Like most business owners, you probably would like to see your business grow by bringing in more paying customers or clients. Thankfully, you can leverage the power of big companies, like Google to help you do that.
As the world’s most popular search engine, Google provides many opportunities for people — i.e. your ideal customer — to find exactly what they are looking for. For business owners who invest in their organic search marketing and paid search engine marketing, you can take this opportunity to ensure when people in your area or target audience search for the products and services you do, your business shows up on Google above your competitors.
The great thing about Google is there are multiple ways to show up to potential customers and increase your click-through rate with the right optimisation. These are 4 of the top ways Google can send you qualified customers daily with the right investment into your marketing.
4 Top Ways Google Can Send You Qualified Customers Daily
1. Paid ads
It’s likely no surprise that you can pay to have your business listed in prime areas of Google search results pages. Through Google Ads, you can invest to have your business displayed front and center across its platforms and placements, including the top of search engine results, on YouTube and even other people’s websites. Over the years, the search engine has released more ways Google can send you qualified customers daily through ads, such as through their Shopping network, ideal for eCommerce businesses.
Paid ads can be identified on Google search engine results by looking for the ‘Ad’ label. They’ll typically be at the top of search engine results, but as already mentioned, you can run Google Ads to put you in many different areas of Google’s platforms.
How Google Ads work:
To run ads on Google search engine results, you will need to use the search engine’s ad platform, Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords. Advertisers bid on where they would like their ads to appear, such as certain keywords and platforms (like Google search results, YouTube, etc.), and create ads to appear in those places.
Advantages of using Google ads for leads:
- Claim prime digital space on Google.
- Multiple places to run ads on the Google Ads network, including search results, YouTube, other websites and more.
- Fantastic way to generate leads and sales while you wait for slower forms of digital marketing.
- Can allow you to target wide groups of people very specifically.
Disadvantages of using Google ads for leads:
- Not knowing how to properly set up and optimise your campaigns can result in poor performance and wasted budget.
- Small budgets may not get the results you need, especially for high-competition industries and areas.
- There is no guarantee of a sale.
- Many people now use ad blocking extensions or skip paid ads, so your ads may not reach as many of your desired audience.
Tips for ensuring your Google Ads send you qualified customers:
- Ensure you combine your paid ads strategy with an unpaid, organic strategy to ensure you’re claiming the most digital space.
- Make sure you know what you are paying for, such as setting your campaigns up to optimise for conversions, not clicks or visibility.
- Hiring a Google Ads expert to set up and run your campaigns may give you a greater return on investment.
- Keep track of your ad performance and optimise your campaign based on the results.
- Give your ads time to perform, as it may take weeks to start seeing clicks and conversions depending on your budget, ad setup and more.
2.YouTube
As we know, the more your business can be found and seen, the higher chance of receiving enquiries. Posting videos on YouTube is a strategy that can work very well for leveraging Google’s search algorithm, getting as many as three search results from each video. As Google owns YouTube, they promote their videos over that from any other platform, using similar algorithms as their search engine. This gives you a golden opportunity to claim your digital space on Google using YouTube videos to attract new customers.
How YouTube videos work:
There are a few ways YouTube videos can be found. You have people using the YouTube platform itself, or your videos can also be seen on Google search results in multiple places, including:
- As a featured snippet above paid ads.
- Below paid ads in the video feature reel.
- As a link to YouTube in the search engine results.
The more specific your video title and content is to popular keywords and search phrases, the more likely it is to show up on both YouTube and Google for high-traffic searches.
Advantages of using YouTube videos:
- Can be very quick and easy to produce simple videos using most types of smartphones with a high-resolution camera and microphone.
- Optimised videos can get one, two, even three opportunities to appear on the first page of Google search engine results.
- Video listings in search results are usually positioned as prime real estate, drawing more attention than regular text-only listings.
Disadvantages of using YouTube videos:
- YouTube videos may not work or be viable for every business.
- High-quality video production and editing can take time to learn and perform, especially if you’re not comfortable using technology.
- Likely need to invest in a quality microphone, tripod and perhaps editing software for higher quality videos to stand out and compete.
Tips for using YouTube videos to send you qualified customers:
- Ensure you research available opportunities for content your audience will value rather than creating videos just for the sake of it.
- Optimise your videos using search engine optimisation strategies to make them more likely to appear in search results.
- Treat videos as another part of your content and social media strategy by embedding them in your blog posts and sharing them on social media for even further exposure.
3. Google Maps and Local Search
Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is an essential Google platform for any business wanting to get found by people in a specific area. For businesses who claim and optimise your profile, you have an opportunity to be displayed in multiple prime positions on Google, including search results and maps. This visibility over your competitors, including having reviews to help you stand out, can help ensure you are the business getting the enquiries.
How Google Business Profile works:
When you perform a search for a product, service or business, you may have noticed a box in the search results with a map and list of businesses. These are Google Business Profiles. They also show up on Google Maps results for relevant searches in the local area. Ideally, you want your business showing here since most people will call or visit the website in one of the top three spots, rather than clicking on ‘More Places’.
How Google Business Profile works is by showing businesses in a local radius to people searching for a relevant product, service or business name. Businesses can optimise their profiles, including gaining reviews, adding photos, posting and including information about their business, to increase their visibility and claim their digital space in those top results.
Advantages of using Google Business Profile:
- People searching on their mobile will be able to call your business directly from Google.
- You don’t need a website to show up on Google Maps or on Google search engine results.
- You can rank highly amongst your competitors without paying for Google Ads.
- A Google Business Profile is free to create.
Disadvantages of using Google Business Profile:
- Even though you don’t need a website to have a Google Business Profile and rank well, online browsers often choose to call a business who has a linked site.
- You may need to invest in a Google Business Profile specialist if your profile is not ranking well or you’re not getting conversions (although this is an advantage if you choose the right agency.
4. Organic search Engine Optimisation
This last method is one of the best long-term marketing strategies for using Google to send qualified customers to your business, regardless of what type of business you have. When implemented successfully, organic search engine optimisation can help you claim your digital space on Google for high-value searches relevant to what you do, where you do it.
How organic search works:
Under paid ads on Google, you will see organic, unpaid listings linking to web pages. Google uses more than 200 factors to determine how to rank these listings, based on what the user has searched for, the quality of the website and its relevance to that search. While not all of these factors are known, search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists have got increasing rankings and visibility down to a fine art.
SEO relies on having a good website. To define a good website, Google looks at the security of the site and platform, quality of the content, how user-friendly the website is and more. Long-term it can be a highly effective way to send qualified customers to your business using Google without paying for ads.
Advantages of using organic Google search results:
- Effects of search engine optimisation compound over time for a greater return on investment.
- You don’t need to pay for ads for visibility or clicks to your website.
- Can establish your business as an industry leader through your own content and that of others mentioning your business.
Disadvantages of using organic Google search results:
- Search engine optimisation can be complicated to learn and is ever evolving.
- It is a long-term marketing strategy, often taking months to get movement on your results.
- Often requires some technical understanding of websites and search engines to properly execute a digital marketing strategy.
Tips for using unpaid Google search results to generate leads and sales:
- Avoid spammy techniques, such as keyword stuffing, to get quick rankings as Google is likely to drop your rankings long-term or even block your website altogether.
- Prioritise user experience, including quality content.
- It always pays to engage an SEO expert to help you craft a campaign that will help you reap a higher return on investment.
How to Get Help Using Google to Generate Leads & Sales
While all of these ways to use Google to send you qualified customers daily sound great, they all take time and effort — time you likely don’t have. This is where hiring a digital marketing agency who excel in using Google to help businesses claim their digital space will be invaluable to your success.
At Digital Surfer, we can help your business level up, using the right strategies to get you to your goals. We are a multi-award-winning search engine optimisation and paid ads agency, and would love to get you the results we are so well known for. Contact us today to get started.
