Small businesses globally now realise that winning (having your website show up on the home page) on Google pays dividends. You need to show up on the home page of Google for the products or services you supply in a particular region or location. This can be from a single suburb location through to globally or the entire gambit in between. Be it a town, city, region, part of a state, entire state or country.
As a ‘rule of thumb’ most small businesses we deal with at Goop Digital , operate either at a town / city level or a defined radius of say 75 kilometres from their centralised location. (We have clients that operate nationally and across mulitple states also)
We have always maintained your website has two core elements to winning the Google game.
- Must rank on Google (show up on the home page)
- Must be presentable (Graphics and usability) and subsequently convince users to take the desired action you as a business owner require the user to do. Typically pick up the phone and call, however this may also be things like a form submission, make a booking or walk in the front door.
The Google page you land on after doing a search in Google is referred to in “geek speak” as the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). There are 3 main components to these SERPS and each component is now critical to help small businesses win the Google game.
- Google Ads (‘A matter of if, not when’ for all small businesses but be prepared to open your wallet, “it’s time to pay the piper”)
- The Google 3 pack
- Organic results
Cosimfree Home Loans Geelong – A case study in winning on the Google home page
The image below displays a typical Google full home page. The search used in this example is “home loans Geelong”
In this particular example a goop Digital client Cosimfree home loans features predominantly in
- the three pack
- organic listings.
Cosimfree Home loans in the Google 3 Pack
Appearing in the Google three pack has some major advantages and a business’s geographic location plays a key role in positioning along with a myriad of other deciding factors. You will also notice the star ratings for reviews. In this particular example Cosimfree (The local home loan champion) is up against two well known national brands, Aussie Home Loans and RAMS.
- Aussie Home Loans, 5 reviews, average rating 4.2 stars
- Cosimfree, 14 reviews average rating 5 stars
- RAMS, 1 review average rating 5 stars
A quick glance here for users clearly highlights Cosimfree as the standout. 14 reviews for 5 star rating. Clearly outranking its competitors on the review front. A critical factor in convincing users you are the one to choose.
Cosimfree Organic listings in Google
Once we look at the organic listings in Google you will notice that Cosimfree is in position 2. As a user you have been exposed to Cosimfree’s listing in the three pack and now were are seeing them in position 2 in the organic listings. And here is something that is very new.
As a web developer we place meta data into each individual page on the website to have it display relevant information about a given business / website (in this case Cosimfree) in the SERPs. With this website and because of the page structure and the content structure Google has chosen to override the meta data provided and give Cosimfree a profound prominence in Google with a lot more information. This increased prominence increases our click through rate to the website.
Computer display results
The screen grab above is taken from a computer, where this becomes even more predominant again is on mobile devices. Have a look at the image below and this speaks for itself. The Cosimfree SERP results on a mobile takes up an enormous amount of space on the “home loans Geelong” search.
Mobile display results
This current SERP display format is a relatively new development from Google and gets down to many more key factors as to how to achieve the results we have for Cosimfree. If Cosimfree kicks of Google Ads in this market they will truly be the dominant player for home loans in Geelong when it comes to digital marketing. It’s not about the digital marketing budget and the bigger national businesses dominating in teh Google results. It’s about being smartest in your maket and working with your digital agency to achieve the results you need. At Goop Digital we have replicated these results with clients across Australia.
Contact us at any time if you would like to discuss 3 pack listings, ranking in Google for your business or commencing Google Ads.