Organic Search Versus Paid Advertising

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From the course by University of California, Davis

Optimizing a Website for Search

492 оценки

University of California, Davis

Optimizing a Website for Search

492 оценки

Course 3 of 6 in the Specialization Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Learn the ins and outs of optimizing a website, from conducting an initial audit to presenting your findings and recommendations. Hands-on activities include learning how to select and apply appropriate keywords throughout a website, incorporating keyword research in a content marketing strategy, and optimizing a site for local search. You will also learn strategies for setting goals and client/stakeholder expectations, building effective analytics and reports, and communicating SEO improvements.

From the lesson

Local SEO

Welcome to week 3! In the lessons that follow, you will take a close look at local SEO strategy. You will see how to optimize your Google business pages, on-site content and external references such as citations, backlinks, and reviews to help your local business have higher visibility in the local search landscape. By the end of this module, you should be able to not only describe a bit of the history of how Google displays local searches but also utilize best practices to develop a high quality local SEO approach.

Why's Local SEO Important?2:02

Local SEO History3:58

Current Local SEO Landscape3:38

Organic Search Versus Paid Advertising5:05

Google My Business!8:57

Improving Your Local Visibility10:17

Importance of Off-site Citations4:54

Quality Off-site Link Building8:07

Importance of Customer Reviews7:09

Meet the Instructors

Rebekah May
SEO Manager & Lead SEO Instructor
LeadQual & UC Davis Extension

Hello again.

In local SEO there are two important ways to get your site noticed

outside of organic search.

Your site can be displayed in the local box, based on organic searches, or

it can be listed as an ad at the top of the results page.

Appearing as an ad requires that the business pay for

advertising and preferential ranking.

In this module we'll take a close look at this paid option for gaining visibility.

How can we use paid search to improve the chances that customers will locate

our business?

We'll look at how Google incorporates AdWords and

other paid features into local organic searches.

And we'll examine the features of paid listings.

An example of how Google incorporates AdWords and

other paid features into local organic search is with hotel reservations.

Another feature of local search is the ability to make reservations or

view available hotel rooms straight from Google search pages.

For example, this hotel search for hotels in Davis,

CA allows me to select the dates I'm seeking a room.

I can also sort by price, rating, and hotel class.

If I click on one of these results I will be brought to the map page

with an option to make a reservation through one of these sites.

The small Ad button near, Book a room,

shows me that these partner choices are pay to play.

In the past, Google tested a method of booking rooms through Google directly.

But this was highly controversial and

has since been changed to send users directly to a third party booking site.

Chances are likely Google will do more testing of this in the future.

Keep in mind that Google is a for-profit business.

So a lot of changes they make to local search results

end up driving local businesses to utilize Google's paid ad services.

For example, as of this filming,

Google is currently testing a new feature called, the home services marketplace.

This testing is currently only taking place in San Francisco.

And this may be out of testing by the time you're taking this class.

The home services marketplace is a pay for

play type of local search result that has the goal of turning queries

about home service solutions into engagement with related providers.

This area works for businesses that offer home service contractors such as plumbers,

carpenters, and more.

The local results service for

these business types is very similar in appearance to the new three pack.

If you click on one of these results you are taken to a page displaying that

company's qualifications and services, along with a button to send a request.

It isn't hard to imagine other functionality, like click to call or

bookings, as a part of this in the future.

If you would like, you can read about Google's instructions for

being included in these results in Google's ad support forum.

Basically, licensing, background, and insurance checks are required.

If a business doesn't have a contractor's license Google will

add a note letting users know that the business is only qualified to

perform services which cost less than $500.

As you can see, there are less and less opportunities for

local businesses to gain organic visibility in search.

A local SEO strategy should involve optimizing your business to appear in

the three pack, as well as ranking highly in organic search.

Even if you are able to obtain a three pack ranking,

you should constantly focus your efforts on improving your organic ranking as well.

Google has been known to shake things up a bit and

cause businesses in these results to lose traffic.

It's never a good idea to place all of your eggs in one basket and

rely on Google to keep sending you the same traffic month over month.

A good idea is to broaden your focus and also look at how you can effectively

compete on sites outside of Google, like Facebook or Yelp.

However, in this course, we will be discussing a local SEO strategy for

Google in particular.

Let's move on to some local SEO strategies you can focus on,

starting with opening a Google business page.

That completes the video portion of this lesson.

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