Google My Business Optimization ServiceGoogle My Business Optimization (GMB Optimization Service) can transform online customer acquisition. For most businesses, we will go as far as saying that GMB is actually more important than your own website! If you’re in charge of helping your company get more customers, GMB can be a huge revenue-generating machine.
Google is getting stingy with its traffic. Google does not want to send people to your website if they don’t have to.
About a decade ago, Google gave people ten blue links, along with some ads, when they searched for something. Things have changed in a big way since then. Google has been lower organic search result prioritization in favor of ads and what is now known as Zero Click Searches. These are queries where people are searching on Google, only to get the information they need without needing to visit any websites, Google is showing the pertinent information within its own search results.
Google understands that it can only get so aggressive in terms of prioritizing this information over its organic search results. What Google has got very good at is getting people to stay on their search results pages until they actually click an ad. They’re doing this in ways that you’ve already seen but probably haven’t thought of as to why, and it’s happening more and more frequently.
Example:
Showing the local weather in search results seems pretty harmless?
Then websites like IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, TV GUIDE realized they were getting less traffic when Google started featuring their content in search results (so people didn’t have to visit their website anymore).
Google started rolling out Zero Click Searches like above commercial markets. This may not seem like a big deal at first, but the growth of these Zero Click Searches is affecting your business and more importantly, the traffic to your website & local businesses is going down.
Google intends to offer users as much value and relevancy as possible directly within search results, so when people do something that Google can’t directly answer, chances are they will now click an ad or stay within the Google search results page goes up.
47% of organic search traffic that used to go to websites like yours? It’s now gone.
Business owners who heavily rely on organic search traffic from search engines previously had to just be concerned with the growing prominence of Google ads, as Google pushed organic results lower and lower on the search results page. Now we are up against these ads and the new and rapidly growing instances of these Zero Click Searches Searches.
Zero Click Searches on mobile devices: Zero Click Searches also work incredibly well on mobile devices. Due to the small screens, Zero Click Searches account for over 60% of searches in some cases. The small screen means that Google ads get even more priority real estate on mobile devices. When Google ads are also followed by Google’s new efforts to keep users from clicking on organic results by using answer boxes and the above examples, it now turns into even more Zero Click Searches.
Here’s an example of what we see when we search “mortgage rates Weston, Florida.” Normal organic results are not shown until the bottom of the third screen. This illustrates the lengths Google is taking to offer people information directly in search results – so they can keep them on their pages longer – instead of having them visit your site.
The Organic Results Don’t even start till the third full page scroll on a mobile device. This is why many websites are seeing a decrease in organic search traffic.
The rise of Google My Business and the fall of your Organic Traffic
Google My Business has been around for a while in different iterations even before Zero Click Searches were even a thing.
Here are some of the other names Google My Business Morphed from:
- Google Places
- Google Maps
- Google+
- Google Local
- Google Business
It’s grown in prominence in terms of how and when these listings appear in search results. Everything we’ve covered to this point is about how Google is getting greedy with its traffic.
They don’t want to send people to you unless they have to (another good reason to make Google Ads part of your overall marketing strategy).
The problem is, consumers will always want and need to speak to local businesses at some point.
Google knows this obviously, So instead of having people go to your website organically when they reach that point – they have been building an entire platform for people to connect with businesses, and obviously it is one that they own.
Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what the data says:
1. Forty-Six Percent of all Google searches have local intent. [HubSpot]
That’s about 1.6 billion searches per day where people are looking for products, services, and information in their location.
2. Ninety-Three Percent of local searches now feature Google My Business listings. [STAT Analytics]
There’s a lot of people using Google every day for local purposes. And now we know that virtually all of those searches are starting to feature Google My Business listings more and more.
3. Sixty-Eight Percent of people contact a business directly from search results. [Search Engine Land]
If your prospect is on a mobile device, which we’ve established is already 50% of all web traffic (and growing) all they need to do is click that little phone icon or link and they are dialing your phone or one of your competitors directly from those search results. These three bullet points show the importance of Google My Business. We already know that Google wants to send people to a platform they own as opposed to one that YOU own.
But we haven’t even covered the most important one:
“88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.” [Forbes]
Hey, Welcome to the new Review Economy!
Reviews from trusted third parties like Google are at the core of consumer buying behavior in 2020 and beyond. There’s no way to escape it. People don’t want to hear how good you claim to be or that you are a Guru, etc. You can post all the stock images you want on social media and get thousands of likes, but the reality is they want others to talk about how great you are on websites they trust. This is the single most important piece of data which speaks to the importance of an optimized Google My Business page.
When used properly, your Google My Business listing can become a Turbo Charged customer acquisition engine.
That’s because the people viewing your listing are being pre-sold on doing business with you, because of one of the reviews from real people.
Let’s look at another example of how traffic from Google My Business differs from normal search engine traffic – previously known to be the best quality traffic in terms of converting visitors into customers.
Google is investing HUGE in Google My Business because they know they failed miserably with Google Plus!
In the Spring of 2019, Google started shutting down its doomed social network, Google+.
This was at least their third attempt at trying to build a competitor to Facebook. The other two:
- Google Buzz & Google Wave
It’s pretty clear what’s going on here. Google knows they can’t compete with social networks like Facebook and Instagram in the same way. So they’re building a platform based on what their users are already doing – searching for information, products, and services in their location.
Over the last 12 months, here are some of the new features that have been added to Google My Business:
- Posts (like a blog)
- People can ask questions (which anyone can answer publicly)
- Messaging (think of Facebook Messenger – but by Google)
- Customers can book appointments directly on the listing
See how Google My Business is slowly turning into a social network all on its own?
But more importantly:
Notice how Google My Business allows people to take actions they used to only be able to take on your website?
People don’t need to visit your website anymore to:
- Call you
- Message you
- Ask questions
- Post reviews
- Find your offers and pricing
Google Places listings have now become the most important tool for customers to find your business or service in the local community. For businesses targeting a local market, our service, Google My Business Optimization, is now one of the most important services for your marketing & advertising campaign.
Why Use Our Google My Business Optimization Service?
Google My Business is even great for your business even if you do not have a brick and mortar location. People prefer to do business with local businesses and service providers and they conduct searches for these companies online as well as on their mobile devices. Your business will reach a whole new audience by gaining top placement on the Goole My Business Platform. GMB Optimization is now more important than website optimization.
Call us at 954-916-9800 or Click to Contact Us Today for your FREE consultation.
