Search rankings on Google can make or break a business, so Dallas small businesses are looking for ways to improve their placement in search results and manage to come in first.
“Not many people know how much money a first result can cost a company,” Dallas resident and owner of Best Dallas SEO, Jeff Tropiano told The Dallas Express. “Google is squeezing the area with paid ads and small businesses especially feel the pressure.”
There are 3.5 billion searches conducted daily on Google in the US alone. Google dominates the search engine industry encompassing 92% of all internet searches.
“Let’s face it, we’re living in Google’s world,” says Tropiano.
Roughly 27% of people click on the first search result on Google. At the same time, 91% of users do not go beyond the first page of results.
Furthermore, in 2016, Google decided to eliminate the right-hand margin that previously displayed results from advertisers. Instead, advertisers now have priority positioning in search results.
This means that “organic” ranking without the use of paid advertisements has fewer benefits. More recently, Google has placed paid advertisements even above local Google Maps search results.
According to Tropiano, large companies can spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in pay-per-click ads to be displayed in the results for certain keyword searches within a high-competition industry.
In especially competitive industries such as plastic surgery or car insurance, the entire first Google page will consist of advertisements and high-authority information articles, which means that an organic ranking with these search terms, or keywords,
Instead, smaller businesses in these industries can climb Google rankings by investing in a niche market or appealing to a specific target market.
For instance, White Rock Soap Gallery, a small, locally-owned soap store with locations in Dallas, only spends money on a few Facebook marketing campaigns, a representative told The Dallas Express.
However, the company’s reputation and the fact that it caters specifically to a vegan market sets it apart from competitors. Nationally, White Rock Soap Gallery ranks fifth for “natural vegan soap.”
For small businesses without the budget, Tropiano insists that building trust can set a business apart. In an interview with The Dallas Express, Jim Reynolds of Sofia SEO agreed, saying, “Get as many comments on your business as you can. You should have at least the same number [of comments] as your top three competitors.”
For small businesses trying to compete with larger companies spending thousands on advertising, it is best to have an up-to-date website, get people to review the business, maintain a consistent address across all platforms, register and verify a business on Google Maps, and build trust with the community through creating great content, says Reynolds.
“As always, content is king,” he explains.
Google Analytics has become adept at spotting quick fixes to try and cheat the algorithm. In the past, many marketers were able to rank web pages quickly by investing in a strategy that Reynolds calls “black hat marketing.”
According to Reynolds, black hat marketing is when advertisers flood the internet with cheap, spammy links, such as a random person commenting on a Facebook photo, encouraging people to check out a website. As Google’s algorithm becomes more sophisticated, it can spot spam-like behaviors and punish businesses by not allowing them to rank on the search engine at all.
As the digital world continually changes, small businesses are attempting to navigate the landscape in a bid to connect with consumers.