At this very moment, 1000s of people — potential clients — could be reaching for their phones to search for a carpet cleaner, electrician, pest control technician, or plumber. They have questions, they want prices, and they want it now!
These are Micro-Moments.
Like raising a spoilt child — you need to give it to them — fast.
If your business isn’t optimised for Local SEO, with rich content and mobile-friendly you could be missing out on these Micro-Moments (and sales).
If you lack rich informative content, not only do you provide little incentive for the client to stay on your website, or listing, but the Google bots will skip you altogether — not enough local information, not enough quality reviews, inconsistent info — lower search rankings. This will eliminate you from the game from the get-go.
Like a hungry child, Google is ravenous, searching for businesses that are the right fit for customers.
How to catch customers in Micro-moments?
Here’s some good news!
Even though Google started talking about Micro-Moments in 2015, not all businesses have caught on to the micro-moments marketing strategy. They are still focussing on clunky traditional marketing methods. So, jump on board ASAP!
Here are some strategies to capture clients in those Micro-Moments:
1. Make. It. Easy.
Make it easy for customers to:
- Call you
- Find you (including an accurate address on your website or business directories)
- Find pricing or get a quote.
- Find a list of products/services.
- Find opening hours
- Find lots of reviews and customer feedback on your services (so ask for reviews!)
- Answer their questions in FAQs or Google My Business posts
2. Ask your clients questions
Ask your clients about your business. How did they find you? What services were they looking for? What questions did they want to be answered?
Post commonly asked questions on your Google My Business page, or create Google My Business posts that answer these questions. Tip: Have the question as to the title of your Google My Business post.
Duplicate these questions on your website as well, on an FAQ page. Always cover your bases — you never know where the client will end up!
3. Be mobile-friendly
Google My Business is already mobile-friendly, but if you send clients to your website, ensure that displays well on all smart devices.
There’s nothing worse than a clunky website with tiny text — this is the best way to lose customers in those micro-moments.
4. Optimise for Voice Search
Micro-moments are going device-less!
Voice search is an ever-growing area. If a customer has a question, they may ask their dear old friend Siri, Echo, Google Home, Cortana or Alexa (uses the Bing search engine). 3.25 billion people are using voice search to seek new services and ask questions.
To optimise for voice search, put conversational keyword phrases into your online content. This links in nicely with your common questions in point 3 above.
You: “Okay, Google, who do I call to boost my Local SEO and search rankings?”
Google Home: “Tradius, of course!”
Search Term Trends
So other than asking questions, where else are search term trends heading?
Customers are entering fewer location-specific search terms, such as suburb, “near me”, “local” — but they still expect to find exactly what they’re looking for. When they enter “plumber” in Google search, they assume they will be presented with the area's local plumbers.
Users are now assuming, and rightly so, that Google has God-like psychic powers. Many have given up being offended that Google knows where they are every second of the day, they go with the flow and expect nothing less. (Well, not everyone).
To put this trend in perspective, in recent years, search terms containing “near me” have dropped by 150%, and queries with postcodes have dropped by 30%.
Finally, if you weren’t sure how powerful reviews were for your search rankings, you will now. If a customer types “best” before any service they are looking for, Google will automatically show them the top-rated businesses. It may not be the most significant and most affluent business that takes out the top spot anymore; it’s all about social proof! (Although, watch out for big businesses as they catch on quickly and have the funds behind them. Money talks!)
Playing Hard To Get?
It might be good for dating, but it’s not good for business! Plug your trades business into the #1 local SEO agency for tradies. Get listed, reviews, and leads — without having to invest in a website. Let's talk!