Have you ever wondered what exactly makes a would-be customer decide between clicking on your business in Google search results or your competitor’s down the road?
Having a solid SEO strategy in place and ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs) is great for any business. It means you’re getting plenty of face-time with people searching for products and services offered by your company. But simply having these rankings isn’t enough. You also need to convert.
Turning a Google search into a new customer is a process that can happen in a number of different ways, but there are a select few variables that make it possible. Take a look at 4 of the biggest contributors to conversions:
1. Proper Google Business Categorization
Make sure your business is telling people what you are, not what you do. If you’re an Italian restaurant, say that! Don’t list yourself as “pizza and pasta” or “rustic, old-world cuisine.” We know some of the stranger Google My Business categories might be calling your name, but the key is to be concise and descriptive, telling people exactly what you are.
Proper business categorization will also prevent mistakes and ambiguity from arising. Labeling yourself as “Italian restaurant” will inspire thoughts of pizza, pasta, breadsticks and more. If you just label yourself as “restaurant” it leaves questions.
2. Numerous, Trustworthy Google Reviews
Reviews can make or break your business. Having a backlog of hundreds of good reviews is going to tell people with certainty that you’re a company worth doing business with. On the flipside, if most of your reviews are poor or so-so, it’ll quickly convince people their time and money are better spent elsewhere.
Get good, credible reviews on Google and make sure you respond to them appropriately, and you’ll make great inroads when it comes to generating conversions to go with your great reviews and rankings. Consider a good reputation management service to help you get there.
3. Ease of Contact
The simplest way to create conversions from search results is to make it as easy as possible to get in touch with your company. Make sure you have an accurate phone number, website and address, as well as social media links and more. If it’s too hard to get in touch with you or people are confused as to what the best method of contact is, they might give up and decide it’s not worth it.
4. A Professional Image
People are visual and are drawn to images that evoke emotion. Having a clear, high-resolution picture next to your business’ logo and NAP information is going to give them the impression you’re a well-rounded company that’s ready to do business. Whether it’s a picture of your storefront, your staff, your products or something else affiliated with your business, it’ll go a long way towards turning casual searchers into customers.
Keep these 4 criteria in mind when it comes to generating conversions through Google. Hitting on all of them will help you make great strides towards improving your conversion rate, so you can make the most of your hard SEO work.
