Vanessa Fox is a speaker and consultant in the field of search engine strategy. When she worked for Google she was their spokesperson responsible for communicating how Google’s search algorithm works to millions of website owners. She was instrumental in developing Google’s Webmaster Central as a way to give business owners insight into the way that the search engine “sees” their website. It helps identify problems with a website that Google may discover and offers ways to make improvements.
In her book Marketing in the Age of Google, Revised and Updated: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy [affiliate link] she focuses on things that will make your business stand out in the “organic” searches that attract 86% of user clicks.
Today’s customers turn to online searches via the Internet before they make any purchasing decisions. Search is now the primary way that most people get information. If your business is going to keep pace with it’s customer’s behavior it must include Internet search strategy in it’s marketing plan.
And what is so great about customers finding your business through an Internet search? They arrived at your website because they are already interested in what you have to offer. You didn’t have to convince someone to buy by bombarding them into submission with television or radio ads, you merely had to make your website appear in search results for the items and/or services that you have to offer. Your website visitor has already indicated that they are interested through their search term. All that remains is your ability to provide them with information showing that what you have to offer is a better deal than your competition.
Data from comScore shows that Americans conduct more than 3.5 billion Internet searches a day! (That averages out to over 40,000 searches per second.)
Through organic search, you can reach potential customers at the very moment that they are considering a purchase and provide them information exactly when they are looking for it.
Marketing in the Age of Google was first published in 2010 and has now been Revised and Updated with more current data and recommendations. If you are a business owner you cannot afford to ignore your website’s performance in organic search. Get the book, read it, study it and make adjustments to your marketing efforts.