Difference Between a Website that Doesn’t Render on Mobile and a Non-Responsive Website:

Doesn’t Render: Often, due to technical errors, incompatible elements, or server issues, the website fails to load or display correctly on mobile devices, making it unusable.
Non-Responsive: The website loads but is difficult to navigate and read on different mobile devices due to the lack of responsive design. The site is usable but offers a poor user experience on mobile.

What It Means for a Company’s Website

This change in ranking criteria means having a mobile-friendly design is no longer optional—it’s imperative. Websites that do not render on mobile will experience a notable drop in search engine rankings. This change will directly affect a company’s online presence, traffic, and potentially its revenue. As users increasingly use smartphones and tablets for browsing and shopping, a mobile-friendly website creates a better user experience and higher engagement rates.

Should a Company Care?

Absolutely. Here are a few reasons why companies should prioritize a mobile-responsive design:

1. Search Engine Visibility: As of February 2024, almost 60% of all worldwide website traffic is from a mobile device. Without a mobile-friendly design, your site won’t be indexed, leading to a loss of organic traffic from search engines.
2. User Experience: Mobile users expect a first-class experience. A mobile responsive design ensures your site is accessible and user-friendly across all devices.
3. Competitive Advantage: Companies adapting to mobile-first indexing can gain a competitive edge over those that don’t. Being mobile-friendly can improve your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
4. Customer Expectations: With more than half of global web traffic coming from mobile devices, users expect websites to be optimized for mobile use. Not meeting these expectations can result in higher bounce rates and lower engagement.

How to Prepare

Preparing for mobile-first indexing involves several key steps:

1. Responsive Design: Make sure your website uses a responsive design that adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices. You can test your website’s mobility design with tools like Google Page Speed Insights and MobiReady.
2. Content Parity: Ensure that your mobile site’s content matches your desktop site’s content. This includes text, images, and videos. Google crawls the mobile version of your content for indexing, so it’s crucial that the mobile content is complete and of high quality.
3. Structured Data: Verify that structured data is present on your site’s desktop and mobile versions. Structured data helps Google understand your pages’ content and can improve your search visibility.
4. Performance Optimization: Optimize your site for speed and performance on mobile devices. Use techniques like image compression, lazy loading, and leveraging browser caching to enhance load times.

The Future of Mobile-First Indexing

The move to mobile-first indexing is just the beginning of a broader shift towards prioritizing mobile experiences. The online search experience is being influenced by societal, technological, and competitive forces like never before, so here are some future trends to consider and plan for:

1. Voice Search Optimization: As mobile devices are commonly used for voice searches, optimizing for voice search will become increasingly important. This change involves focusing on natural language, long-tail keywords, and answering specific questions users might ask.
2. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): PWAs combine the best of web and mobile apps, offering fast, reliable, and engaging experiences. Adopting PWAs can further enhance the mobile experience and keep users engaged.
3. AI and Machine Learning: Google’s algorithms will continue progressing in AI and machine learning. It is imperative for companies to stay current with best practices and emerging SEO and web development trends.
4. Enhanced User Experience: As Google emphasizes user experience (UX) metrics like Core Web Vitals, companies must prioritize UX in their mobile design strategies. This focus includes aspects like loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

Google’s decision to enforce mobile-first indexing marks a significant juncture in the future of the web. Companies must adapt to this change by ensuring their websites are mobile-responsive, user-friendly, and optimized for performance. By embracing these practices, businesses can maintain their search engine visibility, meet customer expectations, and stay competitive in an increasingly mobile-centric world.

If you are concerned about your website’s mobile design, contact Power Marketing for a free analysis and consultation.

The post As of July 5th, 2024, Google Will No Longer Index Non-Mobile Websites appeared first on Power-Marketing.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored by your browser when you visit a website. They serve multiple purposes, including:

● Storing login information

● Saving preferences like language and font size

● Keeps track of shopping cart items

● Identifying users with a unique ID

● Tracking the pages you visit

Cookies can be temporary (expiring after a session) or persistent (stored until you delete them).

Why Are They Called Cookies?

The term “cookie” comes from “magic cookies,” a computing term referring to an exchange of information between two programs. Lou Montulli, a developer in the mid-90s, introduced the term “cookie” in the context of the internet. Like a fortune cookie, which contains a snippet of advice, internet cookies contain important information about your activity on a website.

First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies

Websites you visit create First-party cookies, which can only be accessed by that site. These cookies improve user experience by remembering your preferences. For example, an e-commerce site might use cookies to keep track of your shopping cart items.

Third-party cookies are created by websites other than the one you’re currently visiting. They track your activity across multiple sites, gathering data about your browsing habits for advertising purposes. This “tracking” is how ad networks know to show you targeted ads. For instance, if you’ve been searching for flights, you might see ads for hotels and car rentals on other sites.

What’s Changing?

First-party cookies remain unaffected. However, most browsers are now blocking third-party cookies. Privacy-focused browsers like Firefox, Brave, and Safari have done this for years, and Google Chrome started blocking third-party cookies by default in 2024. Given Chrome’s dominance, this change is significant.

On January 4, 2024, Google began blocking third-party cookies by default for 1% of users, with plans to increase this to 100% by Q3 2024.

How Will This Affect Your Business?

While other browsers have weakened third-party cookies, Chrome’s upcoming phase-out marks a significant shift. Chrome will continue tracking users through different methods, with anonymized and categorized data sent to Google or other parties. Learn more about The Privacy Sandbox initiative.

Meta’s Pixel defaults to first-party cookies but still uses third-party cookies for cross-website tracking. Meta can still determine users’ interests with data from its own platforms, and its Conversions API helps fill tracking gaps.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is designed for a cookieless world. It relies only on first-party cookies and uses statistical modeling to fill tracking gaps.

Overall, the most significant impact will be targeting accuracy, not attribution. Publishers may feel a bigger impact than marketers since advertising networks rely heavily on third-party cookies. If you don’t run programmatic advertising, there’s less cause for concern.

Digital Marketers anticipated this gradual change for years, and platforms have adapted accordingly. More importantly, there’s no reason to panic. If you’ve been using third-party cookies for your marketing campaign, most seasoned digital marketers are prepared with marketing alternatives based on privacy concerns.

If you have questions about third-party cookies or digital marketing strategy, contact Power Marketing.

The post The End of Third-Party Cookies: What You Need to Know appeared first on Power-Marketing.

What Happened

The surge in seemingly high traffic numbers was due to spam websites. Originating primarily from Poland, this spam traffic tampered with GA4 by artificially increasing “referral traffic” counts. Referral traffic is visitors to your website from other websites, most likely through a link. But, this “hack” did not reflect actual visits to the affected website, resulting in what’s known as “ghost traffic.” These visitors never actually visited the websites, but GA4 recorded them.

Impact on Google Analytics Users

For those using GA4 to gain insights into website traffic, the flood of ghost traffic tainted the reliability of their data. Aside from traffic data, ghost traffic can also skew other user metrics in GA4. For example, bounce rate and session duration may appear lower due to the influx of false traffic. This can make it challenging for website owners to accurately measure their website’s performance and make informed decisions for optimization. Additionally, ghost traffic can also impact conversion tracking, making it challenging to determine the effectiveness of advertising campaigns or overall website conversions.

Countermeasures

To fix this, immediate action was required to sift through and identify the bogus traffic sources. Google advised users to review their GA4 account, pinpoint the affected data, and block the IP addresses linked to the spamming referral websites. This tactic was a good start if you had an agency or an internal IT person to block this traffic. Otherwise, you were stuck until Google figured it out.

Was My Website Affected?

If you are familiar with Google Analytics (GA4):

• Go to your dashboard
• Find: Users by Country
• Select: Last 30 Days or enter in custom dates that include 2/17 – 2/29

If there is significant traffic from Poland, your website visitors and metrics are inaccurate.

OR

• Go to your dashboard
• Find: Sessions by Default Channel
• Select: Last 30 Days or enter in custom dates that include 2/17 – 2/29

Your website could have been affected if it received a large amount of referral traffic. Typically, referral traffic on a website is a category producing a small number of users.

As of this article’s writing, Google has fixed this issue. If you want to know your website’s impact, contact us at Power Marketing, and we will provide a free analytics check.

The post You May Want to Double Check Your Website Traffic from February appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Google Analytics has become the standard web analytics service used by companies worldwide to gain valuable insights into how people interact with their website.

First introduced in 2005, Google Analytics allows you to track a wide variety of metrics to assess the success of your website. These metrics feed into sales funnels and buyer personas and can direct strategic changes.

This is why Google’s announcement in October 2021 of a major overhaul sent shockwaves across the internet. Google Analytics 4 is the newest iteration of this longstanding and widely-used tool, introducing some considerable changes to its use and understanding.

We’ll explore these essential aspects of Google Analytics 4:

• What’s Different About Google Analytics 4?
• How Do I Set Up Google Analytics 4?
• How Do I Use Google Analytics 4?

What’s Different About Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a new property aiming to evolve digital measurements further. A property “is a set of Google Analytics reports and data for your website and/or app.”

The current form of Google Analytics focuses on a user’s sessions. GA4 is focused on users and events by processing each interaction as its own event. This provides metrics on usage instead of just traffic.

Universal Analytics is the engine that drives the current version of Google Analytics. This is being replaced by GA4, which allows administrators to get metrics on both websites and applications.

GA4 provides a more well-rounded view of the behavior of users.

The reports dedicated to sessions will still be available, but now you can dive deeper into specifics like engagement metrics.

The new insights provided by GA4 go beyond something as simple as page views (even though this is what we’ve been taught to value for years). But along with this learning curve, there will be more actionable metrics.

How Do I Set Up Google Analytics 4?

Universal Analytics will still be available until July 1st, 2023. There’s no need to panic and ditch all of your current analytics reports. However, setting up your GA4 account as soon as possible is recommended so you can get used to the new interface and start seeing the potential of the new functionalities.

Luckily, it’s straightforward to set up your GA4 account.

1. Log into your current Google Analytics account and click “Admin” in the lower left-hand corner.
2. Select your desired account and property.
3. Select “GA4 Setup Assistant”
4. A Setup Wizard will come up where you can click a button that says “Get Started.”
5. Click the “Create Property” button, and you’re all set!

How Do I Use Google Analytics 4?

Your new GA4 homepage will provide a quick overview of some important metrics:

• Where new users are coming from
• Your pages that are getting the most views
• Your campaigns that are performing the best

Use the search bar to ask specific questions such as “How many visits this year vs last year?” You can also search for specific reports, configurations, or functionality queries like “how to create a new report.”

Use the Realtime Report in the navigation bar to see events that occurred within the previous 30 minutes. You can even click “View user snapshot” to see where your current visitors are located and the devices they are using.

Life Cycle Reports explain how users enter the funnel and what they do once they are there.

The Analysis Hub is where you can get the truly impressive metrics of GA4. There are various techniques to choose from, which then automatically create their reports.

Numerous types of analyses can be run, including:

• Exploration
• Funnel
• Path
• Segment Overlap
• Cohort Analysis
• User Lifetime

The information gathered from these reports will provide a much clearer view of your users’ behavior.

The flexibility and expanded metrics make Google Analytics 4 an essential tool in any marketer’s toolbox. It might take a little bit to get used to the new interface, but take some time to explore the various reports and functionalities, and you’ll be better equipped to maximize your website and application to suit your users best.

Call Us to Get Prepared!!

The post Everything You Need to Know About Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Audience Overview Recap

This data shows you an in-depth view of users. For example, the data indicates if the visitors are new or returning, page engagement, session duration, demographics, primary interests, type of device used to view your website, visitor’s location, and browser type.

Ten (10) sections within the Audience Overview give analysts a general idea about the users themselves. These data sets help website and SEO developers understand the user’s origins, primary device and operating system (OS), and search preferences or insights.

Demographics

This section covers two (2) segments: Age and Gender. This type of data helps strategists recommend and develop page content targeting the demographic consuming it most frequently. For instance, a website featuring a clothing line targeting females ages 18-24 would want to tailor their content to appeal to users within that specific demographic to increase visitors within that age range.

Interests

The best way to understand this segmentation is to give a real-world scenario. For example, if most of your audience likes more movies and entertainment and less weather and business, consider creating content that references the interests and trends that appeal to your audience. Doing this will increase engagement and encourage return visits.

Geo

This data handles language and location. Using the country codes, analysts can know whether the content reaches the correct audience. Geolocation data is crucial for websites with a global audience to deliver content in the proper language format. Websites focusing primarily on a specific country or language can segment reports to show only these statistics.

Behavior

• New vs. Returning – Records new and returning visits to a site, including sessions, bounce rates, pages per session, session duration (time on site), and any eCommerce stats (if any paid campaigns are connected).
• Frequency & Recency – Records count of sessions, days since the last session, sessions (numeric), and page views.
• Engagement – Records session duration in varying sequential steps (1-10, 11-30, 31-60, etc.), page depth, sessions, and pageviews.
• Session Quality – This eCommerce segment uses ranged scoring to determine the user’s proximity to conversion. For an in-depth explanation of Session Quality, click here.
• Conversion Probability (Beta) – This is also an eCommerce segment that scores a user’s behavior to calculate the probability of conversion and attaches a value based on sessions, page views, etc. For an in-depth explanation of  Conversion Probability, click here.

Technology

This segment collects data on a website visitor’s browser, operating system, screen resolution, screen colors, and records sessions, pageviews, bounce rates, and more. As a result, web developers and SEO experts gain valuable information that can be used in desktop, tablet, and responsive mobile design to enhance user experience.

Mobile

This segment deals specifically with devices: Desktop, tablet, and mobile. As in the case of technology, developers and content strategists use this data to determine and measure whether sites provide a good user experience. Mobile info records sessions, pageviews, bounce rates, and other dimensions.

Cross-Device

The best way to define Cross-Device is to think of a user having more than one type of device – desktop, tablet, and mobile – and starting their buyer’s journey on one device and returning to a website to complete a purchase on another. For example, it is not uncommon for a website visitor to start browsing on a desktop, find a product or service of interest, close the session, and return later to revisit the product or service and purchase it on a mobile device. This segment helps analysts understand how devices are used and which are preferred or more commonly used in conversion.

Custom

As of October 14, 2020, this segmentation has been deprecated and is no longer part of their reporting. Learn more about deprecated property types by clicking here.

Benchmarking

• Channels – A company can choose from over 1600 industry categories and then compare data from other companies who share their data.
• Location – Takes that same industry vertical and compares by location.
• Devices – Using the same industry vertical, makes comparisons based on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

User Flow

Allows analysts to set any desired dimension, such as an advertising keyword, and follow the user flow through their site visit. A lot of valuable information is gained by analyzing which pages users prefer and engage with and other pages that can be improved or eliminated. It isn’t just the good numbers to pay attention to; it’s also underperforming pages that should be looked at to enhance the overall user experience.

Summary

The foundational principle in collecting these types of metrics is to deliver the best user experience possible. It is also important to remember that Google rewards websites that continuously improve the user experience and produce quality content. Self-reflection is both a pain point and a learning experience. Meeting your users’ needs will result in quality users, qualified leads, and concrete conversions.

If you want a free evaluation to determine whether your website needs improvement or to ensure you can get vital website data, call us at 615.257.0057 or use our contact form.

The post Understanding Google Analytics: Audience Overview & User Metrics appeared first on Power-Marketing.

If you are a business owner with a website, your primary goal should be to outrank your competition. That goes without saying. However, knowing the “how” and the “why” can bring your business plan into focus when you understand how Google Analytics works towards your success. In this article, we’ll cover the analytics dashboard and show you how it can help you track your products and services while understanding how internet users are finding (or not finding) your business online.

Before we dive in, we recommend you read our post on the changes to Google’s Web Core Vitals rolling out in mid-June. The Core Vitals update will affect websites that are not mobile-friendly, lack a good user experience, and many more factors that can potentially determine page rank.

What is Google Analytics? & Why Use it?

Google Analytics is a free analytics tool offered by Google. It reports website traffic along with helping you track the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.

GA aggregates the data collected for your website in a variety of ways: user actions, session visits, pages visited, and events such as video views, button clicks, etc.

The data allows you to see who’s coming to your website, how many people are visiting your website, where they are coming from, what pages they are looking at, and how much time they are spending on your website.

It’s also full of great geographic information that breaks down age, gender, city, and lots of other important data.

The most important reason to use Google analytics is to assess user experience, pages that seem to hold the user’s attention, and most importantly, pages that can use improvement. That last one is often overlooked. However, the more data you collect, the better you’ll understand what to deliver to your audience, which results in a better ROI.

Setting Up Google Analytics: Account Access & Best Practices

If you don’t already have a Google Analytics account, it is best to set up an independent Gmail email account with an email address closest to the name of your business. As long as you are logged into this new account, you can access an entire family of Google products in one account. Some of the most commonly used are Google Analytics, Google My Business, Google AdWords, Search Console, YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive, and many other apps.

If you do have a Google Analytics account, you may have set it up under one of the following methods:

• Set up through a website developer as part of your internal marketing team. Your marketing director would have direct access to the data as the primary administrator.
• Set up by a marketing agency hired to develop and manage your website. The agency’s marketing director, most likely, will be the primary administrator.
• Set up by a specialized SEO company hired to collect data from users to your website. A project manager would probably be the primary administrator.

Clicking on the links in the left sidebar navigation will display more options, which contain helpful information. Such as:

Realtime

Realtime allows you to see visitors to your site as they are visiting. You can see whether they are on desktop or mobile, pages viewed, and total page views. You can also see how they found your website and the visitor’s location.

Audience

This data shows you an in-depth view of users. The data shows if the visitors are new or returning, page engagement, session duration, demographics, primary interests, type of device used to view your website, visitor’s location, and browser type.

Acquisition

Information in the Acquisition section analyzes the origins of users. Direct traffic (they typed in the URL), social media, paid advertising, organic search, and referring websites are the main types of traffic. This section also incorporates information from Google Search Console.  You must connect Google Search Console to your website to collect data from this source.

Behavior

This section contains information on how a user navigates through your website. Data includes all pages, landing pages, exit pages, and user flow. If you have configured your site to track button clicks, views on videos, and more, you can review this data in the events link.

Conversions

If you have a Google AdWords account, you can track your conversions within this section (please note: you must have the Google Adwords integrated with Google Analytics).  If you have set up goals in Google Analytics, which we highly recommend, you can monitor the results and set up custom reports. Once a campaign has ended, you can remove the previous goals and set up new ones.

The Ecommerce section allows you to see whether users are adding products to the shopping cart, abandoning the shopping cart, or following through with the purchase. Tracking a buyer’s behavior can improve the shopping experience, potentially leading to more conversions.

Admin

In this setting, administrators can adjust property settings, create views, filters, and funnels. Other uses include: connect your Google AdWords account, set up eCommerce tracking, add or delete users, import data from other sources, schedule email reporting, and share assets.

Once you have correctly configured your analytics account, you can set up custom reports, do comparative data analysis, and discover ways to improve your website.

If you need help setting up your initial Google analytics dashboard, call Power Marketing at 615.257.0057, or use our contact form.

My next article will break down the Audience Overview. Stay Tuned!

The post Understanding Google Analytics: The Beginners Guide appeared first on Power-Marketing.

In the previous three parts of this series, we discussed the core elements needed to create a marketing-ready website. Unfortunately, your website will require constant attention, upgrades, and monitoring to run efficiently and safely. At Power Marketing, we compare a website to a car (we do this too much). If you buy a new vehicle, it will run perfectly for a while. But, over time, the car will slowly break down if the oil is not changed, the tires aren’t maintained, the air filter is cleaned, etc. A website is similar. It needs scheduled maintenance and monitoring to avoid expensive repairs or massive failure in the worst-case scenario.

Security Updates and Backups (a.k.a People are Devious)

Hacking. You’ve heard the term thousands of times in the past few years. But what exactly is it? Hacking takes many different forms, from phishing to malware attacks. For our purposes, we will focus on individuals hacking websites through software that isn’t updated. Although there is no standard term for these types of hackers, it’s one of the most prevalent attacks. Websites use additional software, also known as plugins, for features like search bars, news feeds, and blogging. These plugins are highly vulnerable to attacks if not updated regularly. Of course, you may ask yourself, “Who would want to hack my website?” These attacks typically are not directed at individuals or organizations—hackers merely want to hack anything where they can gain access to information, data, etc. In other words, they like to cause problems.

Regular security updates will keep not only your website secure and protected but also your information and your customers’ data protected. So, updating your website will diminish your chances of being hacked. 

Having your website on a private server is a good start. But backing up your website every 24 hours is also beneficial. Hacking your website may be inevitable. But, there will be a recoverable version from the previous day in case of complete failure. Sure, there will be items missing, but the missing items will be minimal. 

Websites Slow Down

Websites that don’t receive monthly maintenance will most likely have slow load times. Returning to our car comparison, if your new car has been on the road for a few months, the vehicle will pick up baggage, extra passengers, dirt, and maybe a few scratches. After some time, the car will start moving slower. A website is the same. Websites can pick up code, you may add pages and images, and the framework (CMS) may need upgrading. All of these will slow down your website, especially photos. With the new Google update coming in May (now pushed back to June), page speeds will have more weight with SEO, especially on mobile. Almost half of your potential customers will leave your website if it doesn’t load within three seconds.

Home Builder websites are notoriously slow since most contain large image galleries of homes, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. Avoid this problem by optimizing images monthly or using a Content Delivery Network (CDN). These practices will optimize the download times for your website.

Check Your Search Terms

In part two of this series, we discussed setting up your website with onsite and offsite SEO to attract potential customers by identifying the terms they use when looking for your product. Monthly reviews of these search terms can help you see what words potential customers use to find you and the most popular pages. These reviews will also identify new keywords for the future. SpyFu and UberSuggest are websites where you can get high-level overviews at no charge.

Another benefit of reviewing search terms is seeing if someone has added unwanted content to your website. For example, I worked with a builders’ association in the Northeast. Their traffic tripled in six months. A quick review of their top pages revealed someone added a page about hacking an online game to the website. That was their number one page. We found it and removed it.  

Monthly Audits / Checking Backlinks

Each month, we perform a diagnostic for our clients with SEO or advanced managed services agreements. The software scans websites for toxic backlinks, disconnected pages, or missing SEO elements, among other things.  

Backlinks are when another website links to your website as a source of information. These links increase both your SEO & local SEO since another source cites your website as reputable. The problem is that non-reputable websites will also link to your website. These are known as toxic links. Toxic links can come from websites that are not relevant to your business, have security issues, or do not meet Google’s standards for websites. These harmful links can damage your SEO or even penalize you by Google.  

Also, pages on websites can disconnect and not work. Disconnections are common and easily fixed. Contacts pages and Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons will most likely be affected. Typically, these pages are your top lead sources. So they need to be checked monthly, if not weekly.

Keeping your website safe is an ongoing process. Any reputable company will provide these services for a fee or as part of an SEO, hosting, or website build package. The important part is ensuring you don’t let your maintenance and security lapse. If it does, have a backup plan. 

Conclusion

Power Marketing has been a valued technical partner & SEO company for homebuilders, contractors, and the home services industries for almost three decades. 

Contact us today for a free consultation regarding your website’s speed, security, and maintenance!

The post My Website is Launched and Optimized. Now What? (Part 4 of 4) appeared first on Power-Marketing.

As you may or may not know, Google continuously updates its algorithm. There are roughly 1,000 updates per year. That’s close to three a day and is a lot to keep up with for agencies, let alone small businesses.

Most updates are minor and have little to no ripple effect. But a few times a year, broader updates significantly impact the search engine results page. This update will bring page experience into the ranking signals. It will combine Core Web Vitals and previous UX-related signals.

Core Web Vitals are speed, responsiveness, and visual stability metrics. Get ready to add more three-letter acronyms to your vocabulary. Here’s what Google has established these Core Web Vitals as:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) or loading: This means how long it takes a page’s primary or main piece of content to load from the user’s point of view. The measurements here are under 2.5 seconds for a good evaluation, and anything over 4 seconds ranked poorly.

First Input Delay (FID) or interactivity: This metric is the time it takes for a user to actually interact with your page. When someone clicks on something on your website, how fast can the browser process the request and load it. The ideal measurement is under 100 milliseconds (ms); anything over 300 ms is considered poor.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) or visual stability: This considers stability, or how a page acts as it loads. Have you ever gone to click something on your phone, and the website shifted or moved unexpectedly? The main reason for this issue is that images are not optimized and create disjointed downloads. The ideal measurement is under 100 milliseconds (ms), and anything over 300 ms ranked poorly.

Or this is how Google states it:

Core Web Vitals are a set of real-world, user-centered metrics that quantify key aspects of the user experience. They measure dimensions of web usability such as load time, interactivity, and the stability of content as it loads (so you don’t accidentally tap that button when it shifts under your finger – how annoying!).

By announcing a change to the algorithm far in advance, people can have a three-month head start. It is better to fix things before they become issues. As a result, there will be a shift in the search results for all industries. Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity, or you’ll potentially face the uncertainty of putting your website at a significant disadvantage.

There are some great free tools and resources available to help evaluate websites. Google has a great page speed insights tool that will scan and evaluate individual pages, or you can use another free tool from Experte that will check your entire website up to 500 pages. Knowing where your website stands helps you evaluate your situation and develop an action plan.

Power Marketing can analyze your website and provide a report on where your current websites stand. If your website isn’t fully prepared, our team is happy to help provide a strategy to help you successfully navigate this update.

Reach out for a free site audit and evaluation today.

The post What to know about Google’s Core Web Vitals update coming in Mid-June 2021 appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Goals are one of the most underutilized components in Google Analytics.

Goals are the actions you’d like visitors to take on your website.

Some Examples Include:

• Making an appointment
• Viewing a contact page
• Filling out a form
• Creating an account
• Sharing to a social network
• Signing up for a newsletter

One that you should consider first is a contact form-based goal. This should only take a few minutes to set up. All you need is a contact form on your website, a ‘Thank You’ page, and a custom goal configured in Google Analytics with the type ‘Destination.’ You can find goals in the Admin area of Google Analytics under your current View. Once you make a new goal, choose “Custom” and then “Destination” under type. That will allow you to enter the URL of your goal page – in this case, you’ll want to use the URL of your “Thank You” page I mentioned earlier.

Once goals are set up, the data can be viewed in the Conversions tab on Google Analytics. Filling out your contact form to ensure it works appropriately and records your new goal is a good practice. Occasionally, forms will fail.

This new data will allow you to determine your cost per lead for your marketing efforts. Start setting your goals today!

Schedule your FREE consultation now!

The post Tuesday Tip 8/21/18 – It’s Important to Set-up Goals in Google Analytics. appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Thanks for joining me this week as I point out one of the biggest “Marketing Blunders” homebuilders make and aren’t even aware of. I have to ask—is your home builder website being indexed by Google? If you don’t know the answer, I strongly suggest you read on.

Having a great new website doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get streams of traffic and maximum exposure. If your buyers can’t find your site, simply put, you don’t exist. You must promote your site in order for prospects searching for your product to actually find you. That requires an investment in either SEO or pay per click advertising (PPC).

Search engine optimization is the science of making sure your site is listed as a resource for the key phrases your buyers search. It’s a detailed process that must be performed by a professional service. It is a marathon, not a sprint. An alternative is to invest in promoting your site through other sources, such as social media, offline advertising, or paid search (pay per click, or PPC). But we highly recommend both. Either way, you’ve got to get in front of your buyers to even have a shot at earning their business.

What’s The Bottom Line?

Implications: Getting enough qualified buyers to find you and your website is the key to driving sales. Your website must be listed on the first page of search results (primarily Google and Bing) or leads may never find you.

Solution: A long-term search engine optimization campaign is a must for any business serious about reaching their audience. Paid search campaigns can help increase short-term awareness for faster results, but provide no residual search value.

If you want your website to show up in Google search results, please give me a call at 301.416.7861. I can help explain in detail what you need to do, the “ins and outs” of PPC and the benefits of incorporating social media in your marketing efforts.

You won’t want to miss next week’s article as we get into just how to speak the language your prospects understand.

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