You may or may not already know that on the 1st July 2023 the current Google Universal Analytics will no longer process any new data and the new Google Analytics 4 property is going to take its place. The good news is that Google Analytics 4 is here to make tracking your website easier, but the bad news is that it won't carry across your current analytics data. We want to make sure your website is ready for the change by migrating across to the new Google Analytics 4 property. We’re here to help you understand the next steps you should take.
Universal Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic.
Google Analytics 4, also known as GA4, is a new and improved version of Universal Analytics. It’s been introduced to effectively collect and analyse data - using all the good parts of Universal Analytics and adding additional, advanced features that aim to improve the data collecting service.
The main difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics is that where Universal was built to collect a series of page views, GA4 has been built to analyse anything from page views to clicks, form submissions and even custom events that you can tailor to your conversional requirements.
GA4 can:
Why should I move to GA4?
Well to put it plainly GA4 is more powerful, more flexible and more accurate.
If you want to be able to analyse useful data from your site or app then you should move to GA4 - you’ll get the chance to access all the new features and capabilities, but you’ll also be able to take advantage of GA4’s continued learning and improvement.
Also if you don’t want to risk losing your data you should make the move as Google will be discontinuing Universal Analytics in July 2023, so you’ll have to upgrade anyway.
Think about it this way, if you move your tracking now it means you’ll have a year's worth of data in a new platform, rather than having to put up with a blackout period during your transition. It also gives you a chance to get used to the new system and see how you like it.
Migrating to GA4 will involve a lot of documentation and information, which can be quite overwhelming if you’re not a Google Analytics whizz. Which is why Eat Marketing is here to take the load off of you and help you do this.
Now!
If you want to save the ‘future you’ a lot of stress and headaches then implementing GA4 now is your best bet. Getting us to help you migrate to GA4 properly makes the move a lot easier for you. Once it’s properly set up we can help you set your own custom events and more.
If you don’t want to risk losing your data and need help with the migration process, contact Alison today to discuss the next steps on your GA4 migration: +44 (0)845 835 4661.
Did you know 70% of websites have already switched to mobile-first indexing in preparation for Google’s latest algorithm update?
The algorithm update is rolling out this month, meaning it’s time to ensure your website is mobile optimised and not just ‘mobile-friendly’.
Originally due to go live from September 2020, Google pushed back the roll out, stating: “We realise that in these uncertain times, it's not always easy to focus on work as otherwise, so we've decided to extend the timeframe to the end of March 2021.”
Now Google is switching to its mobile-first algorithm indexing and if you’ve not made the necessary changes, you could soon see a dip in website performance and traffic.
The mobile-first algorithm will give priority to mobile-first websites over desktop. Once the update is rolled out, it will change the way Google indexes websites on its search engine results page (SERP).
Previously Google viewed desktop traffic as a priority, however recent reports show mobile usage is outgrowing desktop usage.
Compared to other search engines, Google also has the highest share of organic mobile search traffic (54%) - which is predicted to keep rising over the next couple of years.
Today is the perfect opportunity to evaluate your website design and content, identifying areas to optimise in time for the roll out.
Use this period to analyse and address whether your website is just friendly to mobile users, or actually optimised for a smaller screen device.
Mobile optimisation is true responsive-mobile design. This means content will resize for multiple screens, resolutions and orientations to provide visitors with just as good a browsing experience as using a desktop.
Consider your website design, is it providing the best possible experience for your users?
Even if your design is mobile optimised but your content is still targeted towards desktop users, you could also face difficulties being indexed by Google following the update.
Consider your audience’s experience with your website when they are visiting via a mobile device. Long paragraphs of text or large images will not be easy to scroll past on a small screen.
By shortening sentences, paragraphs and optimising videos and images, you’ll be improving user experience and also satisfying Google’s algorithm.
However you don’t want to remove important content. While your mobile site’s content doesn’t have to be identical to your desktop site’s content, important content should be kept.
Removing smaller features like email opt-ins won’t have a major impact from an SEO point of view, but excluding things purely because it feels too long for a mobile layout can have a negative impact.
For example, important content includes internal links. You’ll want to ensure all of the important links still exist on your website’s mobile version, as removing these could negatively impact your rankings as they may change how Google judges the value of your website pages.
You’ll also want to ensure your site speed isn’t hindering your user's mobile experience. According to Google, 53% of mobile users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.
Ideally your website’s load time for both desktop and mobile will be under 1 second, but under 3 seconds is still acceptable.
There is still time to get prepared for Google’s mobile first algorithm update, if you take action today to analyse your website and make important changes.
Discover how to optimise your design and content for mobile with a detailed website audit, and ensure your food business doesn’t suffer from a decline in visitors in the future.
Wondering how local SEO is different to traditional SEO? With Local SEO you’re trying to provide a more personalised experience for a user by getting your website to rank high for searchers in a specific geographic area. Whereas, with traditional or ‘regular’ SEO, you’re trying to get a website to rank high whenever particular keywords are used in a search.
If you optimise your food business’s website efficiently for local SEO, it can be an effective way to market your produce to users in your geographical area (or areas if you have multiple locations). With a different algorithm to traditional SEO, results are based on relevance, prominence and proximity of a user to your address when searching instead of just keywords.
For example if you have a restaurant or takeaway, your business’s physical location would affect your local SEO. But what about if you have several restaurants in different towns - how do you optimise for your website/s then? And what about if you’d like to attract customers from nearby locations, but you only have one physical address to work with?
Although you can’t lie about your business address online, you can take advantage of several other tips and tricks that will help you rank for local SEO. We’ve suggested 9 simple steps to follow to increase your chances of getting found by users online in your area...
1. Links
Inbound links are those that direct traffic to your website from a third-party website. The more links from local businesses you have the better. It doesn’t matter about the quality of the websites the links come from either.
Outbound links are those from your website to others. These are just as valuable as inbound, but if they’re linked to credible pages it can help improve your ranking. Try not to include any more than 30 links to different websites on any one webpage as Google may become suspicious, and lower your results in a search engine results page (SERP).
2. Content
Did you know the average person scrolls 3,000 feet of content per day? Therefore you don’t need to worry about restricting the amount of content on a webpage - as long as it’s relevant to readers and is engaging. Having a good mix of blog topics promoting your restaurant, your team or the local area will be beneficial for local SEO.
3. Google My Business
There are surprisingly many businesses who don’t have a personalised Google My Business page and are missing out on the opportunities it offers for local SEO. It’s easy to set up a Google My Business page for your food business and allows you to list your physical address. This’ll build trust with Google who will feel confident to list your website higher on a SERP.
4. Website
The way Google displays results on a SERP is constantly changing. However there are on-page practices you can follow to improve your chances of being listed higher than competitors.
Ensure every page on your website is optimised for local SEO with a focus keyword. Although there is currently no limit on the number of keywords you can include on a webpage, you want your content to read naturally and not feel like a robot has written it - so try not to include too many! In terms of length, you want your content to be long enough to answer a problem or provide a solution to a user without waffling on.
5. Reviews
If you know your customers love your food, get them to share it online! Whether that’s on traditional review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yell or Trustpilot, or local review and community sites - variety is key. You can also copy the ‘write a review’ link from a website and share it with customers to encourage reviews that will help with your SERP ranking.
6. Social Optimisation
Although it can be tempting to set up a profile on every social media platform, it’s best practice to only focus on 3. Try to post a mix of 80% content and 20% sales posts to help with local SEO. Did you know Facebook offers a ‘Business Locations’ feature? If you have more than one restaurant, it allows you to add multiple business locations, build a local presence and help people nearby find you.
7. External location
There are plenty of opportunities online for your business to be referenced by a third-party. Is there a local food blogger or restaurant reviewer you could contact to feature your business? You could even pair with another local business for a guest blog or utilise local and industry listing websites, such as Yell or TripAdvisor. Wherever your business or website is listed, ensure the spelling is correct as Google can penalise for inconsistencies or mistakes!
8. Mobile Optimisation
It’s important to ensure your website design is mobile-friendly and can adapt depending on what device it’s viewed on by a user. If your website isn’t suitable for mobile users, Google can list you lower down on a SERP so it’s worth ensuring. Add in ‘click to call’ buttons on your website, allow check-ins on Facebook and consider other ways you could engage with mobile users online.
9. Personalisation
A user’s location will obviously show different results when they search online - but did you know it can depend on the device they’re using as well? Local search uses recent search history - think the last few days not weeks! - to personalise results to a user, and Google lists what it thinks will be the most relevant first. It does this through history, cookies and by using other known information about the searcher. These days, no two people receive the same identical search results. Don’t try and spam or fool Google in anyway, just focus on creating relevant content to your food business and you’ll have more chance of your content ranking.
It’s important not to believe everything you hear banded around about both traditional and local SEO. Instead, you can work with an agency that has experience in SEO best practice and food businesses. As different industries can throw up different results for local SEO, it’s a good idea to test and measure traffic to see what works.
Looking to optimise your website or social channels for local SEO, or need some advice as to how to get started? Discover how Eat Marketing can help by getting in touch today.