At this point, pretty much everyone is aware that Google is the biggest search engine in the world. With a nearly 92% global market share, it’s pretty obvious that if you want to attract new customers, it’s a safe bet that many of them are on Google.
But then the question becomes, what should businesses be doing to reach those users? How do you “get on Google” so your potential customers can find you? That’s what we’re going to discuss today. This is a series of Google marketing strategies you can use to take advantage of getting on the world’s largest search engine, some free, some paid.
Contents
Free Google marketing strategies
First, let’s talk about some Google marketing strategies that you can run for everyone’s favorite price: zero dollars!
Google Business Profile
There are a ton of ways a Google Business Profile can be a great asset to any company, and the best news is that it’s free!
From the highest level, Google Business Profiles are free business listings that you get to customize about your company.
Better yet, there are specific solutions depending on what type of business you have.
How to get started
If you haven’t set up or claimed your Google Business Profile, that’s going to be your first step. Then, you’ll want to optimize your listing to give your business the best chance of showing for relevant local searches.
For restaurants, you can have menu highlights, show your dining options, accept reservations, and take online orders all directly from your GBP page.
If you’re a service, like the roofing companies shown above, you can show your credentials easily, handle quotes, users can schedule appointments directly from these listings and more.
Lastly, if you’re a retailer, you can show off your products and let customers know how they’re able to shop your store, whether in-store, curbside pick up, delivery, and more.
No matter what your business is, there’s an option for you on Google Business Profiles.
? Are your listings outdated? Find out with our Free Business Listings Grader!
Google Analytics/GA4
Another free Google marketing strategy I have for you is the free website analytics tool Google Analytics 4, or its more colloquial name in the industry, GA4.
GA4 allows you to add some small snippets of code to all of the pages of your website and then see how those users engage on your website. There are lots of different insights you can gain, some I’ll mention below, and GA4 is a very powerful tool if you set it up from day one and monitor performance over time.
It even helps you understand how your Google marketing strategies are working. You’re able to segment users whether they came from your organic, paid listings, or Google Business Profile listings, plus you’ll better understand if your site and its content are compelling by how users engage.
Lastly, you can create Events, Key Events, and Conversions based on actions users can take on your site, then you can monitor how those specific actions are taken. This is pretty similar to conversion tracking in Google Ads, but with quite a bit more customization.
How to get started
Here is an overview of some of the reports in GA4 you can use to see how people are engaging on your website to help you get enthusiastic about using this tool:
- Realtime: This report does exactly what it sounds like–it tells you how many users are on your site right now, where they are in the world, what pages they’re on, and any events that they’ve executed.
- Engagement: These reports let you see how long users have been on your site, the number of pages they’ve viewed, which pages they’ve seen, and the events they’ve taken on those pages.
- Acquisition: Ever wondered how your users make their way to your website? The acquisition reports will tell you just that. You can see the source, whether organic, paid, or otherwise, as well as the campaign and term they used to find you in this section.
- Monetization: If you’re an ecommerce shop or if you sell anything of value on your site, you can track those purchases, the value sold, and how often users come back and make repeat purchases in this section.
? Free guide >> 10 Tangible & Free Ways to Get on the First Page of Google
Low-cost Google marketing strategies
These strategies aren’t 100% free—they’ll likely incur some cost but it probably won’t be the biggest chunk of your marketing budget.
A compelling website
While a Google Business Profile is a very valuable area of real estate on a search results page and a highly customizable space, that’s only a small range of impact you get to have on potential customers. Sometimes, you can’t fit everything you’d like to into those listings and you may not answer all the questions your customers will have. That’s where a compelling website will come into play.
I’ll be pretty brief about this section because there are an infinite number of directions you can go with a website. You can have an out-of-the-box template where all you do is add in some info and pictures or you can go the fully custom-built route. Neither option is “right” or “wrong,” but there are some things you should keep in mind when getting your site set up.
How to get started
Here is my list of priorities for a compelling website in 2024:
- Fast page load time: No one wants to wait more than five seconds for a website to load. I don’t care how pretty it ends up being. Invest in a site that loads quickly, no matter what internet connection users have, otherwise, you’ll lose a portion of your audience before you ever have a chance to convert them.
- Mobile compatible: We all have tiny computers in our hands at all times, but many sites are still not conducive to a seamless mobile experience. Just like load times, don’t frustrate your potential customers with a bad mobile experience. Even if you have to ditch some of the bells and whistles from the desktop version, I guarantee your customers won’t miss them as long as the site is still functional and informational.
- All product/service information included: Don’t skimp on the details. In this information age, shoppers are savvier than ever and they can tell when you’re hiding something. Don’t leave out any details of what you’re selling, even if you have to add it to additional pages where people can learn more information. Give specifications, compatibility guides, customer reviews, and lots of photos. Anything you would need to decide for yourself.
- Interesting images: Use images that actually show what you do or sell. So many sites only have stock images, and while that’s fine and an okay solution, you can do better. Not only do we all have tiny computers in our hands at all times, we also have cameras. And darn good ones at that. If you can’t afford a professional photographer, don’t be afraid to take photos using your phone. They might not be polished, but you’ll be surprised at how well realistic photos resonate with customers when they’re actually helpful.
- Clear calls to action: We all want to generate business and this is where you do it. Make sure there are clear next steps for your potential customers at every step of the way. Include phone numbers on all pages if you want phone calls. Add forms to pages when you want people to submit inquiries. Provide a scheduling tool if you’re willing to let them book an appointment directly on your site. Make sure you can capitalize on the good site experience you’ve created with all the steps above and help your potential customers convert into actual customers.
?? Speaking of clear calls to action… Free guide download >> The 42 Best Call to Action Phrases Ever (& Why They Work)
Search engine optimization
Aside from the text on your site, be sure you’re employing at least the basics of search engine optimization. SEO is the practice of improving your website to be more visible on Google.
There are a few ways you can do this through technical, on-site, and off-site practices. Since you don’t pay for organic queries, SEO is a very attractive strategy for many companies to employ and there are infinite resources for you to leverage, but it’s also one of the most competitive. You could either go the DIY route and read up on SEO articles around the web, or you could hire an agency to do the work for you.
How to get started
Here is a list of things to keep top of mind while looking into SEO practices:
- Technical SEO: Be sure your site is crawlable and can easily be read by Google. There are many different tactics to keep in mind for this, so just Google “technical SEO best practices” and you’ll be answered by many sites that can tell you what to do, but that are also following the best practices themselves.
- On-site SEO: This refers to the content you have on your website. We already talked about having a compelling site, so this should go hand in hand, Make sure you cover relevant topics, your content is original to you, is up to date and accurate, is, ideally, better than your competitors, and includes some specific formatting options like title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags to make the content easy to digest.
- Off-site SEO: While these practices might be a little further afield, they can still be highly valuable. Off-site SEO tactics include things like listings management, ratings and reviews, public relations, content and social media marketing, and more. The goal is to show your business’s connectivity to other authorities in a space to gain relevancy and visibility.
Paid Google marketing strategies
So there’s only one strategy here—but it’s the most important paid Google marketing strategy to help you get new customers.
Google Ads
To support your organic strategies, you can utilize paid ads through the Google Ads platform. Similar to SEO, there are many different tactics you can take within the Google Ads system. That could include Search Ads where you bid for specific keywords and show up when users search those terms on Google. It could also include the Display Network where you show your ads on relevant websites to your product or services. Again, WordStream has a ton of articles you can read about for this if you want to learn more, or you could hire an agency to do the work for you.
How to get started
Here are some things I encourage you to keep in mind when evaluating or getting started with Google Ads:
- Have realistic expectations: There are many tools you can use to estimate the cost and performance of Google Ads for any business type. Use those tools to understand what a realistic outcome could be for you.
- Set aside enough budget: One of the biggest problems I see with companies getting started in Google Ads is not having enough budget set aside to run an effective test. They set aside a number they think is enough, then run a small test, not spending enough to actually see any real results, and then determine the platform to be worthless. Don’t be that person. You’ll then have spent your money and written off a powerful platform used by thousands of businesses with success. The amount you need will vary depending on your products/services and supported area, but use the research you did in the first step to understand what a realistic budget is before you get started.
- Use conversion tracking: Google Ads has great performance tracking available right within the platform. It just requires a couple of small code snippets to be added to your website to track performance. If you’re going to spend your hard-earned money, you should absolutely spend the small amount of time it takes to set up Google Ads conversion tracking so you can know if your money is working for you or not.
- Understand the fundamentals: Unlike organic or Google Business Profiles, Google Ads cost money to run. You have to pay to play, if you will. All too often I see business owners start with only the bare minimal knowledge and then get burned for their ad spend. We already talked about this needing to be a reasonable budget and you’ve worked hard for that money. Don’t squander it by being too hasty to get campaigns up and running. Here are a few things I suggest you look into: keyword match types, networks including search partners, drafting strong ad copy, bidding strategies, and budget controls.
? What results can you expect from Google Ads? Download our latest Google Ads Benchmarks to find out!
Make your Google marketing strategy a huge success
It’s pretty obvious that Google is a stellar place to be if you want to attract new customers. Hopefully, this rundown of some of the Google marketing strategies available will help you better understand what’s possible and how you can get started.
Here are the top Google marketing strategies to try:
- Google Business Profile
- Google Analytics/GA4
- A compelling website
- Search engine optimization
- Google Ads
