Pay Per Click or Search Engine Marketing, are programs that allow websites to purchase keywords at a cost per click. Your website will appear on the top of search results for as long as you continue to pay for each click your ad receives. Unfortunately, once you stop running your add campaign, your website will drop off of top search results. There are many companies online that offer this type of service, so how do you decide which one to go with?
Understanding search engine marketing will help you avoid those programs that promise too much and deliver too little. Companies who promise unlimited clicks for a search terms should raise a red flag. The name Pay Per Click should tell you all you need to know. How can one company offer unlimited clicks at a set price when everyone else pays per the individual click? But sometimes it is not always that easy. Recently, localpaidinclusion .com offered a service promising inclusion into local searches on Yahoo, Bing and Google. This service would place your website at the top of the local map section but not in the clearly advertised paid sections on search results. The concept sounded great. Unfortunately, no service or agreement with Google, Yahoo or Bing ever existed. Each Search directory publically denied the claim.
Google – “We are not working on any program that enables a site to pay to increase ranking in organic search results.”
Bing – “Bing has no interest in paid inclusion into the local algo that artificially impacts ranking of algo results…. Microsoft does not have an agreement with UBL today.”
So how does one move up in the local search results? It can be difficult to move your Google places rankings, but there are some tricks to help your business rise above your completion. Start by claiming your Google places page. This will allow you to add: business categories, pictures, business description, your website, hours, payment options and other important business information. If your Google Places page was not already claimed, this should cause a noticeable jump in your Google Places exposure. But what if your place page was already claimed? Search Engine optimization also impacts your Google Places search results. When you run a search term, those words appear bold in the results. They also appear bold in the local search results. If these terms are not included in your website’s optimization, they will impact your Google places negatively. Let’s look at an example of this.
This screen shot is for a Hair Salon in Boston. Notice the top local results all have those terms bolded in both the link and description. This information is taken from the search engine optimization performed on your website. Notice that the listings below the top two have descriptions and page titles that have less search terms in them. The top sites have performed SEO in Boston properly and are being ranked higher in the Google Places because of it.
Claiming your Google Place page and optimizing your site are two ways to help improve your local placement. Customer reviews are a great source for keywords and content. When Google displays search results it pulls keywords from your reviews as well. Encourage customers to post on your Google places page to help increase your total number of reviews. This will increase the number of keywords for your business and in turn improve your Google places standings.
– Matt Wilkos
If you are interested in more SEO techniques or would like to hire us to manage your reputation online contact us at: sales@getfoundquick.com or call 857.526.0096.
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