{"id":107638,"date":"2020-04-08T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/13-ways-to-prepare-for-the-post-pandemic-consumer-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T09:23:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:23:24","slug":"13-ways-to-prepare-for-the-post-pandemic-consumer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/13-ways-to-prepare-for-the-post-pandemic-consumer-2\/","title":{"rendered":"13 ways to prepare for the post-pandemic consumer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many businesses would love to dedicate more time to embrace every possible online optimisation. But the business of running a business usually takes precedent, and you know what that means: understanding how to improve your search experience doesn’t mean you magically have the time to make it happen.<\/p>\n

Now with many businesses temporarily closing during COVID-19, it might just be the ideal time to reprioritise your marketing to-do list. Rather than simply waiting out the crisis and returning to business as usual, use your time wisely, optimise your local search experience, and come out of the pandemic in better shape than your competition.<\/p>\n

Here are our top 13 local search tactics that all businesses should be thinking about\u2014especially if your day-to-day is slower than it once was.<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Improve your business’s website<\/h2>\n

    Let’s start with one of the largest tasks, but one with the most benefits. There is no better time than now to revamp your business’s website, including labour-intensive tasks such as localising your content and displaying first-party reviews. Improving your website now will mean better rankings once people return to a normal state.<\/p>\n

    It is also worth noting that Google greatly prefers businesses with local pages for every location. If you have not built out a local page for each of your locations, now is the time to do so. Linking between your Google listings and these local pages\u2014with corroborating names, addresses, and phone numbers\u2014will give you a significant SEO boost. Attaching UTM tracking to your Google My Business (GMB)<\/a> links will also help you better track the customer journey users follow through to conversion.<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Improve your mobile site experience<\/h2>\n

    Site isn’t mobile responsive? This could be a great opportunity to bring it up to speed\u2014literally. Your mobile page speed must be within acceptable limits, especially seeing as Google says 53% of visits to mobile sites are abandoned if it takes 2.5 seconds or more to load.<\/p>\n

    \"Google<\/a><\/p>\n

    On top of that, in 2019 Google switched to a mobile-first ranking of websites on its results pages. A fast mobile page speed is important both to rank on searches and to retain leads once they click on your website. Plus, as consumers are spending more time online due to isolation (desktop and laptop), ensuring your mobile experience is just as good will help you once people return to normal (mobile!) life.<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Improve your listing images<\/h2>\n

    Many businesses have a default street view as their main images. This is both unappealing to customers and misses out on potential SEO benefits. In contrast, having a multitude of images of both the interior and exterior of your business can greatly improve your rankings and conversion rates.<\/p>\n

    This is not just a matter of looking professional. Google’s Vision AI looks at the content of your images and uses those to match your business with appropriate queries. It can identify the contents of an image, including corporate logos and displayed products\u2014so it has the capability to identify both your business’s branding as well as things you may sell, such as phones or sunglasses. In fact, the AI is far more advanced than you would think and you can even test it out for yourself<\/a>. Upload an image of a classroom full of students and it will identify key factors such as “learning”, “children”, and “chalkboard”. It can successfully identify from the images that you are a tutoring service for primary school students.<\/p>\n

    A strong set of images showing every aspect of your business can help you rank significantly higher for relevant queries. So, spend time now collecting and uploading all of these images now.<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Ensure you have all secondary categories activated<\/h2>\n

    Google allows your business to have one primary category and up to nine secondary categories for your business. There is little reason why you should not fill in all nine potential secondary categories if they could be applicable to your business. Google does not punish you for a long list of categories but you could be missing out on leads if you do not apply them.<\/p>\n

    \"Secondary<\/p>\n

    Find every category that could apply to your business. Run an art store? You may be surprised at the number of parallel categories, such as Art Caf\u00e9, Art Centre, Art Dealer, Art Gallery, Art Handcraft, Art Studio, and Arts Organisation.<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Prepare all your special links and amenities for reopening<\/h2>\n

    Google has a slew of unique links you can include on your GMB listings which both improve the customer experience and improve your rankings, including special fields such as menu links, appointment booking URLS, product and service links, and delivery options. Many of these are most beneficial to restaurants, but booking URLs and product and service links do not have to be. Businesses such as automobile service centers can list menus with items, such as typical costs for oil changes.<\/p>\n

    Every business should also submit their amenities. If you’re a restaurant, what type? Do you offer disabled access? Is your restaurant child-friendly? Do you offer WiFi? Spend the time now to ensure that all of your applicable amenities are properly entered into all sites that accept them. All of these special fields and amenities should be optimised where they can to make your business look more legitimate to customers\u2014and make Google happy that you are using their features.<\/li>\n

  6. \n

    Report spam listings<\/h2>\n

    All industries contain spam listings but some are more susceptible than others. Industries such as locksmiths and plumbers often contain dozens of fake listings which only have the purpose to steal leads and sell them back to you. By searching for “plumbers near me” or any other relevant terms near your business listings, you can easily identify high-ranking-but-fake businesses stealing your business.<\/p>\n

    Once these listings have been detected by a manual search, they can just as easily be removed with manual flagging. If your business is ranking below spam listings in the 3-pack, reporting them is absolutely easiest way to immediately improve your business’s ranking.<\/li>\n

  7. \n

    Report spam images, reviews, and Q&A<\/h2>\n

    When searching for spam listings that rank above your own, it is also a good time to search for spam within your own listings. Images uploaded by users, inappropriate reviews, and unnecessary questions in your Google Q&A are all places where spam can be weighing your listings down.<\/p>\n

    Just as for spam listings, a simple flagging and reporting to Google will have the offending information removed and your rankings improved. Tidy up your listings to ensure you are presenting the best possible user experience.<\/li>\n

  8. \n

    Remove duplicates<\/h2>\n

    Google often generates business listings before the business itself establishes a GMB account. This is why there are plenty of “unclaimed” listings on Google Maps. Your business may have a duplicate listing due to these automatically generated listings. There may also be obsolete listings from what business resided at your address before you began working at the property.<\/p>\n

    \"A<\/p>\n

    These duplicate listings give conflicting information to Google, which lowers your rankings. Contrary to popular belief, having a redundant listing of the same business will not be a cheeky way to increase your exposure. When looking over spam in your listings, reporting duplicates is another way to immediately increase your rankings.<\/li>\n

  9. \n

    Generate a product feed and utilise Google\u2019s “see what’s in store”<\/h2>\n

    Much like Facebook’s product feed, Google allows retailers to give a direct connection to their inventories through Google’s Merchant Centre. The benefits of establishing this product feed can be enormous\u2014from having your products display for free in organic search results to using the Google-hosted local storefront.<\/p>\n

    Uploading your entire inventory into Google can be a daunting task, which makes it ideal for a time when you’re not otherwise burdened with your usual day-to-day business activities. It may also have the added benefit of increasing your online sales as consumers looking for certain products see they are available from your brand. This is a great tactic for now and for when consumers go back to in-store shopping.<\/li>\n

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