Video Marketing Results in February 2017

Here are some screenshots of Search Rankings for relevant terms in the Video Marketing niche.

Notice that getting a video on Page 1 of Google is eye catching, compared to most of the other organic listings.

Getting good Search Rankings can be achieved with a quality search oriented approach, where you help Google deliver quality content to the seeker. Rainmaker Reputation can do the job, as these results illustrate.

It’s also important to consider this key fact, in regard to where the Attention of your customer is…

https://goo.gl/photos/eE1ySMcvKZSP39vS7

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SEO storage January 11 – 24

Matt Cutts quitting Google?

Google uses it’s Browser Real Estate like every site owner should, as far as I’m concerned.

Plan to spend more on digital marketing in 17‘? That’s the trend.

From the SEO Storage files

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Google’s Interstitial Penalty Could Cause A Major Shakeup Of The Web

Google‘s Interstitial Penalty was announced last year.  This new wrinkle in the way Google displays a list of sites they deem relevant to the search, finally arrived in full deployment on January 10.  And the rankings are dancing from what I am seeing.

Monitoring some of the assets I manage for my clients, I can tell you I can see the penalty in action.

I can see a few sites handled by competitors who use what’s called “floater” code to hide a popup like window off screen, to the right for example, to hide content.  In the cases I see, there are usually links to other assets not related or relevant to the site owner’s business interests.

Google is now smart enough to see this happening, differentiate it from other behavior.  And if they can be that specific, they will ask themselves if it passes their standards.  It won’t.

For those site owners who have outsourced the SEO or even just simple Web Design work on your site, you may be vulnerable to this double whammy penalty in waiting.  That sounds pretty bad, let me clarify…

It’s possible Google will be able to notice a correlation between those who use “interstitials” for the widely used and once accepted popup ads, and those who used the “floater” code for hiding links in the manner I just described.

Those who are caught late to the party about “interstitial” ads and have not changed that out, will only lose rankings.  If all things considered, that was the only issue with your site, the rankings should bounce back, once handled.

However, if your site has a “floater” used to hide links in this manner, the site could be hit with a Penalty.  You never want one of these.

Ever.

And that’s the lurking problem with this Interstitial penalty… a lot of folks out there are not aware they have a “floater” on their site.  They are by design there to not be seen, hidden in code.  Google won’t be fooled.  Google’s changed accepted Standards like this before.  There is still time to avoid this issue, or find out if your sites are at risk, while Google’s re-spidering the entire internet.  Contact me here for a private and efficient 30 minute consultation: 1 (888) 406-3484

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Google My Business Tests A Messaging Feature To Chat With Your Customers

SearchEngineLand.com reports:

New pilot feature in Google My Business lets you do live chat with your customers directly from the Google search results.

Google My Business has posted in their help documents about a new pilot program that allows some businesses to chat with their customers directly via the local knowledge graph panel.

A new “message” button is added to your local listing on Google when you are in this test feature. The message button will initiate a chat between your business and the searcher. Google said that “Google My Business allows you to chat directly with customers who find your business listing on Google Search.”

Google said they sent some businesses emails “inviting you to participate in the pilot.” If you have not been invited, you will not have access to this feature.

If any of our readers are in this trial program by Google, here is a Google Help Document for it.

This would be a significant change to the relationship between the Main Street business and Google’s Local Search. Smart move, on it’s face. We can speak to the effectiveness of offering Instant Chat from the Brand website. Will be interesting to see if and how this is further monetized.

My reservations are this… it’s another move by a big portal site doing everything it can to keep it’s visitors from leaving to another site. And if that means YOUR business sees fewer visitors every month, because these prospects are simply calling or contacting via chat from the search page… are you sure that’s the best thing for YOUR bottom line?

There’s a few good arguments why this is not optimal for YOU.

When a visitor comes to your site, it’s a “time to shine” moment. Your making your first impression, with your online presence, in that moment. For those who have been smart about the site design and content… it’s a significant advantage. An advantage you can’t reap if, say, the would-be visitor’s first contact with you is a chat message on a Google Search page, not your site.

My advice to anyone in this program… follow Google’s lead. Get that potential customer away from Google’s search page where they found you and onto a page on your brand’s domain. Have a hot offer page ready for this purpose. And keep going with your ‘Retarget’ program for that and every like visitor with an appropriate message or offer.

If you don’t know what ‘Retarget’ means… give us a call at (888) 406-3484, because you are missing out on more leads, customers and growth.

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How to see what Google is telling the world about you and your business

‘Your Business Name ‘ Search

Ever typed in your name in Google? How about your business or brand name?

Like what you see?

I hope you found in that top ten search for your name are other entities on the internet citing you and your achievements and professional milestones.

What you see there is called your top ten Google “Search profile“. Google is giving you a useful insight here into how the Search Engine prioritizes the most relevant content sources that mention your name. What kind of insight can you gain from this?

The obvious take away is that this type of search is your first introduction to anyone searching for your term, be it your name or entity name. What these searchers see, however many there are in a day, a month, a year, will affect the first impression the person on the other end will assume about your reputation. Have reviews from Google or Yelp in your top 10 search? People are reading reviews and trusting them. Is there a site in those results with an incorrect business address or incorrect phone number ? You can be sure any potential V.I.P. to your bottom line could be acting on this bad info. That opportunity may never happen again, for that individual. Only you can answer for yourself in this case, ‘what opportunity have I lost?’ In fact, they may even be calling the competitor that is showing up in your top ten search for your entity.

I remember when this concept was new to me, so I can understand if your mind is racing with potential risk and reward right now. This new aspect of human behavior, the “Branded Search”, has changed the way products and services are shopped and sold, and careers are secured. More on this later…

Now imagine a different result.

Let’s say you had high quality stories and articles highlighting your or your entity’s achievements and professional highlights. You have likely made a great impression, wouldn’t you agree?

If you type in a Google search for a term that is of HIGH to EPIC importance to your bottom line, and you don’t like what you see… take heart! That can be managed and even solved…

If you act fast!

Contact us at 1 (888) 406-3484, if you see there is something upsetting to you on your personal Search Profile or a local search for your business name. Maybe your profile is not displaying the best it can be. We can look at your unique situation, and devise a custom unique solution to making your Search Profile’s first impression as impressive as possible.

Best regards,

Jay Turner

P.S. Would you like to see a fun example of a good ‘Search Profile’, AND get a free helpful gift from me? Try this… type the below phrase in Google:

 

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