Ephricon Web Marketing

So we may have jumped the gun here as Google appears to be testing these changes to the SERPs, but if we waited until Google stopped testing things before commenting on them then we’d still be without Gmail accounts and most other Google products.

Korey and I share outline the recent changes and share our initial thoughts, below:

Anyhow, it appears that sometime yesterday Google started testing changes to how they show the “local” (map-driven) listings in the search results.  Specifically, they seem to be doing away with the “7-pack” or “one-box” format where a map is showing (typically with up to 7 listings) immediately above the organic results and below the top 3 paid results.  Instead, they are showing the organic results higher on the page, immediately below the top 3 paid results, but this time with the local listings and related info (reviews, link to the places page, map marker, physical address) all tied to the organic listing itself.

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Wondering how Google Analytics tracks or reports on local search traffic?  We were too.  I tried doing a few searches to find the answer, but could not find anything definitive.  So we decided to set up a little experiment to test it out…

Summary of Our Test

1. Create brand new website on brand new domain
2. Install Google Analytics
3. Create Google Places Account
4. Click through to website from the local search listing, in various ways
5. See how Analytics records it

So to start, I created a brand new website (1-page site) on a new domain.  The site has zero inbound links, no name brand and basically zero traffic b/c no one knows it exists.  This was intentional, in order to keep the data clean for our test.  I then installed Analytics, and then set up a Google Places account for the business/website, and verified it.  I didn’t build out the Places profile very much, basically just one sentence.  The title on the local listing is the name of the business.

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I recently got an email from a friend who attended several Meetups I ran a few years back.  He had been doing SEO on the side until recently, when he started his own SEO consulting firm.  He emailed me with a problem / question:

His Question:

I’ve managed to get my clients ranking at #1 or #2 for their desired keywords, but they’re telling me that they aren’t getting many leads.  Do you feel that we’re responsible for generating leads, or just ranking them for their target keywords?

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Yesterday Google unveiled Instant Search.  Today my inbox is full of emails from clients wondering how this will change things, wondering if Steve Rubel is right and this means the death of SEO, if the sky is falling, etc.

Yes.  Its the death of SEO.  Effective immediately we’re closing our doors.  We’re going to go become sheep herders in Switzerland.  Goodbye cruel internet marketing world

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Question:

Hi Jon:

I have a question for you regarding online video.  Does online video just add a commercial value in terms of conveying information or does it actually help the web site’s visibility through Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. and if so how?  …  Thanks for your help.

<< Client Name >>

Answer:

Hi << Client Name >>,

It does both.

Funny you should ask.  Korey and I were just working on your campaign this morning and were discussing this topic as it relates to your account.  Naturally the commercial value is easy to understand, so I’ll just address the SEO value (visibility in search engines).

1) Google and other search engines all have “video” search features, b/c as the web gets more mature people want more than just text.  That said, 95%+ of all searches are still the regular webpage searches, but video search is still growing.

2) Even more significantly, Google likes to show video results on occasion when they find it appropriate right in the regular organic results.  Sometimes this can be an easier way in, as with most keywords your webpage might compete with 100,000 other webpages, but if you have a video it might only compete with 200 other videos.  There simply aren’t nearly as many videos on the web as there are pages.

3) Sometimes even when Google doesn’t specifically show videos in addition to regular results, if they see that your page has a video on it and your page is ranking well (independently of any video content) then it can bump your page’s ranking up a few slots and also they will typically show a little video icon to the left of the listing which generally improves the click-through-rate (percentage of people who will click to visit your site).

4) Lastly, if the video is compelling, it can make someone more likely to link to your site.  That in turn helps your site rank better.