Looking for online success? Google is the new Yellow Pages you can’t ignore

Google has dominated online search within the Australian market for a large number of years. Squeezing Yahoo and even local players like Yellow Pages out of the game.

Unfortunately for Yellow Pages, many continue to shift their spend away from its once Holy Grail directory. Based on an estimated 191,346,230 Google.com.au visits in August 2014 it appears that Google is where you now “let your fingers do the walking”.

Google's position in Australia is one of the most dominant in the world, with the search engine giant boasting a whopping 92%+ market share.

As of the week ending 30th August 2014, here are the most visited websites from within Australia ranked by experian hitwise.

Websites	Total Visits
Google Australia	191,346,230
Facebook	93,644,137
ninemsn	67,507,258
YouTube	33,650,745
Google	33,025,725
eBay Australia	22,347,721
Wikipedia	21,426,299
Commonwealth Bank NetBank	18,063,339
Windows Live Mail	13,907,104
Bing	13,721,275

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/AU shows yellowpages.com.au at 106th considerably behind carsales.com.au at 58th and Google.com.au in 1st and .com in 2nd.

It’s no surprise given we "Google" everything from products to services and even self-diagnose ourselves - bulk billing free! thanks to Dr Google.

 

Why does this matter to your business?

An estimated 66% of Australian Small to Medium Businesses have a website. Understanding how to build a strategy and solid base is a the key to the success of your online investment.

Here are some stats from a recent Sensis report;

• 95% of SMEs have broadband internet
• They predominantly use broadband for product/service research, email and banking
• 69% of SMEs with websites reported improved effectiveness mainly due to increased exposure
• $3,600 was the average yearly website spend including maintenance
• only 19% reported they had a digital strategy for their business activities
• 39% use Social Media
• 50% of those using Social Media were tracking social activity

While on Social Media, let’s not forget the online social giants including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google’s own YouTube that lead the social media race for engagement.

These social media platforms are empowering small and large businesses with the tools and means to connect and communicate directly with their target audience.

Consumers have been migrating online in droves. This in addition to a change in business marketing techniques ultimately contributed to a revenue drop of 25.6% for Yellow Pages classifieds in 2013.




Google’s local business listings, maps and social platform G+ keep attracting consumer and business eye balls delivering further blows to Yellow Pages.

When was the last time you visited yellowpages.com.au, opened or even set sight on the yellow book?

The way we;

1. promote and market our business
2. search for products and services
3. engage with clients and brands

has changed dramatically and continues to shift. It’s evident that big or small, not embracing this shift can hurt your business.

This shift should inspire new thinking… and mark exciting opportunities for consumers and businesses both locally and globally.


This digital shift brings with it new challenges and learning’s for all of us including;

• Learning new devices, services and techniques
• Understanding what is suitable for our business
• Embracing digital change in our daily life and business
• Creating consistent and sustainable growth

This ultimately brings us back to your online castle, your website - where it all starts and ends. Irrespective of your marketing techniques, your big personality, great service or products, you will be judged by your websites;

1. Design
2. Communication
3. Usability
4. Accessibility

Human appeal is one very important aspect, however accessibility has many visible and hidden layers that impact how Google rates your website and whether it promotes you higher than your competitors or at all.

Accessibility is backed by good;

1. Strategy
2. Structure
3. Relevance

The biggest online resource therefore demands respect and if we want the traffic, engagement and business, it’s vital that we comply with Google's not so clear requirements.

If you’d like to learn how to supercharge your website and get more out of Google, visit our free learning hub or try our free website audit.