Did you know that Google just released the biggest algorithm update in the last 5 years? Do you know how that will affect your roofing business?
Read on and you’ll find out all about it, along with some other exciting stuff.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
So Google has released its BIGGEST search algorithm update in the last five years. It is a huge leap forward and, according to Google itself, the biggest leap in the history of Google search.
It is called BERT and it is an artificial intelligence method for understanding content and search queries. It is so complex that it is pushing Google’s own limits!
BERT will now help Google understand users’ queries more like a human and provide more relevant results.
So at the moment, everyone is anxiously waiting to see what happens and what effect BERT will have on their rankings and traffic.
While we wait for BERT to take full effect, we can move our attention to some things that we know for sure, and those are Google’s new, tightened HTTP website rules.
Google has announced that Chrome will soon stop showing all pages, content, and resources that are on HTTP and will load only those on HTTPS.
What this means for roofers who still haven’t migrated to HTTPS is that you will basically disappear from the internet!
That’s right, if your web is still on HTTP, it will stop loading for Chrome users.
Apart from that, Google has also been testing showing search results without the URLs, but no need to worry because this won’t affect your roofing websites and SEO.
It might, however, cause some issues for users.
Without the URLs in the search results, they won’t be able to see exactly which page they are visiting, which opens the door for scammers to steal sensitive information, credit card numbers, etc.
But it is still in the testing phase for now, so we’ll see what the future holds.
And now guess what… issues again!
There have been some problems with indexing and showing new content in Google search results again, which may have affected the traffic to your roofing websites.
Google has confirmed this and is looking into it.
For more information, check full articles:
- Welcome BERT: Google’s latest search algorithm to better understand natural language
- Google gets tougher on HTTPS with ban on mixed content
- Google is Testing Search Results Without URLs
- Google may be having issues showing new content again
Google Ads
Google is testing a new extension for its search ads that should make it easier to generate more roofing leads.
This ad extension would allow advertisers to collect information straight from the contact form that is incorporated in the ad itself.
You’d be able to collect name, email, phone number, and/or postal code directly from the ad, as well as track these leads in real-time.
The data would then be delivered directly to your client management system.
Google is also introducing a big change to ad campaigns when it comes to audience targeting.
Up until now, Google Ads were only based on and triggered by keywords, which means that your ads were were limited to only those users that type in a certain keyword.
But with this new feature, we should have the opportunity to target a much wider audience based on their interests as well.
Google will determine these interest groups based on your audience’s previous search queries and their browsing history.
What this means is that you might be in for a pretty good increase in roofing leads!
For more information, check full articles:
- Capture leads with Google Ads latest ad extension test
- Affinity audiences coming to Google Search campaigns
Facebook Ads
Facebook is rolling out an exciting new option for all advertisers – search ad placement.
This means that you can choose to show your ads in both the News Feed and the Marketplace when users are actively searching for roofers on Facebook.
This gives you direct access to these active users, much more exposure on this platform that has not yet been overrun by your competitors, and more quality leads.
In addition to that, Facebook is also introducing Campaign Budget Optimization, which will automate your budget optimization across different ad sets.
This means that the budget will be set on the campaign level and Facebook will then give it to the ad set that is currently providing the best results.
This way, your money will be spent in the best possible way.
For more information, check full articles:
- Facebook opens search ads to all advertisers
- Facebook’s Campaign Budget Optimization is coming. Are you ready?
Now that you’re all caught up, let’s keep up the good work and continue to dominate together!
If we can help you scale up your business or you have any questions about what you’ve just read, feel free to contact us anytime!
Matt Jacob has been in the marketing business since 2008, working exclusively with roofers for more than 5 years now. He has come to know all the tricks of trade inside-out and he is committed to helping roofers by sharing some of the most important ones. Find out where your best opportunities lie, as well as which challenges lurk out there for roofers – all in his detailed blogs.
