With the number of searches conducted on mobile devices continuing to skyrocket, companies are scrambling to optimize their website in hopes to not only increase conversions but to provide a great customer experience. As you can understand the convenience provided as a consumer, strategically positioning yourself as a company at the right time and place is crucial towards getting that sale. This Google presentation explains how to accomplish these goals so you can get back to doing what you do best: serving your customers.
On the other hand, some of the information provided can be technical and may require some background knowledge in order to conduct mobile SEO. But when working with Proceed Innovative, these digital marketing professionals have extensive experience in helping businesses from various industries to accomplish their goals, both online and offline. We are also a proud Google Partner, meaning that our experts take rigorous tests, follow Google best practices, manage significant AdWords spend, and attend ongoing training sessions in order to remain updated on the latest digital marketing trends. If at any time you have questions or become overwhelmed by this presentation, feel free to reach out to us through a contact form or phone call at (800)933-2402.
Consumer Behavior Shifts Towards Mobile
The Google presentation begins on how to drive growth for your business through mobile measurement. In fact, more than half of all web traffic is now coming through smartphones and tablets! This will have a significant impact on how your website will need to be optimized in order to stay ahead of competition.
But despite these eye-opening statistics, the majority of advertisers continue to measure only the final touchpoint, instead of then entire customer journey. This is the highlight of the first half of the Google presentation: to properly measure conversions, choose an attribution model that shows data of all clicks leading to the conversion, and finally acting upon this data.
1. Measurement
Many advertisers currently only measure the attribution data, or how they found your ad, click on it, and land on your website. But what happens after a user gets there? Google calls this conversion tracking – the act of measuring the entire customer journey, from conducting the search to making a conversion.
Here are some of the tools you can use to measure conversions, those of which can be valuable for your business:
2. Attribute
Google then discusses the importance of attribution models, showing that the customer usually won’t make a purchase on the first visit. Instead, reality shows that a number of ad impressions (views) and clicks are needed before making the final purchase.
When measuring each clicks and conversions, you can connect the dots to what exactly convinced the customer to make the purchase from your website. But each industry will vary as to which clicks in the journey should receive the most credit.
Here are all of the attribution models provided by Google:
Difficulties with Attribution
While measuring clicks and ad impressions is crucial towards driving conversions from your customers, this information is useless if it’s not interpreted properly. Here are some common challenges with attribution:
- Understanding cross-device activity: user behavior across mobile, desktop and tablet devices.
- Understand intra-channel activity: user behavior across campaigns within the same channel.
- Understanding multi-channel activity: user behavior across advertising channels.
So Google dove in and provided a solution to these common problems. Here it is:
AdWords Search Attribution
This solution will assign fractional credit based on search ad clicks within AdWords.
This solution is not only free, but it provides the following:
- A simple process to compare and implement the best attribution model
- Measures data across multiple devices
- Personalized based on data within your account
- Easy to set up
- Compatible with auto-bidding
Within Search Attribution, there are only 3 steps:
- Selecting the attribution model: Time Decay, Linear, Position Based, and Data-Driven. Your growth strategy, whether you are aggressive or conservative will determine which on is best for you.
- Google highly recommends data-driven if the account is eligible.
- Change the Attribution model in AdWords.
- Within conversion tracking, the attribution model options are listed at the bottom.
- Rethink your timeline for analysis.
- Have at least 30 days when looking at the data from the selected attribution model.
Finally, when properly measuring the attribution data, you will notice that your model will bring in around 5% more conversions than before. This shows that although setting up the campaign and optimizing your website may require time and a though-out strategy, the results are well worth it!
3. Act
While measuring data and implementing the best attribution model for your business is a great start, it’s useless if you don’t act on it. Here’s what you can do after switching attribution models:
Mobile Sites Matter
The second half of the Google presentation continues with a different presenter, who will be discussing the importance of having a mobile-friendly site. Whether you choose to have an AdWords account, optimizing your website to rank organically (non-paid advertising), or both, having a mobile-friendly site is essential towards increasing your online visibility and driving conversions.
The two most importance factors reflecting on customer satisfaction and higher conversions include:
- Design and Functionality
- Speed and Performance
Here are some statistics relating to the average website speed:
In fact, Google jokingly put out that the average person has the attention span of 8 seconds, 1 lower than the average goldfish of 9 seconds. This will surely have an impact on customer reactions, including bounce rate, conversions, and number of page views.
But not only does every second matter, each fraction of a second has a significant impact.
Perception vs. Reality
Even for those of you who are active on your website, ensuring it is up to speed when loading it everyday, your customers may not have the same experience. Google strongly suggests to keep in mind that first-time visits, a WiFi connection, and a cellular network connection will make all the difference for customers. While some factors you may not be able to control, such as a poor 3G connection, others, like what type of content you put on the website, can make up for their waiting time.
Here are some tools to test your page speed as well as what you can do to improve it:
There are also a number of other tools available to use at your leisure, Google highly recommends those listed above as they have proven to be the most effective when improving the speed.
Framework for faster mobile sites:
While not all content can be changed to allow for a speedy site, here is the framework of a mobile website that has been optimized for page speed and that still engages the consumer.
- A good first impression
- Goal: less than 3 seconds
- Reduce number of requests
- Goal: less than 80 requests
- Lower page weight
- Goal: less than 1 MB
Accelerated Mobile Landing Pages (AMP)
Meaning Accelerated Mobile Landing Page, AMP is a free product created by Google that allows publishers and web developers to rapidly speed up their site without having to make large structural changes. Here are the beneficial details of leveraging this strategy when updating your site:
- Up to 4x faster
- Uses responsive and mobile-best practices in the design
- Easy to test yourself
- Easy to scale, meaning the syntax is easy for development
After leveraging AMP to increase your mobile site speed, you can expect to see results within 2 weeks, according to Google. It’s also successful within each industry, whether you are a plumber, flower shop, or e-commerce business; everyone benefits from using AMP.
Using AMP
Once you are ready to start using AMP here is what you can use to build beautiful and fast landing pages:
While there are many advantages and features of AMP, Google highly recommends learning more about the strategy and to use it to your benefit when optimizing your landing pages.
Need Help? Work with a Google Partner
Google finally concludes the presentation with their understanding that while they are working hard to make their tools as easy and simple as possible to use, it can still be overwhelming to review all of the details within the presentation. This is why they have highly recommended using a Google Partner, a certified agency that is experienced and trained in Google’s best practices, undergoing detailed exams, and managing significant AdWords budgets. At any time you need extra help or have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to these professionals.
Digital Marketing Help – Proceed Innovative
When searching for a Google Partner, Proceed Innovative is more than just that. Our digital marketing experts have years of experience in staying updated on the latest trends. After working with numerous businesses in various industries, we would be more than happy to help you increase your online visibility. Whether it be through email, phone calls, contact forms, web traffic, or PPC campaign, we can help you to drive conversions while accomplishing your goals both online and offline.
For more information about how we can help your company increase its online visibility, please fill out a contact form listed to the right, or give us a call at (800)933-2402. We look forward to hearing from you!
