Google reigns supreme as the world's largest search engine, commanding nearly 92% of the global market. If you want to attract new customers, it's almost certain they are on Google.
So, how can businesses reach these users? How do you "get on Google" to ensure your potential customers can find you? Read on and we’ll explore various Google marketing strategies, both free and paid, to help you maximize your presence on the world's most popular search engine.
Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile can be an incredible asset to any company, and the best part is that it’s free!
At its core, Google Business Profiles are free listings that you can customize to represent your company.
Even better, there are specific features tailored to different types of businesses.
How to Get Started
If you haven’t set up or claimed your Google Business Profile, that should be your first step. After that, optimize your listing to enhance its visibility for relevant local searches.
For restaurants, you can highlight your menu, showcase dining options, accept reservations, and handle online orders directly from your GBP page.
Service providers, like roofing companies, can display their credentials, manage quotes, and allow users to schedule appointments right from the listing.
Retailers can feature their products and inform customers about shopping options such as in-store visits, curbside pickup, and delivery.
Whatever your business type, Google Business Profiles offer a tailored option for you.
Google Analytics
Another valuable and free Google marketing tool is Google Analytics.
GA4 lets you add small code snippets to all pages of your website, enabling you to track and analyze user engagement. With GA4, you can gain numerous insights, which I'll highlight below. It's a powerful tool if set up from the start and monitored regularly.
GA4 also helps evaluate the effectiveness of your Google marketing strategies by allowing you to segment users based on their source—whether organic, paid, or Google Business Profile listings. It provides a clearer picture of how compelling your site and content are based on user interactions.
Additionally, GA4 lets you create and monitor Events, Key Events, and Conversions based on user actions, offering more customization than Google Ads’ conversion tracking.
How to Get Started
Here are some key reports in GA4 to help you understand user engagement on your website:
Realtime: This report shows current user activity on your site, including the number of users, their locations, the pages they’re viewing, and any actions they’ve taken.
Engagement: These reports provide insights into how long users stay on your site, the number of pages they view, the specific pages they visit, and the events they interact with.
Acquisition: Discover how users find your site with acquisition reports. This section reveals the source of your traffic—whether organic, paid, or other—and provides details on the campaigns and terms used to reach your site.
Monetization: For e-commerce sites or any site that generates revenue, this section tracks purchases, sales value, and repeat purchases to help you understand your site's financial performance.
An Amazing Website
While a Google Business Profile is a valuable space on search result pages and highly customizable, it’s just a small part of how you can engage with potential customers. Sometimes, you can’t fit everything you want into these listings, and not all customer questions will be answered there. That’s where a well-crafted website becomes essential.
I’ll keep this section brief because there are countless ways to approach a website. You could use a ready-made template with basic customization or opt for a fully custom-built site. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong, but there are a few key factors to consider when setting up your site.
How to Get Started
Here are my top priorities for creating a compelling website in 2024:
Fast Page Load Time: Users expect a website to load within seconds. A slow site, no matter how visually appealing, will drive potential customers away before you have a chance to engage them. Invest in a site that loads quickly across all internet connections.
Mobile Compatibility: Many users access websites from their phones, so your site must provide a seamless mobile experience. If necessary, simplify the mobile version of your site to ensure functionality and ease of use, even if it means reducing some features from the desktop version.
Complete Product/Service Information: Don’t skimp on details. Modern shoppers are savvy and can detect when information is lacking. Provide comprehensive details about your products or services, including specifications, compatibility guides, customer reviews, and plenty of photos. If needed, include this information on separate pages.
Engaging Images: Use images that genuinely represent your products or services. While stock images are common, authentic photos often resonate better with customers. If a professional photographer is not an option, high-quality photos taken with your phone can be effective and provide a realistic view of what you offer.
Clear Calls to Action: Make it easy for potential customers to take the next step. Include phone numbers on all pages for calls, add forms for inquiries, and provide a scheduling tool if you want visitors to book appointments directly on your site. Ensure that your website’s positive user experience translates into effective customer conversions.
SEO
Beyond the text on your site, make sure you’re incorporating at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO involves enhancing your website to increase its visibility on Google.
You can approach SEO through technical, on-site, and off-site practices. Since you don't pay for organic search results, SEO is an attractive strategy for many companies. However, it's also highly competitive. You can either dive into SEO yourself by exploring various online resources or hire an agency to handle it for you.
How to Get Started
Here are key aspects to focus on when considering SEO practices:
Technical SEO: Ensure your site is easily crawlable and readable by Google. There are many strategies for this, so search for “technical SEO best practices” to find guidelines from sites that adhere to these practices themselves.
On-Site SEO: This involves the content directly on your website. A compelling site should align with this. Make sure your content is relevant, original, up-to-date, and superior to competitors. Also, use specific formatting options like title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags to make your content more accessible and easier to read.
Off-Site SEO: Though these tactics are more external, they are still crucial. Off-site SEO includes managing listings, handling ratings and reviews, engaging in public relations, and leveraging content and social media marketing. The aim is to establish your business’s authority and relevance by connecting with other authoritative sources.
Google Ads
There’s only one strategy here. But in our opinion it’s the most important!
Paid Google marketing strategy to help you get new customers.
To complement your organic strategies, consider using paid ads through the Google Ads platform. Much like SEO, Google Ads offers a variety of tactics. You can run Search Ads, where you bid on specific keywords to appear when users search those terms on Google. Alternatively, you can use the Display Network to place your ads on relevant websites related to your products or services. If you want to dive deeper into these options, WordStream has numerous articles on the topic. You can also choose to hire an agency to manage your Google Ads for you.
How to get started
Here are some things I encourage you to keep in mind when evaluating or getting started with Google Ads:
Have realistic expectations: There are many tools you can use to estimate the cost and performance of Google Ads for any business type. Use those tools to understand what a realistic outcome could be for you.
Set aside enough budget: One of the biggest problems I see with companies getting started in Google Ads is not having enough budget set aside to run an effective test. They set aside a number they think is enough, then run a small test, not spending enough to actually see any real results, and then determine the platform to be worthless. Don’t be that person. You’ll then have spent your money and written off a powerful platform used by thousands of businesses with success. The amount you need will vary depending on your products/services and supported area, but use the research you did in the first step to understand what a realistic budget is before you get started.
Use conversion tracking: Google Ads has great performance tracking available right within the platform. It just requires a couple of small code snippets to be added to your website to track performance. If you’re going to spend your hard-earned money, you should absolutely spend the small amount of time it takes to set up Google Ads conversion tracking so you can know if your money is working for you or not.
Understand the fundamentals: Unlike organic or Google Business Profiles, Google Ads cost money to run. You have to pay to play, if you will. All too often I see business owners start with only the bare minimal knowledge and then get burned for their ad spend. We already talked about this needing to be a reasonable budget and you’ve worked hard for that money. Don’t squander it by being too hasty to get campaigns up and running. Here are a few things I suggest you look into: keyword match types, networks including search partners, drafting strong ad copy, bidding strategies, and budget controls.
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