Search engine optimization (SEO) is a fast-paced area of digital marketing. Staying on top of the latest news and developments in the industry is a critical part of success. With more information and less time than ever, it can be helpful to lean on the expertise and specialization of digital marketing professionals.
Since we spend a lot of time navigating the SEO world, we’re happy to share the most important SEO news items we come across. This week, we’ll be covering a few updates from the search engine giant Google.
Google is helping businesses highlight health and safety
While we all hope a COVID-19 vaccine is around the corner, it looks like we’ll be living with this pandemic for at least a few more months. To help people and businesses alike improve health and safety, Google is highlighting health and safety measures in Google My Business.
Businesses can access Google My Business and select which health and safety measures they are observing and wish their clients to observe as well, including:
- Appointment required
- Mask required
- Staff wear masks
- Staff have temperature checks
If you have a brick-and-mortar business location that is keeping its doors open during these times, you should highlight which health and safety aspects your business is following in Google My Business. This will begin to display in search results, and the action you take could have an impact on who does or does not interact with your business.
Google is boosting the visibility of local store inventory
You are probably aware by now that when you search for a product in Google, a list with products and images displays above the normal search engine results. Clicking on one of these takes you to the store page for that product, making it easier for everyone to find what they want quickly.
Now, Google is boosting the visibility of features along with these products that highlight the types of shopping services available, including:
- Curbside pickup
- In-store pickup
- Delivery
Brick-and-mortar stores that offer these options need to make sure this information is available to Google because it could help people make a decision whether they wish to shop at your store during these times of uncertainty.
Google crawlers will begin crawling HTTP/2 websites
A few years ago, developers began using HTTP/2, the next-gen version of HTTP, which is the primary language for transferring data over the internet. Google crawlers will soon start crawling sites with HTTP/2 coding.
This is both big and small news. It is big because this move could be the beginning of what might eventually be a major change. It is small because it doesn’t affect anyone right now. Most sites still use HTTP, and this new initiative will not affect your rankings … for now. In the future, when HTTP/2 is more standard and Google’s crawlers are more attuned to it, there may be a shift in how algorithms rank your site.
So, why do we mention this now if it doesn’t affect you? Because it likely will one day. And we want you to be ahead of the curve instead of catching up after changes are in place. We’ll keep an eye on Google and HTTP/2 and let you know if anything changes.
Burg & Co. is here to help you improve your SEO and attract new leads
Are you wanting to increase traffic to your site and create more leads and conversions? This is hard to do on your own when you don’t know where to start, but our team at Burg & Co. can help.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more visitors to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about SEO or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
