Has Google Forgotten Your MSP?

Has Google Forgotten About Your MSP?

You have not been getting leads from your website, and when you search for your MSP on Google, you don’t find yourself. Moreover, you’re seeing that your competitors are showing, or worse, some unknown MSP is outranking you as well.

This happens mainly because Google feels your competitors provide searchers a better experience. Whether due to better content or an easier-to-navigate website, Google chooses their website over yours. Your next step is to figure out why and what you can do to get Google’s attention. Here are some reasons why your MSP website has fallen off of Google.

Your Website Doesn’t Follow Technical SEO Best Practices

Most modern website templates are optimized for modern browsing out of the box. However, there can be room for improvement. Some issues to look for include:

• Responsiveness and mobile friendliness. If you need clarification on whether your website is mobile-friendly, you can use Google's Mobile Ready Tester. Since 2015, Google has increasingly focused on the mobile experience. If your website needs to be better optimized for mobile, Google lets you know through the search console. Most importantly, your visitors will have a poor experience and leave your site.
• Page Speed: According to a study by Google, as page load time increases from 1 second to 3 seconds, the probability of a visitor bouncing off the site increases by 32%. FYI: Bounce rate is the number of times visitors leave your site without interacting beyond the initial page they landed on.
• Easy website navigation: According to a study, 38% of consumers look at a page's navigational links and layout when looking at a site for the first time. They leave if the website is hard to navigate and they can't find what they are looking for quickly.

The common thread of these issues is that they ultimately lead to a poor user experience, resulting in visitors abandoning your site. Google is laser-focused on user experience. They are going as far as monitoring how users interact with your website. Suppose too many visitors leave your website, regardless of the reason. In that case, Google may ‘downgrade’ your site’s visibility and ability to convert because they assume people leave your website because you aren’t providing them with the information they are searching for, so Google will point them in the direction of someone who will.

Google Ignores Your Website Due to a Lack of Content.

We know what you’re thinking, “I have a ton of service pages.” That is true, especially if you purchased a turn-key MSP website. However, while the content on these websites is meant to get you up and running, you will eventually find yourself standing still unless you invest time into the website. Otherwise, you’ll wind up not only being passed by your competitors, but also forgotten by Google.

Cliche as it may be, content remains king and is the primary driver of traffic to your website, not only for visitors and potential leads but also for Google and the other search engines. If there is only one thing you have the resources to invest in, it should be your website’s content.

Google Looks for Changes to a Website

Known as "URL discovery," Google is continuously crawling websites looking for updated pages. This allows them to determine which web page best solves a searcher's question. The most effective way to have Google update how they rank your website is to make regular changes to it. This way, every time Google crawls your website and sees a difference, they are more likely to revisit your website to see if there are any more changes.

The most effective way to update the content on your website is to generate blogs. By posting blogs at least once a month, your website will have something new for Google to discover. Leverage your blog content by adding links to other pages on your website (known as internal linking), giving Google a trail to follow in finding other relevant pages.

The easiest way to write relevant MSP content is to write about what you know, and as long as you don't hide the secret sauce, your content will be well received. That being said, if you don't feel comfortable generating your content, that's OK; you can use various sources to get content on your website.

Content: Syndicated, Custom, or Hybrid?

We get it; writing content can be overwhelming, especially for those who aren’t English majors. First off, Google doesn’t expect you to be a Pulitzer prize-winning writer; they want you to provide searchers with information relevant to what they are looking for. The question is, which type of content is right for you?

Syndicated content is often treated as a negative when it comes to SEO. However, it depends on what type and how the syndicated content is implemented. When done correctly, syndicated content provides your website with fresh content, keeping it active and giving Google a reason to visit it. Another benefit of syndicated content is that it is more accessible to organizations that may not have the resources to invest in custom content.

One way to elevate syndicated content is to personalize it with your touches, transforming it into a hybrid type. Not custom, but customized. For example, as Google focuses on local searches, adding some localization to your syndicated content can help make it more relevant to your audience.

Finally, you can also hire freelancers to generate content for you. The only issue with doing this is that most people, including writers, have yet to learn what an MSP is, meaning you may need to educate them on your business. If you have to spend time explaining what an MSP is and does, you may as well write the content yourself. If you hire a freelancer, ensure they understand what you do and can provide samples of their previous work. This is why you must work with professionals who understand your business.

Partner With the MSP Marketing Experts

When researching a marketing agency to help you grow your business, one common refrain is that all marketing is the same. As an MSP, you know how difficult it is to explain what Managed Services are, and as such, you shouldn’t expect an agency that has never worked with an MSP before to bang out the type of MSP-focused content that converts.

Instead of relying on good intentions, partner with an agency that understands your business. Call JoomConnect today at 888-546-4384 and get your website and bottom line back on track and moving forward. The only way to gain Google’s attention is to fight for it, and as an MSP, we have the skills to come out swinging at the first bell.