It’s estimated that over 80% of companies use Google Ads as part of their digital marketing strategy. It’s a statistic that demonstrates just how competitive the battle for online ad space has become, and that’s before we factor in other search engines and advertising channels. But with an increase in competition comes an increase in cost, picked up by the advertiser through higher cost-per-clicks (CPCs).
While this may not be an issue for global brands, smaller businesses are finding it more and more difficult to get noticed through digital ads. Platforms like Google Ads favour businesses with bigger budgets, which has left many local retailers searching for alternative marketing methods. In this article, we’ll explore how local businesses can get their products to rank without paid ads; areas covered will include free Google Shopping listings, organic search optimisation techniques and local SEO strategies.
Free Google Shopping Listings
You may not even realise that your products can show up as a Google Shopping listing without you having to pay for the privilege. If you search for an item of clothing and navigate to the ‘shopping’ tab, you’ll notice a row of paid ads followed by pages of free listings.
For your product to appear here, you will first need to ensure you have a Google Merchant Center account. You sign up for one on the Google Merchant Center website if not. You can then enable your products to show up on Surfaces across Google, which is essentially the different places your listing can appear; this includes Google Shopping, Maps, Images and so on.
You’ll need to set up a product feed, so Google can pull through your listings and then finally, you’ll need to opt in for free product listings.
Optimise Product Listings for Organic Search
As the cost of Google Ads rises, it’s becoming increasingly important to appear in Google’s organic search results. For local businesses selling a physical product, there are a few techniques you can implement.
Product Titles
While there can be a tendency for product titles to be emotive, aligning them with user intent is the best way to optimise products in terms of SEO. Try to include keywords where possible, but also avoid stuffing them so they become too wordy and hard to read.
Titles can include materials, colour, and sizes, which works perfectly for fashion items. This is perfect if you have a unique selling point that can be conveyed through a product title. For instance, an ‘organic cotton polo shirt’ works for targeting search volumes but also for differentiating the product.
Product Descriptions
When writing descriptions for your products, try to apply the same thinking as we have just mentioned. Try to include keywords, but in a way that feels natural; stuffing content with keywords is a slightly outdated SEO technique and will be very noticeable to readers. Try to answer users’ queries in your product descriptions too, so your products are optimised for a wider variety of keywords.
Product Images
It’s not just about optimising your products in terms of text; product images are also an important part of SEO. The most important thing is making sure your product images are high quality. Google will favour professional-looking shots where the user can clearly make out which product is being promoted.
Adding alt text to images helps optimise them further, too. While originally designed to aid those with visual impairments, alt text has become used by search engines to understand what is being displayed on the image in question. This can help images to appear in image-based searches.
Schema
Schema has become an important part of SEO and is another step towards product optimisation. Schema, or structured data, refers to code that gives Google more understanding and context of the content on a web page.
For product pages, product schema can provide context around price, availability and reviews. You can use tools such as Schema Validator to check for errors, but if this sounds a little too technical for your capabilities, consider reaching out to a leading SEO agency such as Red Cow Media.
Other
Google’s algorithm is complex, and while the areas mentioned above are the most important in terms of product optimisation, there are also a number of other factors that are important in terms of SEO.
Along with keywords, images, and schema, Google will consider a website’s performance in terms of speed and responsiveness. You can check your website’s performance using Google’s PageSpeed Insights, which will measure how quickly a website loads based on the largest element on the page.
It’s also considered good practice to use internal links throughout your website, which increases crawlability and usability. In simpler terms, it helps Google to understand the overall structure of your website and which pages are the most important. For businesses selling a product, category pages should be linked to from the homepage to signify their importance. From there, the user should be presented with the option to navigate to their desired subcategory or product.
Finally, ensure that any SEO efforts are carried out across desktop and mobile devices. As the world becomes more mobile-first, Google places a higher emphasis on the mobile version of websites. You should take the same approach towards mobile SEO, but there are also extra considerations in terms of performance. In particular, navigation menus and buttons will need to be scaled and optimised for much smaller screens.
Local SEO
Most small businesses serve a local area, so it’s important to optimise your website for local SEO. Local SEO involves increasing the visibility of search results in a certain area. The first step is to set up a Google Business Profile, as this allows your store to show up in map packs and can help your business to appear in searches related to your location.
You can also include location-based keywords throughout your website, the same way you would with other keywords. If it feels natural, add locations to product titles and product descriptions.
Factor local keywords into your content marketing strategy, too. If your website has blog posts or a news section, this can be a really easy way to add keywords by creating content that appeals to your local area. For example, local artisans selling handmade crafts could cover local markets, community work and things to do in the area.
Final Thoughts
While Google Ads are still capable of generating return on investment, it is becoming a harder channel to access for small, local businesses. It’s no surprise that businesses with smaller budgets have turned to other methods.
For small businesses that have a product to sell, it’s worth remembering that your listing can appear on Google Shopping without ads, as we have mentioned above. This requires familiarising yourself with Google Merchant Center and Surfaces across Google. However, it may also be worth putting extra time into your organic search efforts to counteract the rising costs of Google Ads.
As mentioned throughout the article, optimising product listings can involve optimising product pages for keywords, using high-quality images with alt text and adding product schema. While the area of SEO can appear overwhelming at first, many strategies are fairly simple to begin with. For more complex tasks, you should consider working with a specialist consultant or agency who’ll be able to handle your SEO efforts.
