What is a Google Places Page?

 Formally known as Google Local Business Center, Google Places is like the Yellow Pages of the Internet. Think of it like a Google local web page or an online listing of your business. This local listing can display information about your business in text, image & video format and is tied into Google Maps. According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local businesses online. And… over the past year, the Search Engine’s local algorithm in Canada has resulted in more visibility for local organic search results on Google.ca.

Google Places and Google Maps appear in a Google SERP in the organic section. It’s important to understand the placement. In a previous blog post, we addressed the layout of a Canadian Google Search Engine Results Page in terms of Organic Search vs. Paid Search as well as where the engine displays Google Maps and Places. It is very prominent. Check it out if you require better understanding.

With Halloween just around the corner, and people searching for pumpkin picking farms in Ottawa, we decided to feature a local Places page.

Here is an example of a Local Ottawa Google Places Listing:

Google Canada Place Profile for a Pumpkin Farm in Ottawa

Business Information Section
This section is ideally provided by the business owner. It includes the name of the business, relevant categories, a short description, address, website and photo number. A web visitor can phone you, visit your website for more information and get directions via Google Maps (Canada).

Photo Section
Business owners and Google users can upload photos. These photos generally include storefront, products sold and people behind the business. They must, of course, follow Google’s guidelines. Videos can also be uploaded.

Review Section
“What people are saying” about your business in a review format falls under this section. Reviewers must have a Google account to post. Owners have the ability to respond to positive as well as negative reviews.

Related Content Section
Related places that appear in this area of your profile are generated by Google. It’s based on the Google Places algorithm. Google displays other related Places pages in your geographic area. If you are positioned properly in Local Search, you will also appear on your competitor page in this section.

Google Maps Section
This section is also generated by the Search Engine based on your Places listing. Google displays a street view with a map icon to indicate your location. Web visitors can click on the map for a large view and get directions by car, bus, walking or by bike (if applicable).

Google Ads Section
Unlike your listing that is free, this section is for paid ads. This is where Google Ads (known as AdWords) are displayed. While you cannot remove these ads, you can certainly place your text ads on Places Pages.

How does this relate to SEO?
From a SEO perspective, your Google Places profile page can give you visibility in the SERPs beyond your website. Think of it as an additional web property. Depending on your industry, and relevancy from a Google perspective, your Places listing can even outrank your website based on a local branded geo-search. You can also rank in Places for generic searches based on related local non-branded keyword queries. And… your business listing can send you qualified web traffic via the inbound link on your page (SEOs’ love this!).

Your business can also appear on other Places pages under related places and/or in the ads section. From our perspective, this means more visibility in local search!

At least 20% of Canadian searches are local. People search Google.ca and Google Maps to find local businesses. Claim it, optimize it, monitor it -and measure it!

Can you get found?

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SEO & The Anatomy of a Google Places: From a Canadian Perspective is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Guest Post by Stephen McGill

First of all by way of full disclosure, when I started my career in marketing and branding there was no world wide web. In fact there was no email, fax machines or mobile phones either. Yes there was electricity. And mass media – plenty of them.

As much as things have changed dramatically since the late 70s when I started out, the tenets of brand building have (in my opinion) remained remarkably similar. Branding has never simply been about beautiful logos, catchy slogans, award-winning television ads, welcoming storefronts, and glossy brochures or (these days) cutting edge websites and Search enhanced Social Media properties.

Instead branding has always been about delivering great products or services all wrapped up in the kind of positive and consistent experience where customers are driven to say – “Why would I go anywhere else?” It’s about making people prefer your offerings to all others available.

What the last twenty or so years have delivered to us as branders is an explosion of ways to create, build and sustain brands within a completely different landscape. I speak of course of the wonderful wide world of the web and the absolute avalanche of technologies and brand delivery options that have come along with it.  These are exciting times indeed for people who work with brands.

In my work as a brand development consultant I always state at the outset of working with clients that a brand should accurately reflect the true culture, personality and attitudes of a company or organization. It must also deliver a positive experience across all the points at which it connects with its customers and potential customers.

For brands of all sizes these days the most important (and sometimes only) point of connection with customers comes on the web. Quite often the web is now a crucial first point of contact. It is where consumers are getting their first brand impressions. Simply put the web is an incredibly powerful tool for connecting with customers, delivering a brand personality, building brand loyalty and enhancing brand experiences.

But here’s the thing I believe – you need to have a strong brand period before you can have a strong brand on the web. It used to be thought (just a few short years ago) that brick and mortar brands and online brands were somehow different. That is no longer the case. They are one and the same in the minds of consumers and – so they should be.

Amazon has become an almost ubiquitous shoppers brand because it consistently delivers what its customers want – great selection, competitive pricing, shopping convenience, copious amounts of product information and always-dependable service. All these things are hallmarks of a strong brand. The fact that Amazon does all that almost entirely over the web is irrelevant to most people. What Amazon has done better than most from early on is both understand the web and what it takes to build a powerful brand. That is a powerful combination.

So, which brands on the web do you think are getting it right like Amazon?

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Branding on the Web – How is it different? Or, is it? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Impressive Growth

So now that Google+ has been around for a month, users have begun to wrap their head around the new tool. After just 16 days, Google+ had reached the 10 million member mark, much faster than both Twitter and Facebook had (780 days and 852 days respectively.) Today Google+ has surpassed the 20 million member mark, but growth is slowing down.

So how has Google+ been able to gain users at such an impressive rate? I believe the answer is two fold. First, Google is already an extremely well-established and trusted brand on the web. Millions of people worldwide already have Gmail accounts and use Google Search daily. Secondly, Facebook and Twitter have already broken the Social Media mold. Back in the mid 2000′s Social Media was much newer to society. Facebook and Twitter were forced to prove the usefulness of Social Media to the world. Because of their efforts and popularity, Google+ is finding it much easier to break into the market. Furthermore, many people used Facebook and Twitter to share the news about their newest competitor with others. In fact, Hitwise reported that within the first 2 weeks of Google+’s launch, there were almost 2 millions Tweets on the subject.

Who is using Google+?

According to Hitwise, in the early stages Google+ has been dominated by young adults with almost 40% of all visits coming from the 25-34 age bracket. Initially Google+ was primarily male, with over 85% of the visits in the first two weeks coming from men, but that number has since dropped to 57%. Where in the World are these users coming from? Not surprisingly, the United States boasts the most amount of Google+ users as far as countries go with 5.31 million. India comes in second with 2.85 million and the U.K. in third with 0.88 million with Canada (Yes, Canada) slightly behind at 0.87 million. This should not be a surprise as Canadians are among the most engaged and connected individuals in the World.

What Differentiates Google+?

So really, what makes Google+ different from other Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter? While many people have questioned why Google has entered this extremely saturated and competitive market, Google feels as if they have developed a competitive advantage by learning from others’ mistakes.

Google believes that most Social Networks have failed at making it easy to find friends, whereas Google+’s Circles feature is fun and addictive. Google says that by making Circles visual, personal and video game like, users will enjoy and even crave to find friends on Google+.

Secondly, while other sites have tried to integrate video chat, Google+ has perfected it with Hangouts. This feature was designed to be less formal than traditional one-on-one video chats with the goal of creating a more relaxed environment where friends can literally hang out with each from anywhere around the world. The Google+ team envisions people having virtual parties and playing games over Hangouts, instead of the traditional two-person conversation that so many people engage in.

Over the past few years we have all seen Twitter and Facebook battle with never ending privacy issues. However, Google+ claims that they have privacy settings are second to none. ”We want to appeal to the mainstream user who has a low tolerance for complexity,” Google+ designer Andy Hertzfeld says, “and at the same time we have to respect privacy as strongly as possible. So every feature has privacy implications that we thought out.”

Finally, Google+’s Instant Upload feature allows users to share content with their friends faster than ever before. True to its name, Instant Upload automatically uploads content such as photos literally instantly.

Moving Forward

With the introduction of the Google+ iPhone app last week, Google continues it’s pursuit of Social Media supremacy. The app, which is very clean and intuitive, soared to the top of Apple’s most downloaded list within 24 hours of it’s launch.

But what does all this mean for your business? While Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are used by millions of businesses worldwide, Google+ had asked that businesses refrain from creating profiles – for the time being. Google+ has begun disabling accounts created by businesses while they work on developing a platform that will allow businesses to use Google+ to interact with customers on the Social Network. Google+ product manager Christian Oestlien provided users with this update on business profiles last week.

So for now, businesses must play the waiting game. While this main seem like a pain, here at WebFuel we think it will be worth the wait. Expect for the business profiles to be designed not only aesthetically pleasing, but also with fully integrated analytics and highly sophisticated sharing options. And knowing Google, it will be fully integrated with Search. It promises to be worth the wait.

In the meantime, get yourself a personal profile on Google+. Play around with it – familiarize yourself with the interface, its functionality and features such as Circles, Hangouts and Instant Upload. The more comfortable you become with Google+ now, the easier it will to incorporate your business profile later this fall.

Are you on Google+? What are your initial thoughts? Does it really have what it takes to overtake Facebook and Twitter?

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Google+: Initial Reaction and Moving Forward is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Stick around and I’ll tell you why you should be thinking about this very important SEO tactic. Even more, it is a smart business move to implement on your web presence.

Page Load Speed

In the early days of the Internet, people threw up a website and watched visitors arrive in droves. They just figured web surfers would find them, and buy their stuff. So the quality and load speed of a web presence really wasn’t all that important. In fact it was a matter of “what you don’t know won’t hurt you.”.

The Internet world has come a long way over a very short period of time. Things are going so fast, and technology is developing so quickly, it is hard to keep up. These days, one has to be all over their website in so many ways. Competition is fierce. So it is obvious that a website owner needs to be constantly tweaking all aspects of their web presence.

Enter Google. The good folks in Mountain View (Google’s Global HQ) are constantly tweaking their Search algorithms with the goal of providing high quality and meaningful results to web surfers. It’s not simply a matter of putting up a web page or blog post and having people find it. You need to work at it (At WebFuel, we do – every single day!). Ranking high in Search is a moving target. Site speed is playing an increasingly larger role in how a website ranks in a Google Search.

You may recall that Google announced their intentions of including site speed as a ranking factor as far back as the Fall of 2009. Things have progressed since then – to the point of Google putting in place a tool that will help Webmasters actually see how well they are doing in Google’s eyes.

The experimental tool is straightforward to use. Simply type in a website URL and Google will come back with suggestions for how to improve that web page’s speed (You could run the test on every URL of your website). The suggestions are ranked as either High, Medium or Low. You simply work your way through their optimization tips – and watch your score increase as you progress. In addition, Google displays which best practices a website is already following (and those you are not). I like this approach as I can now go into Google Analytics, see which pages are the most popular and start tweaking at the individual page level – if need be.

Serious stuff!

Google has also upped their game by making a nifty addition to Google Analytics – the ability to measure page load times across your entire website. That is right, you can now measure the performance of each and every page on your website!

You must be wondering how the WebFuel website fares in all of this. We rate a healthy 91 out of 100 in Google’s Page Speed Test.

This is better than most websites I have tested. The aforementioned aside, am I happy? No! I will only be happy when we rate 100/100.

User Experience

Pop quiz. How long do you hang around a website if the site’s pages load slowly? A rhetorical question. You don’t. Site abandonment is often times the end result of a website with pages that load slowly. Studies show that surfers start to twitch after about 3 seconds. Then they leave… And will often tell others about their negative experience.

The following graphic from Strangeloopnetworks outlines things very well.

A curious aside on this topic. I see the same problems on almost every website I have tested. This is un-nerving inasmuch as some of the sites I have tested are relatively new. I guess page load times, user experience, and high Search Engine rankings are more important to we “WebFuelers” (Should it say “us WebFuelers” instead of “we WebFuelers”? No) then they are to some web designers (tongue in cheek).

Should one be worried about Page load times to the point of obsession (Like I am)? Probably not as it is one of over 200 factors Google takes into consideration in their ever-changing and and ever-evolving algorithms. That being said, a website owner would be remiss in not remedying anything that could negatively affect Search Engine rankings and user experience.

At WebFuel, we specialize in helping you get found on the web. Our areas of expertise span SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing & Measurement. How does your website rank in terms of (SEO) page speed performance? If you think there is room for improvement, please contact us. We’ll be able to help you improve your website’s speed – and hence, your end-user’s experience & SEO.

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The Need for Speed – Slow Page Load Times Will Have a Negative Effect on Website SEO and Conversions is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

May 30, 2011 – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada –– WebFuel Inc. an Ottawa-based, full-service Search Engine Optimization (SEO) agency, is pleased to announce the appointment of Information Technology industry veteran Les Faber to the position of Director of Technology, effective immediately.

With over 25 years of consulting experience garnered primarily with global technology and information management service providers, Les Faber joins WebFuel at a time when the company is experiencing increased demand for its core SEO agency services which help companies increase their visibility on the Internet.

Les Faber, Directory of Technology, WebFuel

In his new role with WebFuel, Les Faber will take the lead in shaping the firm’s sustainable technology infrastructure and platforms, which will be expanded to support continued company growth and enhance the delivery of ethical search services. WebFuel’s core services include – a comprehensive range of SEO Services, Google AdWords Services, Google Analytics Services and Social Media Services.

“WebFuel has always been singularly focused on working with companies who are serious about search,” says Les Faber. “What I think my appointment shows is that WebFuel is also very serious about implementing the kind of technologies that can drive solutions for our clients. While what we deliver to customers are comprehensive search agency services, the technologies we employ are an integral part of powering successful and seamless SEO service delivery.”

In addition to developing the strategies behind WebFuel’s core technologies, Les Faber will draw on his years of consulting and project management experience to provide guidance to WebFuel customers. Increasingly WebFuel clients are facing more complex choices and issues as they manage expanded web properties.

“Just a few years ago, WebFuel customers were likely only concerned about the visibility of a single website,” Les Faber says. “Today they are likely still managing their main site, but also could well be responsible for a mobile site, a growing number of social media properties, online advertising programs, custom landing pages, web analytics and much, much more. When our customers need us, WebFuel will be there and happy to help.”

For more information contact:

Helen Faber
President & Search Strategist
WebFuel Inc.
Telephone: 1.613.302.1057
Email: helen@webfuel.ca

About WebFuel Inc.

Founded in 2004, WebFuel is an Ottawa-based, full service Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Agency that specializes in Canadian Search. WebFuel search agency services include Organic Search, Paid Search, Local Search, Social Search and Search Analytics. WebFuel services are driven by the latest SEO knowledge, developed using ethical strategies and delivered by employing industry best practices. With experience in a wide range of vertical markets, WebFuel is committed to empowering both domestic and international clients who want to improve their search engine rankings in Canadian searches.

WebFuel is a Google™ AdWords Certified Partner and a strong supporter of SEMPO Canada, a non-profit professional association working to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in Canada.

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Les Faber Joins SEO Agency WebFuel As Director of Technology is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Search

• Google makes 200-300 changes every year – and they kill off 2/3 of their initiatives.
• Google’s efficiency with Search saves us about 350 million hours per year.
• BING stands for “Bing Is Not Google”
• There are more searches made on Twitter each month than Yahoo! And Bing combined
• Google Instant isn’t changing the way people Search, but the way they read the results. With Instant, searchers rarely look past the top 5 results.
• Google Instant decreased time to click by 50%
• SEO is not just about rankings, it’s about conversions
• 3 key success factors for Search: Relevance, Speed and Usefulness
• The average search query on Google today is 4.3 words
• Over 50% of queries are over 3 words in length – and 2/3 of them yield no exact match
• Local Search queries are up 54% year over year.
• YouTube is the 2^nd most popular Search Engine on the planet
• When optimizing videos, follow similar SEO practices – links always matter!
• Multi-lingual SEO is a whole other ball game. Adidas faced many challenges with international campaigns which included SEO for 19 languages and the use of slang terms
• With multi-lingual SEO, you can’t just translate keywords. You need to consider different dialects of languages in different regions
• Your homepage is not a consumer’s first impression of your brand online. It’s what they see on a Search Engine Results Page.
• Go after those who are actively searching for you, stop searching for them.
• Are you optimizing your landing page? Bring users to where they want to be. Stop sending them on a wild goose chase.
• Always add negative keywords into your PPC campaigns.

Social Media

• There are over 1 billion Social Media users worldwide spending 2 billion minutes a month
• 25% of activity on Facebook is from a mobile device
• Facebook is becoming a bigger enemy to Google than Microsoft is.
• Three often overlooked YouTube Ranking factors: 1) Increase of views over time 2) Quantity of inbound links 3) Inclusion of video in playlists
• When it comes to Social Media don’t ask What – ask Why? “What” is a tactic, “Why” is a strategy.
• Foursquare experienced 3400% growth in 2010
• When creating a Facebook Deal consider the “What if’s”. What if 500 people claim a 50% off deal? Can you support your deals?
• The 4 pillars of Location Based Strategy: Context, Location, Social Interaction and Platforms

Mobile

• 101 million smartphones were sold in Q4 of 2010 compared to only 94 million PC’s
• 2011 will be the year of mobile – expect for it to really take off
• A major difficulty faced with mobile advertising is the discrepancy between a user’s location vs. their destination.
• Is your website optimized for mobile? If not, do it.
• All 5 of Google’s strategic initiatives for 2011 revolve around mobile
• 544.6 million text messages were sent in Q2 of 2010

Online Reviews

• 62% of consumers read reviews online before making a purchase
• 62% of people trust online ratings and reviews of people they don’t know
• 18% of people who were contacted by a company after they had left a negative review ended up buying more from that company in the future
• 33% of those mentioned above removed their negative review, and 34% went on to write a positive review about their experience.
• A bad review online shouldn’t be seen as a threat. It is a great opportunity to address the problem, satisfy that customer, and show others that you care.

Quotes

• “How do you demand innovation, creativity and radical rethinking if you can’t imagine it?” – Avinash Kaushik
• “My three year old son will look at a keyboard the a same way I look at a rotary phone” – Mitch Joel
• “Plugging your computer into a phone line to get Internet ten years ago was so barbaric. Look how far we’ve come.” – Mitch Joel
• “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” – Chris Anderson
• “Never do anything in marketing that doesn’t add economic value to your company.” – Mitch Joel
• “Incorporate your digital marketing efforts into your marketing mix. Think “with” not “instead of”.”
• “Just because someone is on Facebook all day it doesn’t make them a Social Media Marketing expert. I turn the lights on when I walk into a room, am I an electrician? No. “ – Mitch Joel
• “Display will grow into a $200 billion market” – Eric Schmidt
• “Search is the connection between intent and content.” – Bill Barnes

That’s all folks! Two days of intense sessions with lots of great insights and takeaways. Have you considered these strategies when it comes to marketing your business online?

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Search Marketing Expo Toronto Recap is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Not sure if you are? Here are two very simple tests:

1. Country-Specific Search Engines

Using Google Canada, try a brand name search for your “business name” (use quotes if your company name is more than one word). Google.ca also offers searches in the French (français) language. Test this option as well, if applicable. You can also conduct this test by using Yahoo! Canada and Bing Canada (be sure to select the “only from Canada” option).

Does your website appear in the search results? And… are you getting high rankings? We recommend first page results.

2. Country-Specific Search Traffic

Using Google Analytics (or another web analytics program), check which countries your search traffic is coming from. If you want to get found by Canadians, you should see these results in your Map Overlay and country-specific data. You can even drill down to find out the language used in the Search (Canadian English or French).

Are your site visitors coming from Canada? And… what language are they using to search (if applicable)?

Geo-targeting is at the core of local search engine optimization. It is also known as country-specific search engine optimization. This is an important, not to be overlooked, aspect in both the build of your site – as well as when you optimize for Organic Search.

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Can Your Business Get Found in a Canadian Search? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

You’ve decided that Social Media is right for your business. You’ve determined your goals, developed a strategy and implemented it. You’ve created interesting, creative, and engaging content that gets shared through your Social Media profiles. Stop – you’ve already missed a step. Optimizing. Think of your Social Media Strategy as a party. You’ve decided that the best location for this party is at your friend’s house (Facebook). At your party you are going to have decorations (Photos), a DJ (Videos), an open bar (Events) and snacks (Blog Posts). Everything looks, sounds, and tastes delicious. But oh no…nobody has shown up to your party. No one has had the opportunity to enjoy all of these amazing things that you are offering. Why? Because you forgot one key element – the invitations – you forgot to optimize your Social Media.

You’ve essentially wasted a lot of time, effort and money planning and executing this unbelievable party that no one will get to enjoy because you failed to let them know that it existed and where to find it. How stupid do you feel standing there alone at your own party? See my point? It’s the same way with Social Media. It doesn’t matter how amazing your Facebook Page is, or how beautiful your Flickr photos are, if no one can find you, or even knows that you exist, you will be standing alone feeling stupid.

In order to leverage Social Media and SEO together, you must develop a roadmap with clearly defined goals. Begin by determining who you are going to invite to your “party”. Who is your audience? What do they like? What do they search for? What Social Media platforms are they present on? Deciding who you are going to “invite” is essential in beginning the whole process of integrating Social Media with SEO. There are many tools (free and paid) out there that can help you track, analyze, measure and understand your audience.

Next, determine the location of your party. Is it going to be a backyard BBQ, or a dinner and dance in a ballroom? In other words, are you going to be on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Flickr? You don’t need to limit yourself to just one. It all depends on your business, and your individual goals. There is no one-size-fits-all Social Media solution. Once you have determined which “venue(s)” is right for your business, you can begin to create your content.

“Produce great stuff, and your customers will come to you. Produce great stuff, and your customers will share your story for you. More than ever before: Content is king! Content rules!” – C.C. Chapman, Author of ‘Content Rules’

Chapman is 100% right – Content Rules, and Content is King. We live in an amazing time where we all have the ability to create content, and share it with millions of people with ease. Old-school marketers would advertise their business by interrupting people with full page newspaper ads, TV commercials and telemarketing phone calls during dinner. Today’s marketing world is all about permission marketing. The customer is coming to you and saying “Hey, I like you, I give you permission to talk to me.” So stop interrupting them! Talk to them, engage them, entertain them. This is where content really does rule.

It’s almost party time – but where are your decorations? Your DJ? Your caterer? Your bar? You’re missing the content of your party, the things that really make it worthwhile for people to attend. Write an awesome blog post, post some photos, create a video, record a webinar. But don’t stop there. Entice your audience to share them with their network…and their network’s network. You’d be surprised by the ripple effect it can have. Increased social interactions within your network, and their network will improve your brand’s visibility in a search result. Remember, all of those inbound links provide you with excellent Link Juice.

“Content + Links = Search Engine Success” – Lee Odden, CEO TopRank

Now for the invitations. If anyone is going to attend your party they need to know it exists – where it is and when. Build your networks, establish trust and engage in conversations. Reach out to them. Invite them to your party and to try the food. Listen to the music. Look at the decorations. Make it memorable and valuable enough for them to tell their friends about how awesome my party is! Getting it? And it stretches far beyond your current community. What about all those people not in your network that you want at the party? Let’s say Peter and his friends are searching for a BBQ party in Ottawa playing Classic Rock music and serving mini burgers; will they find your party? You better hope they do.

Developing an online strategy that focuses on your audience’s wants and needs that is keyword optimized and easily shareable will make your party a hit. Track how your content is being shared. Who is consuming it? Who is passing it along? During this process however, don’t lose track of your ultimate goal. If you have a great party, but XYZ isn’t being accomplished, then you need to rethink your strategy. Always keep your goals in the front of your mind, and measure success continually throughout.

By integrating SEO techniques into your Social Media efforts, and vice versa, you will begin to see increased search traffic and interactions with your audience. While Search Engines such as Google have begun integrating social functions into their search results, Social sites such as Facebook have started improving their internal Search functionalities. The two roads are no longer parallel, they are beginning to intersect. Have you optimized your Social Media?

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The Intersection of Social Media Marketing and SEO is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

Here are five good SEO reasons to use Google Analytics:

1. Search Engine Traffic
Google Analytics tracks search engine traffic to your site. This captured data tells you how many of your site visitors arrived via engines as well as the how your search traffic ranks compared to your other traffic sources (direct traffic / referring sites). It also identifies the engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo! Bing) and who sent the most traffic. By default, GA tracks more than 20 different search engines. There is also a breakdown available between paid and non-paid keyword driven traffic.

2. Keywords
In addition to automatically tracking search engine sources, Google Analytics tracks keywords that send search traffic to your site. This data tells you which keywords / keyword phrases were used by your site’s visitors and ranks them according to popularity. You can drill down further to determine more details for each keyword including statistics on organic and paid search.

3. Content Performance
Since optimizing content for search is the basics of search engine optimization, tracking page performance is essential. Google Analytics tracks data on which web pages attract site visitors and displays them in order of which are performing the best (listed by URL). You can also view this data by Page Title. The Content Drilldown report provides a list of top pages based on content sections within your website. Top Landing Pages, sent by search engines traffic can also be identified, as well as data on how well they perform.

4. Campaign Tracking
This is a more advanced feature than the above three, as it needs to be set up. Google Analytics can do campaign tracking. This includes Google AdWords by default. However you can also track any search marketing (as well as offline) campaigns. Campaign tracking is implemented by using link tagging (a unique URL to identify each marketing source).

5. Site Search
Likely the most overlooked – yet a real valuable source of SEO data. This is only for those sites that have a search box and allow web visitors to do an internal search to find information. Google Analytics can track these search terms as well a search term refinements at the site level. This requires set up as well.

Accessing the data, of course, is only the first step in the web analytics process. You need to measure, analyze, test and modify – always working towards your desired outcomes.

If you do not have Google Analytics installed on your website or if you are not monitoring your site outcomes, it is time to get started.

Recent Post: Google Analytics Qualified Professional Helen Faber

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Why use Google Analytics for SEO? is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel

• SEO can’t save a sinking ship
• SEO recommendations don’t implement themselves

Jill

Jill Whalen, CEO  of High Rankings and co-founder of SEMNE, has been performing SEO services since 1995. Jill is the host of the HRA SEO newsletter and the High Rankings SEO forum. Original article published on Talent Zoo.

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SEO: You’re Bound to Lose Website Traffic If… is a post from: SEO Ottawa | Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing Agency | WebFuel