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If you use Google Adwords, or SEO, consider this

Marketing, social media, advertising

Telamon25346

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I've been working with and learning SEO and marketing for a while now, And a friend in this industry told me over the weekend about something interesting. Google is now offering a new service that ( in my opinion) can be powerful combined with proper SEO. Even if you're not a marketing agency or an SEO specialist, I think this will help your local business/service.

First of all, Let me go over how google search is today, Everyone knows that when you look something up, google brings up the most relevant solutions to that question. The results you see when you enter something in google are the results, google ranks the results by relevancy and popularity. SEO can improve the rankings with things like backlinks, better on page SEO, off page SEO, making the site run faster or make it easier to crawl through, etc. SEO is usually the best way to get traffic from google.

Other than SEO, people might use google Adwords, which shows up on top of organic results, they have a little green label on the side that says "AD" and google usually displays about 3 of them. The problem with Adwords is that it can be very expensive to get into if you're trying to get ads for a common keyword. The other problem, is that most people don't click on ads. they see google Adwords as intrusive and In my opinion, they don't look that good.
in fact:
"The current number out there today states that LESS THAN 10 PERCENT of people actually click on paid ads. That’s right, around 94% of all search traffic goes to organic results over paid ads." - oakcitytechnology

So the most viable solution really is SEO. but not until now, at least that's what I think.

Google has introduced this new system called "Google Local Services", you can read about it here: Local Services by Google - Lead Generation for Local Customers

What it is is essentially a new Ad system, where a business offering a certain type of local service, can pay to have a card at the top of google search, and instead of paying for a keyword to have the ad displayed on. You apply your service, and you pay for every customer or lead you get that is Looking for your service in your area.

This is much better than paying google Adwords for a keyword, and it might be less expensive as well.

If you use Adwords for an ad campaign, and you own a local service business in your area, I recommend that you apply for this system. (the application process is pretty thorough, they send a representative to assess your business and have them perform background checks on employees and such.)

If you own a marketing agency, which is what i'm currently doing, I would consider selling this as something that you can manage for your clients, and also offer it as a competitive edge to their competition. you could make a short video like this one:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak3UAuEH1_U
and you could offer it or present it to your clients.


I hope this genuinely helps some people on here, because this combined with SEO or other advertising techniques could definitely bring in a lot more traffic and customers.
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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"The current number out there today states that LESS THAN 10 PERCENT of people actually click on paid ads. That’s right, around 94% of all search traffic goes to organic results over paid ads." - oakcitytechnology

So the most viable solution really is SEO. but not until now, at least that's what I think.
More does not always equal better. At least paid ads have a barrier to entry.

Less than 10% of people click on the ads and yet Google Ads account for 95% of Google's entire revenue.

Not to mention, daily Google searches average over 3.5 BILLION per day.

What's 10% of 3.5 Billion?..............350 million

That's 350 million people clicking on Googles Ads.....Every. Single. Day.

The entire population of the US is actively clicking on those ads every day.

Over the course of a month, that's 10.8 BILLION clicks. If a local plumber can't grab a few clicks a month out 10 BILLION then they are doing something very wrong.

Obviously, it should be a part of a larger marketing system, but anyone who says that Google Ads are less viable than SEO needs to get their head checked.

Plenty of businesses with small budgets can still benefit from Google Ads, just read @Andy Black's content.

Edit: Couple more thoughts I had. Paid advertising is a MARKETPLACE. It's self-regulating, and prices stabilize over time. People wouldn't use it if it wasn't profitable for them.
 
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jon.M

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"The current number out there today states that LESS THAN 10 PERCENT of people actually click on paid ads. That’s right, around 94% of all search traffic goes to organic results over paid ads." - oakcitytechnology

This doesn't matter.

LESS THAN 0.1 PERCENT of people actually become millionaires (just made that up). So anyone on this forum should have a 0.1% chance of becoming one too.

Except it doesn't work that way.

Lots of people are bad at Google Ads. So a lot of people get bad results. Bad CTRs for example.

But what if you're NOT bad?

Should you just expect the same results as the bad advertisers, rest your cheek on mommy's breast and cry out loud?

Nah.

You take a look at your own numbers and go from there.

Why would you let advertisers who offer plumbing in Sydney -- and bid on the term "plumbing Boise" -- impact your marketing strategy?
 

Fid

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Lots of people are bad at Google Ads. So a lot of people get bad results. Bad CTRs for example.

Exactly. If your ad sucks, people will skip it, whether its a regular ad or the new Local Service Ad.

It works the same with SEO.
I often cringe when I hear "In search results, spot #1 gets clicked 50% of the time. You need to be #1!"

No. It's not that spot #1 gets clicked 50% of the time because people are mindlessly clicking spot #1.
Spot #1 gets clicked 50% of the time because it's the most relevant to the person's search intent. And Google makes it damn sure that spot #1 is super relevant.

If spot #1 is super-optimized with SEO tricks but irrelevant or not appealing, then spot #2 will get the click. Or whichever spot that is closest to what the person is looking for.

Don't aim for spot #1. Aim for giving the user what he's searching for. Aim for relevancy.
Or as jon.M has put it, don't be bad. Be better.
 
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rollerskates

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Everyone knows that when you look something up, google brings up the most relevant solutions to that question

Actually, that isn't true. It gives you the relevant results for the questions it wishes you'd asked. I am usually looking for information and 9 times out of 10, it crosses out one of my search terms, which is usually the most important one. I'm not sure if the answers I'm looking for don't exist or if Google is stupid. Likewise, what ever paid ads they show are what I seek minus my most important search terms.

For example, if I was looking up, say "alternatives to lasik surgery", it will cross out "lasik" and give me alternatives, to say, some type of cosmetic surgery and likewise the ad will be that too: my results minus my most relevant term. And while Google is probably good if you don't really care whose service or product you use (most Googlers) or if your product or service is one of many, they are very poor at information finding.

Not a fan of Google except for really generic stuff where the answers don't matter much.
 

whiz

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You own a marketing company and you're preaching against Google Ads?

I'm confused...
 
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Telamon25346

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More does not always equal better. At least paid ads have a barrier to entry.

Less than 10% of people click on the ads and yet Google Ads account for 95% of Google's entire revenue.

Not to mention, daily Google searches average over 3.5 BILLION per day.

What's 10% of 3.5 Billion?..............350 million

That's 350 million people clicking on Googles Ads.....Every. Single. Day.

The entire population of the US is actively clicking on those ads every day.

Over the course of a month, that's 10.8 BILLION clicks. If a local plumber can't grab a few clicks a month out 10 BILLION then they are doing something very wrong.

Obviously, it should be a part of a larger marketing system, but anyone who says that Google Ads are less viable than SEO needs to get their head checked.

Plenty of businesses with small budgets can still benefit from Google Ads, just read @Andy Black's content.

Edit: Couple more thoughts I had. Paid advertising is a MARKETPLACE. It's self-regulating, and prices stabilize over time. People wouldn't use it if it wasn't profitable for them.

You own a marketing company and you're preaching against Google Ads?

I'm confused...
I apologize, I didn't mean to come off this way, I still think Google Ads are a great solution and a good way to market your company, what I meant to say is that this might be very appealing if you don't like the way goole adwords works, and it might bring in more customers.

And when I said I operate a digital marketing agency, I only meant that I started about a month ago (still have a lot to learn :clench:), But I've been researching SEO and stuff before. So sorry again for being misleading about my position.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

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I apologize, I didn't mean to come off this way, I still think Google Ads are a great solution and a good way to market your company, what I meant to say is that this might be very appealing if you don't like the way goole adwords works, and it might bring in more customers.

And when I said I operate a digital marketing agency, I only meant that I started about a month ago (still have a lot to learn :clench:), But I've been researching SEO and stuff before. So sorry again for being misleading about my position.
It’s all good man. Welcome to the club :)
 

Andy Black

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I don’t have much experience of
Google Local Services.

We don’t have them in Ireland or the UK. None are showing against US client campaigns afaik.

They did show against one client and it seemed to scupper the paid search campaigns that had been running fine.

Our ads can run at 20-40% CTR. Or not. It depends.

One of the biggest benefits of paid search is the ability to buy data cheaply, and amend the campaigns on a dime.

If you can get ROI on it, then go for it.
 

whiz

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Good convo about these Local Services

Love these dudes and I find them hilarious

Watched like 80% of their videos to teach myself AdWords
 
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Conor506

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Actually, that isn't true. It gives you the relevant results for the questions it wishes you'd asked. I am usually looking for information and 9 times out of 10, it crosses out one of my search terms, which is usually the most important one. I'm not sure if the answers I'm looking for don't exist or if Google is stupid. Likewise, what ever paid ads they show are what I seek minus my most important search terms.

For example, if I was looking up, say "alternatives to lasik surgery", it will cross out "lasik" and give me alternatives, to say, some type of cosmetic surgery and likewise the ad will be that too: my results minus my most relevant term. And while Google is probably good if you don't really care whose service or product you use (most Googlers) or if your product or service is one of many, they are very poor at information finding.

Not a fan of Google except for really generic stuff where the answers don't matter much.

I second this. Google is especially horrible when looking for anything medical.

You often end up with endless "list" posts that all copy each other even when putting in very specific questions and "long tail" searches.

Maybe great for SEO's ranking sites but definitely not good for the consumers. This is after the last update Google did that was supposed to be cracking down on all the vague medical advice floating around that came out late last year.
 

23Infinity

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Very interesting case study on the effect of LSAs on the search engine page result clicks. Looks like it does decrease the top ad clicks, but only by a little. That said, the contractors that can get 'google guaranteed' and have good numbers of google reviews are going to make a killing.

Any further thoughts on this @Andy Black ?


Local Services Ads Click Study: Where Do People Click on Local SERPs?

https://www.brightlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Proportion-of-Clicks-by-SERP-Result-FULL.png
 
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