Oooh ... provocative, right?
So I don't think Google really "hates" anyone, but I think over the years they've unintentionally made things a little bit more difficult for small business owners. Not because small business owners aren't good marketers, or don't have good marketers on staff -- but because they have fewer resources and less time than companies with large marketing departments. So while Google has continued to improve upon its user experience, in my opinion, those improvements have also put a lot of small business owners at a disadvantage if they're trying to use Google for marketing.
This isn't to say small businesses should stop focusing on Google as a marketing engine -- it just means they'll have to work a little harder. Here's what I mean when I say Google's makin' it tough for SMBs to succeed there for marketing.
How Google Has Made Marketing Harder for Small Businesses
Now You Kind of Have to Use Google+
Time for a little confession, folks -- every time I write about Google Local versus Google Places, I have to (ironically) Google which one is the current one. I just. Can't. Remember. But more on that later.
What I do remember is that Google+ Local (that's what it is -- Google+ Local replaced Google Places) is now making it so that if you have a local small business, you kind of have to use Google+ if you want an optimized local listing.
But even if you're not too concerned with your business' local listing, Google+ is still weighing very heavily on SERP listings. If you're at all concerned with your company's SEO, you should really be investing time in Google+. That's all well and good for companies with dedicated social media or community managers -- but for many small businesses that have a social media manager who is also playing the role of blogger, site manager, email marketer, and salesperson, adding yet another social network to your repertoire is a much taller order.
Google Reviews Remain a Bit of a Mystery
How do you get them? I thought I had more, did you take them down? Why? Do I have too many, or too few?
These are the questions. And while the answers aren't that hard to find through a simple, well, Google search ... the way they "work" is still kind of mysterious. For example, did you know you also have to use Google+ to get reviews? Yep, they're associated with your Google+ Local account. And did you know that you get a score with kind of vague numerical associations? Yep, here's what the scoring guide looks like:
That doesn't look like any rating system I'm used to seeing -- as a consumer or a marketer. Why so confusing? Did you also know that sometimes other reviews are pulled into your listing? For example, if you're a restaurant, a searcher might see a Zagat review pulled up. Here, take a look:
This one shows Zagat reviews, and you are prompted to click through to Google reviews. Compare that with this local clothing store, though:
Just Google reviews there -- but hey, it could have conceivably pulled in reviews from another site since they're doing it with restaurants. Aaaand just to make this even more confusing, when you search for a Brookline BMW dealership, you see these Google reviews within the SERP listings:
So now the Google review score shows up. Why now? Kind of confusing. This is a lot to figure out and keep track of for any marketer -- not to mention consumers.
There are Tons of Algorithm Updates to Keep Up With
Google keeps changing that dang algorithm of theirs. Don't get me wrong -- these updates are awesome, both for marketers and searchers. I think Panda and Penguin make the internet a better place. But they also make SMB marketing much more difficult.
First, there's just a lot to keep up with. In 2012, Google rolled out a ton of updates to its algorithm -- a lot of them are minor tweaks that most marketers don't need to stay on top of, but I'd say around 10 of them were pretty important ones that marketers should understand. Again, for a resource-strapped marketer, that isn't always feasible -- especially if SEO isn't your forte.
Additionally, when those Panda updates first rolled out, it really screwed a lot of people over. Some of them knew very well what they were doing was black-hat SEO, but a lot of it was just marketers who 1) didn't fully understand the concept of "black hat" or 2) outsourced their SEO to people they thought had their ducks in a row. Panda made the SERPs better in the long term, but the short term was really painful for some marketers who didn't stay as up to date on SEO as they might have liked (or needed) to.
Technical SEO Is, Like, Really Hard
A lot of "winning" in the SERPs comes down to something SMB marketers can do really well -- creating amazing content. But there's this other side of it often referred to as technical SEO, and it's about a lot more than content creation and keyword optimization.
For example, do you know how to create site maps? Are your site maps being submitted to Google? Do you know if you're on the right CMS? Does your CMS use too much code on the back end? Is it easy for your pages to be crawled? Are you using too many robot.txt files?
If you don't know the answers to these questions -- or have no idea what I'm even talking about -- you're probably not too comfortable handling your company's technical SEO. But this kind of stuff matters to Google. It's the kind of stuff that either a dedicated SEO hire manages within marketing, or an IT person manages in conjunction with a marketer that's up to date on the best practices. Or, of course, you can outsource it for a pretty penny. These scenarios are usually not too common within a small business.
How Google Has Helped Small Businesses
It's not all bad, though. Google has certainly made some things way easier for small business marketers. I didn't want to end on a doom and gloom note, so here are some reasons why SMB marketers can still be excited about Google despite the difficulties we just talked about.
Google's Still Way Cheaper Than a LOT of Other Stuff
You'll encounter stumbling blocks with Google. You may not be using it to its full potential. You might even outright screw up. But Google is still helping businesses -- yes, small ones, too -- get found easily and for very little monetary investment. And they've made it even better in the past couple of years by integrating social media into search -- another marketing channel that has big results for few (or no) dollars. In fact, take a look at how cost efficient SEO ranked as a lead gen channel in our 2012 State of Inbound Marketing report:
It's no surprise, then, that small businesses were planning to spend 43% of their lead generation budget on inbound marketing this year, compared to just 14% toward those tactics you see in blue and gray in that chart!
You Don't Need AdWords to Win
But Google just wants marketers' money! I mean, sure they do. They're a business. But marketers don't need to spend money on AdWords to win in the SERPs. Google could, if they wanted to, make paid search results way more prominent. They could certainly do some ninja UI work and make it so more people clicked on paid results. But what's getting way more air time is the work they're doing with their organic algorithm updates, because they know it's what keeps searchers coming back.
You'll hear different statistics on this everywhere you go, but the commonly accepted division is about 90% of the time, searchers click on organic search results, and about 10% of the time, searchers click on paid search results. To give you an idea, Search Engine Watch published some eConsultancy data that found that 94% of the clicks went to organic results. SMB marketers can get their name in front of searchers, and get their name clicked on, without spending a boatload of cash on Google.
The Focus Is on Content Quality More Than Volume
I suppose Google's focus on quality content could be perceived as a disadvantage to SMBs. If you or your marketer(s) aren't good writers, creating high-quality content might be a really daunting task. But I think what many SMB marketers forget is that they are extremely knowledgeable about their niche. That means you can write intelligently about what it is your small business does, and win your own niche corner of the SERPs while you do it. It's less important that you spend all day cranking out content to flood Google with -- I think that's the last thing most resource-strapped marketers want to do, anyway. Instead, you can focus on putting your industry smarts on paper at a rate a normal human can keep up with, and still kill it in the SERPs.
What do you love about Google -- or, what frustrates you about Google -- as a small business marketer?
Image credit: DonkeyHotey
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Rachel Moon 9:14 AM on November 28, 2012
I am an extremely small business, however rank in the top 3 of Google for most of my search terms. My advice to small business owners is don't think you can conquer the world. Keep your search terms specific and regionalise them - that is the key. I've not started using Google+ yet but fully intend to...
David 9:22 AM on November 28, 2012
Good article...so here's the question...would using HubSpot address the challenge for a small business to keep up with all the Google back-end search stuff that you so correctly state I don't have a prayer to do on my own. For example, I use Brightcove for my video hosting because they deal with all the "technical" challenges of video delivery, and I can just create my content. Does HubSpot's tool keep pace with all the "back-end" stuff vs running my own web site trying to keep up with all the technical challenges of search, SEO, etc?
carolyn 9:23 AM on November 28, 2012
As a one person operation, I still feel like SEO is more like a casino game than anything useful or real. The house usually wins.
I try to produce content for clients and let the google gods decide how they can help.
prashant ranjan 9:31 AM on November 28, 2012
internet has made available the businesses a widespread market but here again the same thumb rule applies as the early bird catches the fly. its not the google but your market segmentation tactic is more important to rank high in google search. I really agree with rachel to regionalise your business if you are small.you cant survive highly competitive large region targeted keywords.
Howard Forton 9:36 AM on November 28, 2012
Your post title worked! Google have neither makes it easy or difficult for SMEs. The only discrimination is against irrelevant content v relevant content. Its survival of the fittest and SEO is simply another arena in which businesses of all sizes fight. Let the best SMEs win. They're not all equal.
Sandr 9:37 AM on November 28, 2012
Wow, Corey nailed this one! Thanks!
Harold Compton 9:48 AM on November 28, 2012
Corey real hit the nail on the head! It does take a lot of study and work to keep up with the whole SEO business but a small company can take the time and learn to do it the right way. Content is going to become king again which is the way it should be.
Ande Spenser 9:55 AM on November 28, 2012
As a small business owner who just opened a brick and mortar, I found the discussion on "local" very useful. I have a part time girl on Saturday, but I am the everything for my business - maker, marketer, clerk, janitor. So keeping up with SEO is tough and time consuming. But staying solvent is important, and I have found this blog to be really helpful!
One of the best things I can be doing online is to post some content in my blog that talks about how to "use" something from my shop (it's a new age store). So if the customers want to know what Tiger Eye or Rose Quartz "does", instead of having in-store handouts, I can direct them to the blog entry.
Since I also have an online store, not only does the blog entry serve a local in-house function, a useful article can also bring a few sales to people outside our area.
Thanks for the good work - I still have a lot to learn and you are helping me that way.
wade 9:56 AM on November 28, 2012
Overall Google+ is winning the battle for social business pages. Google+ is mostly great for SMB's except in one major instance.
The migration from Google Places to Google+ Local is a disaster for many small businesses. Old places pages with outdated and incorrect information have flooded local search results and claiming and fixing those errors is futile.
This forces SMB's to use Adwords for local searches.
It seems that the Local database is changing constantly. Google reverts back to an old version while changing the newer version of the database. SMB's are trying to hit a moving target to get accurate information displayed on their Google+ Local pages.
Shane Rhyne 10:03 AM on November 28, 2012
Interesting (and provocative) perspective, but I'd say the benefits of Google's many tools for small businesses is far more beneficial and small biz friendly than other models currently available on Facebook, et al.
Also, you didn't mention it in your post but the reason that Zagat reviews show up in Google results for restaurants is that Google acquired Zagat earlier.
Duane McLennan 10:09 AM on November 28, 2012
Good post and love the title.
I think Goolge has made lots of great changes for small business in the last 3-4 years, by creating hyper local serps and forcing big brands to advertise in the local landscape.
Now it seems, we're paying the price with what appears to be quite the disaster with Google+ Local. I hope they have a plan in place to clean up the mess sooner than later.
Also, any business that's 1/2 way serious about being online should either hire correctly internally or externally to get their website optimized at least to the minimum parameters that Google suggests. It's not necessarily that this didn't need to be done before; there was just less competition in the serps.
Ann Druce 10:12 AM on November 28, 2012
'm somewhat relieved that I'm not the only one confused by Google+ Local! Just when you think you have got your admin sorted, Google changes things. Yes, technical SEO is hard, and the real problem is that many consultants are no better informed than the business owner, which can be a case of the blind leading the extremely short-sighted!
Eric Strader 10:34 AM on November 28, 2012
Great post, quick note on the idea that AdWords isn't "needed" for SBs and your factoid "96% of clicks go to organic." A point i want to emphasize is over 90% of all searches are navigational (i.e. people know the website they want) or informational (i.e. people are looking for general info). These are not the clicks SBs want. The remaining searches out there about 10% of the market are the commercial intent searches.... that is what SBs need to target and its important that their Paid Search accounts reflect this commercial intent segment of the search market. p.s. I obviously have a vested interest in endorsing Paid Search ;-)
Steve 10:47 AM on November 28, 2012
My frustration is with Google reviews. Some of the ones I've posted on other businesses don't show up on their page yet others do. We've had customers post reviews and sometimes they don't show either. Maybe Google does hate SBs.
Tarun Gehani 10:48 AM on November 28, 2012
Google doesn't "hate" small businesses.. just merely dislikes those who don't purchase AdWords or use their networks (such as Google+, Google+ Local, etc. as you've mentioned).
As with any marketing campaign, whether it be online or off, business owners need to make sure to they define goals and objectives, and how much it will cost to reach said goals.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket (or in one Google property), because sooner or later, things will change. It's the name of the game.
Hayley Reeve 10:52 AM on November 28, 2012
I strongly agree that Google is making life hard for small businesses. The fact that Google Shopping results are now paid (and suddenly promoted from position 3 to position 1) means that a search for a particular product can sometimes show nothing but ads above the fold. Not bad for a company that talks about quality this and that.
Id also like to say that although verifying your google+ local business page is def recommended for showing in local search, its not impossible to outrank these.
We have achieved 1st place position for many searches that are "keyword" + "town" simply because the competition is so low.
Joel Milne 10:58 AM on November 28, 2012
As an agency owner I think that the technical aspects of SEO is where agencies can make the difference. On the content development side of SEO we can serve as coaches or mentors, but on the technical side we can shine by making sure everything is "just right" and giving the content the best possible chance. That is what modern SEO is all about.
Kathy James 10:59 AM on November 28, 2012
A good post Corey - here's thing though - how do you get clients to post reviews of your business
on local when you are a therapist, without it looking like soliciting testimonials in the eyes of your professional association?( its against the code of conduct
Christina 11:10 AM on November 28, 2012
Thanks for this post. I'm newbie to Hubspot Partner system--my site will be hosted by Hubspot. So, my question...Is the Hubpsot CMS keeping up with the Google crawl? And, should I call Hubspot Support to determine how to submit my sitemap to Google?
Linda Buquet 11:24 AM on November 28, 2012
Great info Corey.
As a Google Top Contributor helping SMBs at the Google forum and local marketing consultants at the local search forum every day, I can relate to everything you say.
But it all becomes infinitely more complicated and convoluted for SMBs to figure out when in addition to everything you mentioned above - you throw in all the Google+ Local bugs, confusion about all the G+ merge and verification issues and all the strict and ever-changing guidelines on the Google Places side of things.
Seriously hard to imagine this is a self serve DIY platform. Just can't even imagine being an SMB and trying to find time in my busy day to figure it all out.
Thanks for the post - off to share it at the local search forum.
Linda
David Christensen 11:25 AM on November 28, 2012
The challenges can be daunting but I recall the story of two men on safari in Africa when suddenly they see a lion charging toward them.
They run of course - but then one of the men stops briefly to open his rucksack, pull out a pair of running shoes and quickly puts them on before running once more.
His companion - a little way ahead - turns and shouts over his shoulder 'you idiot - you'll never outrun a lion'.
The one with the running shoes, almost up to the other runner by this time shouts back 'Who said I was trying to outrun a lion? All I have to do is outrun you".
Yes I do feel daunted and the pace of change is impossible to keep up with, and knowing who to believe (I am sure that there is a lot of inflated figures thrown around about how successful various prople have been with their 'secret sauce') is full of potholes - but given we are all faced with the same dilemma I feel a lot more confident about my medium to long term ability to compete.
James Maroney 12:19 PM on November 28, 2012
Great blog. Great Questions and comments from readers. But . . . Do you ever answer the reader questions? and if so, how do I see those answers?
kirsten meyer 12:37 PM on November 28, 2012
great content as always but please put a print icon option on your blog posts. thanks
JP 1:26 PM on November 28, 2012
Yes Google hate small businesses :(
Barta Media Group 1:27 PM on November 28, 2012
Google is just going to keep changing things like they always have. It's the name of the game and how they keep people buying their AdWords. And then you have the local search which is basically an entirely different beast. Spread out your marketing - don't make Google your Golden Egg because eventually it will go bad.
Mick Lehr 1:33 PM on November 28, 2012
Yelp is much more popular than Zagat. I don't know anyone who has thought of looking at Zagat and I have rarely seen them showing up in google.
Michelle Funkenbusch 1:57 PM on November 28, 2012
I am a solo practitioner/lawyer and just learning technical SEO until I can afford to push it off on an expert for good. I am a great content writer and use Wordpress but I find it so hard to know all the technical things to make it show up against the major personal injury lawyer website competition that I face. I really enjoyed all the articles I have read on this site and have recommended it to several other solo lawyers already. I had personal experiece with Google+ being a disaster. Despite updating it in December 2011, my old partner's phone number was on the page a few months later... redirecting all traffic. I had to buy an Adwords ad to get technical support on the phone. It took hours of work and 2 weeks of phone calls. Now my Google + page is correct but my name is so long it cuts it off. Uhhg. Terrible... just terrible experience to move to Google + local. The thought of having to become more familiar with Google anything makes me cringe. I have found the most benefit from having an active Facebook page with an RSS feed and buying small ads to increase the number of likes on my page. Every week I have received new business leads since I started it so I have been focusing my energy there. It seems insurmountable to ever have my page show up against highly funded marketing law firms in the areas I practice. Until I win/settle a big case, I feel I have to struggle to learn technical SEO, keep writing good weekly content, drive people to my FB law firm page, and spend endless hours reading these blogs and articles. They should have had a class in law school on marketing... it is terrible to send kids out in this world without the knowledge to compete with big businesses. Thanks again for a great site.
Nick Dunse 1:59 PM on November 28, 2012
Great post I just finished updating all my google + local lets hope it works better than the original . Google is more complicated than most of us think.
George Ives 2:00 PM on November 28, 2012
I feel the pain but I accept the challenge. It's all fun and games with Google. In a way I think it's more of a help to small businesses in that it enables you the ability to start on a level (ish) playing field with the big boys of your industry, each time a new update is released.
Christina Tarkoff 2:19 PM on November 28, 2012
I am not looking forward to Google+ it's awful.
Pedro Mizcci Majeau 2:55 PM on November 28, 2012
I think that Google contributes small businesses! Especially with your content and lessons that explain how to use their resources. I'm in Brazil and when I started using Google tools was little content in Portuguese. Even now, I study the contents of the site and put my opinion HubSpot using GOOGLE TRANSLATE. ADWORDS has provided increased sales of my clients. I'm a fan of Google.
Mathias Philippe 5:03 PM on November 28, 2012
I could not agree more actually. I;ve seen with my clients, they need to significantly raise their budget (SEO & SEM) every years & can hardly follow the rythm.
Kelly Larson 5:09 PM on November 28, 2012
I'm a consultant to dentists, and in the past six months or so it seems that the practices who are "doing everything right" are experiencing worse results in local search than dentists who appear not to be putting in as much effort. Local search is clearly a different beast. Is the key to jump through all of the hoops AND do AdWords. Or does the footwork of claiming, verifying, NAP, reviews, etc, not really matter? And what about AdWords Express?!... You're right, the average small business owner is being exhausted trying to keep up. Love to hear some advice.
Mick Lehr 10:42 PM on November 28, 2012
I alway notice that the numbers are always very low for Google + in the social button sections of any website. Some sites will show 1 to 3. This blog has the highest Google + number I've seen anywhere.
Alex Carlson 6:04 AM on November 29, 2012
I got a better Idea about small business in google ranking. SEO is not a game it is a concept. Obey google guideline & work for your site.
Orenthal 8:48 AM on November 29, 2012
I also disagree with this. What about all the tools that are self empowering; what about GYBO.com, Adwords, GA and Google Docs?
Lori 9:52 AM on November 29, 2012
Dear Google, Please release whatever Hubspot needs to add it to the social media tool. Such a PITA
having to go post separately. And honestly it doesn't happen as much as it could.
Rusty Solomon 1:13 PM on November 29, 2012
Thanks for sharing this idea interesting blog, Please continue this great work.really help me lot in that. Thanks for publishing :)
Rusty Solomon
Thomas 5:51 AM on November 30, 2012
Small business should invest more of their time not only to deliver the best service to their customers but also invest more time on marketing to get more customers.
Google is relative cheat compared to the rest like newspaper advertising etc.
Jim Burnett 6:21 AM on November 30, 2012
This was a great article. I recognized a lot of what impacted us in this piece. When Panda and Penguin were released, it knocked us almost out of existence on Google and we have been very active in our blog and with Twitter. We started using Google + and saw almost instant results. Just adds another click to my social media distributor.
Jason Flores 3:06 PM on December 02, 2012
Hey Corey, good post as always.
It might be easier for larger companies to be successful on Google search given the potential for larger budgets and staff. However, isn't that true in any other case?
Your small business may not be #1 for a given phrase, but you still can reach the 3rd spot in the SERPs for competitive keywords. This enables the ability to position your company of 100 people next to a company of 1,000 with a relatively inexpensive budget; where else is that kind of reach potential? If you have a better meta-description and SERP optimization you could actually come out on top with regards to click-through rate.
SEO is FAR from a level playing field where relevance rules over all. However, if you are a small business that wants to drive traffic at efficient long-term margins, SEO cannot be overlooked.
Personally, I think tailoring to only large businesses isn't in Google's interest since many small businesses use Adwords to get noticed.
Edwin 11:32 AM on December 03, 2012
Let's look at the top 3 on the graph and the answer is REAL simple: 1.Blog often. 2. Ensure that the blog post is optimized for SEO purposes. 3. Then distribute that optimized blog post to an ever growing social media audience, especially on Google+.
Derek Jamieson 12:41 AM on December 06, 2012
A good post Corey