And even if they skip to the organic listings, the yellow “Ad” widget is pretty distracting, even when it’s all the way in the right column. While organic listings still command some form of trust, a searcher might have to slog through three ads before noticing your #1 ranked listing. Basically, if you’re only targeting high-value keywords using SEO tactics - meaning you don’t have a PPC plan - you could be in real trouble. While ads can also affect mobile search, it’s a much larger force for desktop results. The sheer volume of ads on Google is staggering, especially the quantity that target desktop and laptop users. While carousel, bios, and maps results definitely affect non-mobile users, desktop and laptop users have bigger fish to fry. There are other complications with mobile, especially since the news box can push your position below the fold whenever something interesting happens in your industry.īut for the most part, you need to rely on your accounts with Google and local search more than the on-page elements that might’ve helped you rank well a few years ago. If that’s the case, then you don’t need to have the best website in your entire industry - Google just has to know more about your business than your competition. With something like a restaurant, you at least have a fighting chance, but only if you’re registered with Google My Business and you’re close enough to the user to be shown in Maps results. Movie theaters can’t compete with the carousel, and not even Wikipedia can fight the bio box. Some industries are in worse shape than others on mobile. So if you want to attract mobile users - which you should since 50% of all mobile searches are for local results and 80% of those convert - you need to give Google as much information about your business as possible. Bio and Mapsīio and maps results do the same thing as the carousel - organic search results, including the #1 spot that you fought so hard to get, aren’t visible above the fold. In this situation, the carousel is an SEO killer.Īnd it’s not the only hurdle on mobile, either. None of the organic listings show up, and that means theaters that previously depended on the keyword “Harrisburg movies” don’t show up until someone scrolls down the SERP. In this case, users aren’t seeing the businesses that offer movie screenings - they’re seeing the film names instead.įor movie theaters, this is a rough deal. The image below is from an iPhone, and while the search term is somewhat broad, it’s a perfect illustration of the point at hand. Aside from the fact that your website now has to be responsive to even have a hope of ranking in most industries, small screen sizes and large, touchable text make it all the more difficult to show up in mobile search - especially when the carousel is in the picture. One of the biggest challenges for site owners over the past few years has been mobile search, particularly since it became a ranking factor for Google this past April. Like I said earlier, it makes sense from a UX standpoint since Google has become more sophisticated and understands intent.īut that also means SEOs need to pick up the slack and play a new game. Why? Top ads, side ads, shopping, “in the news,” bio boxes, maps results, “did you mean,” carousel, and mobile search all impact the available real estate on SERPs - especially when searches include several of those features all at once. Now, earning that throne doesn’t even guarantee you’ll get a spot above the fold. A few years ago, the goal of SEO was to rank first for keywords that mattered to your industry. The simple answer is that Google has introduced so many new UX features to SERPs that the #1 organic search result isn’t as valuable as it used to be. Today, SEO is about something much less tangible. If you’re a marketer, that means you can’t afford to spend all of your time focusing on ranking. Google has made lots of additions to search results pages, like the carousel or shopping feed, that help searchers find what they want. And it kind of makes sense - at least from a user experience standpoint. Over the past two years, I’ve heard and read tons of people who use “SEO” and “ ranking” as synonyms. But are they really the same thing? For all the more SEOs talk about ranking, Google seems almost determined to change the name of the optimization game to something else.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |