Synup Office Hour #6 - 16th April 2024 | Be On Top Of Local Search

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We're good to go. Great, welcome everyone toour next episode of Office Hour. I'm glad to have you here today.

So, updates for the week, I'll just jump rightinto it. We received some queries related to Google Analytics and a lot ofagencies have been receiving information from Google stating there have beenchanges in universal analytics that they should migrate. There have been a lotof questions around how to migrate if you have not migrated already.

I'm sure some of your web teams, if you'reinto web development and you have a separate team who's managing your ownwebsite or if you're also managing client website, they might have thoughtabout it already. But Google started sending out these notifications last year.They mentioned that starting July, I think they mentioned that starting Julylast year, they are going to stop processing universal analytics data.

That was July 1st, 2023. And all customers will lose access to universal analytics interface and API starting July 1st,2024, which is this year. I'll send you the information that Google has sent across along with the resources link.

So, what really happens? Google launched a new version of the analytics tool, the free one primarily that we are dealing with, that I'm aware of, because of all these new measures that the European Union was taking related to data privacy, etc. Universal analytics, as we all know that we have been using it for years. Why did they need to launch GF4, which was not ready for prime time? Let's call it as that.

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It was buggy. There were a lot of information missing. It was not user friendly at all.

But they had to release it in the market because of all this pressure related to privacy matters. To make things work, a lot of people were not accustomed to it, found it very difficult to drive any kind of meaningful insight. Anyway, if you have already migrated over to GF4,then the next step would be to think about how you're going to back up your information, back up the data that you have for your own website or for your own agency website or your brand website.

If you have a bunch of clients and work on their website as well, you may need to help them back up their data as well. The cutoff date, unfortunately, is July 1st, 2024. As for Google, they are going to delete all Universal Analytics data and you won't be able to access them starting July 1st, 2024, this year.

So, we don't have a lot of time. So, if you gointo Google Analytics website, you will find a lot of information related tomigration and how you can export CSV files. You can export information to BigQuery.

You can even use the API to extract the oldinformation. Just keep in mind that Big Query, if you don't use it correctly,it can be fairly expensive if you're working with large datasets. There aresimple services.

If you do not have a team handy or if you donot have the time to do it yourself, there are services like I found, AnalyticsCanvas, that basically can create views and help you export the information fora reasonable price, for a one-time cost. You can give them a shot if you knowwhat you want. Otherwise, if you do have the resources and time, I would sayuse something like Big Query or Looker Studio and try and back up your data.

We have a lot of data going back to the last10 years or so. That's the reason why at Synup, we are using something like BigQuery to back up our information. But you can give this a shot.

Let me know how it goes. I will be sendingacross more resources for you and your team to look into by tomorrow. Asalways, if you have questions or need help or have specific pesky issues thatyou're unable to deal with related to Google Analytics, just shoot us an email.

Get on a call and figure out what to do next.Okay. Now that has gone out of the way.

There was a new update recently. If you guys are doing local search ads on Google, you will notice there's a new button that we also found. I was looking for 3D mobile services in New York and we saw these local search services ads or service providers listed.

When I click on the Get Phone Number option on my laptop or desktop computer, I get this neat little view modal that pops up with the Scan to Call option, which I think is very useful, especially when you're not searching on a mobile device and it's difficult to jot down phone numbers. That's something new that we noticed. Just get rid of this.

Next update. When COVID stopped and everythingseems to be falling apart, especially local businesses, there was a lot of talkabout businesses moving online, Google moving everything online, that localbusinesses are no longer relevant, local is no longer relevant, this is thefuture, yada, yada, yada. But data from the past year or so suggests the exactopposite of what is happening.

There are some businesses who have exploredthe online medium. They are still doing it. Discovery is still happeningonline, but a lot of relevant keyword searches for bigger terms have startedshowing localized search results.

They're just not localized, they're hyperlocalized. For example, we have noticed a granular information related tocities, even neighbourhoods down to a locality. That's the reason why I thinkit's very important that you localize the content on your client website or onyour website you're serving a locality and see how it goes.

We'll come back to that localized contentagain in the next slide. Another thing that we noticed; I think this wassometime in March that people started noticing it. I started noticing it one ofour Google business profiles.

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So, when you go on to search and you look fora brand and you get this interface, the new search interface for when dealingwith Google business profile, is an option to add an amenity or amenities mapto help customers in your area. So, when you click on it, this is what you'dsee. Add an amenity map to your website, use Google Maps platform to shownearby amenities on your website, select from different types of places such asrestaurants, parks, parking areas, and more.

Simply copy paste the code to your website,get started at no cost. We have to figure out the cost implications becausenothing apart from Google My Business Profile, nothing else is free fromGoogle. And when I click on this, it basically goes into Google Cloud Console,asking me to choose the neighbourhood and actually curate local highlights andfrom design and export start report that can be embedded on a page.

Honestly, I think it's a great way to addhyperlocal content on any given webpage. If you're dealing with single locationbusinesses or even for your agencies, I think there's a great way of findinghyperlocal content, great way of promoting that on the website and not just themap, write about it in the text format and that way users will find it veryuseful and beneficial. I think they provide a bunch of API metrics related toit, so you can explore it.

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I will provide the link in the deck so that Ican play around with it. I'm going to play around with it and try to implementit on one of our client websites and see how this goes. Again, you just go toyour search for your brand name or your client's brand name, just go to yourGoogle search and just scroll through these options until you find that add community’smap.

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Next step. I was talking to a bunch of clientslast week. I think I spoke to Jane as well about certain customers not rankingwell enough.

I can understand why they don't rank. If theirwebsite is not ranking in organic search, they might not optimize their websiteor if it's a new client, they might not create a lot of content relevant totheir categories, but that does not always explain why we are not ranking inlocal search results or even in local finder. Then I started digging deeper.

For example, especially in areas where there'svery stiff competition, for example, look at this search results. This is whatI usually do when I try to get an understanding of the competition in a regionand find out what kind of brands or what kind of businesses are ranking, etcetera. If your client has a generic name and they provide more than oneservice, they do e-services.

They also specialize in snow removal services or other contracting. For example, this specific client, San Diego tree service contractor, he's ranking high. If you notice all the names, they're all in tree removal service, primary category as free service, and they're all ranking well.

If you see the pattern, they all have the major keywords in the business name. Yes, unfortunately, it's still a huge ranking marker for Google. Having your major keywords in your business matters a lot.

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If you have basically optimized their website to the fullest, you have enough reviews, you have optimized their business profile with images, you have added services, you have added products, and you are still unable to move the needle in terms of the local ranking. It might be time to take a different approach. There are a couple of things I would suggest that you can do legally.

Do not just go in and plonk a bunch of keywords into your business name. Your listing might get suspended for all I know. Make it legal.

I think setting up a new DBA for the business is one way to go about it. Make sure you include the primary keyword in the DBA without being overly spammy. Stick to one keyword.

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Do not add something like red maple contracting, tree service, snow removal service, payments, service, everything. Don't do that. Don't spam.

Just create a DBA for that new business. Create a new business profile for them. Mention that information on the website.

Make it official. That way you will have thedocumentations to prove to Google that it's actually a genuine business with agenuine DBA. There are times your client might foray into a new business in anew state.

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Not necessarily to move the business. They canalso create a new DBA in a new state. I'm not sure about the exact costimplications, but I think you guys are smart enough to figure that part out.

But I had a few clients do this and it didwork for it. Should I do it for everybody? No, you should not do it. Thisshouldn't be your first line of thought while intaking a client.

But when you're going through your basicchecklist to find out during the time when the client fills out the clientintake form, provides you all the details and you're doing a feasibility study,if it is possible for them to rank, is it possible for you to move the needle,then this could be a potential solution. Another problem that I've seen with alot of local businesses is location is of prime importance. I get it.

But if there's a huge amount of competition inthe same road or the same street, in the same area, you don't want to get abusiness office in the same area right away if you belong to the same categoryof business. Especially when the same business has more than one location inthe same city. If you're in the same area and it's like the same business, itwill be very difficult for you to get both of them to rank.

Then you might consider suggesting to thecustomers that they move to a different area. Google has this 200 DR or sofiltered that if the same business type within the same area opens up twodifferent stores, they will basically filter one out. We have noticed this withour clients as well.

During those times, you may consider havingthem move and find something nearby or use a different address altogether.Third thing, business relevance. We were just talking about localized content.

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We know location is of prime importance. We under stand this is an ongoing task, SEO is for the long haul. There's no quick fix.

Proximity matters. How close are you to the search? You're searching for the search field. But how do I improve there levance of my business through content on the website? A few ideas, a few things that you can implement, make it part of your implementation guide or check list, especially if you're doing a lot of content and website for your clients.

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Have a dedicated section for completed projects and associated results. Talk about them, write about them. You can have one page that acts as a landing page of the completed projects and then link them individually to their own project-specific pages.

Like us B2B providers who do case studies, consider these as case studies or customer feedback. Each of the project associated pages can also include customer testimonials. One thing that would be great if you can get a video testimonial, 30 seconds of how it worked out for them, etc.

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Have a team directory bio to showcase their experience of the service providers or the specialists or the SMEs at the business. Smiling faces apparently works very well when it comes to Google My Business. Photos, some of those images can go into Google My Business.

But it's very important not just to state that we have like 40 years of experience, we have been in the business for 20 years because anyone can claim it. Show it with your team. They are our specialists; they are the people you have to work with.

These are the amount of experience that they have. Create a section for them. Another thing that I recommend doing, especially if it's a high competition zone, create comprehensive guides about the topics that you're writing about.

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At least a few comprehensive guides can increase the brand value and relevance of the business in that location to a great extent. FAQs, I can't talk enough about them. We have talked about FAQ sand Q&As in terms of Google My Business, but it's important that you have them on your website and keep adding to it.

Mark them up with schema, if possible, to make it search engine friendly. White content around investigational search phrases or keywords like why should we do it? How to do this? How long does it take to create a plan? How much does it usually cost to do this at other places? Because these are the investigative questions customers ask. When they'researching for a service or a product locally, make sure you write about them.

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If you have the budget, if the client ispaying enough for it. We all understand we need to rank for the commercialterms or the money terms or the bottom of the funnel content, but this contentwill add relevance to your website. Especially the way Google is changing, thiswill be a big thing.

Ranking for keywords alone is not going tohelp you. Okay, that's enough for the tips. Tools of the week.

There's one tool that I came across recentlythat was created by Mark Williams Cook, the founder and creator of People AlsoAsk Tool. This is a script that you can use to mine keywords from Google. Itbasically uses the Google Suggest or Google Autocomplete content to minepotential topics around specific keywords, and you can export them to a CSVfile.

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Pre-mined information, we look at what people are searching for. Google Suggest is a great way to get an overview of the subject that you're dealing with, especially to get a feel of the kind of topics people are looking for related to the main keywords that you're trying to optimize a website or piece of content for. You can even edit the script to change the language or make different root keywords by adding where, how, why terms to the main keyword.

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We will add the link so that you can access the script. We will also add the link to Mark's profile so that you can give him a follow. He posts really good stuff on a weekly basis.

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Maybe you will find the benefit. The secondtool is a Google review calculator. We noticed a problem with most reviewacquisition or review generation program.

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We don't usually know how many reviews to geton Google. For example, you pick a business, for example. Let's pick somethingwith a low-rate income.

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Okay, 4.3. Davy Tree Expert, you have justonboarded that client. They have a 4.3 rating and they ask you, can you get meto 4.5 at least? There are 62 reviews at present. All you need to do is add 62reviews at their current rating.

Their target rating is 4.5 and click on calculate. The tool will tell you how many five-star reviews you need to get to your target rating. Again, it's an approximation.

It's not an exact science. So, there could be some variance, but at least you have an indication now as to how many reviews you need to move the needle for your client. I've already started using for some of the clients that I talk to on a regular basis.

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This idea came to us a couple of months ago. Actually, one of our team members from our support team who helped us create the calculator. If you need an embeddable version of it, please reach out.

We'll figure out how to get that to you. If ithelps you, well and good. I think it's great.

All you need to do is go to Synup. www.Synup.comforward slash get-reviews. We'll add the link to our presentation when you'resending it out.

That's it from me for the day. I'm open toquestions if you have any. Oh, thanks for a very insightful session today.

I think there's a lot to uncover when it comesto business relevance and local content. We can definitely have a sessiondedicated to that up next in some days. Sure.

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Yeah. And I don't have a lot of questions onmy way today. I think there's only one, which is related to the GA4 migration.

And the question is, is there any advantage tousing Big Query over other tools for migration? Advantage? No, it's simple. Ithink you can do it without, if you do not even have a developer handy. It'ssimpler than most other databases that we have used.

And Google has an easy integration. So, youcan move to Big Query now if you want, if you like it, and then move it to adifferent platform later on. Fair enough.

Is there any question? You can send it to medirectly or just on the group chat. We can wait for a couple of minutes.Thanks, Jane.

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I don't think we have a lot of questionstoday. Yep. So, I think we can wrap it up.

Thank you, everyone. Hope you have a great week ahead, and we'll see you in the next office hour. And again, you don't have to take any notes.

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We'll send everything to you in an email, all the tools that we've discussed. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.

Have a nice week. Bye.

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