized for mobile use. This highlights the significance of not only making your website mobile-friendly, but also understanding the differences between the search habits of desktop and mobile consumers.

In-the-moment mobile users are more likely to look up practical information like a store’s opening hours and physical location. Desktop and laptop users, on the other hand, are more likely to be looking for detailed product or service information.

Include Images and Videos

Nowadays, people who spend time on the internet prefer to look at video and photos rather than read walls of text. Not only does this visual component apply to your Google Business Profile, but it also has to do with the listing itself.

Your listing will stand out more and attract more attention if you include videos and photos.

At least three videos and six photos should be uploaded to your listing; they don’t need to be professional quality, but they should be of high enough resolution and not too grainy to be easily discerned. This second variety will not only put off potential customers, but will also make your company appear incompetent.

Make sure to add new images on a regular basis.

Use Google Business Profile Posts

Google began including posts in Google Business Profile listings last year, and every business owner should take use of them. Posts to a Google My Business profile are distinct from blog entries. These are miniature advertising that appear directly in your Google Business Profile listing, taking the place of lengthy descriptions. Moreover, they are an excellent method of maximizing the promotional value of these postings.

You can provide information about a corporate event, a sale, a new blog post, freshly arrived products, or seasonal greetings.

This type of article can be used for more than just “talking at” your target audience. There is room for graphics, calls to action, and even external links.

Use the Booking Button Feature

Adding a “book now” button is yet another innovation from Google. This is especially helpful for any business that relies on scheduled client visits, like house painting businesses. Customers can make appointments online with the booking button function, increasing business.

Messaging Feature

Customers can now send you messages right from your Google Business Profile, another new addition. Customers can send you messages whenever they like by clicking the “Chat” icon on your Google Profile.

If someone leaves you a message, you’ll be notified immediately so you may reply. If you choose, you can even set up a pre-recorded message that will be sent to anyone who messages your company.

Questions and Answers

Another Google addition lets clients ask you questions directly from the listing. Using this function benefits both you and your clientele because of the increased communication it enables.

Remember that if one consumer has a query, there is a strong probability that another customer has the same query.

Be sure to answer these questions quickly and with detail.

Want Some Help?

IFTS specializes in helping companies get found on Google. For a free consultation on how we can optimize your profile, call us at 412.715.6266.

6 Signs Your Painting Business Website Needs To Be Updated

Remember when it was trendy to have scrolling banners, a website visitors counter, blinking text or Adobe Flash on your website?

Does your website still have those…or does it look like it was designed when boy bands were still cool?

If so, it is definitely time for an update.

Here are 6 more signs that it’s time to redo your website:

✅ Your Website Isn’t Responsive

Does your website look as good or better on a phone than it does on a desktop?

If not, it’s time for an update.

Your website should adapt and look good on all devices.

Why?

Well, first of all, this could actually be hurting you in the organic search rankings. Google has started to penalize websites that are not designed for mobile devices because they determine the rankings using the mobile version. If Google prioritizes a mobile-friendly website, you should, too. Unfortunately, the vast majority of painting businesses actually do the opposite.

Secondly, your customers will think that you don’t care about them having a good experience.

More of your customers are going to your website using their phones instead of a desktop than ever before. If they have to pinch, zoom and swipe their way through a non-optimized website, there is a good chance they’ll move on to the next painting company quickly.

If your website was built several years ago, even if it is responsive, it may not be as user-friendly on mobile devices as it could be. There has been a shift in both best practices, loading time acceptability and user expectations.

In order to determine whether or not your site is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s own mobile-friendly test tool: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

✅ Your Website Isn’t Easy For Your Target Market To Navigate

Can your ideal client easily navigate your website?

If not, it’s time for an update. A client should be able to get to any page they want within 3 clicks.

3 clicks is what the average person finds acceptable while browsing for information. In this increasingly fast-paced world where attention span is at a premium, prospects should find your website intuitive.

Typically, when business owners prioritize “pretty” websites over functionality and clever wordplay over straightforward descriptions, this is where you can lose people.

Some other common issues that we see:

Menu isn’t mobile friendly
Too many menu items
Too few menu items
Inability to navigate back a page or up a level
Blogs with no navigation
No site menu

If these are a problem on your site as well, you want to start thinking about a change.

✅ Your Website Isn’t Updated Regularly

When was the last time that you updated your website?

If you can’t remember, or if it was more than 3-4 years ago, it’s time for an update. You want to make the best first impression you can, and that includes what people think of your online properties as well. In fact, most people will judge a website within the first .05 seconds of seeing it.

An updated website is important for many reasons.

Aesthetic trends change, so a layout or graphic scheme that was popular before may not be popular now. This can date your website.
Security protocols will update or change, which may leave you vulnerable to hacking.
Embedded code protocols from third parties (like YouTube or Rumble) will change as well, which could break the functionality on your website.

One way to evaluate your website is to compare it to your competition. Look at the websites of 5 local competitors. If all of them have nicer looking websites, it’s time to update yours.

Remember, people make assumptions about you based on what your website looks like. If it looks old or sloppy with broken functionality, they may assume that’s how your business is run as well.

You might not give much thought to an out-of-date website, but it’s the digital equivalent of a high end boutique with bad lighting or a law office with holes in the waiting room upholstery. Putting in no effort to the appearance suggests that you don’t care about how you come across to others.

Customers and prospects want to be cared about.

✅ Your Website Doesn’t Convert Visitors Into Clients

When someone visits your website, do they normally become a client?

If you don’t convert a decent percentage of website visitors into clients, it is time for a website update.

Having a website is essential for any business today. However, merely existing online is not enough. Your website’s purpose is to promote your company. It should be your BEST (and easiest to control) salesman.

A few ways that you can improve your conversion rate:

Be sure to have clear calls to action that stand out on every page
Be consistent in your messaging across all platforms
Provide helpful content about your business as well as why someone should work with you
Add your phone number and email address at the top of the website and make sure they are clickable
Adding a chat bot makes it easy to ask questions and helps a prospect decide to go with your services on the spot
A scheduler widget that allows a prospect to create their own appointment with you to accommodate a busy schedule
Ask for only a small amount of information so it’s easy for a prospect to fill out a form and submit. The key is for you to get in touch quickly after the submission.

A good metric to look at if you have Google Analytics installed on your site is called Bounce Rate.

Bounce Rate tracks the percentage of first-time visitors that depart your webpage without navigating any further. While it’s normal for some pages to have a larger bounce rate than others, consistently high rates across the board indicate that something is wrong with your website.

✅ Your Website Doesn’t Follow Google’s Rules To Rank Well

Does your website play by Google’s SEO (search engine optimization) rules?

If you haven’t optimized your website in the past year or two, it’s time for an update. Google constantly is changing/adding to their SEO rules.

SEO lays the foundation for having your website rank well and show up on the first page of results. For more in depth information on SEO, check out this article from IFTS on “SEO for House Painting Companies”.

A few of the most important SEO rules:

Your website should have an SSL certificate
Load time for the site should be under 3 seconds
Popular keywords associated with your business should be used in the URL, page titles and headers
The meta description and page title field should be filled in
There are no bugs in the website code
There are no security vulnerabilities

While it is true that sometimes a combination of different approaches might solve these issues, if your website is more than a few years old, it is usually best to start from scratch. There is a limit to how many times you can fix a broken website by applying temporary fixes.

✅ Your Website Doesn’t Have Multiple Ways For People To Contact You

If I go to your website, are there multiple ways to get in touch with your business?

If you don’t have a phone number, a contact form and an email address easily available, it is time for an update. Because people communicate and learn in different ways, it’s important to make it easy to contact you using multiple methods.

A great first step is to add the phone number, email address and social media property links to the top of your header. These will be easily accessible no matter what page of the website a prospective customer is visiting.

A chat bot can be a valuable tool as well. The easier you make it for prospects to get their questions answered and any fears allayed, the better chance you have of getting that person as a client.

Finally, a contact form on your website that can be navigated to easily (one click) makes the perfect trifecta of website communication.

🤔Thinking That Your Website Is Ready For An Update?

After reading this list, you may be convinced that a website redesign is in order and you are probably right!

Want help?

Using the newest responsive design trends, search engine optimization (SEO), and other cutting-edge features, our developers will craft a unique website for your company. Call IFTS today at 412.715.6266 to get started!