The search environment is undergoing rapid change and this is creating new challenges for business, says Danielle Haley, Co-director at FSE Online Ltd.
Digital marketing is one of the most dynamic areas within business at the moment and it is easy to forget how young the industry still is. Every year we witness major changes to the digital environment and this creates new challenges for SMEs. Here we look at three of the biggest challenges and how to overcome them.
Maintaining Website Quality
It is no longer enough to just have a company website to get a good foothold online. Growing competition from local, national and international competitors can quickly push small businesses off the top of the search results pages.
Google, who still dominates search in the UK, is constantly updating its algorithms to provide the best user experience for searchers. This invariably means that old strategies become ineffective. Google’s quality guidelines now require that business websites are well designed, have unique and engaging copy, work on all platforms and load quickly.
Engaging landing pages with effective sales copy are required to convert searchers to customers. Unfortunately, few businesses have the marketing and sales knowledge to produce killer copy.
Building for Mobile
Companies that invested in a new website a few years ago are already finding that it is no longer optimised for search. Google’s most recent update promotes businesses that have mobile-friendly websites.
Although the transition from desktop to mobile has so far been slow as far as ecommerce is concerned, this is changing and providing new challenges for businesses. Businesses need to provide a good mobile experience for their customers to ensure future success.
Security and Privacy
Every year we hear about serious data breaches affecting some of the world’s largest organisations.
Phishing, hacking, fraud and data mining are a growing concern and businesses need to understand the importance of protecting customer information and privacy. In 2014, Google started promoting websites that provided a secure platform; we expect to see this movement develop further over the next few years.
Today, SEO is so much more than adding a few keywords to a page and building some links. Businesses need to adopt a fully integrated strategy on a platform that provides the flexibility to quickly adapt to changes in the internet search environment.