Two Ways to “Git Gud” at Google and Master Local SEO
Those wacky gamer kids have a trending slang phrase these days. It serves as a word of advice to anyone having trouble on a difficult game: git gud.
Git gud — or in normal person speech, “get good” — may seem like a trite, snarky way to state the obvious and be unhelpful. However, the phrase actually serves more of a purpose than most people give it credit for.
Here is why: most novices who play difficult, skill-intensive games like Dark Souls, Spelunky or Overwatch are looking for a magic bullet that will make the game easier. Perhaps they missed a shortcut, or they underestimated the power of an item? When someone tells these people to “git gud,” they are saying:“There are no shortcuts. Focus on the core skillset the game is trying to instill, and as you improve things will get easier for you.”
Like a well-crafted — albeit difficult — video game, Google search ranking feedback tries to instill core skillsets. Webmasters who master these core skills will find maintaining a high rank easier over time. Even more importantly, most of these skills involve improving your web presence to create a better experience for your customers. As you win, your customers end up loving you more in a wonderful, repeating cycle.
So git gud at the basics of Google local search by remembering these core elements to ranking:
Get a Shoutout from Your Custies
Translation: “Ask for Google Reviews”
Do you currently have an incentive or reminder encouraging people to review your company on Google? You absolutely should!
Casey Meraz of Moz notes how critical reviews are for both the search algorithm and the search experience. One study he looked at revealed that the volume of ratings overall and the volume of ratings from just Google reviews matters a great deal for which sites Google ranks first.
After all, Google wants people to have information when searching, and what better way to provide it than with real peer reviews? Meraz himself contemplates his own thought process when searching and how important finding companies with a decent volume of reviews plays into it.
So offer a discount or treat for reviewers, or at least send out a friendly email asking them for a review. People love voicing their opinion, after all, so a little push is usually all they need.
Give Peeps Sumthin to Peep @
Translation: “Offer Searchers Content to Latch Onto”
A content strategy has emerged as one of the biggest differentiators for Google local SEO rankings. Simply put, companies with more quality content tend to rank better.
That advantage could get even bigger as Google rolls out what Search Engine Land calls “Google Local Business Cards” or “Google Local Business Posts.” The feature displays content from a business blog when searchers query a partial or complete match with the business name.
Back in March, SEO gurus found two example sites: A Healthy Choice Massage and Day Spa in Nebraska, which published posts about the benefits of massage, and Escape Pod Comics in New York, which published posts about comic book and movie news.
Businesses with enough content to take advantage of this feature could see their site visitors’ time spent on page increase as they find content worth looking at. Viewing this content increases their engagement with your offerings and subtly builds affinity with your brand. Since the feature is now slowly getting released nationwide, your business may want to start building out content now to benefit the most.
Takeaway: Git Gud and Get Ahead
In addition to getting more reviews and adding to your quantity and quality of content, don’t forget that links play a critical role in search engine rankings, too.
If you need help strategizing for local SEO and especially for building out your backlog of content, do not hesitate to solicit EverSpark Interactive for our Atlanta SEO and consulting services. Contact us to start a powerful partnership today!