But…are you actually answering your searcher’s questions?
In March 2024, Google launched a core update to their search engine ranking system, resulting in a 45% reduction in low-quality, “spammy” content (as Google puts it) suggestions for searchers. This has been a long-time effort, as Google started to fine-tune their search ranking system in 2022. While it may be well intentioned to suggest "fewer results that feel made for search engines” to searchers, it has led to significant drops in web traffic for smaller businesses and websites by pushing their content farther and farther down the page.
This change is directly correlated to Google boosting human-generated content from Reddit. As of February 2024, Google and Reddit deepened their partnership so users can “discover and access the communities and conversations people are looking for.” Google is the only search engine that Reddit allows to crawl and index their site to generate search results. Google claims this Reddit boost is in response to user feedback that searchers value learning from other people’s first-hand experiences. The upside to this change is that it levels the playing field for businesses that have an overwhelmingly high paid ad budget and limits other online resources from abusing SEO strategies and publishing “spammy” content to solely gain ad revenue. Reddit claims that this change is to “help achieve our mission of bringing community, belonging, and empowerment to everyone in the world.” But ultimately, this $60-million deal enables Google to use Reddit’s human-generated content to train their new AI models.
We always say, whether we like it or not, Brands are content creators. So, now what?
Let’s start with Google’s top priority
Quite simply, no matter which efforts you prioritize in your marketing strategy, from SEO to Google Grants and Commercial Ads, Google has one question for you – are you answering your searcher’s questions?
When a searcher enters a prompt, Google ranks suggested websites that answer the searcher’s question in the best possible way, meaning, your site offers a good user experience. For example:
The suggested link leads to a web page specifically relevant to the searched topic, not just your homepage (or worse, a completely unrelated page)
The photos are high quality (no stock photos) and have descriptive alt-text
Your targeted keywords are relevant and strategic
Your SEO keywords are relevant to the content on each page and don’t “bait and switch” the searcher
There is a clear, helpful, and relevant call-to-action on the suggested page
The multi-pronged marketing approach
Google is not the end-all-be-all source for searchers to discover your content. As a fractional CMO, TDC prioritizes a multi-pronged approach in creating your marketing strategy that is first and foremost led by your specific goals from quarter to quarter and year to year. There are a number of tactics you can employ to enhance your strategy and not solely rely on Google for searchers to discover your content. For example:
Customize and refresh your content. Make sure the content of your social media strategy is constantly refreshing and is catered toward your audience.
Lead them back to your website. All social media posts should include a relevant call-to-action that leads back to your website so they can gain more information.
Don’t underestimate the power of direct communication. Your newsletter is the most direct contact you can have with your “true fans.” They want to hear from you, they want to learn more!
Use paid ads to your advantage. Meta and Google Ads are incredibly customizable and can deliver great results for as low as $1/day. The key is to identify and narrow your target audience and keywords so the ad reaches the right people and you get the most “bang for your buck.”
Make sure your content is high-quality. Avoid using AI generated images, stock photos, lo-res content, and graphics with lots of text on your website and social channels. Scrollers’ eyes will click away from that content faster than you can say “unfollow and forget!” Hint: Shorts have the highest performance rate on all social media platforms.
People love to see other people in your content. There is a reason why personal referrals remain so powerful in networking. People trust other people’s opinions and they respond favorably to watching someone share their story in your content.
Share your story! Always keep your content pointing towards the why of what you do. Some people call it the heart, the purpose, the mission, the value, the north star, the service. Whatever that means to you, never lose site of why you got into your business in the first place.
Final Thoughts
We’re not held captive by Google, however, there is no easy “silver bullet” strategy that will deliver the results you are looking for either. It can take time, patience, and testing over months to identify what is working and what isn’t. Plus, our audience needs can change, so do your best to use analytics and customer feedback to your advantage.
