Let’s be honest here, digital marketing is complex. There are so many factors at play that it can be hard for a small business to stay on top of it all.
The following are three common online marketing mistakes that nearly every small business I’ve encountered is currently dealing with, or has dealt with in the past. Let that serve as some comfort as you read this and possibly realize your company struggles with the same issues.
1. Searching for Your Own AdWords Ads
If you have ever run a pay per click campaign yourself or with the help of another company, you’ve probably felt the urge at one time or another to search for terms you are bidding for. While it may be neat to see your ad “in the wild,” you could actually be hurting your campaigns.
This common online marketing mistakes will increase the number of impressions without clicks, which in turn will lower your click-through rate. Subsequently, a lower click-through rate (CTR) can keep your ads from being shown as often as it would have without the wasted impressions.
Google also states that “If you repeatedly look for your own ad using Google search but never click on it, you might stop seeing it entirely. That’s because Google’s system stops showing you ads that it thinks you aren’t interested in.”
If you’d like to see what your ad looks like, use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool. This tool will allow you to review your ad without Google tracking any metric data.
2. Performing Anecdotal Keyword Searches
The real issue here is when people are curious about where they rank for a specific keyword, they conduct a common Google search believing that’s where they rank every time for every person searching. Because of the increased focus on personalization in online searches, in addition to geographic signals, this thinking is incorrect. Google is learning from your search habits and picks up your geographical location in an effort to present the best results to each individual searcher.
This shift toward more personalized search results doesn’t mean SEO (search engine optimization) work is out the window. But, it does mean that the SERP page a searcher sees may not be the same as someone else.
To get a better idea of your keyword rank and performance online, I recommend using the following free tools:
– Google Search Console
– SEMRush
– Google Analytics
– Moz Keyword Planner
With these tools, you can stay up to date on how well your pages are ranking for the keywords you optimized them for and what keywords your pages are being found under. By knowing this type of valuable information, you’ll be able to develop a more effective SEO strategy for your web content moving forward!
Maintaining a high organic SEO rank can be complicated and ranking factors are always changing. But luckily, there are some steady ranking factors that have consistently remained relevant through various Google algorithm updates.
Here are some SEO keyword ranking factors you should always prioritize:
– Optimize for long tail keywords
– Write long form content (blog articles at least 1,000 words)
– Include Alt tags
– Incorporate LSI (latent semantic index) keywords, or related keywords, in your content
3. Creating Incorrect or Duplicate Google My Business Pages
Because of how easy Google makes it to add a new business profile, creating duplicate Google Business pages happens rather often. Oftentimes, this is done by an employee of the company who doesn’t know a listing already exists and thinks they are doing their employer a favor. Another popular cause of duplicate Google Business pages is a company that has multiple locations, so they create a page for each location.
The real danger here is when one of the Google My Business pages has any incorrect information or when those multiple pages start to rank against each other in SERPs (search engine result pages).
If you’re going to create a Google My Business page, make sure it’s optimized and filled out properly. Fill out every field, upload images, post customer reviews, include a link to your website, and consistently verify that all your information is correct and current. For example, if you have special holiday hours, make sure you make those changes on your Business page.
If you have multiple locations and you’re wondering how to create a Google Business page to accommodate them, follow the steps below. You’ll first need to create a location group.
Here’s how you do that:
1. Sign into your Google My Business account
2. Click “Manage Locations”
3. Click “Create Location Group”
4. Enter the name of your group
5. Click “Create”
6. Start adding locations
Once you create a new location group, you can start adding a new location for your Google My Business page.
Follow these steps below:
1. Sign in to Google My Business
2. Click “Manage locations”
3. Use the drop-down menu to choose a location group
4. Click “Add location”
5. Enter the business name, location, and other details
6. Follow the prompts to create the new listing
Having an optimized Google My Business page is a great way to bring more traffic to your website or your physical location, but you need to set it up correctly in order for that to happen!
In Conclusion
I’ve seen many small businesses struggle with these common online marketing makes outlined above, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. Stop shooting yourself in the foot and take the steps to correct these digital marketing problems you’re having with your small business!