Understanding How Google Search Engines Work
Do Google Maps and organic search matter? To answer this question, first of all, we need to understand how Google search engines work. Let’s take an example; if a homeowner in your region uses the words “kitchen remodeler near me” as part of their search query, your PPC campaign results will appear on their search engine results page (SERP). They’ll look at your PPC campaign outcomes, then the MAP section, and finally the organic search results.
This implies that all of your SEO efforts will aid you in ranking second and third on Google. Your PPC campaign is option-based, while your organic strategy is determined by MAP and the organic search.
So consider this: Do you think Google Maps and organic search still matter? As a kitchen and bath remodeling company, paying Google a considerable amount of money and trying to put your name on the top of the page is the main purpose?
How to Get Found while not Being The First!
The answer: While it’s essential to rank well, the primary objective isn’t always being the first on the page. Because, as a kitchen and bath business, you are not providing emergency service, but rather design and build services.
People won’t perceive your website as a last resort; instead, they’ll be doing their research when they come to your web page. So that they don’t pick the first one that appears on their screen. It’s the same for countertop companies since they don’t offer emergency services; instead, they provide a service that needs long term nurturing.
Google My Business: An Important Part of Your SEO Strategy
Google My Business is another important component of your SEO strategy. Because it’s your reviews, star ratings, and most importantly, your address is included on Google My Business. With all of the information, Google will give these homeowners about the services you provide, what you have, and who you are as a business.
It’s a bit more focused on the business side of Google. This is an excellent platform to clarify your company, and it’s especially crucial for these people to exhibit what you have and clearly, that will be something you’ll attempt to work for and make appear.
Organic SEO: The Importance of Keyword Distribution and Quality Content
Let’s dig a bit further into Organic Search, as we’ve spoken about it a lot. So who ranks well in the organic area? The answer is easy; who answers the questions most gets ranked well. This is all about your site’s quality, content, and keyword distribution. If you’re using your content material and website to answer people’s queries about your company, you’ll do well.
But, there’s one thing you should be wary of: keyword distribution. If you are offering different types of services and if you’re talking about one thing on your website with limited keywords, that’s not a good strategy.
You may have some sort of ranking for this one particular keyword over time but your website has to be ranked for different keywords too. And that should be part of your overall strategy.
Keyword Vs. Search Queries: Understanding the Difference
Finally, keep in mind the difference between keywords and search queries. A keyword is a word or phrase that you use to describe your website or blog. For example, if your blog is about the difference between granite and quartz countertops then your keyword might be ‘’ the difference between granite countertop and quartz countertop’’.
A search query, on the other hand, is an individual search term that someone types into Google or another search engine. It’s usually something along the lines of ‘’ the difference between granite countertop and quartz countertop’’ or which one is better; granite countertop or quartz countertop’’.
That may seem similar to a keyword at first glance but it’s important not to confuse them because they are actually very different. What we mean by that, it is important to know which words we rank high for so we can make sure we optimize our content accordingly.
Major Google Algorithm Changes: Our Insiders Guide to Understanding Change
Now that the educational phase is over, it’s time to catch up on Google’s most significant changes. Google has been constantly updating its algorithm so it can provide better results for users which is why it’s important to stay up-to-date on these changes so you know how best to optimize your website. Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm to make sure that they stay at the top of universal search engine results pages (SERPs). Sometimes these changes are small and sometimes the change is significant.
We’ve noticed that Google sometimes promises a huge upgrade, even if they don’t specifically say they’ll do some update. No matter how big or small your website is, you can’t escape broad core algorithm updates.
It’s best to check your website thoroughly to make sure it complies with Google’s quality guidelines and also take steps to ensure you stay on top of the game in the future.
Why It’s Important to Understand
However, we keep an eye on how Google reacts to changes we make on the site, as well as their updates. These are some major google algorithm updates that Google released;
- Panda update
- Penguin update
- Hummingbird update
- Pigeon update
- Fred update
It’s important to understand this is not a constant thing, Google’s core algorithm is always changing regularly. So why is it important? Let’s explain it with an example; Remember the links you put on your website, if these links were fake after the panda update your links become dead.
Because Panda update was all about the quality links if your links weren’t quality probably these links are dead now. If you don’t follow the updates and optimize your website according to these changes, your rankings will decrease even maybe Google will penalize you.
Three Biggest Changes
Now let’s talk about the most important and the biggest three changes that will impact your website’s health.
Stop Duplicating Content on Your Website: Prevent Poor Google Rankings
The first update that Google provides is focused on the content. If you’re still copying and pasting the results, you’ve made a huge mistake. Most of the kitchen and bath company owners copy the content of suppliers such as; cabinet makers or countertop fabricators.
It’s not a good way to duplicate material, and you’ll want your pages to be at least 70% unique. The other 30% might be CTA buttons and perhaps customer reviews that you include on every page. The services page, city pages, and other page contents must be unique.
Because this is an answer to Google’s relevancy test. That means if you are offering your service for New Jersey then you shouldn’t put something on your page about Florida.
Because if someone does a search for kitchen and bath services in New Jersey Google will not rank your page, it will rank another page about kitchen and bath services in New Jersey.
The Importance of Quality And Relevant Link Building
As we mentioned previously, this update is all about quality and relevant link building. You need to create links relevant to your website and quality. Because sometimes some spammer websites get irrelevant links from different websites, and if your link is not quality then they can get yours.
So that you need to disconnect your links from these types of low-quality links. This is like maintenance because your website is a magnet there, your domain is going to collect the quality and bad links then you need to disavow the bad quality links from your website.
Get Rid of Bad Links: The Disavowing Process
This is a disavowing process and Google has tools for this, it’s a technical thing. But if you don’t do this and also try to do this without an expert you may get penalized, this is a serious project.
At the same time, while avoiding those bad links, you need to put the good ones. One of the best ways to do this is; for example, let’s say you are a cabinet maker or countertop manufacturer you can ask them to mention your company in one of the blog posts of your partners.
Because those national cabinet makers and manufacturers have high authority, with this way you’re going to start gaining authority as well. Or you can change links with the pages, with higher authority one or you can do syndication and maybe press release to gain authority.
Your Physical Location Is Important: Penalty for False Locations
And the very last thing is about your physical location. P.O boxes don’t work anymore, you need to have your physical location on Google and your website. With this update, Google literally penalizes the businesses that are just trying to manipulate.
If you don’t have a real address and you act as you have then Google’s algorithm will realize that and penalize you. It’s not a smart thing because you are trying to manipulate Google’s search ranking algorithm decisions and you’re going to pay for it.
What Else is Changed
One of the other changes is that old fashion SEO is no longer effective. Putting a lot of links is not effective anymore, also your Facebook things or Twitter links are not going to be a big part of your strategy too.
That means that the old fashion SEO that you think might be helping is actually no longer effective.
What Google Really Wants: Your User Experience Optimization
And number two, after all the Google major algorithm updates focuses on user experience optimization. You need to give your user, personalized search and a good trip on your website. This means Google mostly cares about how people act when they come to your website.
Explaining this with a sample is the best; Let’s say you walk into a store and you will see different tags and aisles such as; grocery, pharmacy, or health, and beauty. Imagine what happens when you see the same tags in different locations, it will create confusion for you.
So Google wants to stop this confusion for its users and if you don’t give Google the correct service, or location this will hurt you. Because you need to give your website visitors a good experience so that Google can take the positive signal. The good user experience you give the more Google will rank you well.
Website Speed: The Key to User Experience
Imagine that you are on your mobile devices and you will do some mobile searches, and trying to find a restaurant to have a nice dinner with your wife and you have your 4G network and you’re trying to download the content from the website that offers a one-gigabyte file. You will have to wait for minutes and you will not want it.
So that you cannot offer these types of things to your visitors, you need to optimize your website. That’s why website speed is one of the most important facts for user experience.
Want to Get Visitors Back on Your Website? Check for Dead Links!
Another important update is the number of dead links on your website. To explain better we’re going back to our store analogy, you go there to find an apple and it’s out of stock today, the next day you go there, it’s out of stock then the third day it’s going to be out of stock again.
You will not go there again because you know that they may not have apples. You will change your direction to another grocery store. That is what Google thinks when it sees a dead link or dead ends on your website.
New Ranking Factors To Help You Get Your Site Ranked Well
What are those new ranking factors that are going to help you to get it ranked well?
The first one is CTR which stands for Click-Through Rate. This rate is the number of people who see your link.
So let’s say 100 people are just trying to explore from one website to another and you got five clicks, you have a 5% click-through rate. That’s the key because Google can understand how your website is eye-catching. If you have an eye-catching kind of website, and if you’re getting those clicks, Google will understand that and it’s going to give you a good rating.
Your Website is a Key Source for Search Engines
As we mentioned earlier, the content, articles, press releases that you put on your website have a big role in this phase. Because those title tags are important to understand what you’re going to go on your website. Google will understand those title tags like an interaction. It’s not only Google, all other major search engines are going to kind of do the same thing.
If your website is fast, tidy, and clean, with no dead links, no dead ends, then you have a good score right there, and it means that you will be ranked well.
The Battle Of Time On Page: How Long Your Visitors Stay And What It Means For Google
And the time on page is a big deal, actually, Google announced the bounce rate. What is the battle there is you need to keep our website visitor long enough, you need to create quality content to point out, so that people can spend more time on your website and Google can realize that.
If people are coming to your website and staying there, it’s a major indicator for Google that you’re offering some sort of quality content to these people and they’re spending time on your website.
Creating Quality Content: People will Consume and Stay On Page Longer
Creating quality content is not as hard as you think. If you have authentic photos, not stock photos, and using multimedia short videos are going to help you to increase the time on the page. It is easy to create some sort of video, people will watch this because social media is all about consuming a lot of material. It’s not about words anymore, it’s all about videos and pictures.
If you create some sort of invisible material for these people they will consume and they will stay on the page longer. If they stay on the page, Google Analytics Server will understand they stay on the pages longer than it will say you’re over average, and it is a good sign for your website.
Website Page Scroll Rate: The Key to Reducing Bounce Rates
The scroll rate is the speed at which visitors to your website go down and browse your pages. Let’s assume we go to a website and scroll down to see more, when we continue scrolling down, Google Analytics Services can figure out that we’re scrolling down and reduce the bounce rate. This is one of the essential things for you to focus on.
Now that you understand all of the major Google algorithm changes and how search engines work, it’s time to take action.