I hear business owners say about their competitors all the time “I don’t have that kind of budget, how can I compete against them?” Well, there are a lot of encouraging answers to that question, but imagine if you had to compete against Google. How could you ever afford to do that? But what if I told you that you already are?
You ARE Competing with Google Right Now
The reality is, if you’re a local business owner and Google isn’t on your team and shouting your praises to all the new customers who need your products/services, then you are competing (futilely, I might add) against Google every day. The truth is, over the last couple of years there has been a tectonic shift in digital marketing and only a few, very smart, business owners realized this and then took advantage of it to your detriment, and their huge profit gains.
The Shift in Digital Marketing
A few years ago this top-secret term was only whispered. Saying it out loud would have made you sound like a lunatic! But now there is data to back prove its real. The term I’m talking about is No Click Searches.
What Is A No Click Search?
A No Click Search is when the person doing the search finds the answer they are looking for without ever going to a website. If you’ve been tracking your website stats then you’ve noticed that site visits are down, traffic, in general, is down, even though your rankings are just as good if not better. That is because of No Click Searches.
Let me give you a simple scenario: Let’s say that 8 years ago if I needed a plumber to make a house call I’d jump on Google, search for Plumber + my town and then scroll through the websites listed on page 1. I’d click through the sites looking to see who was open, how to contact them, where are they located in relation to my house and maybe scroll through their site a little to get a feel for whether or not they looked reputable. Then I’d look at your home page for a phone number and give them a call.
All of this information that I needed to make my decision could only be found on that plumber’s website. And Google realized that. Combine that with the fact that Google also knows that the longer they can keep a searcher on the results page and off of business websites, then the more likely that person is to click on a paid ad and make Google some money.
A Revolution Is Born
Suddenly Google realized that if they could find a way to steer people away from a website and answer their questions right on the results page, then their paid ads profits would jump up. You’ve probably seen the result of this in new information Google offers on just about every search such as the knowledge panel, FAQs and most importantly Google My Business.
As Google has gone through multiple iterations of Google My Business and improved it drastically it has become a go-to resource for the every-day customer. Now, thanks to GMB, I can perform that same search on my smartphone, only be shown plumbers that are open right now, near me, have a great reputation (reviews and star ratings) and with the click of a button, I can be on the phone with them.
All of that work that research I had to do myself 8 years ago is now fed to me on a silver platter in the form of GMB. So let me ask you, are you competing against Google, or is Google on your side?
No Click Searches = 50%+
The value of understanding this can’t be overstated. With more than 50% of online searches now becoming no click searches that means that you’ve automatically just lost 50% of the people who might have landed on your website to Google. The only way to get that back is to align yourself with Google, stop competing against them and bring them onto your team. The businesses that are growing profits at record pace understand this and are using it to their advantage. Your competitor who understands this and has teamed up with Google/GMB is being handed the 50% of website traffic you lost and turning them into their happy, PAYING customers, clients and patients!
The Good News
As I mentioned at the beginning, most business owners don’t know about No Click Searches and the treasure trove it will be for the smart, assertive business owners that take advantage of this. In fact, most digital marketing agencies don’t know and if they do, they still don’t know what to do about it. The truth is that your competitor who’s lucky enough to be in the 3 pack right now and getting handed all those new customers from Google is probably there by luck and chance, not because of skill or a defined strategy to make that happen. This is your chance! If you want to see your profits and business grow and to seize this opportunity, then give us a call! We have a detailed local SEO plan, full of powerful tactics and strategies to help your business be on the cutting edge. We know exactly what Google is looking for in a partner that they want to team up with and send an extra-large portion of new business. Reach out to us, call, email, send a carrier pigeon if you need. We’d be happy to sit down and talk with you in more detail about your specific business, industry and competition and then show you just how easy and profitable it can be when you team up with Google and stop competing against them.