For people who aren’t logged into their company’s Google Ads, Google Analytics, and/or Google Search Console accounts all day like I am, differentiating these services from each other and understanding how and why all three are vital to successful B2B marketing and lead generation for manufacturers can be a confounding challenge.
Google Ads: Attract sales leads by placing ads at or near the top of the Google search results page. When a prospect searches using relevant keywords that you select, your paid ad appears. When a prospect clicks and goes to your Website, Google charges your credit card for the click.
Google Analytics: This free measurement tool tracks your Website traffic including from where your visitors come from, what pages they view, their path navigating through the site, and other data. It can also document whether lead inquiries were generated via Google Ads digital advertising, unpaid organic searches, YouTube, digital editions of trade magazines, and/or other sources.
Google Search Console: This free tool reveals how your Website ranks in free, organic Google searches. This is a key resource for people concerned about search engine optimization (SEO), the marketing science focused on ensuring your Website appears at or near the top of the free, organic search results page when relevant keywords are searched.
From a review of Google Search Console reports for multiple machinery and equipment manufacturers and distributors, it seems the industrial purchasing prospects who search and click may not always behave in the way some of the SEO companies hope.
For as much money as people invest in getting to the top position for their most critical keywords, the lion’s share of people searching scroll right past the top result. It seems people keep scrolling down until they find a company they know and recognize. That’s when they click – whether it’s a free, organic result secured via content marketing or a paid PPC keyword ad result does not seem to matter very much. What matters in attracting the click is the brand equity, the synergistic sum of name brand awareness, recognition, credibility, and goodwill.
Many people use the company name in their searches, and the reports show these people click through to the company Websites at a far higher rate than people who do not specify a company name. Have your prospects heard of your company? Have they heard or read anything good about your company?
If the name brand means so much then does this also mean it’s ok if you’re on page three instead of at the top of page one in the search results? Of course not. If your Website appears on page three then your company doesn’t even have an opportunity to capture these potential sales leads. You’re not even giving yourself a chance to be considered.
The sweet spot to achieve is when you secure top organic search rankings for critical keywords and your company has established widespread name brand awareness and recognition within your target audience. That’s when you can dominate the search results, capture more prospects, quote more projects, and rise above the competition.
