When coming up with a SEO strategy, the biggest aim of all is to appear at the top of the organic listings for the keywords you have chosen. However, depending on competition this can take a long time to achieve and sometimes you just may never reach the top. However, there is plenty of traffic you can pick up from smaller searches, and also by using Google's other functions. This article gives you a few tips on how you can use Google's other features to increase your traffic and also increase your visibility on the search engines.
Maps
Google maps is an excellent source of traffic, particularly business that rely on local trade such as restaurants and tradesmen. Most people will have noticed that when you do a local search on Google, the maps often appear and the top with a handful of businesses listed next to them. These listing carry a lot of weight with potential customers, and having your website listed next to the map is a great source of extra traffic. Depending on the search term, this can be relatively easy to achieve and often websites will appear here long before they appear in the actual listings themselves, thus giving a great opportunity to pick up some local business.
Images
Google's image feature works roughly in the same way as the natural listings. When someone searches for a term, for example 'puppies', Google will find as many images of puppies as possible and display them on the image page of the results. To view these results, simply click on the 'image' tab once you have entered a keyword. The benefit here is that when someone clicks on your image in the results, they are sent to where the image is hosted on your website. There are many theories as to how you can optimise your images to appear high in the listings, but the first step is to make sure you efficiently tag and name is each image using appropriate keywords.
Products
Google products is a must use opportunity for anyone selling anything on the internet. A small selection of products will appear in the natural listings, however you can see the full extent of the service by clicking on the 'shopping' tab at the top. As with the image functions, if someone clicks on your product, they will be sent to your website to continue shopping (exactly what you want as an online store, an SEO dream!!). Online merchants can submit products to the service for free, and although this can take quite a bit of effort if you have lots of products, the results are well worth the time given. To stand a good chance of being seen, products must be tagged and described accurately.
Videos
As with the features discussed above, Google will show a selection of relevant videos in the search results, and then more under the 'videos' tab. As a website owner, this is where deciding to host your video on your website (not just YouTube) will pay dividends. When a search engine user clicks on a video result, they are taken to the hosting site. If the video has been posted on YouTube, it is likely that they will be taken there, instead of being directed to your website. This can be a tough choice to make as it is likely that your video will get many more views if posted on YouTube. For this reason, the purpose of each video must be carefully considered in order to get the results you require.
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