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optimise google 3 pack

Optimising Google 3 Pack For Business

Optimise Google 3 Pack For Any Business

Optimising Google 3 Pack is the ultimate goal for any local business. Having your business feature in the first 3 results in Google search engine results page SERPs for a keyword is far more valuable and cost effective than any paid marketing campaign.

Listing in the local 3 Pack speaks volumes for your brands reputation and performance. It creates a trust relationship between you and the searcher when they are looking for a business that can deliver on their needs. 

What is Google 3 Pack? 

Google 3 pack also known as Google’s Local 3 Pack came into play when Google started featuring Google Map results with the leading local search results.

This quickly became recognised as a good move and Google named it the Local Pack. Originally – this was 7 local businesses relevant to the search terms entered by users. After some extensive analysis this was reduced to 3 local businesses and this is how it still appears today.

The Local 3 Pack offers your business the most visibility in initial search results by location as seen below. 

local 3 pack search

Ranking for a competitive keyword in the Google 3 Pack can be a scary prospect especially if digital marketing space is not your natural forte. 

However if done correctly it can be a very successful platform for any local business. 

Where to start and how to get it right?

You can find everything you need to get started and maximise your chances of being featured in Google Maps 3 Pack right here. It is not something that will happen overnight but the return is certainly worth the investment of your time.

The key to success is not to try and cut corners with this. Stick to the rules and you will be able to use Google 3 pack to benefit your business long-term.

Below is a guide on what you need to do: 

1: Verify and optimise your GMB listing 

Numerous researches have been completed on this and the general consensus is that Google My Business – GMB signals are grouped as the most important factor when it comes to Local 3 pack ranking.

According to Moz Lab – Google My Business – GMB signals are the most important ranking factor when it comes to Local Pack or Finder Ranking Factors.

Verify & Optimise your GMB listing

One of the very first and most important steps you should take is to make sure that the GMB listing of your listing is verified. This is absolutely easy so there is no excuse – all you need to do is follow this link and simply add or claim your business on Google Maps.

This will be a lot easier from a desktop computer so try to avoid using your phone for this step. It gives more control of how your business features when appearing in Google search and allows you to modify information to maximise your results. 

Verify GMB listing

Once this step is completed then your GMB listing is setup and you can commence to optimise Google 3 pack for maximum benefits.  

Here are a few things you can do to get your Local 3 pack ranking heading in the right direction: 

  • It is important to rewrite your location pages to optimise your GMB. If you have a GMB listing with multiple locations – you can improve your rankings by rewriting the location page for each of the listings which will make you eligible to rank for additional queries.
  • You should also keep a close eye out for spam competitors that are ranking above you. Make sure you report any GMB listing spam, review spam and edited listings that are keyword stuffing – these are all effective tactics and will boost your own ranking. 
  • Positive and recent reviews go a long way to secure you a good position in your Local 3 Pack Ensuring as much completeness and engagement as possible with your GMB page is a crucial step of optimising for Google 3 Pack. You should always respond to reviews – no matter if it is good or bad in order to send the right GMB signals to Google. 
  • GMB posts are a great way of encouraging more engagement and leads from potential customers already interested in a particular brand. This will help you with link building which is good for Google’s algorithm.

 2: Link building 

Link building is a very effective way to optimise for the Local 3-Pack ranking just as link building is important for general SEO optimisation. Google has the power and resources to analyse all data related to your business and website.

This means that the more authoritative and trusted your business website is – the better your chances of being featured in the Local 3-Pack are. 

A key thing to remember when it comes to the Local Google 3-Pack is your website is still an essential tool for maximising your ranking.

One of the key metrics Google analyses when generating the Local 3-Pack schema is the inbound link authority of the business so keeping this up to date is imperative. 

Local Link building

In an ideal situation you will have plenty of high authoritative links to and from your website. Although link building can be quite complex – we have put together a few basic elements that search algorithms analyse when generating the Local 3-Pack. 

Top Basic Elements:

  • Inbound link authority – link authority is one of the most important link-building factors because it tells Google and its search algorithms that other people find your website and its content valuable. 
  • Inbound links from other local relevant websites – links from other local authoritative sources is another great way to up your ranking. Google assigns local relevance to links from nearby sources so you need to find ways to link your business to the most authoritative websites in your area. 
  • Link quality – as previously mentioned – the better the link quality, the better this will be for your ranking in both generic results and local searches. A great way to optimise your ranking is with quality high engaging content. Guest blogging and affiliate networking strategies are a brilliant way to build a catalogue of quality content whilst also generating large numbers of quality backlinks if you do not already have a catalogue of content on your site. 
  • Link diversity – since the latest Google algorithm update – search engines have now included back links in their analysis and ranking process. It is important to build links organically from a wide variety of sources to stay relevant in the eyes of Google. 

3: Local citation building 

A local citation means having another website reference your business, name, address, contact details etc. Citations are regarded highly by Google so it is important to get yourself listed where possible.

Citation signals like NAP consistency, citation volume, etc accounts for more than 10% so it is not something to be overlooked.

Great examples of websites that help boost your ranking are TripAdvisor, Yelp or Bing since they need to display your business NAP – Name, Address and Phone Number

link citation building

In simple terms – the more times your business or website is referenced elsewhere – the more authoritative and credible your business will become across to Google.

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to optimising local citation building: 

  • Citation consistency – it is important that once you have built up your citation portfolio – ensure that your listing is consistent for the next. If your business NAP differs from one listing to another it reflects badly in the eyes of Google and could result in your website being labelled as spam and could affect your ranking in Google 3 Pack
  • Citation authority – just as inbound links from trusted websites are beneficial to your website as these will help boost your local ranking. As mentioned previously – building citations from high ranking and trusted websites such as Yell and TripAdvisor are a great source of local ranking success.  
  • Citation relevance – relevancy is another factor you need to consider during this process. Relevant domains in your geographic area – local newspapers, blogs, local directories, etc. will earn you brownie points in your local ranking. 

4: Ensure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly 

It should come as no surprise that that your website needs to be mobile responsive in today’s digital world.

A huge 4 out of 5 people searching for local information are doing so from their mobile phone. Viewers expect instant results so if your website is unable to provide this then they will move swiftly onto a competitor.

This is on the increase since the younger generations are making their way through so our advice is to make your website mobile friendly as soon as possible.

A good way to test and see how your website is fairing is by using Google’s mobile friendly test. 

device and mobile friendly

There are a few things to bear in mind when creating the optimal website for your mobile users: 

  • Page speed – this is extremely important for both your users and for Google’s mobile bots. Google will penalise any site that has a slow page load time and users are not forgiving if they have to wait. A few ways to optimise your page loading times is via browser caching, reducing redirects, minifying code, optimising images and reducing side bar ads.
  • Do not block CSS and JavaScript – in crawl bot technology – if information is blocked then the site will be penalised. CSS, JavaScript, and images are all key fundamentals that will help Google bots digest and rank your site accordingly. 
  • Utilise the experts or use a mobile optimised theme – your website needs to offer the best user experience possible which means ensuring the foundations of the site are solid. 
  • Do not use Flash – todays mobile browsers no longer support Flash so avoid it at all cost. If you really want to include special effects then use HTML5 instead but bear in mind that this will impact your page load time. 
  • Use a responsive web design – a responsive web design will automatically adapt to the needs of the user. It will deliver the same content but in the format that is required of it either on mobile, desktop or any other portable device. 

5: Content is King

The content on your website is just as important for your Local 3 Pack ranking as it is for your general SEO ranking so ensure that it is clear, relevant and informative.

The inclusions of specific keywords are essential but remember not to overstuff it and write for your user – not Google since Content is King

content is king

Here are a few things Google will take note of – when they are analysing your sites on-page content: 

  • Length of content – in the eyes of Google the length of content is an indicator of the quality of content. Remember – Google is smart so the content still needs to be relevant and authoritative not just written for the sake of being written. 
  • Local relevant content – to feature in the Local Google 3 Pack it is important that your content has local relevance and references to the areas surrounding your business. A great way of doing this is by using in-content links to local sites or references to the local areas of interest.

6: Using a NAP footer on your website

Using a specific schema mark-up will help Google’s bots crawl your site and understand its structure. This is not essential but every little helps when trying to feature in your Local 3 Pack.

A very easy way of achieving this is by including a NAPname, address and phone number in the footer of your website and must be consistent with your GMB profile.

name address phone number - NAP

7: Reviews – Reviews – Reviews 

Reviews are worth their weight in gold when it comes to your websites online ranking.

It is not just about how many five star reviews you have but it is also about how you manage those reviews and how you interact with your reviewers both positive and negative.

Reputation management is extremely important and should not be overlooked or judged differently. 

negative or positive reviews

Here are a few elements you should bear in mind when focusing on reviews: 

Responding to reviews – make it your mission to respond to all reviews both positive and negative. This not only encourages trust between you and your customers but also sends the right signals to Google. 

Encourage keyword reviews – obviously you cannot control what your customers have to say but try and encourage them to leave reviews about the specific product or services they have purchased as opposed to generic non-specific reviews. Google will look favourably upon this.

Purchase follow-ups – a great way of encouraging product specific reviews is as part of your follow service. This can be done easily through a CRM and can offer links to key review websites including Google. 

Do not ignore negative reviews – as mentioned – it is important to answer all reviews especially negative ones. A bad experience can be undone by excellent customer service and will be reflected positively by Google. 

8: Social Proofing 

Social proofing is essential on your journey to being featured in the Local 3 Pack. Google will analyse your social signals before it ranks your business. 

General rule of thumb – the more people engage and talk about your business via social media or other platforms – the better the local SEO. 

boost your brand's social presence

Here are a few social signals that Google looks out for when ranking for local search:  

Social media growth – a steady social media incline with regards to interaction, following and influence is a big positive when Google’s algorithm is ranking a local business.

User influence – the more shares, likes, retweets and brand mentions your business can get the better when it comes to local ranking. Ensure you are maximising your opportunities when it comes to your social presence. 

Consistent messaging and branding – make sure your branding; tone of voice and posting schedule is consistent. 

Consistent brand information – do not forget the importance of ensuring all of your brand information is consistent and point towards the right NAP. 

Customer engagement – as mentioned – it is important to ensure all reviews are replied to and this includes social media reviews and feedback.

It is important you are doing this across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.

The key is to discover which platform will work best for your business and target audience. Make sure your business information is consistent across every platform. 

Get Started with Google 3 Pack

Remember – this is just a general guide and it is important to do your own research when it comes to what will work best for your business when trying to rank in your Local Google 3 Pack. Now it is time to put what you have learnt to good use.

At Best-Digital Marketing Services – as a digital marketing agency, we want to work alongside you to help improve your business and we have vast amounts of experience with different industries in achieving SEO goals.

We strive to build long lasting relationships with our clients and act as an extension of your business to bring overall digital marketing success. We aim to work effectively to help maximise your digital marketing efforts. 

To find out more about ranking in your Google Local 3 Pack call us now on 07794 113 607, email us or visit our website

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Optimise Google 3 Pack For Business

12+ Effective Offline Marketing Ideas For Any Business To Be Successful

12+ Effective Offline Marketing Ideas For Any Business To Be Successful.

12+ Effective Offline Marketing Ideas For Any Business To Be Successful.

Digital marketing is a necessary component of any marketing strategy for any business.

Search ads, online and curated content and social media posts are all inexpensive and effective ways to increase and ramp up your digital marketing efforts.

offline marketing ideas or offline marketing best practices

However the importance of having a digital strategy does not remove or cancel out the effectiveness of traditional offline marketing ideas or offline marketing best practices

What Is Offline Marketing?

Offline marketing is any advertising or promotional practice that leverages traditional offline media.

This includes channels such as radio, billboards, advertising promotional boards, television, print and in-person events.

More than ever – modern-day offline marketing methods, tactics or best practices are built to support or supplement online marketing efforts.

Why Is Offline Marketing Still Viable?

Online and digital marketing is a necessary component to stay competitive. In reality – the best digital marketing strategies connect and combine offline and digital campaigns together.

These multichannel campaigns provide greater brand exposure, connect your messaging between your business and target audience and can potentially drive a greater return on investment – ROI.

offline marketing ROI

It allows you to utilise single campaign initiatives across multiple channels – this means that you get more opportunities to use content copy, images and promotional material for your offline marketing ideas.

Offline Marketing Ideas or Offline Marketing Best Practices For Any Business

The best digital marketing strategies combine both online and offline plans, tactics, methods, ideas and best practices to elevate your brand and exposure to your target audience.

If you are looking for innovative, tried and true, traditional marketing initiatives then here are 12+ of the best offline marketing ideas or best practices to start you off.

They are in no order of importance since all of them are equally important in their own ways to maximise offline marketing ideas or best practices.

1. Business Cards

Investing in well-made business cards is one of the most effective ways to get your business out there. Set your brand apart by choosing a unique design that reflects your brand values and creativity.

Always ensure that everyone who is anyone in your company has a business card to give away because you never know when they will need to share your business details with a prospective client.

As with all print designs, weigh what you want against what it costs. There are plenty of affordable business template card generators out there.

However if you have something special in mind or you want to have the opportunity to pick and feel a specific type of business card paper then you might want to look for a local designer and print store.

business card

Keep in mind that your business card is an extension of your brand therefore it would be helpful if you are consistent.

Do not use a different logo, font style or colours other than the ones you use on your website or on the rest of your online and offline marketing materials.

How to make your business cards stand out:

  • Use a unique material.
  • Change the orientation from landscape to portrait.
  • Use coloured cardboard instead of the usual white.
  • Create texture through technique.
  • Try a different shape or dimension.
  • Stay on brand.

2. Create Flyers And Pamphlets

Another way to get your brand message out to your target market is to give away printed marketing material.

Printing flyers may seem like an old method but that does not mean it does not get results especially if you are heading to a trade show, seminar or trying to gain some visibility in your local area or event.

flyers - pamphlets - brochure

Go the extra mile and innovate beyond the standard template.

There are a lot of creative ways you can get your target audience’s attention by using flyers and pamphlets so make sure yours are practical for reading, keeping and saving.

Here is a guide to making great flyers with some beautiful examples.

Fast tips to make flyers and pamphlets worth keeping:

  • Print out informative infographics and turn them into flyers.
  • Make sure to include your contact details and information.
  • Add discount coupons at the bottom of your flyers.

3. Publish A Book

Your business is most likely to be passionate about the knowledge it provides and is probably already sharing valuable information with its customers.

Now you can share your business’ expertise with a larger target audience by publishing it as a book. Try turning your blog and helpful information into a brief pamphlet or book.

You can even promote it as an e-book and this kind of offline marketing best practices will allow others to see into the resource and helpfulness of your business and it may draw their attention back to your business. 

e-book and books

The great thing about publishing a book today is that you can actually self-publish through Kindle and Amazon or just make it available on your website as a free download in exchange for an email address.

You could even make physical print versions available as limited-time offers for your most loyal customers or as a direct-to-consumer marketing initiative.

Quick plans to publish a book that resonates:

  • Include a product ad page somewhere in the book.
  • Focus on a niche topic important to your target audience.
  • Utilise pieces of your book on other marketing platforms.

4. Rebrand or Upgrade

Consistently perfecting your brand will allow for a stronger company voice and ultimately speak out towards the credibility of your business. 

Even something as simple as changing the look of your business will keep you looking fresh, impressive and relevant. A little change can go a long way.

Consider a sleeker packaging for your products, integrate fresh colours for your brand, logos and a strong voice. Brand yourself in a way that puts your best foot forward that engages with customers and target audience.

upgrade - rebrand - update

Take a look at what has worked for your business and re-envision aspects that could be tailored to a more impressive all-around brand. 

Swift tips for an effective rebrand:

  • Utilise focus groups and surveys to test concepts before a full rebrand.
  • Focus on developing a brand that showcases your company mission.
  • When launching new products or services consider additional branding.

5. Offer Coupons / Discounts

There is no better way to strengthen brand loyalty and get your message out by throwing a sale.

By offering loyalty programs, special discounts, coupons and more you are making customers feel privileged while boosting leads and sales.

Advertise your incentives and you will also get the attention of prospective customers who have never heard of you before giving you increased offline marketing ideas.

coupons - discounts

You can even offer free trial periods to prove to your customers just how great your products and/or services are in order to convince them to do business with you.

Effective ideas to give away great discounts:

  • Pick out a specific demographic – for instance like freshmen, mums or newlyweds and give them their own sale week.
  • Partner with other stores in your area to offer discounts that work together – for instance some movie theatres offer discounts on dinner at a local restaurant if you show your ticket stub. 

6. Send Seasonal Cards and Gifts

Do you love the holidays? Send out cards and small gifts to customers and use special occasions and milestones to make your presence known plus you do not have to spend a lot of money celebrating with your customers.

seasonal cards - gifts

A well-designed, well-thought-out, personalised greeting or small token can show customers that you care and that they are valued to your brand.

Great plans to make the holidays memorable for customers:

  • A few weeks before the holidays – you can give away a coupon book that your customers can use for their holiday shopping at your store.
  • Offer unique discounts for every holiday in your calendar – make it easy for customers to remember your store signs by printed reminders on their receipts.
  • Send out Happy Anniversary cards with special discounts to your customers on your store anniversary.

7. Cross Promotion with Other Business

Cross-promotion is a set of actions aimed at promoting products from different brands with similar target audiences that are not in competition.

It helps promote your products and services, generate leads, boost sales and establish brand awareness.

Consider working with other brands with whom you can relate and stand for similar values and business model. You can work together to co-develop products or co-sponsor events as well as develop exclusive bundle.

Brands that have common interests and audiences that do not compete with each other can cooperate for mutual benefit. Cross-promotion is a convenient and profitable way to promote products.

cross promotion

Cross-promotion became popular during the financial crisis because it is quick and effective. If a partnership is built right – it can help double your target audience.

During this collaboration – businesses exchange knowledge and ideas, give advice and mention each other in articles on their websites, social media pages and in emails while developing their promotional programs.

Effective tips for building effective partnerships for cross-promotion:

  • Identify potential partners that share your company values and goals.
  • Diagnose product or service gaps that can be filled through a promotional partnership.
  • Focus on brand or product cross-promotions that reverberate with your customers.

8. Create Community Engagement

A great way to get your name out in the open and be a responsible business is to get involved in the community. Now our first thought would be to sponsor a non-profit organisation but you can also promote volunteer work amongst your business.

Here at Best-Digital Marketing – we try to engage in various forms of community service and encourage our employees to be part of the process every step of the way.

Find ways to engage in and help support your community through donations, volunteer work and joining organisations that also support local people and businesses.

This is a great way to execute offline marketing ideas for your business, brand, product and services.

building a community

Being engaged in your community will help spread the knowledge of your business as well as getting involved with your community.

Amazing plans for effective community engagement:

  • Carefully consider which organisations and services you provide to ensure it lines up with your company values.

  • Involve your employees in deciding on which organisations or initiatives you want to support.

  • Go beyond sponsorships and donations by holding events and developing service projects.

9. Create Your Own Events

When setting out into the community – cross-promoting with different companies, launching a new book, creating your own events within the community or streaming virtually can be a great way to market your business.

One major benefit of planning an event is that it serves as an outreach and networking initiative.

You will get a chance to engage with both customers and potential partners while also supporting your community by hosting local events.

guest speaking - speaking at event

You can hand out your new business cards, utilise event-specific promotions and even make new flyers and pamphlets or book publications exclusive to that event.

Explore new ways to create unique and valuable experiences and leverage live streaming to make your in-person event a valuable digital initiative.

Great offline marketing ideas to create a buzz-worthy event:

  • Combine traditional and digital marketing to get more out of each event.
  • Start with smaller venues – see what works and grow from there.
  • Focus on your company goals and provide huge value for your potential customers and partners.
  • Create event-exclusive promotions, products and publications.

10. Promote Press Releases

There is no need to gather an in-house PR team for your business when all you need is to create a good relationship with relevant media agencies to get favourable coverage from the local journalists in your area.

Go out of your way to get to know them and show them what your brand is all about. Get your brand story ready and make sure that it is newsworthy.

press release - news

Therefore this strategy of offline marketing is good with genuine PR and great marketing which leads to creating relationships with reporters and others who can help spread good news about your business.

Quick tips to get extra PR power:

  • Invite the press over for an official meet and greet and/or remote tour of your business.
  • Look into offline publications that your target market is most likely to read and get familiar with their publication protocols – If it makes sense for your business.
  • Invite public officials to your office or a remote meeting – to comment about an important issue that pertains to your business.

11. Succeed With Networking

You can network your way to success even with a small business. There are countless opportunities to build a business network in your local town or area so make sure that you attend all relevant business activities in your area.

Look for your area’s chamber of commerce, a Toastmaster’s club, Rotary or other professional associations since most of these meetings or events will be held remotely.

networking

Therefore even if you are not a fan of networking you can get to know other business owners and industry professionals from the comfort of your own home.

Effective ideas to create a strong business network:

  • If your area does not have a business group then round up some interested business owners and meet up to start a small networking club.
  • Practice your speech about your business so you are never caught off guard.
  • Do not forget to bring your business cards for any events everywhere.

12. Participate In Trade Exhibitions

Attending and participating in trade exhibitions or shows is another way to get more exposure for your business whether you are displaying or selling – you will be able to generate quality leads in just a few short days.

trade exhibition - trade shows - events

Make sure that your promotional materials are well suited to your objectives so that you do not waste valuable time or resources especially for virtual events – so be sure to prepare to showcase your products or business accordingly.

Great offline marketing ideas or tips to make the most out of trade exhibitions or shows:

  • Give away free product samples or discount codes for every lead you collect.
  • Be a speaker or offer a workshop at the conference – a built-in way to captive your target audience.
  • Have a gimmick so that your target market will flock to your booth.
  • Follow up with everyone who gives you their contact information within a week of the conference/show/exhibition.

13. Offer Free Workshops

As an expert in your chosen field – there are numerous opportunities where you can help people and at the same time get airtime for your business.

Try becoming a guest at a local radio show or morning TV show and offer consumer advice that is related to your brand and industry.

See if you can get a regular column in your newspaper or other relevant publication and be genuine to offer some valuable information to potential customers.

free workshop - seminar

If you use your platform to deliver a hard sales pitch then you are wasting an opportunity to build real relationships and connections with peers and potential customers.

Quick plans to be the expert:

  • Have a section for useful tips on your flyers and pamphlets.
  • Look for opportunities to share your skills and insights on a wider community level.
  • Hold a free consultation day at your business – make it valuable, interesting and actionable.

14. Showcase Your Brand

If you want to be more visible in your community – there are a few ways to help people start to recognise your brand.

One way is to outfit your team with quality clothing that features your brand. It is a great source of advertising and a good investment for your team.

showcase brand - product -services

Another way would be sponsoring or volunteering for a good cause in your area. Most sponsorship opportunities come with some promotion such as brand awareness opportunities.

And should you do decide to volunteer then wear that branded shirt or T-shirt.

Great ideas to make your business more visible:

  • Look for causes that are in line with your mission when you are thinking about volunteering or sponsorship opportunities.
  • Think of your business logo as an investment that shines a light on the quality of your brand or services.

15. Refine Your Business Pitch

One major way to help market your offline marketing best practices is to refine your business pitch.

This is whether you are sponsoring an event, doing community service or reaching out to potential partners – it is absolutely crucial that you represent your business’ ideas by being honest, straightforward and compelling

If you have already started developing your pitch when writing your business plan then it is important that you continue to revisit and refine it.

refine business pitch

Having a solid business pitch can mean the difference between attracting customers, investors and affiliates or losing them completely.

Knowing the ins and outs of your business and speaking confidently about it will immensely benefit any of your other offline marketing efforts.

Any Offline Marketing Initiatives Should Support Your Overall Business Plan

Before diving into executing any of these offline marketing ideas or best practices or methods – always ensure they support your overall business plan by establishing business goals and metrics to determine your return on investment – ROI.

And if you are looking for a simpler way to keep track of your planning and business financials then you should research for great business planning software where you can easily update and maintain your business plan, forecast financials and get immediate insight to make the right decisions including marketing initiatives.

There is no difference utilising a traditional business plan or a planning tool however it is important to utilise it when developing new marketing initiatives.

By doing so – you can avoid costly mistakes and ensure any changes you make will make sense for your overall business plan.

online marketing - offline marketing -initiatives

Although there are so many aspects to offline marketing ideas or best practices – they all have similar themes – revolving around outreach, involvement and being a confident advocate for your business.

Putting effort into social media and search marketing as well as offline marketing ideas or tactics will give your business the push it needs to rise to the top.

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12+ Effective Offline Marketing Ideas For Any Business To Be Successful.

9+ Essential Guides To Increase Search Visibility For Businesses Online

9+ Essential Guides To Increase Search Visibility For Businesses Online.

9+ Essential Guides To Increase Search Visibility For Businesses Online.

Well done – you have done it! You have put time, effort and resources into getting your business up and running online. But where are your customers?

They should be flocking to your new website and buzzing to contact you based on your online presence? If you are not seeing the results you hoped for then you may be lacking search visibility.

Search visibility is absolutely important if you want to make sure your customers and target audiences are actually finding you online.

search visibility - seo visibility - search engine visibility

In this article – we will help you build your search visibility and get more customers by uncovering the following:

  • What is search visibility?
  • How is search visibility calculated?
  • How can I check my search visibility score?
  • What is good search visibility?
  • Why is search visibility important?
  • How do you improve search visibility?

By the time you reach the end of this article – you will have everything you need to elevate your business to a whole new level in the digital marketing world.

What Is Search Visibility?

If you were looking for a business or a company online – how would you go about it?

The chances are that you do not have their homepage URL memorised hence you are off to the search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo to look them up.

In short – search visibility also known as search engine visibility or SEO visibility is a way to gauge how easy it is for people to find your business on search engines.

google ranking seo

Search visibility is the purpose behind Search Engine Optimisation – SEO.

SEO is all the marketing tactics you implement to appease the search engine algorithms so that they may show your business organically for free on the search engine results page – SERP.

How Is Search Visibility Calculated?

When it comes to Google – no expert is entirely sure exactly what goes into your search visibility calculation or how each factor impacts your score.  

However in general – search visibility is a percentage based on the following:

1. How You Rank For Your Targeted Keywords

This means if you did show for the right keywords then you have targeted your keywords through your web content and how high up were you on the SERP?

For instance – the first organic result ranks number one and so on.

choose the right keywords for any business

2. Estimated Number Of Impressions

The search engine’s way of asking – of all the times you could be showing organically for your keywords – how often did someone actually see your listing on the SERP?

Impressions only count if they are seen by the user or enquirer therefore you first need to rank in order to gain any impression.

3. Expected Click Through Rate – CTR For Your Keywords

This is the search engine’s estimation of how often someone clicks on your organic result.

It is one thing to rank and get an impression but the final leg of the search visibility race is pulling in that free click.

choose keywords that work on your products - services

For instance – if your search visibility score is 0% – this means none of your pages rank high on the SERPs – the top 50 spots.

If your search visibility score is 100% then you own all the ranking positions for your keywords.

Although this score is pretty much impossible but we will get into the search visibility score you should target for further on.

How Can I Check My Search Visibility Score?

Just imagine how complex the calculation gets since you have to measure different keywords, terms and keyword phrases all with different levels of ranks, impressions and clicks. Yes – a massive Headache!

Fortunately – the math is done for us by the search engines. You can check your search visibility score using free tools like Google Search Console or paid platforms like Ahrefs.

Ahrefs Rank Tracker

What Is Good Search Visibility For Your Small Business?

The best part is there is no real benchmark guide for search visibility because it varies by industry and individual cases.

What we do know is that Google, Bing, and other search giants run a tight ship.

In fact – research have found that it is rare to see a business with a search visibility score above 40%.

So if you start off with a score of 10% then your business is still doing pretty amazing.

Our recommendation would be – to have an open mind about starting low, track your performance as you go and as you improve over time – you will have a better idea of what is realistic for your specific business.

Why Is Search Visibility Important?

Other than making sure people actually see your business on the search engines – search visibility plays a major role in the success of your business both on and offline.

why is search visibility important

Have a look at these statistics that explain why search visibility is important for any business:

  • 61% of businesses say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their number one marketing priority.
  • Nearly 90% of consumers search online before making a purchase either online or in-store.
  • On average- organic search contributes up to 53% of a business’s overall website traffic.
  • 75% of searchers never move on to the second page of search results.

When you focus on search visibility – not only are you ensuring your presence on the SERP to keep up with the competition but more importantly to rank higher and catch those target audiences with shortened patience and an ever-changing search results page.

Why Did My Search Visibility Drop?

If there is a drop in search visibility then it could be the result of a number of factors making it a bit difficult to diagnose but here are a few possible causes:

  • Your ranking has dropped.
  • An algorithm change occurred in the search engines.
  • You added or removed some targeted keywords from a Campaign.
  • You migrated to a new domain – including migrating from HTTP to HTTPS
  • You changed, added or removed a search engine from a Campaign.

Essential Guides To Improve Search Visibility

Now you know why you must increase the search engine visibility for your business. And with so many factors playing into your search visibility – it can be daunting to know where to begin.

We have prioritised these essential tips to guide you through the process. They are in no order of importance since all of them are equally important to ensure maximum search visibility for your business.

1. Start With SEO

There is no secret that SEO plays the most major role in your search visibility. You do not have to be an SEO expert to get a head start on optimisation for your web content that will catch the attention of the search engines’ algorithms.

Here are a few things a platform like Google or Bing would look for when it comes to your SEO performance:

  • Your website is mobile-friendly or responsive.
  • You have the relevant keywords on your web pages.
  • Your webpages load at a speedy rate for a great user experience—regardless of the device used by them.
  • You have high quality images and/or engaging videos that also load fast.
  • You are a reputable business.

There are plenty of free online keyword research tools that will help identify what words you should include on your pages but we will get into that later.

According to Google announcement that – their page experience signals in ranking was rolled out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with their existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Core Web Vitals

To start off – try a free landing page analyser to get insights on aspects like load time and mobile friendliness.

Next thing to do is to check that your images and/or videos are not blurry or buffering too long and make a note that smaller the file size the faster it will load.

As far as your website being reputable – that will be a SEO component called domain authority. In order to build domain authority – you need to keep consistent, accurate information flowing on your website with reputable sources linked.

2. Create Keyword Rich Web Content

When you have blog posts, articles, landing pages, studies, guides, FAQs and more positioned around your core keywords then this helps build your domain authority and provides more opportunities for search engines to index your site on the results pages for relevant searches.

This also projects your business as thought leader which can help you rank for terms outside of just your direct products and services.

identify primary secondary semantic keywords

Conduct a thorough keyword research and be sure to include popular keywords on all your website’s pages—from your homepage to the contact page.

Do not go crazy or force these keywords since that would be known as keyword stuffing which will hurt rather than help your search visibility.

choose keywords that work on your products - services

Since Google crawls your site for relevancy to searches therefore try to include your keywords naturally as part of your web content to help give your search visibility a leg up.

A good way to start is by publishing one blog article per week that is centred on an individual target keyword. Each blog’s keyword can connect back to your business’s overall purpose.

For example – if your business does kitchen remodelling then you might write a blog centred on replacing sinks – the next one installing new kitchen tops etc.

3. Build A Social Media Presence

If people can find you on social media then they will expect to find you on the search engines as well.

Social media is a great way to connect to new target audience since you can post for free.

conversion from social media

You may be able to access new customers who may not be active on search engines but find you on social media to later look you up on a search engine.

If everyone knew your brand name off the top of their head that would be too easy hence that is why leveraging social media posts to spark organic searches later is another hack for increasing your search visibility.

4. Create Your Google My Business – GMB Listing

Search visibility goes beyond the plain, old search results. You can also have organic listings pop up on map views or in the local business listing sections.

Setting up and optimising your Google My Business- GMB profile will allow you to show on these additional listings hence boosting your visibility.

Google my business - GMB

We know that 64% of consumers use Google My Business to find contact details for a local business therefore getting listed here increases your chances of pulling in those high-value leads.

It is free, easy and only takes a few minutes to get going on Google My Business.

5. Add Schema To Your Content

Schema allows the users and search engines to have a better understanding of what your page is about thus giving Google a great relevancy signal.

When Google fully understands your page and its contents then it will be able to match that page to the appropriate queries. 

Adding schema to your pages is a simple way to increase search visibility and click through rates – CTR.

The FAQ schema presents answers to questions directly on the SERP which draws the user’s eye and the clicks. 

6. Structure Your Content Appropriately 

Having users to stay on your website longer can translate to higher rankings because of the relevancy factor therefore it is important to have a logical structure to your content.

Consumers do not want to stay on a page that is not pleasing to the eye or where information cannot be found easily. 

use header and sub header

To offer a good user experience – always structure your content with the appropriate H1 and H2 headings that give a page a clear format. Consider adding anchor text or a navigation menu to make it easier to navigate a long webpage. 

Although these tweaks would not have a direct impact on your search visibility but it would have an impact on how the user behaves on your site.

This is a huge trigger for Google and other search engines about which site deserve the higher ranking for a query.

7. Improve Mobile Readability

Despite of a strong push toward delivering an immense mobile and device friendly experience, marketers are still creating text as if the user is reading it on a desktop.

We set it in small fonts, there are insufficient spaces between lines and we write sentences that are too long. All of these things make the content look uninviting on a small screen.

use readable fonts

And in the age of social media presence where content is constantly being shared across mobile devices – it is imperative your content is optimised to be mobile and device friendly

Given how much importance Google puts on the mobile UX, improving mobile optimisation can only benefit your rankings.

device and mobile friendly

Here are some ideas on how to do it:

  • Increase the legibility of your content. Set it up so that users do not have to pinch to read it and ensure they can scroll and still get the gist of the information.
  • Improve mobile page speed.
  • And display all content without hiding any information behind accordions or other scripts.

8. Create Links And Earn Backlinks

Backlinks are a great way to demonstrate your authority and increase your search visibility. Backlinks are an indicator that other web pages find your site valuable enough to link to it.

Although earning backlinks is outside of your direct control because it is up to the discretion of another website’s SEO or editor but there are ways to monitor mentions of your brand online that can clue you in on backlink opportunities. 

Google Alerts allows you to monitor key phrases that appear on the web and will notify you when that phrase or name has been mentioned.

get links with other businesses

If you set up an alert for your brand name – you can easily monitor when people write about your company.

If there is a mention but no link attached then you can reach out to the editor and ask for a link back to your site.

This simple gesture can go a long way in demonstrating your authority on a topic and driving your online search visibility

Another way to ensure backlinks is by creating high-quality, authoritative content. Others will start to see the value of your work and link to your site. There are ways to tweak your content to demonstrate your authority.

9. Optimise Your Images

More goes into content than text. Multimedia is useful to break up long blocks of text and it helps to explain a concept in another way which provides value to the user.

Images are great additions to any web page but it is also important to optimise them. When you upload an image – make sure to pay attention to the names and formats of the image. Some content management systems will use the image name as the alt text by default.

Alt text is a detailed description of a picture that is useful for those with visual impairments and search engines that are trying to learn all they can about a page.

write alt text

This small tweak will give your site a relevance boost. If your CMS does not use the file name as the alt text then ensure to add this on.

Adding a caption under your image can also provide value since it is another place to add a detailed explanation of the image to provide context to the user.

File format is important to ensure the page can load the images correctly. Large files can slow down page load times which can increase bounce rate if consumers have to wait too long.

10. Manage Online Reviews

90% of people read reviews before making a decision to buy or purchase plus reviews account for about 15% of the method Google uses to rank local businesses.

Therefore you want to be encouraging your customers to leave reviews and manage your reviews as they flow in either positive or negative.

negative or positive reviews

First you could offer a referral program to encourage reviews. Next consumers spend nearly 50% more with businesses that respond to their reviews.

Therefore to grow and respond to your online reviews will help boost your search visibility efficiently.

11. Run A PPC Campaign

It is no secret that PPC works hand in hand with SEO and when you run a PPC campaign you are ensuring that your business shows up on the SERP via a paid ad.

From here consumers will see your business then search your brand name or look for that same search later on.

ppc campaign optimisation

The odds are that your target audience is not going to convert right away off the first search they do. This is because consumers need to see information about a business at least seven times before taking any action.

Therefore as you try and grow your SEO visibility – running a PPC campaign can act as a safeguard to ensure you show one way or another for every search thus increasing your overall search visibility.

12. Take Your Search Visibility Initiatives Offline

Do you like the idea above then you want to spark an interest that starts an offline and eventually moves onto SERPs.  

Leverage print ads to increase your brand awareness so that consumers will search for you later.

building a community

Another low-cost idea is to host events or partake in planned events in your community to get your name out to the public and onto SERPs’.

Diving head first into offline marketing tactics will trigger people to search for you later thus growing your search visibility.

Get Started With Your Increased Search Visibility And Be Seen On Search Engine Report Pages.

The beauty of search visibility is that you can take these low-cost ideas to yield increased ROI and you will be driving traffic to your website for free through organic listings.

Search visibility is not about a nice to have marketing tactic but a need to have for many small businesses and business owners in today’s world.

Now let’s get started and put these essential guides to the test and see your search visibility increase and reap the results on Search Engine Report Pages SERPs’.

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Brilliant Strategies & Sustainable Way of Doing Business With Green Marketing

Brilliant Strategies & Sustainable Way of Doing Business With Green Marketing.

Brilliant Strategies & Sustainable Way of Doing Business With Green Marketing.

It is a well-established fact that the world needs to act on environmental protection now. The awareness about sustainability and environment friendly products is on the rise.

Both governments and common consumers are moving towards eco-friendly behaviour. Businesses also need to pull up their socks and enter the green marketing arena.

green marketing

This is essential not just to do their parts towards sustainability but also to stay relevant in the ever changing market.

The consumer demands are leaning towards green products and services and there is no way businesses can thrive while ignoring social and environmental responsibilities.

What Is Green Marketing?

By definition – green marketing is promoting a product or service by highlighting its eco-friendly features and attributes.

The green element may be in the actual product or the raw materials used in producing the product or the packaging materials or even the way the business is operating.

For instance – if you are an e-commerce business then you can use recycled materials while packaging the products for shipment or delivery to customers. If you are a restaurant owner then you can promote your water usage efficiency and the selection of organic vegetables and groceries used in your recipes.

green marketing strategies

Even if your product or service does not directly contribute to environmental sustainability – you can still leverage the green marketing strategy by bringing small changes in the way you run your business.

You can email invoices to your customers instead of sending a hard copy thereby saving paper usage. You can also avoid using elevators and air-conditioners in your office to bring a small change on the impact of environmental sustainability.

The scope of making a business eco-friendly is so vast and huge that we could create a whole quiz book and that would be an interesting exercise in itself.

5 Effective Green Marketing Strategies

As consumers become more environmentally conscious there is an increase in demand for brands to also convert to being eco-conscious.

The consequences of global warming have become more obvious and the result of this is the increasing demand for eco friendly products, influencing businesses to implement green strategies in an attempt to meet consumer demands.

As companies try to rebrand themselves as green or environmentally friendly – they risk potential accusations of greenwashing.

green washing

What Is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is the practice of using marketing tactics to create a false impression or misleading claims about being environmentally responsible.

When it comes to green marketing – you need to be more careful. Businesses need to develop permissible and effectual green marketing tactics that circumvent the risk of greenwashing.

Here are some of the most effective green marketing strategies. They are in no order of importance since all of them are equally important in their own merits:

  1. Green Positioning

Green positioning intends to build brand associations by delivering information on environmentally sound product attributes.

Eco-friendly products will not be commercially successful if green branding attributes are not effectively communicated.

green positioning

Just like brand positioning – there are two types of green positioning – functional and emotional related to the impact on consumer perceptions of a brand.

  1. Green Packaging

Another effective strategy for green marketing is – green packaging. Businesses can leverage eco-friendly packaging to help draw in new eco-conscious customers.

Green packaging is the use of materials and manufacturing methods for the packaging of goods that has a low impact on both energy consumption and the environment.

green packaging

Biodegradable packaging provides customers with a visible symbol of the company’s commitment to going green. Unsustainable packaging has the potential to stop clients from buying sustainable products.

  1. Green Design

In most cases – businesses end up greenwashing because their products and services cannot be classified as green to start with.

One of the most important green marketing strategies is to design green products and services from the beginning.

green design

This means implementing green strategies during the planning and designing stages of your products so they become more eco-friendly.

Green designing is the creation of products that are energy-efficient, flexible to use, comfortable and designed for a long life or to reuse.

Green designing is usually associated with construction since it offers a powerful alternative to the conventional building – by using fewer precious natural resources and it increases the health and safety of occupants.

  1. Green Pricing

In the case of renewable energy – green pricing is a service through which customers can support a greater level of investment by their electric utility in renewable energy technologies.

green pricing

Green pricing allows electricity customers to express their willingness to pay for renewable energy development.

It allows consumers to actively participate in sustainability as they become aware of their choice to invest in something that will allow them to save money and resources in the future.

  1. Green Disposal

Green disposal takes into consideration every aspect of a product’s life cycle – from production to disposal and everything must be sustainable.

Green disposal is the recycling of old products or used materials as unsustainable disposal practices can be hazardous to the environment and human health.

Green disposal has influenced the creation of food recycling programs and machines that break food waste down.

green disposal

Authentic and legitimate green marketing is the way forward. As much as greenwashing might seem inexpensive and convenient – it can cost a company its hard-earned reputation and potentially its value and profits.

In the long run – green companies enjoy more profits and can establish a reputation for being trustworthy and eco-friendly.

Examples Of Green Marketing

We have researched and prepared a few examples of socially responsible brands that protect the environment, produce recyclable goods, oppose animal testing and advocate sustainable ways of production.

Boden

Universal brands like Boden have to pay attention to the sourcing and supply chain since they significantly influence our environment.

That is why the company follows through when it comes to sustainability and uses sustainable and organic cotton to manufacture clothes.

Timberland

One of the world’s most recognisable apparel brands – Timberland uses stories about the environment to promote its products.

Timberland says that if they put two comparable products side-by-side – one from Timberland and one from a competitor – most customers will choose Timberland as if it is made with some sort of green element.

By launching its Timberloop product take-back program – Timberland joins an increasing number of clothing manufacturers that are prolonging the life of their products.

Used Timberland footwear, apparel and accessories can now be returned for a second chance at life. When returned – they will either be disassembled and the pieces recycled or repurposed into new products or they will be repaired and sold on a special website.

Timberland is expanding and testing new materials in order to create and implement a green marketing strategy.

All product categories will be subject to environmental regulations – TEPS in the near future and the company plans to use only organic and renewable materials.

TOMS

TOMS – a brand famous and popular for its comfortable shoes – uses its business to improve lives and not harm the environment.

If you visit the business website – you can see that TOMS has been trying to expand sustainable practices in key areas of their business by using Earth-friendly materials like sustainable cotton, reducing waste and energy use over the past five years.

Moreover the brand’s team provides their customers with packaging made from recycled materials.

The Body Shop

The famous cosmetics brand – The Body Shop fights cruelty by campaigning against animal testing and selling 100% vegetarian products.

This brand is considered the first international cosmetics company to champion a cruelty-free policy.

World Wildlife Fund – WWF

The World Wildlife Fund – WWF is one of the most prominent instances of businesses that have gone green.

The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the promotion of efficient recycling practices are the primary focuses of this initiative. An innovative rainwater collection system is one of the company’s many eco-friendly initiatives which have been quite successful.

The decrease in staff flights is another example of an environmentally responsible business practice that has been included in WWF’s sustainable strategy.

The business recognises that encouraging customers to travel by means other than automobiles such as trains and ships is an effective form of environmentally conscious marketing.

Avocado Mattress

Avocado –  a brand of eco-friendly mattresses is committed to using organic materials to produce pillows, mattresses and bedding.

The team maintains such practices to safeguard their customers’ health and protect our planet from adverse impacts.

Green Toys

Green Toys assumes that to raise a happy and healthy child – you should provide a healthy environment.

This makes everybody think about our Earth and how we take care of it.

Green Toys are safe for kids and the environment as they are made from 100% recyclable materials.

Love Beauty and Planet

Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company that has many brands and Love Beauty and Planet is one of them.

The brand was created to make customers and the planet more beautiful. The company assumes that the beauty industry and its impact on the environment are inseparable and design their bottles for shampoos, hand creams and other products from recycled plastic.

Green marketing includes progressive ideas that are necessary for our planet due to air and water pollution, animal cruelty and other environmental problems.

By going green – your brand enables people to live better, conscious and responsible lives.

Benefits Of Green Marketing

Green marketing – environmentally friendly products can be a win-win for any business.

The benefits of green products include helping your business stand out in a competitive market and also reduce the pressure humanity places on the environment.

There are numerous advantages of green marketing for every business irrespective of the industry and audience.

World-wide consumers are becoming aware and awaken. Green marketing will help you attract those consumers who want to contribute to a good cause.

It will help you in positioning your product as a superior brand compared to other competitors. Even if your services are very similar to that of your competitors – you can differentiate yourself through your sustainability initiatives.

Your products are manufactured in ways that save energy, reduce your carbon footprint or trim your use of natural resources. This is often cost-effective so it is a win aside from the marketing.

☑ Sustainability – your products will require fewer resources to work, such as a washing machine or toilet that uses minimal water.

Products made from recycled materials referred to as post-consumer or post-industrial. For instances – construction companies can make gypsum board from a by-product of coal power plants.

Your products are recyclable.

Your products are low-toxicity – cleaners, lubricants or solvents that pose a reduced threat if customers get them on their hands or breathe the fumes.

The products are biodegradable – breaking down rather than enduring for decades or centuries.

Consumers tend to be more loyal to brands that fulfil a functional need and bring a mental satisfaction. Eco-friendliness is a definite recipe for giving consumers a sense of pride and gratification while they spend on their daily needs.

More and more consumers are ready to pay a premium price for green products irrespective of the cost of production increases due to eco-friendly practices – you can charge your consumers more and tap the enthusiasm in the market to your advantage.

☑ Initiatives such as collecting the packaging materials back, cutting down on energy consumption, reusing or recycling it, emailing invoices and much more can actually save you money.

If you are a business start-up looking for funding for your business then green marketing can definitely make a difference in the way your company is perceived by potential investors. In fact – it is difficult for companies who do not have a sustainability quotient in their business – to get any investment at all.

Tips To Get Green Marketing Right

While green marketing sounds so simple – it is important to get it right the first time.

Remember – consumer memory is strong and if you get caught in a bad PR stance then it will be very difficult to set it straight again.

Here are a few tips to help you sail through the waves of green marketing.

1. While eco-friendliness of a business builds consumer loyalty then lack of it destroys your brand image.

If you are doing green marketing without actually following sustainable practices in your business then the damage will be even more devastating.

The act of falsely promoting a product or service as green is called green-washing. It is wise to stay away from this malpractice if you do not want to risk your reputation.

2. Along with sharing information about why your product is green – you can also inspire consumers to go green in other ways.

While you can educate your customer that the act of buying your product itself is a contribution to sustainability – you can also share knowledge about other ways of protecting the environment.

For example – while telling the users that your product is manufactured with minimum amount of water – you can also share with them some tips to save water in their daily activities. The Turn Off the Faucet campaign by Colgate is a good example of building a deep relationship with consumers through green marketing.

3. One efficient way of doing green marketing is to show how much carbon emission the consumer has reduced by choosing to buy your product rather than your competitor’s.

For example – say you are running an online platform that connects people who commute daily by cars and encourage them to car-pool. Every time a user shares a ride with another user – you can congratulate him/her by calculating the number of carbon emissions he/she just saved.

4. You can also ask the consumer to explicitly donate to an environmental cause that your business is working on.

This comes under corporate social responsibility which is mandatory for businesses in most of the countries.

Once you decide the issue that you want to work on then create an awareness among your consumers about it and every time they buy a product from you – you can give them an option of donating a meagre amount as little as one pound towards that cause.

5. In green marketing – it is crucial to get the numbers right. Quantify the impact of your green initiatives and trumpet it on your website and social media pages and make sure to add some lush green images to your mix.

Best-Digital Marketing – Your Partner In Green Marketing.

Best-Digital Marketing provides you ample green marketing solutions that will pull the right kind of target audience to your platform.

By hosting your website with our web hosting service – you can leverage the power of cloud computing and reduce the carbon footprint since we use 100% renewable electricity from natural reliable sources like the sun, wind and sea.

When it comes to website design – Best-Digital Marketing offers you a host of services suitable for green marketing with nature and scenery themes – you can give your website the eco-look.

green marketing

Through online payment integrations, digital billing and e-newsletters – we have and are cutting down more on paper consumption therefore reducing deforestation.

We hope you have received some inspiration from the green marketing examples and ideas that we discussed here so do not delay – Launch your  website today and make your business truly green with Best-Digital Marketing.

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How to Fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error on WordPress- The Comprehensive Guide

How to Fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error on WordPress – The Comprehensive Guide

How to Fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error – Comprehensive Guide.

There is nothing more frustrating and annoying than browsing on your WordPress website and encountering a white screen with an error message – 504 Gateway Timout Error.

For many blogs and e-commerce sites these errors result in the loss of sales and revenue from visitors instantly bouncing and customers unable to complete their purchases.

how to fix 504 gateway timeout error on wordpress

Here we will get into what is 504 gateway timeout error, the causes of 504 gateway timeout error and some recommendations on how to fix 504 gateway timeout error on your WordPress site.

Read more below about what causes this error and what you can do to prevent it in the future.

  1. What is 504 Gateway Timeout Error?
  2. 504 Gateway Timeout Error Variations
  3. Causes for 504 Gateway Timeout Errors?
  4. How to fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error?

What is 504 Gateway Timeout Error?

Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP status codes starting with 5 are server-side errors.

They appear when the request cannot be performed due to a connection failure between several servers.

In simple term, this means that the server could not complete your request within the stipulated time period.

504 gateway timeout error

There are many error messages that you might see but some common errors that you might encounter are:

  • The White Screen of Death.
  • Error Establishing a Database Connection.
  • Too Many Redirect Error.
  • 502 Error Bad Gateway.

504 Gateway Timeout Error Variations

Due to all the different web browsers, operating systems and servers – a 504 gateway timeout error can present itself in a number of different ways. They will all still have the same meaning.

Below are just a few of the many different variations you might see pop up:

  • 504 Gateway Timeout
  • 504 Gateway Timeout NGINX
  • NGINX 504 Gateway Timeout
  • Gateway Timeout Error
  • Error 504
  • HTTP Error 504
  • HTTP Error 504 – Gateway Timeout
  • HTTP 504
  • 504 Error
  • Gateway Timeout (504)
  • This page isn’t working – Domain took too long to respond
  • 504 Gateway Time-out – The server didn’t respond in time
  • A blank white screen

Some companies even have custom pages for 504 gateway timeout errors.

504 gateway timeout custom page

Causes for 504 Gateway Timeout Error?

Before we consider the error itself it is important to understand how they are generated.

Whenever you start your browser and visit a website it sends the request back to the server where it is hosted on.

The web server then processes the request and sends back the requested resources along with what they call an Hypertext Transfer Protocol – HTTP header.

This HTTP header contains one of many HTTP status codes to communicate whether everything is OK or if something has gone wrong.

Not all HTTP status codes are bad. For example a 200 status code indicates everything is OK.

Any status code in the 500’s is error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 520,etc.) that have different meanings.

These indicate that the request was accepted but the server prevented the execution of the request.

In simple terms a 504 gateway timeout error means that the server – acting as a gateway – timed out waiting for another server to respond.

Server Side Error

The code returns when there are two servers involved in processing a request and the first server times out waiting for the second server to respond.

In addition to server timeouts – there are other causes leading to 504 gateway timeout error:

  1. Slow Server.
  2. 504 Gateway Timeout Error PHP Workers.
  3. Problems With The Firewall.
  4. Network Connection.
  5. HTTP Timeouts.
  6. 504 Errors Impact on SEO.

1. Slow Server

It is possible that the server where you host your WordPress website is responding too slowly and therefore it generates gateway timeout errors.

slow server

2. 504 Gateway Timeout Error PHP Workers.

PHP workers are used to running code on your WordPress site. Demanding sites can make all Hypertext Preprocessor – PHP workers busy.

In this case they form a queue and if the queue and backlog are full then the old requests are ignored.

You can ask your host provider to increase the number of PHP workers. Additional PHP workers for a site allow executing several requests simultaneously.

Therefore it is always advisable to make sure you or your responsible administrator opt for a trusted and reliable hosting provider like Best-Digital Marketing Services who are able to provide the best and are available when needed.

3. Problems with the Firewall.

The firewall on your server may contain errors due to incorrect configuration or rules blocking the connection.

There is also the possibility that your WordPress security plugins might be blocking the communication between servers or even your local or Internet Service Provider – ISP or Internet Protocol – IP address.

To rule this out you can try accessing the site from a different Internet connection. On certain occasions – Distributed Denial of Service – DDOS protection systems can become over-sensitive and start blocking the requests from servers.

Best SSL Certificates Prices

With Best-Digital Marketing you will never encounter the http 504 gateway timeout error due to server inadequacy as we provide dedicated servers with SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, daily offline backup, daily malware scanning and clean-up, Let’s Encrypt SSL and 24/7 customer support by our experts with a starting price of just £39.99.

4. Network Connection.

If there is a problem with the network connection between the proxy server and the web server then this can lead to delays.

There may also be network problems with the load balancer – if it is used.

5. HTTP Timeouts.

This can occur when the connection between your browser and the web server is held open for too long. These commonly happen when running WordPress imports.

One way to resolve this is to switch to a faster internet connection or you can use a tool with support for WP-CLI such as the WordPress Importer plugin and run the import directly on the server – bypassing the HTTP connection entirely.

6. 504 Errors Impact on SEO.

Unlike 503 errors which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later time – a 504 error can have a negative impact on SEO if it is not fixed right away.

If your site is down for say 12 minutes then it is being crawled consistently and majority of the time the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it is back up and in this case you are completely fine.

impact on SEO

Should your site be down for an extended period of time say 5 hours or more then Google might see the 504 gateway timeout error as a site-level issue that needs to be addressed.

This will definitely have an impact on your rankings. If you are worried about repeat 504 gateway timeout errors then you should figure out why they are happening to begin with and some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix 504 Gateway Timeout Error

Where should you start troubleshooting if you see a 504 gateway timeout error on your WordPress site?

Without a great deal of context it can be frustrating and overwhelming where to begin.

Usually these are network connectivity issues and or problem with the server at which the site is hosted.

However it can also be a client-side issue or even a result of a third-party plugin.

how to fix http 504 gateway timeout error

So let us dive in and check out ways how to fix the 504 gateway timeout error and get back up and running.

How to Resolve Http 504 Gateway Timeout Error

There are a few measures that can be taken to get ahead of the 504 gateway timeout error which is caused by either the user or developer’s side.

These are in no particular order or importance since all of them are equally important and can be used in different combinations depending on individual circumstances.

The common fixes given below are divided into two section:

for the users

for developeres or web administrators

504 Gateway Timeout Error Solutions for Users

1. Refresh or Reload the Page

One of the first things you should try to do when you encounter a 504 Gateway Timeout Error is simply wait a minute and refresh or reload the page by pressing F5 or Ctrl+ F5.

refresh -reload the page

It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded with high amounts of traffic and the site will come right back.

Another thing you can do is to paste the website into https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if it is a problem on your side.

down for everyone or just me

This website will tell you if your site is out of service or if it is a problem on your side. This tool checks the HTTP status code that is returned by the server.

If it is anything other than a 200 which means Everything is OK then it will mean that your site does not work for everyone.

website status check

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

There is a good chance that the corrupted files stored on your browser might be causing this 504 gateway timeout error.

So by clearing the cache of your browser you might be able to resolve this error.

clear your browser

Moreover you should remove the cookies from your browser since this can also help in resolving this error.

3. Try in Incognito Mode

Another way to fix this 504 gateway timeout error is by starting a new Private or Incognito session in your browser. This should resolve the issue if it is caused by your browser.

private - incognito mode

4. Try Another Browser

You can try to use another browser such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

try another browser

If you do not see this 504 gateway timeout error when you change your browser then this indicates that the problem was your browser.

You can try to re-install the browser to check if this resolves the issue.

5. Restart Your Network Device

To do this – simply switch off your internet router from the mains for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.

restart your network drive

Then switch the mains back on and ensure you switch your router power button on too and wait for your computer to establish a connection again. This should alleviate the 504 gateway timeout error issues.

6. Disable Proxy Settings

Sometimes you might see a 504 timeout error if you are utilising a proxy service. This is usually rare especially on the client-side.

disable proxy settings

However one might have been set without you even knowing it. Follow these tutorials on how to disable or check to ensure no proxy settings are enabled:

7. Clear Local DNS Cache

You can also try flushing your local DNS cache to see if this resolves your 502 bad gateway error issue. This is similar to clearing your browser cache.

In Windows simply open up CMD or Command Prompt and enter the following:

ipconfig /flushdns
clear local DNS cache
Command prompt > ipconfig / flushdns

You should see a Successfully flushed the DNS resolver Cache – if it worked correctly.

For MacOS users you can enter the following in the terminal:

dscacheutil -flushcache

Note
: There is no success message on Macs.

Finally you can temporarily change your client side DNS servers. By default DNS servers are automatically provided by your ISP but you could temporarily change them to a public DNS server provided by Google.

Most people prefer to use Google’s public DNS constantly because in the long term they are more reliable and a lot faster.

8. Check On Different Devices

Try opening the site on different devices like laptops, tablets or on mobile.

If nothing could help to fix the 504 gateway timeout error then this step will confirm and help you determine if the problem is on the server side or it is from your side.

9. Check DNS Issues

A 504 gateway timeout error could also be because of a Domain Name System – DNS issue such as the domain is not resolving to the correct IP address.

Configurate The correct DNS

If you have just migrated your WordPress site to a new host provider then is it important to wait for things to fully propagate which can take up to 48 hours in some cases. 

This will depends upon the Time to Live –TTL value of your DNS records and also check and see if there is no typo errors.

504 Gateway Timeout Error Solutions for Developers

If you are a developer or a server manager and you are facing the 504 gateway timeout error then the chances that you might be facing this error is because of other factors.

So trying the following solutions should eliminate the issue.

1. Check Your Server

You can determine whether your server is reachable or not by conducting a trace-route or ping test on the server IP.

ping test

2. DNS Propagation Check  

A 504 gateway timeout error can often be caused by problems with the Domain Name System –DNS server. There are two reasons for this.

This happens on the server side when the domain name is not changed to the correct IP address.

DNS propagation check

If you have just migrated your WordPress website to a new host provider then it is important to wait so the address can be added to DNS base.

In most cases it can take up anything between 24 to 48 hours depending on your host provider and the DNS records Time to Live –TTL value.

DNS Check

You can use the DNS test tools like DNSMapDNS Checker or MX Tool Box for this purpose. They are free to use to check your DNS are up and running and correctly configured.

3. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Many users believe that third-party plugins or themes do not lead to 504 gateway timeout errors and in most cases this is true.

However according to many users’ and our experience a slow non-cached plugin request can cause these delays since it uses more of your PHP workers.

Once you reach the limit of PHP workers the queue will remove your old requests which will cause the 504 errors. They should not be confused with 502 errors which are the result of a 60 seconds timeout.

There are several ways to fix the issue and one of them is to de-activate all your plugins. Remember that you will not lose your data if you disable them.

A. WordPress Admin Panel

You can do this by accessing your admin through WordPress dashboard, a quick way to do this is to browse to Plugins and select Deactivate from the bulk actions menu.

wordpress wp admin

This will disable all of your plugins and if this fixes the issue then you will need to find the culprit.

Start activating each plugin one by one and reload or refresh the website after each plugin has been activated.

wordpress admin panel

When you see the 504 gateway timeout error returns then you have found your problematic plugin. You can either contact the respective plugin developer for help or create a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

B. FTP Client

If you do not have access to the admin panel you can use the File Transfer Protocol – FTP client to connect to your server and rename the plugin folder to something like plugins_old and re- check your site again.

If it works then you will need to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to plugins and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it – one by one until you find the culprit.

You could also try to replicate this on a staging site first.

FTP client

Make sure that all your plugins, themes and the WordPress core are updated to the latest version and ensure that you are running a supported version of PHP.

If the plugin contains bad code then you may need to contact the WordPress developers to solve this problem.

4. Check Error Logs

You can also use your error logs which you can view in a section of the hosting dashboard. This can quickly help you narrow down the issue especially if it is a plugin issue on your website.

If your hosting provider does not have a logging tool then you could also add the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable the WordPress debug mode:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
error logs

Logs are usually located in /wp-content folder or sometimes they can be in separate folders.

You can also check the Apache and Nginx logs which are most often located at:

Apache:-  /var/log/apache2/error.log  or

Nginx:- /var/log/nginx/error.log

5. Check Nginx Settings

If you are managing your own server and WordPress sites on Nginx + FastCGI (php-fpm) or Nginx as proxy for Apache then there are some additional settings you can change to help prevent 504 gateway timeout errors.

A. 504 Gateway Timeout Error on Nginx + FastCGI (PHOP-FPM)

B. 504 Gateway Timeout Error on Nginx Proxy

If you are using Nginx as a proxy for Apache then you need to add the following to your nginx.conf file:

proxy_connect_timeout 600;
proxy_send_timeout 600;
proxy_read_timeout 600;
send_timeout 600;

Then simply reload or restart Nginx.

service nginx reload

6. Check Issues With Your Hosting Provider

Server issues are one of the most common reasons why users experience a 504 gateway timeout errors on their WordPress websites. In simple terms – Nginx or Apache waits for a response until the waiting time has expired or timed out.

We get a lot of clients that come to Best-Digital Marketing Services due to the fact that they are constantly receiving these errors at their current WordPress hosting site.

504 errors mostly occur on high traffic online and e-commerce stores with a lot of daily visitors.  The latter may have also installed numerous e-commerce plugins like Woo commerce plugins.

These usually have many non-cached requests which can cause the server to overload however such error can also occur in a variety of different types of website including blogs.

Many hosts usually offer to upgrade to a more expensive tariff plan to fix this problem and this usually helps to solve this issue which is often not necessary.

Web Hosting Packages 2

Here at Best-Digital Marketing Services we utilise truly unlimited web hosting this means that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated location that has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL).

Many shared WordPress hosts do not have this capability and therefore a high-traffic neighbouring site causing 504 gateway timeout errors could very well impact your site.

Your sites are isolated and our infrastructure is built to easily handle thousands of concurrent connections. Even MySQL databases are hosted at localhost.

This ensures that there is no latency between machines which results in faster queries and less chance of timeouts occurring anywhere in-between.

Many clients who migrate to Best- Digital Marketing see huge decreases in their overall load times.

A. Website Monitoring & Downtime Alert Tools

It is also important to note that 504 errors can deceptively look a lot like 503 service unavailable errors or even 502 bad gateway errors but they are in fact different.

If you want to prevent such errors from happening on your site in the future then you can also utilise tools like updown.io or statuscake.com to monitor and notify you immediately if problems occurs.

It periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your choice or simply use your homepage.

website monitoring and downtime alert

The tool allows you to set check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will send you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

updown.io

This can be especially useful if you are on a shared or virtual hosting which tends to overcrowd their servers.

That is why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress hosting or dedicated hosting.

7. Temporarily Disable CDN or Firewall

It could also be an issue with your Content Delivery Network – CDN. If you are using a third party CDN provider then an easy way to troubleshoot this is to temporarily disable your CDN.

For example if you are using a free CDN enabler plugin on WordPress then you can simply deactivate the plugin and test your website.

disable CDN

If you are unable to access your site’s dashboard then simply log in to your site via Secure File Transfer Protocol –SFTP and rename the plugin’s folder to cdn-enabler_old.

This will temporarily disable the CDN connection. The same goes for WP Rocket or any other plugin you might have hooked up to your CDN.

This could also happen if you use the back proxy services like Cloudflare or Sucuri since they use the additional firewall in between. Most of them cache 500 status codes when they are returned by your origin server.

cloudfare

Many users have noticed that this issue happens once in a while on Cloudflare’s free plan service. Unfortunately since Cloudflare is a complete proxy service there is no quick way to disconnect it.

However before you go pointing the finger at Cloudflare – it is important to know that there are two different types of 504  gateway timeout error variations as shown below:

A. 504 Gateway Timeout at Cloudflare (Variation 1)

If you see the following screen then this is actually a problem on Cloudflare’s end which means that you should reach out to them for Cloudfare support or check their status page.

504 gateway timeout

B. 504 Gateway Timeout at Cloudflare (Variation 2)

If you see the following screen then this is a problem with your WordPress hosting server – in which case you will need to skip over to recommendation No: 5 above.

504 gateway timeout v2

Most likely they are already aware of the issue and have their team working on it.

C. 504 Gateway Timeout at Cloudflare with Uploads

Another reason for a timeout could be related to the size of your uploads. They do restrict POST (uploads) to 100MB on their Free or Pro plan. 

We have occasionally seen clients have issues with files or upload smaller than this and the issue lies with your host’s end or Cloudflare.

An easy way to determine this would be by simply bypassing Cloudflare with your DNS hosts file and trying your upload again or simply disable Cloudflare temporarily.

If you are using Cloudflare with WordPress then it is always recommended to use their free plugin and exclude important URLs from caching such as your WordPress admin area.

cloudfare upload size

8. Spam, Bots and DDoS Attacks

Perhaps your website is been spammed by bots or undergoing a DDoS attack which can lead to uncached requests and server overload. And this results in a 504 gateway timeout error.

You can take a look at your server analytics and see if there are any patterns emerging by asking your hosting provider for this information or data.

The first report we recommend looking at is the top end client IP addresses. This can be useful especially if your site suddenly began to generate large bandwidth or traffic or getting attacked by bots.

top client IP

The second report we recommend to look at is the requests and bots. You can quickly compare the traffic to your website with the number of bots.

However remember that not all bots are bad. Google Bot is a good example as it scans the site to index the content and promote it in the search engine.

google bot

The third report we recommend is the cache analysis. Here you can see what requests are missing the cache, bypassing the cache and also the top locations of your site.

For the best performance and stability reasons you should try to cache as many requests as possible.

This is not always possible since some sites such as those running Woo Commerce are generating a lot of un-cached requests.

They have to for the features like the shopping cart and checkout process to work correctly and stay in sync.

cache component attack analysis

A. Blocking Spams and DDOS Attacks

If you find and identify traffic or IP addresses that need to be blocked then you can use the WordPress security plugin.

However not all hosting providers allow you to install security plugins since such plugins can influence the speed and performance of your website especially when they scan the server.

Secondly the IP blocking feature may not work because hosting provider can use load balancers from the Google Cloud Platform.

IP addresses can always be blocked by the hosting support service but depending upon the length and scale of the attack this could be a never-ending process of blacklisting IPs which in most cases does not solve the problem fast enough.

sucuri

When the attacks or spam is blocked in one area, they are often switched to other zones – changing IP addresses or using other proxy addresses.

Therefore we recommend installing a security solution such as Cloudflare or Sucuri.

9. Contact Support Team

If you are still constantly getting 504 gateway timeout error and you have exhausted all the above options and nothing else helps to fix it then contact your hosting technical support team.

Describe to them all the steps you have taken to identify the error caused and provide them with as much information as possible.

This will greatly speed up your request and the process o resolve this issue.

Conclusion

As you can see there is a multitude of different ways and methods – how to fix 504 gateway timeout errors on your WordPress site.

Usually these are a server issue in which case you can quickly reach out to your hosting provider to get it resolved.

But it is also important to remember that they can actually be caused by third-party plugins or overwhelming backlog or queue overflow of your PHP workers.

If you are having these issues then contact us today or our support team who specialises in web performance optimisation.

If you enjoyed this post then share this on your social media and you will love Best-Digital Marketing’s hosting platform. Turbocharge your website and get 24/7 support from our hosting team.

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Further Reading: Benefits of SEO

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How To Use Google Maps Marketing Strategy To Increase Sales And Customers

How To Use Google Maps Marketing Strategy To Increase Sales And Customers

How To Use Google Maps Marketing Strategy To Increase Sales And Customers

There is no surprise or you may not be shocked that – out of all the mapping apps out there like MapQuest, Apple Maps and others – Google Maps remains supreme and not just by a small margin but a majority landslide.

google maps marketing strategy

With so much popularity – you would be wise to think about how Google Maps marketing strategy could help your business grow by increasing sales and customers.

In a stiff competition like this – you will also need to give some thought to the best ways to achieve maximum visibility in your local search results.

To assist you on both fronts – we have written this article to help you with your Google Maps marketing strategy.

What is Google My Business – GMB?

Google My Business – GMB is a free tool for business owners or managers to manage and optimise their business’ profiles on Google Maps.

A Google My Business profile typically includes your business’ name, location, and hours of operation. The image below is an example of a typical Google My Business profile.

Google my business - GMB

When you claim your business using a Google My Business profile, you can optimise your Google Maps presence by ensuring that customers have access to the most relevant and up-to-date information.

You can also use your profile to interact with customers when they leave reviews, ask any questions and track Google Maps Ads insights to understand how customers interact with your profile.

Google Maps Ads

Although marketing on Google Maps is free – using local search ads can boost your business’ visibility in Google Maps search results.

Using these ads will bring your business listing to the top of search queries for keywords relevant to your business.

Google Maps ads use location targeting so they will only show up for location-relevant searches. These ads usually appear in desktop and mobile searches.

google maps ads

When you create ads for your business – you can track their performance to get a sense of how customers respond to your ads and take further actions like using your address to get Google Maps directions or click on the listed phone number to call you.

How Can Google Maps Marketing Strategy Serve Your Business?

At the core of this form of marketing is Google My Business – GMB. By creating and strategically strengthen up this online business profile – you can enjoy several benefits which include:

  • Additional visibility if you rank well in Google Maps results or even better in Google’s Local 3-Pack which shows potential customers the three most relevant local businesses and it is free advertising.
  • The potential for more sales since you will have more visibility on your business.
  • Differentiation from competitors if your profile ranks above theirs then it has a higher rating from customers and is more polished and professional.
  • More engagement with potential customers via more visits to your website, inquiries, etc..
  • Increased trust and credibility since it is clear at a glance that you care about your online reputation and more importantly about the experiences customers have with you.

In simple words – your Google My Business profile is like a 24/7 marketing and salesperson for your business but for it to be a good – there are some things you have to do.

The Basics of a Google Maps Marketing Strategy

To have any chance of ranking higher in Google Maps results – you must adhere to the following important criteria.

They are all equally important to ensure you get the best chance of ranking in Google Maps:

1. Claim Your Business In Google My Business Profile

Whether you already have a GMB profile or are planning to create one then be sure that you claim and verify your listing.

Verification is a simple process and can be done by mail, phone or various other methods.

No matter how you choose to do it – it will give you maximum control over your profile and the results it gets for your business.

claimed vs unclaimed

2. Add Your Location Data

In Google My Business there are two types of location data you need to add. The first is your exact physical location such as a full postal service approved address.

If you do not have a physical location where customers can visit you – you can easily hide your address from the public whilst still making the information available to Google so you are eligible to be shown in search results.

add location data

The second type of location data encompasses the areas you serve – always specify the cities, counties and/or countries you service customers in to boost your chances of being shown to people in those areas.

3. Provide Key Business Information

Besides your address and services areas – you also want to provide other crucial information such as your full business name, phone number, website, and up-to-date business hours.

This is a good idea when you are trying to rank better in search results and it is also a great foundation for good user experience – UX.

name address phone number - NAP

And good UX is absolutely essential if you want to tip the scales in your favour and motivate more potential customers to contact your business that will lead to more queries, communication and sales.

4. Select the Most Relevant Categories

Categorising your business gives you more contexts to what you have to offer. This way when consumers search for a local business like yours – Google will understands that your profile is relevant and is more likely to display it to potential customers.

When choosing from Google’s list of categories – just be sure to select only those that are closely related to what you do otherwise you may find that your GMB profile gets views but not much action because it is not what people are looking for. It is important that your profile gets seen by the right people.

More Opportunities To Stand Out In Search With Google Maps Marketing Strategy

Up to now, we have covered the basics and must-dos for any Google Maps marketing strategy.

The following methods are just as important for your strategy as the previous four since these will provide opportunities to stand out from your competition.

1. Eye- Catching Introduction

The introduction of your GMB profile is simply an opportunity to explain what you offer but in reality it is much more. It is your opportunity to:

  • Make a memorable first impression since Google Maps only shows a short snippet of the introduction in its results and this snippet has to be eye-catching enough to get people to click to learn more about your business.
  • Highlight the value of what you provide instead of just listing what you provide.
  • Show case what makes your business different and offer better than your competitors.

If you can do all of the above then you will automatically have an advantage over your competitor by providing what potential customers want to know.

2. Get Reviews From Your Customers

Both the number of customer reviews you have on Google and your overall rating can impact your business’s visibility in Google search results.

Therefore always encourage your customers to leave ratings and reviews even if you have to make this request an official part of your process.

As the positive reviews flow in – the chances of dominating Google Maps and enjoying all the benefits that come with it will also rise.

negative or positive reviews

Having negative reviews should not hinder your business since if you can respond calmly and positively to your customers then Google will see it that you are a business that care about your customers and may even increase your ranking.

Note: Never ever resort to paying for 5-star reviews or any other shady tactics to make your business look better in the eyes of Google and potential customers.

This is not ethical and professional since it will always come back to bite you later which will result in undoing the positive results from your Google Maps marketing efforts.

3. Add Photos, Photos & More Photos

Google reported that businesses with photos added to GMB profiles get 42% more requests for directions on Google Maps and 35% more visits to their websites than those with no pictures. Those statistics speak for themselves.

photos and more photos

If you hope to get meaningful results then sharing photos of your products or services, past projects, team and physical location is a must.

And it is also great to encourage customers to submit their photos as well since this will build credibility and trust with potential customers for your business.

4. Build High Quality Links

Another key factor that determines your position in search results is prominence which encompasses all the information available about your business online and how well you are doing in terms of search engine optimisation.

Building high-quality links and citations from relevant websites to yours is a top way to boost your Google Maps rankings and even earn a shot at being featured in Google’s Local 3-Pack.

get links with other businesses

So look out and create opportunities to earn mentions and backlinks to your site from:

  • Local websites and blogs.
  • Sites those are relevant to your industry specifically.
  • Popular online directories such as Foursquare.
  • Business directories specific to your location, service areas and/or your industry.

This will help you progress, build authority and signal relevance to Google which can lead to more visibility in local search results thus leading to increase in sales and customers.

5. Spend Some Cash on Google Maps Ads

Although it can be a slow start but earning a good ranking in Google Maps results is purely through organic efforts and is often an attainable goal.

local search ads

However if you have money to spend then you may want to couple your organic efforts with paid Google Maps ads. This will position your business front and centre in search results for keywords relating to your business and location.

It can provide a quick boost of visibility and traffic while you implement the other methods above and wait for them to start taking effect.

Google Maps: A Prime Tool for Local Marketing

When it comes to online marketing presence, using local marketing tools can make a measurable difference for your business especially for Google My Business and Google Maps.

You can get your business in front of potential target audience, encourage and enjoy more interactions with your audience which means more sales opportunities and increase customer base.

To enjoy these benefits – you will need to claim and optimise your profile, making sure to include all relevant business information like name, address and phone number – NAP, a captivating introduction to your business and high quality photos.

And also encourage and reply to customer reviews, building quality links to your website and investing in paid Google Maps ads when you have the budget to do so.

If you do these things then you will be well on your way to gaining more visibility, credibility and accountability in Google Maps search results.

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