Yorkshire online businesses may be under threat
Leeds marketing agency, The Marketing Optimist, is urging businesses to review their websites following the implementation of Google’s search update, which is affecting copy-shy websites, and sites without enough useful, helpful content.
“We’re often told that people don’t read website copy” says Richard Michie, CEO of The Marketing Optimist.
Not only is this wildly inaccurate, but it’s a peculiar thing to say, and to believe, when you think about it. Images on a website don’t say 1000 words. They say very little without the context, and power of effective copy.
People don’t invest, personally or monetarily, in brands or products they know nothing about. People don’t buy services from businesses that don’t clearly expose their expertise, unique approach etc. Your copy should be the best 24/7 salesperson you’ve never had, written to sell.
The Google Useful Content Update, which began rolling out in August 2022, will actively penalise websites with very little written content, and site’s with content that utilises shortcuts to drive search traffic, but delivers very little value.
“With businesses relying so heavily on internet sales, and the current economic issues facing the UK, it’s more important than ever that customers shopping online can find the goods and services they want from businesses based in Leeds. If these websites don't meet Google’s new criteria, they’ll simply disappear from Google searches, and leave customers shopping elsewhere”, Richard continued.
Highly visual, copy-shy websites will certainly be hit the hardest, along with websites selling a large range of products, all featuring similar descriptions, with changes only to the size, colour, tech specs etc.
To fix the situation, businesses need to review their websites and ensure that all relevant product/service pages, as well as informative pages such as About pages, Approach pages, and Case Studies, contain all the details they need to inform and help users, and drive them to convert. Furthermore, website page copy should be optimised for a certain keyword, to help the page for that term in search engine results pages, and drive organic search traffic to the page.
Richard concluded, “Like Google, we feel that customers want to know information about your products/services, your business’s story, values, team members, point of view etc. These are all the things that make your business great, stand out, and give customers a reason to buy from, or work with, you. Not your competitors.”