8 Tips on Optimizing Google My Business with Google Analytics

Posted on October 15, 2021May 19, 2023 by Jerry Nichols

Google Analytics is essential to your business’s growth.

There’s a reason it’s one—if not the—most popular digital analytics software available. It’s a free service that lets you gather and analyze in-depth detail about who visits your website.

Using Google Analytics in combination with tools such as Google My Business will help you shape the strategy that leads to business success. Regardless of your type of business, you must understand and study the habits of the people who visit your site to deliver better results.

Keep reading to learn about the benefits of using Google Analytics, what to avoid, and how to correctly optimize your Google My Business listing to the fullest.

Benefits of Google Analytics Paired With Google My Business

You should always strive to think like your target audience. However, pretending can only go so far. This is where analytics come in to show you who your audience is and how they react to your content.

Google Analytics provides reports that can be broken down into smaller, custom made reports. With this data, you can have a crystal clear picture of who visits your website, how they got there, and how they interacted—or didn’t interact—with your content.

You’ll know if they visited your site to immediately leave or if they visited many times through different traffic channels. The most beneficial metric? You can track whether they took the action you wanted them to take—also known as the conversion. Whether it’s a purchase, download, or a form fill, you have to track your conversion goal.

Google My Business (GMB) is a powerful tool in itself. But being able to filter the traffic that moves from your GMB listing to your website is a game-changer.

When you connect the two, you can view the correct traffic coming from GMB in Google Analytics, which gives you the ability to track how successful your GMB efforts are.

Being in tune with the ins and outs of this data allows you to adapt quickly if needed. From there, you can choose whether to adjust your GMB listing or your website.

How to Fully Optimize Your Google My Business Listing for SEO

Remember, GMB is included in Google’s organic search. Optimizing your GMB listing is essential to your marketing strategy.

Here are ways eight tips for optimizing your Google My Business listing for better search engine results.

1. Don’t Leave Anything to Be Assumed

If nothing else, make sure your GMB listing is filled out completely.

Businesses offering the most detailed and accurate information are favored in local search results. Don’t leave your prospects guessing—make sure your listing communicates what your business does, where it is, and how they can get in touch with you.

2. Keep Your Operating Hours Accurate

What’s the point in entering your business hours if they’re not accurate? Most people check business hours before choosing to venture out to buy something. If they think you’re open—make an effort to visit your store—and find you closed, it’s not good news for you.

Any time you change your business hours, it’s essential to update your listing as well. Google offers a feature that allows you to customize hours for special events and holidays. Use this to your advantage and keep your target audience happy.

3. Add Photos

Don’t underestimate the power of photos when it comes to your listing’s performance.

Businesses with photos on their GMB listings receive 42% more requests for driving directions on Google Maps. They also receive 35% more click-throughs to their business websites than listings without photos.

4. Include Keywords

Traditional SEO applies to GMB listings just as it does to websites.

Google uses keywords and search phrases to serve search results. So doing your research and adding optimized keywords to your listing will be incredibly beneficial in upping your SEO ranking—especially since your website is listed within your GMB listing.

5. Pay Attention and Respond to Customer Reviews

Successful businesses acknowledge their customers and value the feedback they receive from online reviews.

Positive reviews and interaction on your part will have a positive effect on potential customers as they research your business. They will also increase your search result visibility.

Get creative when asking for feedback. You can encourage happy customers to leave reviews by creating a link they can click to review your business. Use this link on your website, in correspondence with customers, and even in your business email signatures.

6. Implement the Booking Button Feature

If you really want your business to stand out from the competition, explore using Google’s Booking button feature. This feature allows customers to book appointments directly from your GMB listing if you use integrated scheduling software.

Using this feature can make it super easy to get new customers, considering they don’t have to navigate away from Google to book an appointment with your business. If you’re using one of Google’s supported scheduling providers, this button will automatically show on your listening.

7. Provide a Menu of Services

The Services list in Google My Business is a great addition if you sell services like a hair salon, spa, restaurant, bar, and other businesses with a “menu of services.” Using this feature, you can categorize and list out all of your services (or menu items) and prices. This gives potential customers the ability to see what you have to offer easily.

8. Track GMB Success in Google Analytics

Finally, optimize your Google My Business listing by tracking its success with Google Analytics. Without filtering your traffic in your Google Analytics dashboard, you have no way to attribute traffic and sales to your GMB efforts.

To do this, identify the pages you want to drive traffic to and track. Depending on how your website and business are structured, you’ll most likely drive users to pages such as your homepage or your contact page. Then, create a modified URL string using Google’s Campaign URL Builder that will feed data into Google Analytics.

By implementing these subtle changes, you can tap into your Google Analytics account and learn more about who is clicking on your Maps listing, and what they do once they reach your website.

SEO Mistakes to Avoid

No matter your level of expertise, making mistakes in Google Analytics can sabotage your data collection strategy. Some mistakes are common and easily remedied, while others are not. Here are a few typical mistakes that marketers at all levels tend to make.

Approaching Your Data Without Skepticism

Try not to accept your data blindly. Review data more than once, and then ask questions to examine what’s really occurring. If you trust your data after this scrutiny, it will help guide future business decisions.

Not Integrating with Other Google Platforms

Google’s ecosystem is so beneficial because all Google platforms integrate effectively.

For example, if you’re using Tag Manager and Analytics, many tracking solutions are as easy as plug-and-play. The same is true for Analytics and Optimize. It’s easy to integrate and analyze data, create dashboards, and share reports with your team.

Do your research and determine which platforms and features will integrate well with your business.

Ignoring Annotations

When using Google Analytics, annotations are notes you can utilize to add context to your reports. These details may not help if you’re a one-person team, but if you’re hiring new people and don’t have historical data, these notes are game-changers.

Drive Growth in Organic Traffic

To stand out from your competition, you must become familiar with search engine optimization and what it means for your business. This is when using tools such as Google Analytics in tandem with Google My Business comes in handy.

We understand that as a local business, you can have a difficult time determining the best course of action to take for local SEO. We’re here to help you. To learn more about the services we can use to grow your business, contact us and a member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.

Posted in SEO

How to Maintain Your SEO Ranking During a Website Redesign

Posted on April 15, 2021May 19, 2023 by Jerry Nichols

In general, it’s suggested that your company goes through a website redesign every 1.5 to 2.5 years. Of course, some businesses will need more frequent redesigns, while others can get away with longer stretches of time.

Regardless, the one thing you shouldn’t do is consider your site a “one and done” deal. Not only are design ideas always rising and falling, but things like search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are constantly changing as well. To not make room for changes is surely a death blow to your company.

But if your brand’s already ranking well for SEO, you may be hesitant to change things up.

Going through a website redesign doesn’t mean you have to start all over though. Here are some excellent tips on how to maintain your SEO ranking during a website redesign.

Find out Your Current SEO Ranking

If you don’t know how well your website is currently ranking for SEO, then you need to find out. If it turns out that you’re not doing so well anyway, then it’s definitely not worth it to preserve your ranking.

You can easily check your SEO ranking by yourself. All you need to do is go to Google Analytics and check out which keywords are bringing people in. Then, go to Google, type in those keywords yourself, and see where in the search engine results pages (SERPs) your website is.

If your site isn’t ranking on the first page of SERPs, then it may be worth it to just start from scratch for your SEO strategy instead of maintaining your current ranking. Users rarely look past the first page of results; some don’t even look past the first 5 sites or so!

On the other hand, if you’re ranking highly on SERPs, then you’ll want to keep optimizing your website for those keywords you found on Google Analytics. Make sure you save these, as they’ll be the key to SEO success.

Make an Outline of Your Website Before Doing Any Work

What you want to do when redesigning your website is to keep things as close to the old site as possible. By this, we mean preserving your site architecture, which is how your site is laid out for users to find the information they need.

If your pages aren’t ranking well, or they’re getting high bounce rates, then you may want to rethink your overall website architecture. Otherwise, you want to stick to something that your users are familiar with.

You’ll want to make a spreadsheet of your existing sitemap. Write down which pages you have (such as Home, About, Contact, etc.), their URLs, meta titles, and meta descriptions. This will make it easier for you to compare to your new pages later on.

You should make note of which pages are ranking well so you know not to tweak them too much. If those are performing well, then you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken!

Of course, you can always revamp the aesthetics, but as far as the content (and linking structure) goes, you should leave those alone for a high-ranking page. That way, you can refresh your website without compromising how it ranks on SERPs.

Don’t Do the Redesign on Your Existing Website

Never, ever do your redesign on your existing website! This can cause issues for people who are currently on your pages. Plus, while it’s under construction, some unprofessional problems might arise, such as broken links, pages that don’t look right, or ones that just disappear from your site architecture.

You always want to do your redesign behind the scenes. The smallest changes on a live website can severely impact your SEO ranking, so you want to make sure everything’s in order before you push it live.

You can always do your website redesign on a temporary URL and then switch it over. If this is too complicated to do on your own, you can have your developer or hosting company perform this for you.

Check That Everything’s Working

A website redesign is a great time to do some housekeeping and ensure that everything’s working. For instance, your blog articles and landing pages may have broken links, especially if they’re several years old.

Not just that, but you should check that everything is still relevant. For example, you’ll want to take inventory of your blog articles and either delete or archive ones that aren’t evergreen.

Exceptions would be ones that bring in lots of traffic. So let’s say you have a blog article about an event your brand attended 3 years ago, but users find it interesting. In this case, it’d be fine to leave up, as users will understand it was an event that’s already come and gone a long time ago.

Make Sure to Set up URL Redirects for Old Pages

One of the most annoying things about website redesigns is when users hit broken links. This can cause them to click off your website and choose your competitor instead. It can also prevent a high-performing page from ranking as it used to; if users can’t access it, it’s not going to get traffic, after all.

To prevent this from happening, you want to compare the new URLs of your pages to the old ones on your sitemap spreadsheet. If any have changed, you need to set up URL redirects.

The good news is, you don’t always have to spend a ton of time doing this. If you’re using something like WordPress, you can download a plugin like Redirection Plugin to make things go more efficiently.

Go Over Your Meta Titles and Descriptions

Meta titles and descriptions are the blue words that pop up underneath a website when you Google them. Not only do these provide users with some useful information, but it also helps to push your website to the top of SERPs.

If you don’t create meta titles and descriptions on your own, then Google will do it for you based on what content you have on your pages. But the better thing to do is optimize them yourself; you may have already done so for your site’s previous iteration. For example, if you’re performing dental marketing, you’d sprinkle your meta titles and descriptions with keywords like “cavities” or “toothache.”

Take a look at your spreadsheet and consider the pages that are ranking well. In your website redesign, you want to keep the existing meta titles and descriptions so they can continue to rank highly. For those that aren’t performing well, you may want to reevaluate the keywords you’re using on those and refresh the meta titles and descriptions.

Get Set up With Google Analytics Before Going Live

When you perform a website redesign, you can’t just pour a ton of work into it and then not measure your results. So before your new website goes live, you need to add Google Analytics and Google Webmasters Tools.

Both of these will help index your website correctly. This is where Google’s web crawlers find your website and essentially, make note of your pages in their “book.” This also why you shouldn’t make redesign edits on your existing website, as it’ll index your pages incorrectly.

Once your new website goes live, you’ll need to run Google Webmaster Tools right away. These handy tools will tell you promptly if any links on your new site are broken. You can then quickly fix them before anyone stumbles upon them and before Google penalizes you for it.

Ensure Your New Website Is Crawlable

Web developers and designers can disable search engine crawling while they’re working on your website. This prevents your pages from indexing incorrectly. If you’re working on your own redesign on sites like WordPress, you can put your site in “staging,” which also prevents indexing.

Once you push your new website live, always double-check with your developers/designers that they’ve reenabled search engine crawling. And if you’re on WordPress, you must uncheck the box for “discourage search engines.”

Get a Smooth Website Redesign

There always comes a time when you need a website redesign. You can’t risk putting it off, or else you may lose both existing and potential customers.

When that time comes, you want to make sure you get the most efficient and smoothest marketing SEO services possible. This is why it’s vital that you work with marketing companies that not only have the proper knowledge, but also have years of experience performing the services you need.

We at SEO Forensic Marketing are the premier Denver SEO company you can turn to. While you can always follow the tips we’ve given you in this article, the best way to implement them and ensure your redesign goes without a hitch is to work with a professional like us.

Ready to get started on your website redesign? Then request a quote from us now!

Posted in SEO

Post COVID19 Business Automation and Business Solutions for Small Businesses to Survive and Thrive

Posted on October 1, 2020May 19, 2023 by Jerry Nichols

It’s hard to overstate the brutal effect that COVID-19 is having on the US economy.

All but essential businesses are being forced to close their doors to customers. Revenue has dried up, stores have shut down, and many people have lost their jobs.

A $2 trillion relief package from the government offers a semblance of hope. Yet, nobody knows if it’ll be delivered in time to make a sufficient difference.

Needless to say, it’s a stressful and precarious time as every business owner tries retool their businesses with digital marketing and SEO (search engine optimization).

Thankfully, there are shreds of hope amongst the rubble. Some businesses are cashing in on a surge in online sales and seeing better trade than ever. Others are pivoting their strategy and enjoying newfound opportunities in return.

With Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 356 companies are using business innovations in software to reduce expenses and increasing productivity through CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), automation, AI (artificial intelligence), and outsourcing business management and outsourcing marketing.

Finding business success isn’t easy right now, but the right approach can take you a long way. Are you looking for business guidance to get through the current COVID-19 crisis?

Read on for 14 essential ideas for ensuring success in spite of the ongoing pandemic.

1. Identify the Primary Challenges

The first pivotal step in this process is to identify how your business might suffer.

On the one hand, it might seem obvious.

Your store(s) might already have closed. Your clients might have backed off. Your revenue streams might have dried up. And so on.

But try and be more specific. Why would your clients back off? Why would your customers stop buying from you? What’s stopping your business from flourishing throughout this pandemic?

Sit down and think about the worst-case scenarios your business might face in the coming weeks and months. Only by understanding the potential repercussions of COVID-19 can you think up solutions.

Start by listing the possible problems and then work out a strategy for handling them. The coming suggestions should help.

2. Invest in Lead-Generation

People go into ‘disaster aversion mode’ in trying financial times.

Our natural aversion to loss makes it tempting to cling to what we have. The idea of spending money on extra small business marketing might seem unappealing.

Attracting new customers is crucial if the business is going to survive though.

See the crisis as an opportunity to seize leads from your competitors. You can guarantee that other companies will have reigned in their marketing spend. By doing the opposite you can fill that gap and enjoy a much better marketing ROI.

3. Take Advantage of Cheap Online Ads

This point leads on from the last.

There’s never been a better time to invest in digital advertising. Why?

Because everybody’s at home and online. Consumers are stuck indoors with nothing to do! So many people are no using the internet that providers are starting to struggle with demand.

At the same time, companies are spending less on their marketing.

That’s good news in terms of digital ads. Think about PPC campaigns, where CPC increases as more people compete for keywords.

With fewer businesses bidding than before, you can now target popular words at a fraction of the usual price. You stand to beat the competition in search and spend less in the process.

4. Focus on Online Sales

Online shopping has become a lifeline while we’re under strict directives not to leave the house.

Web-based stores, such as Amazon, are having their best year to date!

Could your business leverage this rise in internet shopping somehow? Could you sell more products/services via the internet? Or could you create new products/services to sell via the web instead?

Make the online buying process as straight-forward as possible. Again, Amazon provides a prime (if you’ll pardon the pun) example. With a single click, you can order whatever you need and have it delivered the next day.

That convenience facilitates sales and keeps happy customers coming back for more.

5. Create Training/Educational Resources

Short on ideas for products or services to sell online?

Consider putting together some training/educational resources. Given the growing rates of unemployment, these could become a valuable source of income.

Anybody out of work could be looking to retrain in new fields and disciplines. As an expert in your industry, you could position yourself as a go-to source of training within it.

Remember, more people are teaching themselves relevant skills online than ever before. Capitalize on that popularity by providing training for anybody interested in your industry.

Put together a set of comprehensive resources to help others learn the craft. Sell them from your website to provide value to others and drive revenue.

6. Pivot to Solve a COVID19-Related Problem

Flexibility is key when you’re building a thriving business during coronavirus.

Being rigid in your operations and processes is a recipe for trouble. You have to roll with the times and think outside the box. Don’t, and you’ll struggle to solve the problems with which you’re faced.

Many companies have had to pivot from the norm to keep revenue coming in.

Consider how your business could shift gear to solve a COVID-related problem.

For instance, a hand lotion company could start producing hand sanitizer. A food production company could start doing deliveries. A tutoring company could start selling custom curriculums.

A swift and incisive change in trajectory of this nature could be enough to save the business. A services company could bring on Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 to automate their marketing and sales processes to reduce expenses, increase productivity, and increase revenues.

7. Offer Payment Plans

Individuals and businesses are understandably concerned about money.

People are losing their jobs, and a recession could be around the corner. It’s natural for consumers to cut back on their expenditure in times of such uncertainty.

Changing your pricing structure could help prevent your income streams from drying up.

Offering payment plans, as opposed to a fixed-fee, is one way to do it. These plans enable people to spread the financial burden out over time. They enjoy a reduction in financial pressure; you enjoy their continued custom.

8. Make a Difference

These are challenging times for everybody; businesses and consumers alike.

Strange as it may seem, doing something for nothing might be the best way to facilitate business success. Figure out how you can provide value to your customers and the world.

Teachers are offering free online lessons. Fitness trainers are running free home workout sessions.

Marketers are giving away free training materials and guidance. Kitchens are giving away free meals to the community. Consultants in various industries are offering free support.

The list of good being done goes on and on.

Even better, the businesses/individuals making the difference gain at the same time. They cultivate trust, develop relationships, receive donations, generate newfound exposure, and distinguish themselves from their competitors, among others.

Don’t treat it as ‘just another PR stunt’ though. Only by providing genuine value to people and asking for nothing will you benefit in return.

9. Focus on Social Media

When business gets busy, social media marketing is oft-neglected.

Try to turn that situation around now you’ve got some downtime. This is the ideal opportunity to post more regularly and to engage more with your audience.

Think about doing live videos as well.

Remember, huge numbers of people are online at the moment. That means you’ve got an amazing chance to engage with your audience!

You could go ‘behind the scenes’, offer messages of support, reveal the projects you’re working on, or play interactive games. Anything you do can help generate exposure and grow your brand.

That’ll stand you in good stead for when the pandemic shifts and life goes back to normal.

10. Leverage Technology/Software

Technology should be at the forefront of your business efforts.

The exact tech/software for the job will vary by business. You might need a CRM, an inventory control system, accounting software, new computer systems, or updated networking capabilities.

You might have been avoiding the transition to the cloud or delaying the update of your communication systems.

Whatever the case, now’s the time to make the change. Utilizing business automation and artificial intelligence coupled with business innovations with big data science can target the bullseye and provide the horsepower to reach and convert your marketing into sales.

The right technology will increase productivity, efficiency, transparency, and teamwork. It’ll improve the customer experience and, ultimately, boost profits. Technology will help you pivot, test, and analyze your efforts to ensure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.

Businesses must invest in new tech now more than ever. Without it, growth and progress will be far harder to come by in the difficult times ahead.

11. Consider Outsourcing Key Tasks

Outsourcing will be another essential step in facilitating ongoing business success.

With the economy in turmoil, companies are going to have to do more with fewer resources. Their operations will need to be lean and mean; every dollar spent has to count.

Outsourcing business management functions (such as HR, accounting, and marketing) provides an ideal solution. You avoid the usual effort and expense of hiring employees, training them, and paying for leave. You benefit from industry-leading expertise while keeping the in-house team small.

The result? Your business becomes more productive and costs less to run. It’s no surprise that 2.4 million jobs have been outsourced in the US in the last ten years. This business consulting and business outsourcing can deliver sophistication at reduced costs to deliver superior results.

12. Diversify Your Supply Chain

Businesses across the globe suffered as the Chinese economy ground to a halt this year.

With China as a primary supplier, the business’ supply line was disrupted and they ran out of products. Have you suffered a similar fate?

It’s time to diversify your list of suppliers.

Look elsewhere for alternative sources of products at a similar margin. Having multiple suppliers is akin to having multiple income streams. It means you’ll still be able to source inventory regardless of one or more suppliers ceasing operations.

13. Diversify Your Traffic (Use International SEO)

Diversifying your sources of web traffic could help as well.

After all, COVID-19 isn’t just affecting the US. Every country in the world is feeling its effects. That said, some countries have suffered more than others.

Is your primary traffic source from somewhere that’s been badly hit by the virus? Then there’s a good chance your traffic levels will have struggled a lot too.

With traffic coming from multiple destinations, though, you could have mitigated the loss. You’d have seen standard amounts of traffic from places that haven’t been affected as badly by COVID19.

This is where international SEO and content translations come in handy. You can maintain your rankings and traffic levels from countries all over the world. If one country starts to suffer, then you’ve got the others to fall back on.

14. Leverage Any Downtime

It isn’t very often that business-owners get a chance to stop and pause.

Time is usually spent trying to avoid downtime in order to keep the revenue coming in! Coronavirus might have put a stop to that, though. You may have more time than you know what to do with now.

Our recommendation?

See it as a blessing in disguise. Use the time to project yourself into the future and put a strategic plan in place for how to move forward.

Think about the systems, software, and platforms you’ll use to drive success.

Brainstorm solutions for how to navigate this new economy and realign your business with its core values. How will you get back to serving your customers, generating revenue, and, ultimately, running a thriving business?

Build a Thriving Business During COVID19

There’s no denying it: COVID-19 is having a profound impact on the world.

Almost every aspect of life has ground to a halt- including the economy. Businesses are shut, people aren’t allowed to leave their homes, and jobs are on the line. Business owners are under extraordinary financial pressure. They’re being forced to think outside the box, alter their trajectory, and operate in novel ways just to get by.

But it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. And, with the right approach, even the worse-struck businesses can turn the tables and find success.

Hopefully, the tips in this post will help you run a thriving business, in spite of the current climate.

Would you like professional support to boost your business during this difficult time? Contact us today to see how we can be of service.

Posted in AI, D365, M365, SEO

Category: SEO