From 2015 to 2016, Google has gradually rolled out the Mobilegeddon – a series of updates aimed to index and rank websites that are mobile-friendly. This update prompts most website owners to make sure their websites are responsive to the screen sizes of mobile devices.
With a few things going around the Google SERPs in the past weeks like FRED and other ranking changes, SEO experts have buried again in their desk figuring out what could be done to adapt to these algorithmic changes in the SERP. Until recently, Google confirmed that it is starting to roll out the mobile-first indexing in July.
Mobile-centric Culture
In the past years when the primary device to browse websites are the desktops and laptops, Google crawlers crawl and index websites based on their performance on the desktop. But as the lifestyle of being on-the-go become the new norm, people started to be mobile. The usage of mobile gadgets has increased drastically, especially in terms of personal searches. A year ago, Google announced that 60% of global searches were from mobile devices.
Other vital contributing factors are smartphone cost and internet connectivity. These two supports oxygen to heat up the usage of smartphones. With the continuous evolution of specifications, and rationalization of smartphone and data cost, people are more and more pushed towards mobile.
Mobile-first indexing
To support the increasing activity using mobile, Google has started to be a devout evangelist of better mobile experience. And other evidence of their commitment to this crusade is the release of mobile-first indexing on top of the mobilegeddon in 2015.
Mobile-first indexing is a little different and less disruptive than the mobilegeddon. It aims to prioritized indexing and ranking of websites based on their collective mobile presence. If mobilegeddon prioritized ranking based on mobile-responsiveness, mobile-first focuses on compliance and equivalence.
Should I get worried about my current ranking?
If you are worried about your current SEO, you might be asking yourself whether that worry is qualified or not, and here’s the answer:
YES and NO
YES – if you have a mobile version, but don’t deliver as a good as the desktop version
NO – If you are mobile-responsive and delivers valuable content, or with a mobile version that is equally the same with the desktop version.
Another issue that would cross your mind is, will affect my ranking and traffic?
Answer: There might be no great impact on the rankings, but there is in traffic. Remember the premise of having a mobile version which disconnects the user experience when one jumps from desktop to mobile? Well, that one can have a greater impact on traffic.
The bottom-line of mobile-first indexing is to make mobile searches better for all users, and that includes consistent user experience across devices.
A website is considered the most important online asset for businesses and organizations. But with more than 1.2 billion published websites, how can you tell your target audiences that your website (which represents your business) is credible?
In marketing, despite having a remarkable product or service, if your website doesn’t convey the superiority of your business, then there will be a disconnection between your brand and your market.
To clearly understand the credibility signals online audience look on a website below are the critical factors that you should look out for:
Image of the business owner
One of the ultimate trust signals that will give credibility to your website is an image of the owner in about us section of the website. No matter how awkward and uncomfortable for business owners like you, putting your image will boost your website’s credibility.
Thorough contact information
One thing is common among online users nowadays – and that is getting the information they need in just a few steps and few clicks. To be able to increase your website’s credibility you should include all contact information that your audience or your market needs to know to reach you. And that is not just putting them on the website, but also making easy for your audience to see it.
Nothing is more convincing than good words from people who have tried your products or services. People love a recommendation from people that are not part of a business organization. Their recommendations are highly valued as they had a first-hand experience with your brand. Now, putting the most compelling and believable testimonials from your current and past clients will surely help in building your website’s credibility.
Social Links
Another means of validation of the credibility and also the legitimacy of your website is through social links. As the online community gravitates towards socials, they are expecting a consistency in your brand from the web to socials.
Web design, Branding and Information Architecture
This one is a big chunk to swallow for beginners as this includes three dimensions that work as one. All three are part of the improving user experience. A good branding yields a comprehensive guideline that can be used to create a remarkable web design.
Also, while doing the design, the information architecture (or the correct arrangement and careful selection of content to be included) of the website is also a crucial factor in giving a better user experience. It is a must that you need to make highly sought information easily accessible to your visitors, and that is part of a good information architecture.
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Bottom-line is, your website is the face of your business online. Making sure that it represents your brand well, and that it looks completely credible is essential in making your online marketing a success.
For inquiries about website revamp, develop and design, you can contact iManila at (02) 490-000. You can also send an email via [email protected] or via [email protected].
Many website masters may have noticed lately that their ranking is gradually diluting, and that their website traffic decreases despite their SEO compliance. Some of them are probably thinking that there is something wrong with their SEO activities, but some had a hint that Google may have released an algorithm update somewhere in the first quarter of the year.
What really happened is that most sites saw 50 percent to 90 percent traffic declines from Google organic search. This was a massive organic ranking drop for these sites. It is somewhat believed that the update was released last March 08, when there has been as a sudden drop in the traffic and even rankings.
And according to some SEO thought-leaders, FRED (which they named the update) targets websites that are low in quality content but heavy on the ads. Other than confirming that it was targeting ad-heavy sites, Google hasn’t said much more about Fred. Since there are no other details about the update, it probably would help most webmasters to focus on their links, including the method of acquiring those links.
Link building is always about quality over quantity. A few links from embedded within websites with outstanding domain authority are always better than a bucket of weak and spam-y links.
Since Fred has been making a shake-up in the SEO world, one thing appears to be a definite course-of-action for SEO experts and webmasters – to continue creating quality content and earn quality links.
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And in terms of on-page SEO, iManila’s digital marketing team is capable of helping small businesses to start their online presence through Google search engine’s results page. Visit our digital marketing page to know more about the services that we offer. For inquiries, please call (02) 565-4064 or send us an email at [email protected]
There will come a day when all businesses in the Philippines will shift online. And as of today, there’s a big chance that a sales executive will knock on your door and tell you, “Ma’am/Sir you need to advertise your business online, it’s the best way for you to get noticed without a big budget.”
What comes after are the feelings of amazement and confusion. Questions like, “Does it really work? Will it really work for my business? Do I need to allot more budget? How will I know if I am getting more from it?”
I am pretty sure that these are the things that you have in mind and you’re probably seeking for someone to guide you in making a decision whether to go or not.
At iManila, we encourage you to go for it. However, we first make sure that our prospective clients know the following things before we actually proceed to do the Google Search Ads for them.
First Mandatory: Website
One of the primary goals of a Google Ad is to bring web traffic through web clicks. The ads serve as a portal to bring them to a website of the client. If the client doesn’t have a website, we advise them to consider having one before we proceed with the ads.
The website is mandatory but that doesn’t mean that having one is the end of it all. A website should be regularly updated. It should be well-designed and easy to navigate; otherwise, visitors will just bounce off.
The experience visitors have with a website is what matters to Google. If visitors are having a hard finding what they need to see on your website, then that means that the website is not well-made or it lacks content and substance. In return, Google will remove you from ranking high in the Google Search Engine Results Page, and it can also affect your ad rank in Google ads.
Second Mandatory: Research
We ask our clients if they have an accurate knowledge and sharp business intelligence about their competitors and their industry. This is for them to brief us about their positioning, prices and same with their competitors. If they don’t have one, we do some research to better understand their business and the competition within the industry.
What do we mean by competition?
We do not limit our research to offline must-knows such as location, prices, and their offerings. We also try running some keywords about the business and see if they are doing Google Ads as well. This will help us determine how tight it will get for our prospective clients should they push through with the service. And that’s how we adjust in terms of budget suggestion, keywords and even the landing pages of their ads.
Third Mandatory: Landing Page
A landing page is a specific page in the website that serves as a catch basin of incoming traffic from the Google Ads. It is the first page that they will see, hence the importance of having a well-designed and well-written one.
A landing page should be well-made and simple to understand. Moreover, it needs to have one explicit and achievable goal. Goals could be sign-ups, purchases or downloads. These landing pages offer valuable materials that are needed to be a downloaded from a portal going to an e-commerce page to convert them into a client.
What we always tell our clients is: Landing pages should contain a relevant and easy to understand core message. It either instructs to download, persuades to buy or begs for sign-ups.
Fourth Mandatory: Budget
Launching an ad means you are willing to pay a certain amount to post the ad. The same goes with Google Ad. It is universal for all ad platforms (both online and traditional) that an ad budget is required.
The difference between Google and other online platforms is that you have the power to dictate what budget works for you, unlike the traditional ones.
Fifth Mandatory: Understanding the Idea of the Bidding Scheme and PPC
Google Ads are created to operate on a specific model which is the pay-per-click type. Pay-per-click or PPC means that the advertiser gets charged for every click. If there are fewer clicks, there will be fewer charges as well. However, if there are a greater number of clicks, the higher is the possibility of spending your maximum allocated budget.
The bidding scheme, on the other hand, pertains to who gets the top spot in the allocated areas on the first page of Google based on the willingness to spend greater amount. However, Google rationalizes their bidding rules by incorporation of a quality score. Those advertisers whose ads obtain a high-quality score gets the spots.
How to Achieve Better Quality Score?
Quality scores of Google ads are computed using the following elements:
Bid – refers to the amount the advertiser is willing to spend
Ad Relevance – The resonance of the ad message to the online researchers. It is sometimes evaluated by Click-through rate. Click-through rate is the number of clicks your ad gets over the number of times it was shown by Google.
Landing Page experience – The behavior of the visitors as they land on your page. The higher the bounce (quick and unexpected movement of visitors out of the website) rate is considered as bad landing page experience.
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As mentioned from the items above, clients need to make sure that they have everything in their arsenal before actually going for a Google ad – and one of those is having a well-made website with compelling landing pages.
Taking into considerations the ‘mandatories’ above will result in a higher success rate when doing the Google ad.
For further questions and inquiries about the Google Ad or with Website Development and revamp. Contact us at (02) 490-0000 or send us an email at [email protected].
