What’s this about?
I’m coming round to Google Posts & have been recommending clients try them for a while.
I think it’s an interesting outcome that using Google Posts currently appears to give you a minor local ranking boost. I wouldn’t expect this to last long however.
Just one more reason to give them a go, especially if you run specials, offers, or any form of events.
Read this extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates 3rd November 2017.
#SEO #SEONews #GooglePosts #LocalSEO #SearchRankings
Google Posts Impact Rankings
Key Issues Summary:
- Well, well. A study has been conducted by Joy Hawkins on SE Land, and it appears that adding Google Posts to Google My Business has a minor, but long-lasting impact on local rankings.
- The study wan’t a huge one by any stretch, but the implication is clear: if you engage with Google, you are more likely to be rewarded.
- It is unlikely to break out of any local filtering, however. Or give you a listing you didn’t already have.
Key Actions To Take:
- Try Google Posts. I’ve been recommending them to clients for a while now for promotions, events and the like.
- Follow the Google My Business Posts instructions to add your content.
- Remember that these posts expire quickly, unless they are for an event.
- Remember to add campaign (UTM) tracking to your URLs to track through to Google Analytics.
- Click here to contact me to discuss your options for implementing Google Posts and seeing if they work for you.
Insights & Discussion:
The single best thing about Google Posts is the ability to have a CTA button and link it directly to an action. Combined with the recent addition of Google enabling direct bookings, Google is really stepping up into the “put the action directly into search” realm.
For businesses whose users search for them through Google, this is a great option. You do need to carefully manage what appears in search, and where it links to, but the benefits are likely to significantly outweigh the costs on this one.
If I’m very honest, I don’t see ranking impacts from adding Google Posts lasting very long. Fairly soon, they’ll be on everyone’s radar and it’ll be standard practice. It’s also likely that Google would start to algorithmically filter low quality results from being shown.
The effect of this is likely from the fact that the GMB listing is in effect being updated with fresh content. Remember that Google likes fresh content (not as much as relevant content), but it does like fresh stuff for its spiders to munch. There may also be some effect from more relevant content being added to the listing (assuming the posts are relevant and, in all likelihood, product-related.
More Information:
The State of SEO Mid-2017 Released
TL;DR
- Using Google Posts gives you a minor ranking boost in Local SEO.
- It’s not the answer to all local-ills, but is useful to know.
- Don’t expect any rankings boost, or this little effect, to last forever.
- Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
- Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.
- Finally, get your content ranking well on Google by starting to understand Find Crawl Index.
Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.
