More and
more small local businesses are using social media profile pages, rather than
websites, as the main face of their operation. Columnist Wesley Young explains
why this isn't the good idea that it may seem to be.
Why are we
still having this discussion? Because data show that a surprising number of
businesses still don’t have a website. Surveys from as recently as October 2016
find that close to half of all small businesses don’t have a website, and it’s
not just solo work-from-home moonlighters, either.
Specifically,
a Capital One survey of 400 small businesses
— its Fall 2016 Small Business Barometer Survey — found that only 56
percent have a company website. And only 53 percent of those were
mobile-optimized. In other words, fewer than 30 percent of businesses surveyed
had a mobile-optimized website.
Further,
there is a fair argument that websites are no longer as effective in the local
market. Technology and cost certainly are no longer barriers given the
availability of subscription options for even the least sophisticated users and
slick DIY platforms for those who don’t want to hire a freelancer or agency.
Instead, the challenge is that websites must compete for relevance in a market
with many other media platforms — social media sites, directories and review
sites — that are often viewed as proxies for the face of the franchise.
Today,
social media is dominating SMB attention, a survey conducted by the Local
Search Association (my employer) has found. Almost 43 percent of SMBs surveyed
said that it would be the media of choice if they could only select one form of
online marketing to use. That was the top choice by a large margin, with SEO
ranking second at 25.6 percent. This preference explains why social media pages
such as Facebook pages are increasingly used as the primary public-facing
“landing page.”
Other
“proxy” home pages include directory listings that are sophisticated enough to
contain virtually all the key information customers are looking for.
Third-party sites can integrate multiple functions such as e-commerce, online
booking and reviews and attract a bigger and broader audience than an
individual website. And even Google profiles, knowledge graphs and snack-pack
listings can suck huge amounts of traffic away from a website.
All in all,
median click-through-rate (CTR) from a #1 result on Google is down 37 percent
over the last two years, according to a study by Wordstream. That seems like
pretty strong evidence fewer people are visiting websites and are instead
relying on other media.
While these
reasons are seemingly enough to persuade some that third-party-owned pages are
a sufficient and simpler alternative to maintaining a business website, other
data reveal a different story. Below are five reasons why every business needs
a company website for local search marketing.
- 63% of consumers use websites to find or engage with businesses
According to
LSA’s (Local Search Association) April 2017 report, “The Digital Consumer
Study,” that examined digital media use in 12 US cities, websites were the
second most-used media to find local businesses. Only two forms of media were
used by the majority of consumers when looking at “past week” usage trends:
search engines and company websites.
Consumers
use websites to find or engage with businesses 63 percent of the time. And
while the perception is that the variety of media available to consumers would
decrease website use, LSA’s numbers show something different — 2016’s weekly
website usage rate of 63 percent was an increase over 2015’s 60 percent rate.
These
numbers show that despite the growth of other media, the value of websites has
not diminished – in fact, it continues to grow. While Wordstream’s study showed
a decline in CTR from Google SERPs (search engine results pages), consumers are
finding and clicking through to business websites from other sources such as
Yelp, YellowPages.com and Google My Business listings.
- The top 10 local organic factors for SEO are related to websites
Only 5
percent of consumers surveyed by BrightLocal in 2016 never used search engines
to find local businesses — which means 95 percent have. And 69 percent reported
searching for a local business at least six times per year. So SEO is a big
deal.
According to
Moz’s 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors, the top 10 factors for appearing in
organic Google search results are related to a business’s website or domain.
These factors include how authoritative your website is, based on who is
linking to your site, how many third parties are linking to you and the quality
and relevance of your content, to name a few.
While
arguably, these factors can be fulfilled on a Facebook page, realistically,
that doesn’t happen. For one thing, a major factor — authority of the site — is
difficult to achieve on a social media site, since Google doesn’t consider
social signals such as likes or followers in weighing influence. I performed a
few test searches on Google of snorkel gear, ski equipment and pool supplies in
Plano and Frisco, Texas, and found only two Facebook pages of local businesses
— and they were deep into the search results. In both cases, the Facebook pages
appeared many results after the respective websites of those businesses.
Note that
I’m not talking about searches in which a business’s name is specifically typed
into the search box. Those results commonly return Facebook pages, Yelp
listings and Groupon offers. However, since finding new customers is the top
marketing priority for businesses, according to a Unity Marketing survey last
year, businesses can’t count on folks who already know their name and
proactively search for it.
Maintaining
a website that has quality and relevant content that is consistently referenced
and linked by other reputable third-party directories, sites, articles and
posts is critical to being found when customers conduct research online and are
looking for products and services to buy.
- Local snack-pack and Google map results are influenced by websites, too
According to
Moz, the biggest impact on local pack ranking factors is your Google My
Business (GMB) profile and the proximity of your business to the searcher. Yet
having a complete and rich GMB profile does not guarantee you will show up in
Google local finder or map results. Businesses often make the mistake of assuming
that you’ll automatically show up in searches for your business category (as
listed in your GMB profile) in your geographic area.
Despite the
fact that proximity, physical address and GMB business category rank 1, 2 and 3
in Moz’s local pack ranking factors, Google often lists businesses that are not
in the initial search area while omitting results that would otherwise match
the search, deeming those other results more authoritative. It’s not just new
or small businesses that are affected, either; big brands can struggle with
this, too.
Some of the
factors that affect organic SEO rankings — such as backlinks, domain authority
and clicks — are also essential to ranking and appearing in Google local finder
and map results. Also, I’ve found that having location-based information on
your website and linking to that source from your GMB profile can help boost
local search results.
- 30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website
Just because
someone looks at your Facebook page or reads reviews on Yelp doesn’t mean they
don’t also want to see your website. In fact, consumers typically rely on
multiple sources to gather information before making a purchase decision.
Research by
YP and LSA found that, on average, consumers use approximately three sources
before making an individual purchase decision. And 30 percent automatically
strike a business from consideration if they don’t have a website.
Thus, those
businesses that don’t have a website experience a significant loss of
ready-to-buy, high-intent potential customers.
- 46% say a website is the biggest determinant of whether they trust a company
Consumers
may find you on Facebook, Google Maps or Yelp, but one big part of your online
reputation comes from your website. Research conducted at Stanford in 2002
(PDF) found that 46 percent of consumers made their decision about a website’s
credibility based upon its design, layout and typography.
Listings may
provide business details, and reviews give other customers’ opinions, but on a
website, prospective customers hear directly from you about you. Facebook and
other social media provide a partial view of your business, but the ability to
personalize the design is extremely limited, and your information is presented
in a format that’s the same for everyone.
A website is
a storefront that reflects your identity and allows your consumers to form
opinions on the quality of your products or services, the trustworthiness of
your business and whether you are someone they want to buy from. It is
especially important for services. According to a study from the e-tailing
Group and Oracle (PDF), 75 percent of consumers say the quality of product
images is essential in selecting and purchasing products online. For services,
a website is your product image.
Closing thoughts
It may seem
easy as marketers and agencies to just do what our clients want. Yet marketing
decisions that SMBs make may be based on incomplete or out-of-context
information. For example, an SMB may look at the time consumers spend on social
media and quickly conclude that its marketing resources should be spent in
proportion to that social media use. Or an SMB may make an even bigger mistake
and decide that it can rely solely on social media.
I’m not
bashing social media as a marketing tool. However, it behooves us as marketers
to educate our clients and make sure they understand the context of data they
use to make decisions. We should help our clients look deeper into consumer
trends and come away with better insights to make good decisions. One of those
is to avoid sacrificing websites in favor of social media or other media in
local search marketing. Websites remain a critical part of local search and are
essential for attracting the customers necessary for business growth.
Some
opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not
necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
Source: - http://searchengineland.com/5-reasons-websites-still-matter-local-search-2017-275080
