Google’s search algorithms and strategies are continuously changing and improving to help users better find the information they’re looking for. Who knows what they will think of next?
Because Google is continuously checking and ranking websites, it can be easy for your small business’s website to get lost in a sea of competitors. If your web traffic from search engines has decreased, or you’re not able to rank where you like, below are a few reasons why it might be a struggle and a few ways to improve your digital marketing strategy.
1. Non-Responsive Design
In response to the advent of the mobile internet, many strategies were implemented to meet the new demand. The first solution was mobile-version websites usually with truncated content, forcing webmasters to maintain two or more websites. Today responsive design makes being mobile-friendly much easier.
Responsive Design is a form of web design where your site is coded to reformat itself and the information it contains into a user-friendly version no matter the resolution and aspect ratio of the user’s device. Web designers are now able to support literally hundreds of different devices, browsers, and screen sizes from within the same website.
Google search algorithms have been changed recently to suit the greater than 50% of web users in the US who are accessing via mobile. If your website is not mobile-friendly you will see your rankings and traffic continue to drop. Have your site responsively re-designed using the latest techniques to prevent further penalties by Google and create a better user experience for your site’s mobile and small device visitors.
2. No Social Media Presence
Social media business pages are public and able to be crawled by search engines, this, coupled with the huge boom in social users, makes them the new center of the digital marketing universe. Your business or organization’s social presence has become very important when you’re looking to rank higher. In addition to social page creation, we now believe that interaction with users is also another important factor.
When someone comments on goods and services you offer, it’s important to respond, both to show your visitors that you’re attentive and to show search engines someone is listening via social. Create posts with the intention of soliciting a response to gain more interaction with your brand and to show social activity to search engines.
3. No Digital Marketing Content Strategy
In the early days of SEO and online marketing, it was common to use back-linking (creation of links around the web back to your website), keyword stuffing, and other techniques, to rank higher. Search engines now consider these techniques unsavory and will penalize abuses. Today it’s more important than ever to have a comprehensive content and blog strategy. Google needs to see that you are serious about providing useful information to the public about your industry or topics related to your business.
Create periodic blog postings about a related topic to increase your marketing efforts and drive traffic using the information you’re providing. When search engines notice that your information is found around the web, your site gains authority and moves higher in the ranking for keywords found in your content.
4. Insufficient or missing meta tags
Meta tags are bits of information that you provide in your web pages that help Google to understand what your content is about and what topics and keywords you wish to emphasize in your digital marketing strategy. For an overview of the meta tags Google uses click here.
These tags are also used by share buttons and social media content scrapers when displaying a title, excerpt, and image on social when someone shares a page on your website. Having these tags in place and organized to match the content on a given page is a must if you’re wishing to rank on google. Many people use SEO service providers to help them ensure that all pages of their website are tagged appropriately.
With a little research and a bit of computer savvy, tagging your own website is not out of the range of expertise for many DIY webmasters.
5. Misguided Keyword Choices
Business owners often look to rank for keywords that are completely unattainable or unrealistic. On the worldwide web, there could be tens or hundreds of websites in just your local area that are trying to rank for a certain keyword(s). Some websites have been in business a long time, have incredible content strategy and traffic that keep you from taking their space easily.
Brainstorm and choose keywords that your potential customers might use that speak to your industry niche or special target market and go for those. Chances are your potential clients or customers are searching for you in other ways besides the most obvious keyword choices. Provide content and optimize for those keywords and win where there is less competition.
6. Missing or Inaccurate NAPW
For local businesses, which account for a huge portion of search engine results, it’s a must to have correct NAPW (Name, Address, Phone, and Website) directory listings. Google is able to scan the public directory websites and use these results when ranking your business.
If this information is found to be inaccurate or unavailable it hurts your climb to the top of the search page and your online marketing efforts. Check your business information on the more popular directory websites to ensure that your information is present and correct.
Let us help you!
VisionPATH Marketing specializes in getting your small business noticed with dynamic strategies for digital marketing, letting you focus on getting more customers while we establish your distinct online presence. Reach out today for a free consultation.