How the Google Hummingbird Update Affects your Ecommerce Site

How the Google Hummingbird Update Affects your Ecommerce Site?

When it comes to Google, you never know what type of surprise it has in store for marketers on all levels. Whether you like it or not, you are at the mercy of Google’s wrath when it comes to their search engine. Sometimes, you’ll feel as if your site was hit below the belt. Sometimes, you’ll smile because you’ve moved a few spot in the top 10 search queries. Either way, you have to adapt to whatever is thrown in your direction. Google Hummingbird has a profound effect not necessarily on your content itself, but how you present and distribute your content. In other words, are you answering questions one may have on the search query? Also, are those people sharing and finding value with your content links as you interact with them on social sites? You’ll see below how this actually affects your ecommerce site. Here are a few ways your content will be affected:

Build Your Social Signal Engagement

More linkage is a good thing, right? Not necessarily. Sure you can send out a bunch of nice posts, but that means squat if there’s no engagement. It’s like trying to beat a dead horse. Google finds the value in your content shares, likes, and insightful comments. That shows your value. When it comes to your ecommerce store, you want to find your own analysis as far as what product gets the most hits or a good trend. For example, if you have a great shirt or product for sale, share it and see what type of response you get. Maybe stir your own promo on your Facebook page. You can have a flyer saying 20% off this particular product and maybe do a contest of who can generate follows or an email list of building prospects. This is perfect not only for building your engagement, but building up long term customers. A powerful search engine like Google sees this interaction as very powerful. This form of engagement is very lucrative to your brand. You’ll beat other competitors in the ranking for your own content.

Answer the Darn Question, Ms. Oracle

You shouldn’t put your content out there and answer it from the perspective of “The Oracle” from The Matrix. Like Neo, your prospects want it simple and direct! This is no new feat because the way you engage with the people should be first before writing text for the search engine. The only difference is now Google’s hip to the game. If your content especially your title and description shows how you’ll answer a relevant question, this is the nail in the coffin. You’ll grab tons of authority. You see it’s not about having a bunch of way out there key phrases that you hope someone will trip, crash, and land upon. You should have a consistent and reliable format for getting those search queries. You should make it easier for your viewers to convert. The search queries are getting more complex and they look for answers that provide detailed explanations. Get to the top spot of Google by providing what your prospects want and need. If you have a clothing site with a skater style, maybe your prospects are looking for a specific size and fit. If you have a good description on your site that gives this information, you could have a potential long term customer. The same thing applies to your services on ecommerce. Let’s say you offer a unique blend of SEO and Social Media. Maybe someone wants to build a Pinterest business page, but they don’t know how. Having a section with a short blurb on Pinterest may be the difference in you getting a new customer or someone passing your site link on Google. Remember, you better be sure you have what they need on your page or else they’ll jump to the next site faster than a flame lit on their bottoms.

Google + 1 = 2 Birds With One Stone For Your eCommerce Site

Authorship is becoming more imperative now! Look at how Google Plus accounts are fusing to YouTube accounts. This builds traction on Google’s search engine, Google’s social network, and YouTube, their video content site. Google is making apparent that they want you active in all these sources of content. Those +1s and shares across Google’s planet definitely add up. I’ve found that a lot of YouTube brands are starting to add people who’ve subscribed to their channel. More people engage in Google Plus than ever. Of course, more engagement means more people going to your brand. You can actually converse about certain issues or blog topics that may matter most with your Google circles. The great thing is you can do an update in a number of formats that will let your followers know exactly what’s going on with your brand. If you have created a YouTube stream or Google Hangout you record from Google Plus, this is an excellent way to attract a wider audience through word of mouth as they spread your link across their social networks. You can draw in more people by providing a special discount for one of your products that they can only get via your stream. Also, they have power by giving good material for your next stream, your video logs, and how you can help them by making your site better. It’s a good thing to be open minded and will only aid in building followers and sales. Additionally, if you have a hot item or a blog post with a link to your site, the amount of +1s will work well with your SEO. Right under the search results is a small Google Plus sign. This is a very powerful asset to have with your ecommerce site.

Pay Attention to Your Reviewers

This a real make or break because people want something legitimate! Before people even decide on purchasing your products, they want to see another person’s experience. Were there any problems with your service? If so, how was it solved? Also, was the general staff reliable? These are all important things to remember. What will beat out your competitors? You can start by having a fully functional mobile site. Most people are on the go and technology evolves. Why not evolve with the times? Having a smart phone provides convenience literally at the hip. You want your search results to come up before the other competitors. Also, you want your reviews to outrank your competitors. Why? Google pays attention to all of these factors. Your reputation speaks for itself. People write reviews on businesses (online/offline) all the time. If your bad reviews outweigh your good reviews, that can leave a deep enough scar that takes a long time to heal. Make sure that your site is absolutely stellar. Also, ensure the best value with your service or a product. If things do go awry, solve it as quick as possible. Provide 100% Money Back Guarantee if all else fails.

Get Hip to Mobile Results and Usability

Nowadays, the search engine is rather complex and people utilize their mobile devices for a number of reasons. When it’s time for them to start a business, they may want a certain expert in a division of SEO. You want to cater to that targeted audience by having incredible content. You should have great information on what your business offers pertaining to this matter. For example, if a user was looking for an expert in metrics, you want a full out description on your page of all that goes with your services on your ecommerce site. Additionally, when viewers go to your site, make it easier to find that information. Unlike a prospect on a desktop or laptop, mobile users skim through it because they want to find a definitive answer quickly. You have to realize they are trying to kill a bit of time on a lunch break or a brief period before they start the day. The easier you make it for them, the better chance you’ll have of getting a sale or some form of long term action. If someone purchases an e-product from your page, make it easy to checkout through a safe and reliable service on their mobile device. You never want them to second guess the security of your site. Chances are you won’t make the sale and they will find somewhere else to make a purchase. They can download your product directly from the site, or get a link to their email. Apps make it easy to open the file as a small preview on their mobile device before they go home. It’s a great way to retain valuable information on the way to their destination.

Voice/Audio Software

Seeing as the world is moving to a faster pace even in a car, voice search results are crucial. Whether it’s through Bluetooth or a certain voice installation, you need to have a product for those people. One thing for certain is people look for ways to pay attention to the road while performing a good search through voice recognition. There are great apps that help you search for data on the search engine and these people may even sit through 30 to 45 minutes of traffic. You have to think of what kind of questions they would ask vocally. Put your mind in the customers for a second and come up with a great description that caters to your audience. Now…go a step further! Remember when I talked about download links and a few sentences ago, Bluetooth and voice recognition? Some visitors want to listen to audio files. Why not have an audio version of your e-book? If you are selling a particular service, an audio freebie that creates a mental call to action later would greatly help. You can create an instant download of an mp3 file that users can hear wirelessly through Bluetooth. This a very powerful asset to have and will definitely help you crush your competition. Additionally, you can have podcasts or free streams that will get you subscribers as you promote your products and even interact to make your site better. There are a myriad of ways you can get really creative with your mobile users!

On the surface, Google Hummingbird seems minute compared to the rest of the major algorithm changes of the past few years. However, if ecommerce sites buckle down and really pay attention to search queries and the complement of mobile/social interaction, this will definitely have a positive effect on their sites. It’s much more than simply conforming to the constant changes in Google’s rules. It’s all up to your brand on how you distribute this content in formats your prospect finds most convenient.

By John Knowles

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