Google and the big business of Yorkshire SMEs

THE first Digital Garage initiative in the UK, at Leeds Dock, has already seen over 1,200 businesses of all shapes and sizes come through the door.

Its targets are SMEs who are wanting to make the move into digital, mid-size businesses who want to use their website better, or learn how to use social media for lead-generation and brand awareness.

The Digital Garage has had help from the Leeds City Region LEP and Allied London in developing its presence at Leeds Dock and over the past 3 months, the technicians and managers from Google have got a picture of the issues SMEs face, and which has helped them come up with top tips for SMEs.

Gori Yahaya, Google’s Digital Garage manager helped the TheBusinessDesk.com
he said; “We’ve had a massive range of businesses, from, startups, to SMEs and larger businesses trying to capitalise on their own and their individual use of their websites and going digital. These are some of the most common questions we get from Yorkshire businesses.”

1. Where’s our traffic coming from?

“We’d definitely recommend using Google analytics to help with this one,” said Mr Yahaya, “install a tracking code and collect data from your website. This data is invaluable when making decisions about your digital presence.

“We’ve had one company that had a load of interest from Saudi Arabian businesses, and they wanted to know how they could utilise that.

“Digital can help massively with export and international trade, when looking to expand into new markets having a bi-or multi-lingual site

2. How do I increase my website’s Google rankings?

“Using Search Console, (previously called Webmasters) helps understand what a Googlebot is and how it works, indexing the web page according to the information on it and identifying any errors on the site.

“Our algorithm is our secret sauce. It’s not necessarily a case of build it and they wil lcome. Sites have to be visible and be easily searchable. People purchase journeys and experiences online, and the more information they get on a good site, the better purchasing decisions they make.

“Keyword research and SEO are really important. Using Google Trends and Adwords you can produce better and more relevant content that is more likely to get picked up and get traffic through.

“I would definitely recommend verifying you own your own website, which means you’ll get ranked better

“In a search terms report, refining your keyword list will help, and a user search term report will mean that you can become more targeted when producing your content.

“Researching trends and what other people search will inform your use of certain terms and vocabulary.

“Broader terms can be a help and a hindrance, if you have a high Google ranking they’re fine, but if you operate in a niche sector, tailoring your website to be more specific and creating content around that will really help.”

3. With regards to social media, how often should I be posting and on what platform?

“Basically there is no right or wrong answer to this one, it’s just important that you’re active and your activity will depend largely on the business.

“Work out persona for your social media interactions that will fit in with your customer base; do your research within different platforms and use your own language to keep the tone consistent.

“Using social media will improve your relationship with customers, connect to communities and create a customer base online.

“For small businesses it’s hard to delegate time to this and get a better understanding of where you should be focussing, but there are shortcuts. Scheduling posts, and reacting to trends and traffic activity will increase your interactions and allow you to come up with a strategic plan.

“Realistically you’re asking someone to enter your feed and be interested in what you have to publish. You have to ask, what’s the value in it for them?

“You need to think about the messages that you can convey, and what is most appropriate for your company.”

4. How do I go about improving mobile, tablet and laptop capabilities?

“Google have developed an algorithm update to increase mobile friendliness of websites, we’re really taking this shift to mobile seriously and there are tools to test if your site is mobile friendly.

“If a site is mobile responsive, there is more emphasis on the call to action and people are more likely to stay on and browse while they’re on the move.

“It’s about understanding the experience. People want a simple and streamline experience which will make them more likely to remember you, and continue that relationship with

This understanding of the customer experience has helped Google become the biggest technology company in the world, and now they are trying to impart some of that knowledge to British SMEs.

“The Digital Garage on the ground is like nothing has Google has done before.” said Mr Yahaya. “The whole project for us is about engagement with SMEs. It’s been about making us approachable, and demystifying the digital space.”