Google’s search engine evolves more and more every year. In this post I will cover 
“the state of search” in 2018 and what is considered best practice to ensure your rankings are the highest they can be in each of Google’s 3 main sections: Ads, Maps, Organic.
Google Ads (Formerly Google AdWords)
Launched back on October 23, 2000, almost 18 years ago, Google AdWords has been the main source of Google’s profits since virtually all of the rest of their services are free. Google has officially rebranded AdWords and changed their name to just Google Ads.
Aside from marketing aesthetics, the ads themselves have undergone some changes and now offer a plethora of informatin that can be included in an ad to heighten the value of each ad.
“we are simplifying our products for advertisers and publishers of all sizes so they can more easily reach consumers anywhere, at any moment and on any channel.”
Pricing, specs, hours of operation, even reviews and pictures can all be shown in a Google Ad, providing a considerable amount of content value to viewers before a click and site visit is even achieved.
Google Ads are clean, non-intrusive, and deliver valuable content upfront making Google Ads more powerful than ever as a marketing tool. They are a main driver of business for not just my clients but for myself as well.
Google My Business (Google Maps)
Commonly referred to as “The Map” or “Local Results” in search results, Google My Business has evolved a great deal making it a powerful marketing tool for businesses that have brick and mortar locations. A GMB (Google My Business) listing can be optimized a great deal to include things like posts, Q&A’s, booking and appointment setting, and even video.
“Showings like reviews, website content, media articles, categories, business names and other things that influence Google’s sense of how it understands the business.“
A GMB listing truly is a “mini-website” as so much content from a main site can now be put on these dynamic listings.
With all the new features added to GMB it’s quite possible to gain a considerable amount of leads for any brick and mortar business from this section (assuming you rank high). Treat your GMB listing like your website and you will go far with it.
Google Organic
Good ‘ol organic. The section that started it all. In layman’s term, this is “where the websites are” as the only real requirement for showing up in Google’s organic section is just that, having a website online. Google does have quality requirements so not every website will get indexed into Google’s search engine but in all honesty it’s got to be a pretty crappy website to not get listed.
The big changes with organic is that everything is laser targeted. Search queries match websites exactly. Algorithms like Panda and Penquin ensure that organic listings meet strict guidelines and that quality, relevant content only gets through.
“We have no further comment.“
Although not perfect, the organic section of Google has improved considerably. For businesses, a good amount of quality content related to their industry is still the single most important thing followed closely by backlinks (quality links from other authoritative websites in Google).
The two main ranking signals? Still content and links although there are others. Google confirms this but remains secretive about what they are exactly.
With 2018 half over it will be exciting to see what the second half of the year holds when it comes to Google’s ever-evolving search engine.