Watch our tech talk replay on Google Rankings for Tradies
Wondering how Google’s algorithm impacts your website’s performance and search rankings? In this session, we’ll address the ever-changing landscape of SEO and demystify the “dark art” it often appears to be.
The recent Google algorithm update focuses on improving page experience for users, making factors like loading time and mobile responsiveness crucial for search rankings. By optimizing these aspects, you can enhance user satisfaction and boost your site’s visibility.
Learn how to leverage content creation, master website optimization, and conduct effective website audits. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay ahead in the digital landscape and take your online presence to the next level. Watch the video below to unlock the secrets of SEO and lead generation!
Google Algorithm Update [0:01:01s]
The Google algorithm is a set of rules that determines how search results are displayed. It is constantly being updated by engineers at Google and the latest update focuses onto improving page experience for users. SEO has always been a bit of a “dark art” with frequent algorithm updates causing confusion for website owners but there are certain things you can control, such as such as optimising loading time and mobile responsiveness of your website to create a better user experience and improve your search rankings.
Apple Privacy Update [5:13s]
Apple recently released a privacy update which aims to improve user privacy and prevent monopolies like Facebook and Google from having too much access to your user data. The update has had other good effects for users like clearing up news feeds and improving the overall experience.
Improving Page Experience [07:33s]
The best way for businesses to improve page experience is to focus on how people interact with their website. Matt believes all business owners should have full control of their website and marketing database so you can add and make changes as needed. Businesses should focus on creating useful content that relates to their services and have good SEO practices. Make sure your website is mobile friendly, load speed of pages is fast and your SSL certificate is current to ensure security for users.
How can we better re-engage our customers and how can we serve them better and what are they looking at, what are they actually interested in? Which of course is not a Google ad. They're far less interested in clicking on a Google ad than they are to click on something useful that's come from somebody they know like and trust in say the form of an email.
Providing Relevant Information [09:50s]
Having information readily available on your website for potential customers is important as it builds trust and establishes you as a trusted advisor. Prove you know what you’re talking about! Providing valuable resources such as project galleries or blogs with useful tips can greatly benefit those interested in your services and get you more leads. Make creating content part of your business process and constantly add new information to your website that will attract potential customers.
Website Page Rankings [10:47s]
Good user experience is key to improving your website page rankings, which includes providing access to relevant information that users want. Google’s algorithms will reward websites that engage users through videos, downloads, or navigating through multiple pages.
Duplicate content won’t necessarily penalise a website but it won’t receive credit either, so it’s important to provide unique content for your audience. Negative experiences such as clicking back after visiting a website will reflect negatively on page rankings which is why it is important that your content relates to what you do and the services you provide.
Building Trust with Customers [13:00s]
The best way for businesses to build trust with past, present, and potential customers by providing them with relevant information. Businesses should aim to be recent, frequent, relevant, and useful when providing information to their customers. Not sure what content to create? Tap into your customer databases and look at what questions they have been asking, this is a great way to determine what kind of content would be most useful for them.
We preach all the time to take your focus off lead generation and put it on lead conversion. That's the reason we love working with databases so much and email marketing, because we know you're eight times more likely to retain a client than to gain a new one.
Importance of Lead Conversions [14:32]
It is really importance to focus on lead conversion rather than lead generation. Email marketing and working with databases are effective ways to retain clients and generate conversations. Investing in an email marketing campaign is eight times more likely to generate conversations than running a Google ad not to mention much more appealing to your audience as you are providing valuable information rather than just a hard sell tactic.
Building Trust and Rapport with Content [15:20s]
Nurturing your database with relevant, recent, and frequent content helps build trust and rapport with potential clients and will keep your business front-of-mind to increase the likelihood of engagement. Waiting until someone is in dire need of your services may be too late as the’ll probably go with the first tradie that pops up on their Google search instead. By supplying constant information and content you will be fresh in the mind of customers and the first they think to call when they need that type of service.
Improving website performance with Technology [17:33s]
Technology can help improve your website performance. Image compressing software can be used to shrink images down to improve website speed performance, builders that are light on code can help reduce page load times and embedding videos from YouTube or Vimeo can speed up website loading time.
The biggest mistake that people make is they think that what they're doing is boring because they do it all day, every day, when the reality is people are ridiculously interested in what you guys do.
Tips for Building a Website [19:19]
If you are just starting out, there are many options available for building a business website. It is important to understand what it is you want as a result and map it all out before you start attempting to build it. Also consider whether it will be worth your time to create the website yourself or if it would be quicker and more efficient to use a professional to create it for you.
If you do decide to outsource it is important to make sure you have your website built on a platform which empowers you to get in there and make changes, make sure all of your assets are yours, and you control them so you don’t end up paying for every little change in the future.
Creating content for your Website [21:55]
Consistency is one of the most important things when creating content for your website, it’s a marketing tactic that will draw potential customers to your website. Matt suggests a great way to engage with your audience is by answering questions that people are asking you through content creation, whether it be through writing blogs or making videos. Creating good content will mean you have to dedicate some time to it or hire someone else to do it for you.
If you decide to work with web developers to set up your site and manage content there will still need to be some input from you. In order to accurately tell your story and promote your services and point of difference they will need information, logos, photos and videos to create the content for marketing your business.
People often think their work is boring because it’s what they do everyday, but it’s important to spin it in an interesting way for potential customers. Creating a document or project gallery can be used as part of SEO programs and to build trust with customers. Whether you do it yourself or get help from a specialist, creating content should become part of your process.
Website Audit tips [28:01s]
To check if a website is mobile-friendly, type “mobile-friendly Google test” into Google search. Most websites built today will already use responsive design, which adjusts to any device automatically. To do a simple check, load the website onto your phone and turn it from portrait to landscape mode, if the screen changes accordingly, it’s mobile-friendly. To check your website speed, type “website speed test” into Google search or use tools like Pingdom.
If you are worried about any of the results or don’t have time to test for yourself consider getting an audit or assessment of your current website that takes into account SEO, speed, load time, user experience from a reputable business.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Tradie Web Guys, which provides digital solutions such as websites and marketing strategies specifically for trade based businesses.
Clinton is driven by a passion to help the construction and field services industries evolve through the use of technology and education.
Scott is a driving force behind our vision for change in the industry and is committed to helping tradies adopt technology to transform their business processes.
