Every day, around 3.5 billion searches are made on Google alone. It is, by far, the world’s most popular search engine and a powerful internet business that can help you in your marketing efforts.
Google offers numerous peripheral tools that you can use – all you need is a Google account and in some cases, a bit of a budget. Here are some vital Google tools that you should be using for your marketing:
Google+ Business Pages
Although Google+ is not a massively popular social network, it doesn’t hurt to have a business page on the platform. Setting up a Google+ account is easy and maintaining it doesn’t require much effort, especially if you’re already posting content from your website to your other social media channels anyway.
Having a Google+ Business Page makes it easier for people to find your business when conducting a search. All your contact details and your address can be found with the click of a button, and it makes other Google tools easier to use. Google will also look at your Google+ page when assigning a rank to your website, so the more traffic flowing to your page, the higher your ranking will be.
Google My Business
If you’ve ever looked at your business on Google Maps and seen a “claim this business” note, this is where you can score some free advertising. Just claim your business and it will be added to the Google My Business listing.
Your company will be featured in more local search results and on any Google Map searches in your area, for free. To complete the listing, you’ll need to have a Google+ Business Page.
Google Webmaster Tools
Setting up a Google Webmaster Tools account can unlock SEO advice from the search engine itself. You’ll be able to see how SEO-friendly your website is through the eyes of Google. This tool will tell you where you can improve your SEO and obtain higher rankings.
You can also analyse your current traffic to see where your visitors are finding your site (i.e. through organic searches, social media or other websites). Google Webmaster Tools can alert you to any pitfalls on your website that may be hindering your search result listings.
Google Analytics
A successful marketer is one who tracks their performance and adjusts future campaigns according to the results. Google Analytics lets you monitor any metric from your website and analyse your audience in great detail. It’s not as creepy as it sounds.
Google Analytics can tell you how many of your visitors are on your website for the first time and how many are returning. It will tell you how long people stay on your site, where they come from and where they go to after visiting your site. You can see how interested people are in your content by looking at the bounce rate.
This tools will give you a complete breakdown of your audience – how old they are, what city they live in and much more. You can then use this information to tailor some of your content to your audience which will ensure their return. It can give you insight into how people use and navigate around your site, where they click, what links they follow etc.
Google Suite
Google Suite is like the modern version of Microsoft Office, allowing you to create a variety of documents, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys online. Unlike the Microsoft software, sharing and collaborating on Google Suite is simple and happens in real-time. One major benefit is that Google will save your work every time a change is made, even if one letter is added, so you will never lose your work if something goes wrong.
Consider using Google Docs (like Microsoft Word) for your business’s writing documents and articles, Google Sheets (Excel) for your company spreadsheets, Google Slides (PowerPoint) for your presentations and Google Forms for collecting survey responses. These projects will be accessible to anyone given the access and on any device.
Google AdWords
This is Google’s pay-per-click (PPC) tool that lets you rank at the top of organic searches. You select what keywords are relevant to your business and Google will feature a link to your website at the top of the results list if those keywords are used.
A little green “AD” box will appear next to the search result to show you that the link is a PPC campaign. The cost of the campaign depends on the popularity of your chosen keywords and you only pay for the times your link is actually clicked. So it could be a relatively cheap exercise or it could be vastly expensive if your links are highly popular.
You can test different keyword combinations to see what gets you optimal results. Then, you can use this knowledge to include keywords in all of your articles and content to boost your organic SEO efforts.
Google AdWords also lets you utilise their Keyword Planner. You simply put a keyword into the planner and it will generate several related keywords that you may not have thought about. The Keyword Planner will also tell you how many times those keywords are being searched, so you can pick the most popular ones.
Google Trends
Like the Keyword Planner, this tool lets you further refine your keyword choices by comparing them to other keyword variations and analyse how the popularity of these suggestions changes over time.
Google Trends helps you spot trending topics, content and news headlines that are currently being searched for on the internet. You can then incorporate these trends as keywords for your content. It always helps to stay ahead of the curve so this cool can be useful in keeping you one step ahead of your competition.
Google Drive
This is Google’s free online storage network. If you have a Google account, you can get up to 15GB of free storage for your files, photos, videos and designs. It allows you to easily and instantaneously share content with your team, from anywhere in the world.
Google Alerts
This tool will notify you every time a specific keyword or phrase (chosen by you) is searched for. You can keep track of what people are saying about your product or brand whenever they are mentioned on websites. Google Alerts can be a great PR tool to monitor your online reputation and swiftly respond to any negative content that may be published on the internet.
Google FeedBurner
Give your visitors more opportunities to subscribe to your content by setting up a Google FeedBurner account. Users on your website or blog can then subscribe and receive updates every time you post new content. Subscribers are heavily-invested visitors that love your content, so utilising this tool can benefit your growth and their desire for fresh content.
Google has more tools available, such as Google Calendar, News and Voice, but not all of them are relevant for helping you extend your marketing efforts. Similarly, not all of these tools listed here will be useful to your business, but they can make it easier for you to grow an audience and reach your target consumers.
___
Discover the latest trends and tips that shape an ever-evolving digital world.
___
Mobimeme offers content marketing, SEO, analytics, social media management and expert direction in the digital sphere. Building and growing online audiences for your business is what we do best. Get in touch with us to find out more about our package offerings and how you can improve your website and following.
___
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Google+ for more articles, videos and content to keep you inspired.