Search Engine Optimisation - Search Marketing Group®

Why Small Businesses Should Invest in SEO Over Ads

July 1, 2026

If you run a small business in Australia, you’ve probably felt it. Every click on Google Ads seems to cost more than it did last year. You set a budget, the money burns through faster than you planned, and the leads don’t always follow. Then you pause the campaign, and your traffic drops to zero overnight.

There’s a better way to think about the long game. An SEO campaign for small business builds visibility you actually own. It delivers compounding returns and brings your cost per lead down over time. This article explains why, how the two channels compare, and how to run a campaign that starts paying off inside your first 90 days.

The Rising Cost Problem With Google Ads

Google Ads still works. It’s fast, it’s measurable, and it can put traffic in front of you on day one. But the economics have shifted, and the change hits small businesses harder than the big players.

How click prices have climbed for competitive keywords

Google Ads runs on an auction. Every time someone searches, advertisers bid for the top spots. As more businesses chase the same keywords, the cost of each click climbs. In competitive categories like legal, trades, finance, cosmetic and home services, a single click can cost you $15, $30 or more.

WordStream’s widely cited Google Ads benchmarks put the average cost per click across all sectors at roughly US$2 to US$4. Legal and finance keywords sit far above that. Australian trends point the same way. The ACCC’s Digital Platform Services Inquiry has repeatedly reported, from 2021 onward, that Google holds a dominant share of search advertising here, which keeps competitive pressure on prices.

The problem for a small business comes down to simple maths. Say a click costs $25 and only one in twenty visitors turns into a lead. You’re spending $500 in ad budget on a single enquiry, before you’ve counted a minute of your own time. In tight-margin industries, that chews through profit fast.

Why you pay again for every single visitor

Paid advertising builds no equity. You pay for the first visitor, the hundredth and the thousandth. Nothing you spend today makes tomorrow’s clicks any cheaper. It’s rent, not ownership.

Now compare that with an organic listing. Once a page ranks well, it can send visitors month after month with no per-click fee attached. You do the work once, and the asset keeps returning value.

What happens to your traffic the moment the budget stops

This is the part that catches a lot of owners off guard. The second you pause a Google Ads campaign, your traffic vanishes. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a cash flow squeeze, a quiet season, or simply forgetting to top up the account. There’s no residual benefit at all.

Plenty of businesses learn this the hard way. They spend for two years, build no organic presence, and end up wholly dependent on the ad account. SEO changes that dynamic, because the visibility you build stays with you.

Infographic comparing SEO and Google Ads for small businesses, showing cost, timeline, and ROI differences. — Why SEO delivers better long-term returns than Google Ads alone for Australian small businesses.

What an SEO Campaign Actually Does for a Small Business

An SEO campaign for small business is about earning your place in Google’s unpaid results. You get there through relevant, well-structured, trustworthy content and a technically sound website. There are more than 2.5 million actively trading businesses in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so standing out organically matters more than ever.

Building visibility you own rather than rent

When your website ranks for “emergency plumber Parramatta” or “bookkeeper for tradies Melbourne”, that ranking becomes a genuine business asset. It isn’t tied to a daily budget. It sits there working for you, sending qualified traffic while you sleep.

That’s the core difference between organic and paid traffic. One is an asset on your books. The other is an expense that disappears the moment you stop paying.

Compounding results over months and years

SEO rewards consistency. A blog post you publish today might start ranking in month four, pull in traffic through month twelve, and still earn leads two years later. Add more pages, more internal links and more authority, and the results stack on top of each other.

Paid ads are linear: spend more, get more; spend less, get less. SEO compounds instead. That’s why the long-term benefits usually outpace paid channels once you get past the twelve-month mark.

Capturing intent across the buyer journey

Not everyone who searches is ready to buy. Some are still researching, like “how much does solar cost in Queensland”. Some are comparing, like “best accounting software for small business”. And some are ready to act right now, like “accountant near me open now”.

Google Ads tends to funnel your budget toward high-intent, high-competition terms, because those are the ones that cost the most. A well-planned SEO campaign lets you show up across the whole journey. You build trust early and capture organic traffic at every stage without paying per click.

SEO vs Google Ads: A Fair Comparison for SMEs

This isn’t about crowning a winner. When you weigh up SEO vs Google Ads, the goal is to understand what each channel does well so you can spend smarter.

Cost per click versus cost per acquisition over time

In the short term, Google Ads usually wins on speed. You’ll get leads this week. But over 12 to 24 months, the cost of those clicks keeps recurring, while your SEO investment front-loads the effort and then coasts.

Say you invest in SEO for six months. Once your pages rank, your cost per lead drops sharply, because you’re no longer paying for each visit. In our experience, most businesses find their organic cost per acquisition falls well below their paid equivalent once rankings mature.

One home services client shows how this plays out. This Sydney-based electrical business had been bidding on terms like “emergency electrician” and paying around $28 per click. We fixed their technical foundations, rebuilt their location pages, and targeted a handful of suburb-level service terms. Within nine months, they ranked on page one for six of those terms and cut their cost per lead by more than half. That is the kind of return paid ads structurally cannot match.

Speed of results and where each channel wins

Google Ads wins when you need traffic now: a product launch, a seasonal push, or testing a new market quickly.
SEO wins when you want durable, lower-cost visibility that builds over time.

If you’re opening next week and need bookings, ads make sense. Working with an experienced Google Ads partner can help you capture that immediate demand efficiently. If you want a steady pipeline in two years without a growing ad bill, SEO is the smarter build.

Why the smartest approach often uses both

The best-performing small businesses rarely pick one. They run ads to capture immediate demand and dominate the search page, while SEO quietly builds long-term equity underneath. The two channels feed each other. Combining paid and organic search presence gives you more real estate on the results page and builds momentum from both angles.

The Real Return on Investment From SEO

Return on investment isn’t just about cost per click. It’s about trust, lifetime cost and local visibility.

Trust and credibility from organic rankings

Plenty of searchers skip the ads entirely and click the first few organic results, because they trust them more. Appearing in organic listings signals to customers that Google considers you relevant and credible. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is clear that paid ads must be identifiable as such, and consumers know the difference. Organic rankings carry a quiet authority that paid placements struggle to buy.

Lower long-term cost per lead

Organic traffic doesn’t come with a per-click fee, so your cost per lead trends down as your rankings improve and your content library grows. Instead of paying more each year as ad auctions heat up, you pay less per enquiry as your organic footprint expands.

Local search and Google Business Profile wins

For most small businesses, local search is where the fastest wins live. Optimise your Google Business Profile, gather genuine reviews, and build consistent local citations. That can put you in the map pack for searches near you, often within weeks. It’s high-intent traffic from people ready to call or walk through the door. Local visibility can be your quickest path to traction, especially if your business serves customers within a defined geographical area.

Common Objections Small Businesses Raise About SEO

Nearly every owner we speak with raises one of these. Here’s the honest answer to each.

“SEO takes too long”

It’s slower than ads, no argument there. But “too long” is relative. Most businesses see meaningful movement within three to six months, and technical and local fixes can deliver wins in weeks. The three months you wait now become years of low-cost traffic later. The businesses that regret waiting are the ones who never started.

“My industry is too competitive”

Competition on broad national terms is real. But most small businesses don’t need to rank number one for “accountant”. They need to rank for “accountant for tradies in Geelong” or “family lawyer Sunshine Coast”. These specific, local, intent-driven terms are far more winnable, and they often convert better too.

“I tried it once and saw nothing”

This usually comes down to one of three things. The work stopped too early, it chased the wrong keywords, or the technical foundations were broken. SEO done for a month and then abandoned won’t work. Done consistently with a clear strategy, it does. The difference is almost always execution, not the channel itself.

How to Run an SEO Campaign That Pays Off

Here’s the practical framework we use with clients.

Start with keyword and intent research

Map out the terms your customers actually search, then group them by intent: research, comparison and ready-to-buy. Prioritise the ones you can realistically win. Your own Google Ads search query data is gold here, because it shows exactly what real customers typed before they converted.

Fix technical and on-page foundations

Before you publish anything new, make sure your site loads fast, works properly on mobile, and uses clean titles, headings and descriptions. Google’s guidance on page experience and mobile-friendliness is well documented, and a slow site quietly kills rankings. Technical foundations matter because they affect how easily Google crawls your site and how well real visitors experience it.

Publish helpful content consistently

Answer the questions your customers actually ask. business.gov.au offers solid guidance on marketing your business online, and the principle carries straight over to SEO: be genuinely useful. One quality article a fortnight beats ten thin pages rushed out in a week. Your content should show real expertise and address actual customer pain points.

Earn quality links and measure the right metrics

Links from reputable, relevant sites tell Google your business is credible. Focus on genuine relationships, local directories, industry bodies and press rather than spammy shortcuts. Then measure what actually matters: rankings for target terms, organic traffic, and most importantly leads and revenue, not vanity metrics.

A Practical Roadmap for Your First 90 Days

You don’t need a huge budget or a big team. You need focus and consistency.

Month one: audit and quick wins

Run a full audit. Fix broken links, slow pages and missing meta data. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Identify five to ten target keywords. These early fixes often produce the first noticeable movement.

Month two: content and local optimisation

Publish two to four well-researched pages targeting your priority keywords. Optimise your service and location pages. Chase a handful of genuine customer reviews. Start building local citations so your business details stay consistent everywhere online.

Begin earning quality links and pitching useful content to relevant sites. Review your data: which pages are gaining traction, which keywords are climbing, and where the leads are actually coming from. Double down on what’s working and refine what isn’t.

By the end of 90 days you won’t have finished, since SEO is ongoing. But you’ll have a working engine and early results to build on.

Frequently asked questions

How long before an SEO campaign shows results?

Most small businesses see meaningful movement within three to six months. Competitive niches can take longer, while local and low-competition terms often move faster. Early technical and on-page fixes frequently deliver quick wins in the first few weeks.

Is SEO cheaper than Google Ads?

SEO takes more upfront effort but carries a much lower ongoing cost per visitor. Ads stop delivering the moment you pause spend, whereas organic rankings keep working. Over 12 to 24 months, SEO typically lowers your cost per lead compared with paid clicks.

Can a small business do SEO alongside Google Ads?

Yes, and the two channels support each other. Ads give you immediate traffic while SEO builds long-term equity. Better still, the search query data from your ad campaigns can guide your SEO keyword targeting, showing you exactly what converts.

Do I need a big budget to run an SEO campaign?

No. SEO scales to fit small budgets. Focused local and niche keywords deliver strong returns without huge spend. Consistency over months matters far more than a large monthly investment.

The bottom line

Google Ads clicks will keep getting more expensive as competition grows. That’s the nature of an auction. An SEO campaign flips the model. You invest the effort now to build an asset that lowers your cost per lead and keeps delivering long after the work is done. The smartest small businesses use both: ads for speed and SEO for staying power.

If rising click costs are eating your margins, now is the time to build visibility you own. Talk to the team at Search Marketing Group about a campaign built around your budget, your market and your goals. The best time to start was two years ago. The second best time is today.

How to get 5-star reviews for your business

July 5, 2022

We all want to be recognized for our hard work. For businesses, that recognition comes in the form of the coveted 5-star rating.

Everyone wants five stars to call themselves a 5-star business. Who wouldn’t? But unfortunately, it takes more than being good at what you do to get there.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t got more reviews or how to get 5-star reviews for your business, look no further. In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to get 5-star ratings on Google, Facebook, and any other review platform.

Let’s get started!

The power of 5-star reviews

You know that five stars are good and 1 star-reviews are bad. And while it’s easy to take it personally as a comment on the quality of your business, reviews have far more power than we often realize.

It all boils down to this:

Humans are inherently social creatures. Therefore, we care A LOT about what other people think.

This is so ingrained in our psyches that 48% of people won’t even look at a business with less than 4 stars.

Of course, there is a delicate balance. Having all 5 stars can look too perfect, meaning businesses want to aim for a 4.7 or 4.9 average. It also means that the odd one or 3-star review won’t kill your business, so you can take a breath if you’ve been worried about that negative commenter who seems to have it out for you.

But at the end of the day, the more 5-star ratings, the better. So we’ll show you how to start bringing those reviews in droves.

How to get 5-star Google reviews

Not only do reviews account for 15% of your local SEO ranking, but they are also apparent.

As you can see below, our Google rating appears under our business when a potential customer searches for the ‘Search Marketing Group®.

Thankfully, we’ve brought in quite a few stars with our commitment to service. But if your customers are a little less happy…

…Well, it’s safe to say that your future customers will know about it.

So how can you make sure you get positive ratings? Here’s how you can get more 5-star Google reviews.

Keep doing what you’re doing – excellent work!

A quick note: before you can get a 5-star review, you need to give the customer something worth reviewing. You’re already delivering amazing products/services and customer service, so you should be covered.

But just in case, do a quick assessment of your business. Are there any areas where you could improve to generate more positive feedback? Have you received negative feedback on certain aspects of your business that you could take into consideration?

Of course, you’ll want to be careful with this. Many bad reviews out there tend to be fake, but it’s always worth considering the opinion of someone expressing genuine concern or letdown.

Ask every customer for a review.

What is the most reliable way to get 5-star reviews? Just ask.

Well, you can only ask for A review. But chances are you have a lot of satisfied customers who just aren’t taking the time to leave a review after their experience.

In fact, 70% of customers will be thrilled to leave a review for a business when asked.

So how do you go about it?

If you sell online or collect emails, simply send a follow-up email. Depending on the type of business you are in, you may want to send one immediately, or you may want to give people time to try and love your offering first. The choice is yours.

You can also put the call out on your social media accounts and display your request in-store.

Make it easy for customers to give you reviews.

Sure, most customers are happy to give you reviews. But they won’t jump through hoops to do it, so you want to make the process as easy as possible.

You can do this in several ways, including creating a custom link that sends customers straight to your reviews. Here’s how to create a custom Google review link.

You may also want to create a custom QR code for people on mobile devices and display these in your store, marketing material, and packaging.

Respond to reviews – even the negative ones.

Responding to reviews allows you to show appreciation for those who have left reviews and encourage others to follow suit.

And who knows? You might transform that 2-star rating into a 4 or 5-star with excellent customer service!

Apart from getting you more 5-star reviews, responding to reviews also helps boost your SEO, so this is a must.

Provide incentives

Some customers may love sharing their opinions or want to show their support, but others may need more prompting. There is a range of incentives that have been proven to work on customers, including:

Receiving a product free of charge. While this may not be ideal for small businesses, perhaps you have a small item in stock that you could use or a service you could add on top for a customer.
Receiving a product before everyone else. Those willing to give reviews are often your biggest supporters. Tempt them with a new item in stock that hasn’t been sold to your general public yet, and they’ll feel unique and valued.
Discounts with your store or brand. Everyone loves getting a deal. This is one of the most typical incentives businesses use – for good reason. You get a review and another purchase, with hopefully more to come. Consider offering a 5-10% voucher for anyone who gives you a review or something like free shipping.
Loyalty points with your store or brand. This may be the most doable for small businesses, as it doesn’t require you to give away stock or price things lower. And it is quite adequate, with 59% of consumers saying they’d be happy to leave a review in exchange for loyalty points. Not to mention that a good loyalty program is a great way to keep customers longer!

How to get 5-star Facebook reviews

As with Google reviews, Facebook reviews are essential to the buyer’s journey. Not only will they be seen by people looking up your business on Facebook, but Facebook pages also often rank on the results page whenever anyone searches for your business.

We can see below that our Facebook page is the second result when searching for Search Marketing Group® our Facebook page is the second result.

And under that result? Our 4.6-star rating.

Now, it is possible to disable ratings for your Facebook. However, this is an excellent opportunity to build trust with your customers and show them that others have received value from your business.

Provided that you can get those 5-star reviews, of course.

Most of the tactics we explored with Google reviews also apply to getting 5-star Facebook reviews. However, some other ways you can get reviews that are more specific to Facebook are explored below.

Make sure your reviews are set up.

Turned your reviews off at some point? Here’s Meta’s guide to turning on Facebook page reviews and ratings.

Ask customers to check in.

Facebook prompts people who have checked into a place to leave a review. So if you have a brick-and-mortar store, encourage your customers to check in while visiting – either verbally through your employees or with a reminder in-store.

This lets Facebook do the heavy lifting for you and means you can get reviews without asking!

Create a Facebook post asking your customers to leave reviews

As we explored above, many people just need to be asked in order to leave a review. Create a Facebook post asking for reviews and a link to your reviews – chances are, your followers will be happy to comply.

Keep your Facebook updated.

People will be far more likely to engage with you on Facebook – including leaving you reviews – if you’re active. Make sure you’re posting on a regular basis and give your customers fresh, exciting content that augments their experience with you in the real world.

Don’t have time to keep up with your socials? Our social media marketers can take care of everything for you. Book a free consultation today.

Wrapping up

We’ve shown you how you can get 5-star reviews for your business and boost your online reputation. While we only focused on Google and Facebook, the same principles apply to TripAdvisor, Yelp, Trust Pilot, and any other review site.

So go forth and get those stars!

For more digital marketing advice, check out our Blog . You can also reach out to our team of digital marketing strategists – we’ll be happy to chat about how you can improve your online reputation.

Our SEO Agency Ballarat, SEO Agency Bendigo, SEO Agency Adelaide, SEO Agency Sydney, and SEO Agency Brisbane services are planned and executed with the highest level of precision and thoughtfulness, leading to excellent results and satisfaction for the clients.

Why Keywords Are Vital For Your SEO Campaign

January 20, 2020

While keywords aren’t the only aspect you need for effective search engine optimization, they are essential.

Keywords are the foundation of your campaign and make all the difference in your results. This reason is why keyword research is an important stage of your SEO strategy.

You might think your business-related keywords are apparent, but using online tools to find exactly what people are searching for within your niche will help immensely. Not to mention, keywords are competitive, so you’ll want to focus on the most beneficial words for your business. By doing this, you’re preparing for a much better choice of keywords. This research will influence your website traffic well into the future, so preparing these foundations at the beginning is crucial.

Once you’ve found the right keywords, your next step is working them into your website’s metadata. Metadata contains descriptions of the site’s contents and keywords linked to the content. The use of strategized metadata on web pages is crucial because they have keywords related to your content, which is critical for SEO purposes.

Twitter lists make it easier to filter the content on your social media account. You can easily ignore content and people you’re not interested in following, and you can navigate your way toward information and people you want to engage with. These lists can save you lots of time on unnecessary searches.

If you want to find your influencers, they are listed. If you are looking for social fun, simply tune in to your friends’ lists. If you want to promote a new product, then all of your prospective customers are on your easy-to-access list.

Once you’ve worked your keywords into your site’s metadata, your next step is to add plenty of high-quality webpage content based on your selected keywords.

You should also track the website’s performance and use tools to discover which keywords are working.

It’s possible to see what people searched for when they found your website, so using this information is most beneficial. You can then change or add new keywords as your SEO campaign develops.

Imagine you own an electrical shop in Melbourne, for example, and you think the keywords’ electrical shop Melbourne’ and ‘light fittings Melbourne’ might be helpful. If you check an online tool and discover that many more people are typing ‘lights Melbourne,’ this is a highly significant difference.

Furthermore, you might discover from the back of your website that people are finding your site with unexpected search terms. This means you can focus on these keywords in your site’s content and further strengthen your SEO status.

The keyword process is an ongoing one and should be natural organic growth. This process also works well for a business’s image, as people like to see this kind of growth. The keywords are quietly working away in the background of your website’s success and remain an essential part of your overall SEO campaign.

Super Keywords and How To Find The One Which Works For You

When it comes to search engine ranking, the usage of proper keywords is an inescapable aspect. So, you need to know the keywords which work with your industry and how to find them.

The importance of keywords for a business

Keywords are not solely about SEO. They can boost your marketing campaign too. The keywords you choose show the uniqueness of your products.

For instance, if you own a graphic designing company in Melbourne, Australia, think about your service’s specialty.
If it’s affordability, your keyword should portray that correctly; “affordable graphic designers Melbourne” is a sample keyword.

So, this keyword itself links your business and visitors who are searching for affordable graphic designers in Melbourne.

How to find the correct keywords for your business

Use ‘key phrases’ instead of ‘keywords

Although we’re used to saying keywords, you must use key phrases — otherwise known as long-tail keywords.

Suppose you sell pet food in Melbourne, Australia.

How will you get potential buyers to find you? What is the single word you’re going to use? Words ‘pet’ or ‘food’ will not work alone.

Each word is too broad.

But, how about a phrase like “best pet food Melbourne”?

Such a key phrase contains the specialty of the product you sell and the geographical location. This phrase narrows down the results and exposes your website to those who live in Melbourne and are interested in buying top-quality pet food.

Observe what your competitors do.

TIf you sell a product or service with high demand, you will have competition in the industry. This likely means your competitors are already using prominent keywords to get better traffic. Study the aspects like meta tags, page titles, and type of content they use. So you can plan your campaign accordingly.

Use Google Trends

Google Trends is an excellent online tool that allows you to find highly essential keywords related to your niche.

This website is a user-friendly tool, and you can find a large variety of keywords and compare them for effectiveness. Such an approach allows you to pick the most effective keyword of all and maximize the efficiency of your campaign.

Regardless of the strategy you use to find keywords, it’s essential to integrate them wisely with your website. This integration is when effective content creation comes to play. Clever usage of keywords within the content on your site makes your campaign successful.

This strategy is why most business websites incorporate a blog page. So you have several individual pages on which you’re able to include keywords without having your essential ones with too many words. Because if you’re like most people when first arriving on a website, you want the necessary information, fast. No one wants to get bombarded with thousands of words on a page.

Meta Keywords and SEO, How They Work Together

It’s important to know you can read plenty of conflicting information when it comes to what works in search engine optimization or SEO.

These conflicts are because the internet constantly changes and evolves, and different ideas and patterns emerge. If you set up a website and decide meta keywords are unimportant, or you have a fixed idea of SEO based on something you’ve read, you won’t have much chance of success.

Your Twitter profile needs a lot of links. You should link your profile anywhere with strong keywords in the anchor text. You can also encourage others to link to your Twitter profile to improve the authority it receives from search engines.

The correct implementation of meta keywords within your SEO Perth is essential, along with many other aspects.

If you’re seriously developing and building an SEO strategy that works, you want to take advantage of every possible positive impact.

For example, you might read ‘Google doesn’t use meta keywords,’ and imagine using them is pointless. However, there are plenty of other reasons you should keep utilizing every strategy you can.

Don’t forget other search engines and social media searches look for meta keywords. With a focused SEO strategy, you want to leave no stone unturned.

If you’ve discovered, for example, your chain of chocolate stores in Melbourne is not ranking highly for a ‘chocolate in Melbourne’ search, then you’ll focus on inserting this search term in as many relevant places as you can. This will be worked into the content of your website, but also behind the scenes in the meta tags. Together this strategy will work with off-site search engine optimization, including listings in local directories that include the exact search term and social media pages.

All these factors influence internet searches, and it’s harmful not to implement them.

Keep in mind when it comes to building successful websites, as with building a successful business, everything matters.

And finally.

What are your keyword questions? Please post in the comments below and let us help you out. Or share any other keyword implementation strategies which work for your business.

Oh, and if you like this post, don’t forget to share it with your friends and tell us which point from above you found most beneficial for your business.

What is Better for Your Online Presence – SEO or Adwords?

June 25, 2018

Any business, website, or platform knows the importance of an online presence. If you’re one of the many looking to increase this presence, you might wonder whether SEO or Adwords is the best option.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) allows you to increase your organic traffic and organic rankings in Google and other Search Engines. In contrast, Google Adwords allows you to buy this traffic instead of getting it for free.

Below, we’ll tell you about both tools and which is better.

Paid Ads

Let’s start with Google Ads, which you might have heard of as Pay Per Click. The great thing about this tool is that you can be exposed to many people relatively quickly. All you have to do is create your ads and have them running to get a return on your investment.

Another benefit of using Adwords is that you can gather a large amount of data while your ad is running. Using Google’s Ads portal and Google Analytics, you can see how your ad is performing and what people are searching for when they find your ad.

One of the only real downsides of this tool is that you have to pay for every single click, and if you’re in a competitive field with competitive keywords, it can cost you big bucks per click.

Therefore it is essential to find an experienced Google Ads partner to run your campaign so you get a great return on investment; otherwise, you can lose a lot of money very quickly.

Why SEO

The main advantage of SEO is that the traffic from Search Engines to your website is accessible. Search Engine Optimisation can be the best investment for your business if you find a talented company that can understand your business and knows what they are doing.

SEO is complicated, and you need a team to pull it off. You need SEO Strategies, a skilled content writer, a web developer, and a link builder to work together towards a common goal for your business.

The benefits of SEO are long known, and businesses that have done it right enjoy the benefits of free traffic and getting a fantastic return on investment from Search Engines like Google. If you want to take advantage of SEO Perth, you should release content onto different parts of the internet; that means you should create content across many other platforms and connect it back to your main website.

With Adwords, there’s limited space regarding the number of ads you can create; but you don’t have these limitations with SEO. Since it uses targeted search terms, you can be easily found on Google by anyone who’s looking for the content you’re providing.

The downfall of using SEO is that you have to work hard and long before you see results. Once you do, though, it’ll be like a snowball effect.

While you can’t see exactly how well you’re doing with SEO like the way you can with Adwords, if you have a better understanding of SEO, you’ll be able to increase the chances of increasing your traffic and ranking on Google.

Conclusion

If you’re one of the many who want to improve their online presence, you should consider whether you want to invest in Google Adwords or SEO. Overall, Adwords might be better for people looking for short-term solutions; however, SEO is best for those who don’t want to pay for their advertising and are comfortable with seeing their ranking improve slowly in Google.

If you want to find out more information about Google Adwords, otherwise known as Pay per Click, or about SEO Melbourne, then read our above guide.

Should Google+ Still Be a Part of Your Marketing Strategy?

June 11, 2018

A couple of years ago, Google+ was the social platform that every brand and business was trying to get on. Building circles and social profiles on the platform was an essential aspect of marketing strategy, and every effort was geared towards making the most out of the platform.

That was until Facebook and Twitter made additions to their platforms which led to massive migrations. The monstrous numbers of users on Facebook and Twitter have made them the social platforms of preference and most if not all brands are scampering to optimize their marketing strategies for these platforms.

The big question since the advent of Facebook and Twitter has remained to be if it is worth the effort to incorporate Google+ in your marketing strategy and every indication shows that you should be just as vigorous on Google+ as you are on Facebook and Twitter marketing. Here’s why;

Google+ in Google

No matter how you look at it, Google+ is still a large part of Google, and your presence on the platform will significantly influence your rankings on Google. Your Google+ posts are integrated into search results. For instance, when logged in to Google, you can see your Google+ profile on the far right, and a the same time, you can also view posts from people you follow. Simply put, even with what Google+ lacks, your presence and activity on the social media platform will profoundly influence your SERPs on Google.

Google Collections Feature

One of the recent changes to Google+ allows you to create a page within a page and customize it with a header image and name. You can use this page to discuss and post about specific topics under one roof. For a business, this is a great way to organize your content and ensure that your audience only accesses what they need without going through all the posts.

The private collection feature allows you to share posts in that collection which is easier to access, and you can create multiple private collections. For content marketing strategy, this can be a helpful feature to have.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is still essential to Google+ and will also be important for your brand. The application allows you to record and host webinars and share them on your YouTube channel. The Google Hangouts feature is going to be especially critical if webinars are a part of your content strategy.

You can invite guests and influencers for guest appearances that can help you reach new audiences and cement your authority in the industry. You can then repurpose the content to maximize effectiveness and improve your marketing strategy.

Website Traffic

One of the most significant strengths of Google+ is that the posts show up in search results. This is a great way to drive and build organic traffic to your website. If you include links in your posts, Google+ will redirect the traffic to your website. This makes Google+ an essential social network tool and, more importantly, a great tool to drive and boost your organic authority.

Google Local Reviews

Another helpful feature of Google+ is the Google+ local pages. It is a crucial tool for local businesses because the pages are integrated into Google’s search listings, mobile apps, and maps. This dramatically improves traffic to your site and visibility and helps in conversions.

If you thought it was time to ditch Google +, you might want to rethink your marketing strategy. It is still a vital social media and marketing tool with many features that are invaluable to any business.

AI is Changing the SEO Game – Should You Be Wary?

September 27, 2017

Artificial intelligence is an inevitable concept. As technology rapidly evolves, we are becoming more and more reliant on computer-spawned innovation as a convenient and efficient alternative to human labor.

“AI” is a blanket term that actually covers many types of technology, from self-driving cars to personal assistants like Alexa to online customer support systems. And now, the topic is on the lips of every person working in Internet-based fields, as AI is changing the world of Search Engine Optimisation and digital marketing as we know it.

Artificial Intelligence is a double-edged sword, as the risk of wholly automated content could make our jobs irrelevant. But as threatening as it may seem, it can also be very beneficial for digital marketers.

Here are a few ways that AI technology can help boost your SEO strategy:

It makes search engines more “human.” As we’ve previously noted, searches are now utilizing Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) to search for content rather than keywords, which allows web searches to match the user’s intent.
As a result, this makes for better content that reads and flows more naturally. Without keywords stuffed at every turn, you can write in a more organic tone while still trusting that search engines will pick up what you’re putting down.
AI provides more reliable predictive analytics. This gives marketers a better idea about which audiences will likely become customers or which customers will become repeat customers based on past information. It helps narrow our target demographics and look at our campaign history to speculate future leads.
If anything, AI makes our jobs more critical (and our campaigns more successful) because we now have an opportunity to appeal to people on the computer, NOT the computers themselves. If searches are becoming humanized and more intelligent, our likelihood of reaching the right audience improves.

With that in mind, quite a bit of strategy is still required when crafting digital content in AI.

Here are some considerations when developing your web presence and SEO tactics:

Make sure to answer questions better than competitors. Search results are your chance to stand out from your competition, but only if you provide the information that users are searching for. So be sure your content answers the right questions in the right (read: easily understandable and straightforward) way.
Put more focus on visual content. The juxtaposition of quality graphics and text fares well in the current system of search engine rankings. Articles with images and videos will be your friend when you try to get your content seen amongst all the other competing material.
Get back to basics. What attracts people? How would you find your voice if you were creating content for a magazine (or some other platform with no need for SEO as we use it)? What tone would you embrace, and what content would you highlight? When crafting content filtered by knowledgeable and “human-like” systems, these questions are highly relevant.
Avoid black hat tactics like the plague. Using such “unethical” methods is inadvisable, but AI integration makes the process even more demanding (and therefore less appealing). As search engine algorithms improve, they will also become more adept at understanding and stopping black hat methods.

Until machines start creating all content independently and AI spawns its search algorithms, we’ll continue to tell ourselves that AI’s place within seo company melbourne is positive.

So don’t be scared just yet– embrace the power of Artificial Intelligence if you want to boost your web strategy. And for even more help, contact Search Marketing Group® today!

Our Blogs