Consumers search, a lot and fast! In this age of fleeting attention and fierce competition, companies often get help to ensure their online presence is seen by as many people as possible. Agencies like Home Service Direct have all the required knowledge and experience to help them beat out their competition. It’s a constantly changing world and savvy local marketers are always looking for new ways to engage with consumers at the very first opportunity. Of course, this is easier said than done with local competitors also fighting to appear at the top of the searches and engage with any potential customer. This is why so many people go to an seo company in san diego for help as they will be more likely to improve their ranking positions. However, there are lots of things you can do to improve your understanding of how Google works and ranks websites, like joining Google’s Knowledge Panel.

Most importantly, Google’s Knowledge Panel allows local business to engage with consumers directly within search and without any additional clicks.

Even though Google presents this first, best opportunity to engage with consumers, a new Moz survey revealed that just over 50% of marketers haven’t yet taken advantage of the opportunities that the Knowledge Panel offers!

We’ve touched upon the value of the Knowledge Panel in the past, but it’s worth digging deeper to explore the benefits it can unlock for local business.

Google Knowledge Panel. What it Is. Why it Matters.

The knowledge panel is the box to the right of search results where Google displays information on a relevant business, including the company name, business hours, address and phone number. Today the panel shows up in roughly 40% of searches, and the more localized a search gets, the more likely it is that a local Knowledge Panel will appear.

This means that for LOCAL SEO, you need to get smart about using the knowledge panel to help searchers discover and reach your business without any additional clicks.

A knowledge panel also includes these actionable features:

• Q&A: This consumer-facing, crowdsourced feature is similar to the Ask the Community feature on TripAdvisor and Yelp. It allows consumers to ask questions and businesses can provide answers directly within search and without any additional clicks. Users can also give a thumbs-up vote to questions and answers, which influences where the questions and answers might appear on the panel and in search results.
• Posts: This feature enables businesses to create short 300-words or less blog-style posts that appear directly in the knowledge panel, providing an additional avenue for customer communication directly within search and without any additional clicks. Like Q&A, Posts also appear in search results and are especially visible in Maps search results. Posts are a great way to let prospects and customers know about new products, company news, special offers and events. Posts can include an appropriate call to action (buy now, contact us, etc.) along with a link. Note that each Post expires after seven days so it important to develop the process of posting regularly.

Getting Started.

If you want your business to appear in a Knowledge Panel, and also gain control over the information displayed by Google, the first and most important step is to (1) claim, (2) verify and (3) complete your Google My Business listing.

Here’s how we can help:

1. Subscribe to our free HOT!Content service that delivers a daily dose of content for you to post to your Knowledge Panel, Facebook and other sites. HOT!Content also includes an automatic posting wizard – so your online content is always up-to-date – as well as other handy functions to help you build online success. Enroll here.
2. Contact us to request a complimentary Digital Marketing Assessment. A member of our team will walk you through your current online presence and discuss ways of improving how customers and prospects perceive your business. Click here to for more details.

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