SURVEY REVEALS META DESCRIPTIONS & BRANDING IMPACT 2 SEARCH CLICKTHROUGH THE MOST
Turns out, ads in the search results are not really appreciated
Recently, Ignite Visibility conducted a survey to find out what searchers generally look for in search results and what are the factors that influence their decision to click. They analyzed over 500 searchers, aged 25-60 years, and found that meta description, brand name and page title have the most influence on whether or not users click through on a search result.
Meta descriptions emerge clear winners The study showed that 62.9% of the participants claimed that it was the meta descriptions that had the largest influence on their decision to click. 24.2% of the respondents admitted that the brand name is more important to them, whereas 13% said it is the page title that acts as the deciding factor. Ironically, 55.1% of the searchers admitted to clicking only on the brands that they had heard of.
66.7%, i.e. two-thirds of the respondents, said that the increasing number of ads in Google’s search results makes them want to use the search engine less. These findings contradict the studies that were conducted in December 2018, which showed that 75% of the searchers claimed the ads made it easier for them to find the information they needed. Majority of the users agreed that the search results have improved Around 58.5% of the participants said that they prefer Google search results as they are now as compared to how they were in January 2019. Similarly, about 55.5% of the respondents said that by including featured snippets and other SERP features Google has improved its search results. Final Takeaway
This survey has shed a light on why it is so important to write powerful meta descriptions. Especially, since Google now holds the right to decide whether your description is apt enough or a more accurate one can be taken directly from the page’s content. Also, as per this study, even though brand recognition takes the second place, when it comes to influencing the clickthroughs, building brand awareness is essential to gain and capitalize on organic visibility. Furthermore, considering that the searchers prefer the modern search result pages and features, brands must adapt to regain visibility. One way to do so is by designing content keeping in mind rich results.
The beginning of the new decade and the new year saw another major core update from Google known as the “January 2020 Core Update.” This core update began on 13th January and continued to roll out till a few weeks later. Google shared the update via Twitter, in a fashion similar to what we have seen for all the previous Core Updates. GOOGLE LAUNCHES JANUARY 2020 CORE UPDATE 1
Google also included a link in their tweet to an August 2019 blog post that gives a better understanding of their Core Updates. A simple example would be, the top results for “Best Movies to watch” in 2018 may or may not be the same in 2020. This does not mean that the top movies in 2018 weren’t good, it just means that newer or more relevant, resonating content features higher on the list. Actionable Strategy Evaluate your website content to see if your site has taken a toll following the core update. FYI, we didn’t see any negative impact on our client websites.
Actionable Strategy Evaluate your website content to see if your site has taken a toll following the core update. FYI, we didn’t see any negative impact on our client websites.
Some things to keep in mind before evaluating your website:
Content and Quality
The content must provide original information, reporting, research, and analysis.
It must also provide a considerable, complete, and thorough description of the topic.
It must include any insightful analysis or interesting information beyond the ordinary.
In case the content is drawn from an external source, avoid copying and rewriting. Always make sure the content you post has ample additional value and originality.
The headline and/or page title must provide an in-detail, helpful summary of the content.
Avoid exaggerating and trying to sound shocking when it comes to your headlines and/or page titles.
Ask yourself whether the page is worth bookmarking, or even sharing/recommending it to a friend.
Expertise
Always make sure your content has clear sourcing, highlights evidence of the expertise involved,and gives the background of the site that publishes the content or about the author.
Make sure to get your content written from an expert or enthusiast who is well-versed with the topic.
Also, make sure that your content is free from factual errors.
The content you publish must resonate with others, leading them to trust your content.
Presentation and Production
Never publish or produce content that appears mediocre or content that has been created in a hurry.
A basic but essential tip is to always keep your content free from spelling or stylistic issues.
Make sure that the ads published on your page do not exceed and cover the content as that would lead to distraction.
Your content must be mobile optimized!
Comparative Value
Your content must provide substantial value if/when compared to the other pages that appearing search results.
Never play the guessing game, the ranking comes when your website visitors can resonate with you. Hence, produce content that serves the interest of your clients.
SURVEY REVEALS META DESCRIPTIONS & BRANDING IMPACT 2 SEARCH CLICKTHROUGH THE MOST Turns out, ads in the search results are not really appreciated Recently, Ignite Visibility conducted a survey to find out what searchers generally look for in search results and...
The beginning of the new decade and the new year saw another major core update from Google known as the “January 2020 Core Update.” This core update began on 13th January and continued to roll out till a few weeks later. Google shared the update via Twitter, in a...
If it's useful to us we think it will be useful to you.. Reach UsSed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus voluptatem.13005 Greenville Avenue, California, TX 70240+22 140 006 [email protected]
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You’ll be as familiar with the “Local Pack” as you are with the featured snippet, if not more. The Local Pack feature shows Google Maps results, reviews, open hours, and a physical address.
The local pack changes based on your searchers’ location.
For instance, here’s how the SERP page appears for the search “Top restaurants in Vancouver:”
How to optimize your website for the Local Pack SERP feature:
Make sure your website is optimized for mobile, as many people use the Local Pack to navigate to your website while on the go.
Make sure your website is optimized for Local SEO.
Ensure you’ve added your website to TripAdvisor, Yelp, YP.com, etc.
Add schema markup to your website’s backend (allowing Google to see your whole website)
Note: Optimizing your website for the “local pack” SERP feature is a good idea for sales as well.
Typing “men’s jackets” into Google results in a map and links for where to buy men’s jackets before it provides images or links to do so. Searchers don’t need to express buying intent for your business to appear in the local pack.
To Wrap Up
I hope most of these strategies will help you get the amount of traffic you want. Once you have everything set up, they are easy to implement but the results they can bring will pleasantly surprise you. And remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Then locate or create a listing for your business. Sometimes other factors or inputs have led to an impromptu assumption listing about your business. Make sure you claim and correct it if that happened.
Fill out all of the information to the best of your ability.
Make sure to select the correct category and to add a contact.
Verify your account. This can be done with Google via phone, email, or traditional mail.
Add quality photos.
Double-check all of your information.
Read this guide to learn how to completely optimize your GMB listing.
How to Rank Better in Google Maps
Google Maps take into account a number of factors when it decides how to rank results.
The geographic distance from the person conducting the search and the business category relevant to their search are the most obvious.
Perhaps more important is how complete and accurate your GMB listing is. This could be the tie-breaker among you and your competitors in determining who appears in the search.
Finally, positive sentiment (good reviews) can be a deciding factor.
Getting Good Reviews
Many companies have developed systems around cultivating positive reviews.
Some will ask customers directly, at the conclusion of a transaction, to give them a review.
Other businesses put a request for a review prominently, at checkout. Some even have used QR codes.
One effective method is to leave a review request, on a business card, attached to a “Thank You” memento. Something as simple as a complimentary air freshener can go a long way.
In all of your promotional materials, it’s good business practice to provide a link for customers to leave a Google review.
What About Bad Reviews?
Handle bad reviews calmly. Work hard to overcome them with more good reviews.
When you get a bad review, apologize, accept responsibility and offer to make it right; even if it wasn’t your fault.
It’s a losing proposition to get defensive or aggressive in your reply.
A bad review give you the chance to demonstrate your professionalism, helping to mitigate any potential damage.
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This can be another effective way to stand apart from your competitors.
Google Maps Optimization Checklist
To give your business a better chance of showing up in Google Maps for relevant searches, just follow the checklist below.
Claim or create a listing for your business.
Fill out all of the information:
Correct service area and address.
Business hours / workdays.
Website / URL for them to make a purchase.
List your specific offerings. Clearly and simply. Try to add keywords in naturally when possible.
Pick the most relevant and common categories for your business.
Ensure information is consistent across the web.
Add high-quality photos.
Double-check all of your information.
Cultivate good reviews.
Talk about your business in Google My Business.
List your business in other directories.
Use analytics to adapt your strategies.
Paid Advertising & Local Search Ads
Google gives you the tools to target your local area with local search ads.
This is paid advertising that can help you appear at the top of the Google search page or Map App when someone searches for your relevant services.
If you are struggling to bring in customers and can’t wait for your organic efforts to pay off, you may want to consider paid advertising.
Many businesses have had great success in employing local search ads on Google. It can be the perfect complement to organic marketing efforts.
Tracking Your Google Maps Marketing Performance
Tracking your performance on Google Maps is done via analytics offered with your Google My Business account.
This is necessary for evaluating your current web presence and optimizing it, moving forward
Following are the key metrics you should pay close attention to:
The Google Services That Customers Use to Find Your Business
An important metric to pay attention to is the type of searches leading to your website.
This will let you know the volume of users that are searching for you by name, vs those discovering you via the keywords relevant to your brand, location, and industry.
This may help you gauge the percentage of new versus repeat customers coming to your site via Google.
Where Customers View Your Business on Google
This section will let you know the frequency that you are being found on general search vs map listings.
Taken in conjunction with the first metric you can gauge the general success of your Google Map Listings in attracting new customers.
As you make changes, monitor these stats to ensure you are making the right decisions and moving in a positive direction.
Listing Visitor Action Taken
“Customer actions” will show you what actions people are taking in response to your listing.
You will discover if your listing is helping people find your location, your website, or leading to some form of contact.
This is perhaps the most important metric as you embark on optimizing your listing.
Working to improve customer engagements and interactions is your best path to success.
Where Customers Are Coming From
“Directions requests” shows where customers are requesting directions to your business from.
With this information, you can begin to localize and better target your other marketing ventures as well as perhaps adjust your target keywords.
The Performance of Your Photos
“Photo views and Photo quantity” shows how your photos are performing as compared to competing businesses.
It also shows the mix of photos coming from you versus those posted by your customers.
Humans react positively to appealing visuals, so you should take the time to capture the best possible photos of your business.
The Final Takeaway
While getting the basics right is simple enough, fine-tuning will set you apart from the competition.
Pay attention to your analytics.
The best way to market yourself across all Google apps is to:
Keep your information up to date.
Keep your social proof (customer reviews) positive.
Make certain that your visual presentation is always top-notch.
If you measure SEO success by the progress on a to-do list, you are doing it wrong.
At the end of the day, we want to be judged by one thing – the results we provide.
It helps if everyone agrees on what success looks like in the beginning.
There are no guarantees in SEO, but everyone can agree to goals.
As long as those goals are achieved using Google’s guidance on good techniques, clients and bosses need to give the SEO provider enough rope to either climb to new heights or hang themselves.
I tell every prospect, if we can’t show you at least a 3x return on your SEO investment in 6 months, you should fire us.
The goal may be 3x return – or it may be a percentage increase in email subscriptions. The bottom line is the bottom line.
You need to know what success looks like. Then either help your SEO person/team, if you are able, or get out of the way.
Sure, it’s fine to send an article over asking what your SEO manager thinks if you are curious.
I don’t know an SEO professional worth their salt who doesn’t love to talk about the latest and greatest developments in the algorithm.
But if you are constantly questioning whether your SEO is doing a good enough job, you either need to re-evaluate your goals or fire the SEO.
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google Search Console Performance Report Discover Feed DataGoogle Discover, formerly the Google feed, is a great source of traffic for many web sites. But there is no real good way to see in Google Search Console or Google Analytics how people are finding your web site via Google Discover. Well, that looks like it may change soon.
Google Tests More Graphical Google My Business DashboardGoogle is experimenting with a new dashboard for the Google My Business section. The new dashboard shows larger cover images and photos that you can change for your business.
Google Algorithm Update Tools Going Off – Is It A False Alarm?The automated tracking tools that look for Google search algorithm updates and large ranking changes are going wild over the weekend. I personally think it may be a false alarm. Why? Well, with Google dropping tons of pages from their index by accident, it can cause massive fluctuations in the search results and thus set off these tools.
Google Search Console Performance Report Gets Android App FilterI was checking stuff in Google Search Console and I see a filter in the search appearance filter within the performance report for Android apps. It seems it is showing data from March 29th. I’ve never seen that filter there before but it seems to be there now.
Google Still Working On Reindexing Pages That Dropped Out Of The Index From ThursdayOn Friday we reported on an issue where SEOs began noticing that Google was removing tons of pages from their index. It seemed to have started on Thursday but Google did not confirm the issue until Saturday morning. The issue is now into day four or so and it is not yet fully resolved.
Google Expands Audience Reviews To MusicWe have seen audience reviews in the Google search results panel for TV and movies but now Google is expanding it to music. Or maybe Google had it for music for some time but we haven’t seen examples of it yet.
Google Impact Challenge DancersLooks like some of the Googlers in the Dublin office had a Google Impact Challenge event, where it appears Googlers put on shows from singing to dancing. Here are some I found on Instagram from the n
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Promotion Building
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
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