Why do SMB owners want more calls as a result of SEO, but don't answer 62% of them?
-
Working mostly with SMBs for 8 years now, we have gradually developed the notion that small business owners are hard to reach by phone. Our Customer Service agents spend hours unsuccessfully trying to reach business owners. If a potential customer calls the business, they'll have to face the same outcome. This means missed opportunities for both parties. Needless to say, one of the most important KPIs in local SEO is the number of generated phone calls...but no one's there to answer.
We wanted to dig deeper into the matter, so we did a small study with 85 businesses. Results show that:
- 37.8% of calls are answered by a person.
- 37.8% of calls are answered by an answering machine, where no actual conversation (nor conversion) is possible, so we treat these calls as unanswered.
- 24.3% of calls are unanswered.
We also gathered a list of possible solutions to the problem, but what we really need to know is WHY do business owners neglect such an important part of their business? And what resolutions can you think of?
-
Okay, thanks for that.
-
Thanks, Christy! Sorry if we caused any trouble.
-
Sorry about that. I understand it has already been moved to the right section by another user.
The article was submitted to YouMoz before it was published but unfortunately it was rejected. However, we still wanted to discuss the issue with other professionals, so we started this thread.
Do you think we should add a short list of the possible solutions now that the link to the full article is gone?
-
We are totally aware of that, thanks.
-
Hi there! I have removed the link in your original post, and left it published here in the forum as a discussion question. For details, please refer to the email I just sent you.
Christy
-
This is Q&A, not a signpost for articles.
It looks pretty interesting. Why don't you write it up and submit it to YouMoz.
-
Link here is nofollow FYI.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does popup ads affects SEO?
Hi, webmasters, As a part of Christmas, we have enabled some pop-up advertisement on our homepage. However, we are doing SEO for our services, and if there any SEO experts here, please share your view on my question. Reference of the website which im saying is https://www.cash4carremovalsydney.com.au/ However, if this affects SEO, tell me an alternate solution for this concern for promoting our Xmas offer for our cars removal services.
Local SEO | | AnuManish0 -
Local SEO Website Structure.
Hi everyone, This might be quite a long post so please bear with me. I am currently rebuilding my website. My previous website was built by a web designer and was very basic. 5 page html site consisting of home, services, gallery, testimonials, contact pages. None of them were great - thin content, not optimised as well as could be - no h1's etc. To be fair I knew nothing about websites and didn't bother much with the site. As a new business I used it simply as a place for people to visit for more information after receiving a leaflet and never bothered much about driving traffic to the site. A few years down the line and I have realised I need the website to be working for me as opposed to alongside me. I am building it myself via wordpress as web designer didn't want to work in wordpress. I have done my keyword research and I'm working on pages as we speak. Previously my homepage - around 80% of visitors landed here for my main keyword (driveway cleaning glasgow) as it was number 6 in the organic listing. With my services page appearing directly underneath in 7 for the same keyword. I have starting building a new page for that keyword which contains (driveway-cleaning-glasgow) in the url. I have 301'd my previous services page to this url. Now for my questions...
Local SEO | | sfrediktru8
My 2nd keyword based on volume is driveway cleaning. How do I optimise for this or will the (driveway-cleaning-glasgow) page rank for this also as the words are contained within this page? I plan on having the same structure for the remaining services - pressure-washing-glasgow, monoblock-cleaning-glasgow etc, etc. As I am building new pages for each service with location built in, where does this leave my homepage? Should I be targeting keywords for this page? It is still my strongest page and apart from the (driveway-cleaning-glasgow) page which will get some help from the 301 these are all new pages so I would expect perhaps initially to lose some traffic. But as I am not ranking well for anything other than the main 2 keywords mentioned above it can only be beneficial long term when google recognises the specific pages for each service. And when I start using Adwords I will have a specific landing page for each service. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks0 -
Creating SEO Time Management Strategy
Hey Mozzers! Everything nowadays is automated- social media, content calendars, etc.. I am trying to get more organized with my time so that I can make sure each client is getting a fair amount of work, but this can be tough as one person managing 20 various campaigns; it leaves little time for connecting with influencers and finding those organic connections for link building. I was recently watching an old WBF 'Building a Monthly SEO Action Plan' and it missed the mark a bit on what I was hoping for. I was wanting Rand's time and what he prioritizes; reporting, link building, content refinement... What SEO time management strategy have you found useful? How do you break down your time each month/per campaign? Thanks!!!
Local SEO | | localwork0 -
When you think you know Google, but realise you don't
I've just typed "Private Investigator" into Google, location set to "Coleshill" (it's near Birmingham!)
Local SEO | | Solid_Web
The search results were surprising:
Position 6: <cite class="_Rm">birmingham-privateinvestigators.co.uk</cite>
Position 8: <cite class="_Rm">privateinvestigator-coventry.co.uk</cite> Both sites are the same source of information altered to suit the city - INCREDIBLY SPAMMY. They are just full of SEO text stuffing. No doubt any city you enter they will appear with [city]-privateinvestigators.co.uk..
How are they ranking with such old-skool dirty SEO tactics? You can't say they will be found eventually, because Google has released algorithm after algorithm updates to penalise sites like this. Could it be the importance of having a local phone number and (supposedly) physical address?0 -
Local Search - Google Mobile Results (Web&App)
Hi, I have a client with multiple locations. One of the locations manager is searching for branded and non-branded keywords on his mobile phone and not able to locate the business (within the parking lot of the location). Our ranking reports via a local search platform and manual checks indicate the location is actually ranking well. and we're seeing progress in GA. Has anyone deal with something like this before? This is a location that recently opened to the public. The concern is around mobile web and app results. I'm looking for some guidance around how to approach the situation. I'm sorry I cannot provide more details on the client.
Local SEO | | burnseo0 -
The best click to call tool
Hi,
Local SEO | | corn2015
Can you please tell me what is the best cost per call tool to use? Is the google mobile click to call feature effective? A client who runs a local business wants to increase the amount of calls their business receives.0 -
Local SEO?
Hello everyone, I've just been through the Moz Local learning area, which is pretty informative. However, a lot of it seems like good practice for general online marketing (mobile friendly websites, goals per page...). I'm new to all this - am I missing the point? William
Local SEO | | Seabrook0 -
SEO / PPC Middle East Recommendations
Hello - We are an online store and do a lot of business in the middle east, but are looking to expand there further and looking for a reputable company that specializes in SEO, PPC and social marketing in the region. Specifically a company that can help in region specific content (works in Arabic) and can target properly. Does anybody have any recommendations or company's they have worked with in the past? Thanks for any info!
Local SEO | | BabyBeauBelle0