4 Quick Tips for Dominating the New Google

Google recently announced that the new look they’ve been testing since last year was rolled out to everyone. There’s a new mobile look too. And there’s one important thing you as a business owner should know about what most are announcing as a change to the Google search engine results pages.

It’s not just a facelift.

The New Google has implemented fundamental yet subtle shifts that they’ve been making over the past few years, including features from successful beta testing they did.

This can affect your business in one of two ways. Either you can lose traffic to competitors who may not even know what they’re doing right to get extra traffic, or you can educate yourself about what’s different, then position yourself to take advantage of the changes.

In case you don’t know my philosophy about getting better exposure and rankings in search, here it is in a nutshell: work with the search engines, not against them. Instead of trying to cheat with spammy methods that don’t provide any real benefit to people who may find your content, find out what the search engines need most and provide it.

Therefore, these tips aren’t going to include anything black hat or prohibited in any way by Google.

1- Fill out your Google profile.
http://www.google.com/profiles

At first glance, this probably seems like a strange thing to suggest. But your profile in Google is increasing in importance. I’m not claiming that this is a ranking factor, not at all. However, it can help you get additional exposure and not just through Google Buzz.

Google Social Search, also a Google Labs graduate, is live in the main Google search when you’re logged in to Google. When you fill out your Google profile and include links to your site, your YouTube account, Twitter account, etc., you will begin to get suggestions Google has found from the relevant content of friends and acquaintances you’re connected to online through social media, and vice-versa.

That means a site you referenced in your Google profile can appear at the bottom of the first page of results for a logged in user of Google. Not necessarily a huge bump if you have a small network, but not a bad bit of free traffic in exchange for a few minutes of work.

2- Sign up for Google Places – even if you’re an entrepreneur or micro-business.

http://www.google.com/local/add/

Google Local results have been showing up in Google results for some time now, but with the revamped Google Local Business Center, now renamed Google Places, have come some important enhancements that are smoothly integrated in the new Google.

Not only that, the new version includes not just basic information such as location and phone number, but photos, audio, video, coupons, real-time updates, even Product Listings.

There’s not enough space here to detail all the great new things you can add to enhance your business presence for free on Google, but even if it didn’t help you show up properly under the “Maps” or “Nearby” section of relevant searches in Google, it would be worth it.

Extra tip: No matter what size your business, as long as you have a location with a street address outside your home, it is likely worth adding to Google Places. Do some keyword research and try out your search in Google to see if the free listing would be worthwhile.

3- Re-purpose content you already have to fit into more spots in the New Google.

In past years, perhaps it made sense to focus most of your efforts on the text-based version of Google search. After all, not all searchers are savvy, and most of the focus at the time was placed on the main Google web search.

Fast-forward to the age of dynamic information, with images, blogs, status updates, podcasts, videos, RSS and Atom feeds. Now there are all kinds of ways you may be discovered in search, and many of them may not even be on your site.

Take video for example. Even the camera-shy can benefit from the easier, faster rankings videos often get in Google by using video screen capture, animations or slideshow presentations converted to video.

Take that article you wrote, turn it into a PowerPoint presentation, set it to music, or better yet, narrate a presentation. Then publish it as a video, pop it on a few video sites, add it to your podcasts, and track your traffic. You may see a measurable difference in traffic or rankings that’s worth the extra bit of work.

Participate in some Q and A sites and get your answers ranked under discussions.

Write a blog post or submit a press release to get a ranking in the News or Blogs section. The more content you have available in more formats, the higher your chances of discovery.

4- Make sure you’re aware of every opportunity to get on the first page or rank number one.

While you’re re-purposing content to show up under the other menu sections in the new Google search results pages, consider this: there are now a multitude of ways to get ranked on the first page in Google, and they vary from listing to listing.

Sometimes the top ranked content is a video. Others don’t have video at all, but they do have the latest tweets scrolling on the first page.

Sometimes an image would help – it may not be the top ranking, but on the search results page it’s the easiest one to get. Other times it may be a news story, or a well-linked blog post. Pull up the terms you want to rank for in Google and see what the top content is.

Evaluate your competition and see what you could do better – or how you could buy prime advertising spots on their web site- not every keyword competitor is a market competitor. Some sites offer content instead of products, in hopes of getting business people like you to advertise.

Next time you’re at Google, do a quick search on your name, your favorite hobby, and the keywords you want your business to rank for – you may or may not like the new look to the results page in Google.

Just remember that the real issue isn’t whether you find the new Google style aesthetically pleasing – it’s how you can make these changes in Google benefit you.