Years ago, growing sales was all about having an attractive store front, maybe a Bonanza Sale event and some newspaper advertising.
These days of course it is all about getting a better ranking on Google. We talk about SERP’s. This is how your business appears on your Search Engine Results Page (when someone looks for something you sell).
If you have a local business, then you have half a chance as you are only competing with similar stores in your area. But if you have a website ecommerce store and you want national business, then you have to work a lot harder to get on Googles front page.
It used to be all about the top ten on Google search, but Google has since introduced:
- Google Adwords
- Google My Business
- Google Shopping
- Google Organic search
The good news is that we now have 4 ways to attract eyeballs.
The CTR (click through rate) for organic results has naturally fallen as Google has offered searchers the above options. This is obviously part of Googles grand plan. They are finding more ways to monetize their search engine. Why give companies free organic clicks whthey can sell the space at the top of Google search.
An blog article from Authority Labs states these as the latest and most important ranking techniques for 2018:
- More informative content. Content is king. Should be approximately 1950-2000 words and readers should spend 3 mins and 10 seconds on you page(s). This proves to Google that you have some really interesting info.
- The big trend is towards mobile friendly content. In fact, Google will be ranking your pages on how they appear on mobile devices only.
- Voice search. This is a rising trend. Siri, Google Home and Amazon Echo are all examples of voice activated search speakers. Comscore say that 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020.
How does voice search effect SEO? Consumers phrase searches differently when they talk versus when they type. Voice inquiries are usually asked as a question whereas Google search will be for a product description or name. As web developers and copywriters, we need to ensure our content keeps these changes in mind.
Click here for the full article written by Ashley Ward from Authority Labs.
