Time Is Money: Why capturing and measuring data is key to online success

1:16 pm, June 16, 2015

How many of you are aware that ‘Mobilegeddon’ happened recently? Even if you were aware, it may be good for you to have a look at your website’s placing in the current Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). You should do this for your most important search terms.

Google have apparently implemented their most powerful algorithm update since adding their Penguin algorithm in 2012. It was also described to me as being a far more significant development than the Hummingbird algorithm released in 2013.

This new algorithm from Google positions your website on their SERPs based on the mobile friendliness of your site. So, if your website is not mobile-friendly then the likelihood is that you will have lost some important places on Google – this could even apply to the results of your dealership’s business name.

Much of the above might just seem like jargon or waffle to you, but the fact is, if you don’t know what I’m talking about you could be losing business right now. At this point you may want to get an update from your marketing team or website developers!

First, I would advise asking if your site is mobilefriendly. By this I mean; does the web browser automatically show a simplified mobile version, or is your website responsive like ours (firstresponsefinance.co.uk)? (This is where, as you shrink the browser, it switches to a version with bigger buttons, larger, more readable text and fewer images. Google sees this when it trawls the worldwide web and scores websites based on how user-friendly they are. Google actually has a tool for checking this if you want to look for yourself.)

Second, I would advise asking about where your pages were previously ranking on Google for certain search terms and where they are ranking now. This is a really important part of owning, running, managing and developing a website.

Most websites should be investing in Search Engine Optimisation, moving to the top of the search engine results pages, and if you are, then it is costing you time which obviously costs money.

With Google being the most used search engine on the worldwide web, it is the largest source of traffic for almost all websites. This means the time and money spent on SEO may have just been lost and if you’ve not been measuring your rankings then you will not know where to direct your future efforts.

As a marketing department, we are constantly looking at this data. We know exactly where we are on Google for every phrase, we know how many visits and visitors there are and how many of them turn into applicants. We also know a lot more. This is a pivotal part of our website’s development so if you need assistance with your internet presence, we’re here to help.

Getting you into a routine of capturing and measuring this data is the key to your online success, so if you don’t do this already, feel free to give me a call.