How your AMP OPTIMA™ Program Helps You Unlock the Power of Google’s Latest Core SEO Release: March 2024
In the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization (SEO), staying on top of of the latest updates and algorithm changes is crucial for maintaining and improving website visibility. Google, being the dominant player in the search engine arena, periodically rolls out core updates that can significantly impact website rankings. The most recent core SEO release from Google in March 2024 has brought about several changes that webmasters and SEO professionals need to be aware of.
Understanding Google’s Core SEO Updates
Google’s core updates are designed to enhance the quality and relevance of search results for users. These updates typically involve adjustments to Google’s ranking algorithms, affecting how websites are evaluated and positioned in search engine results pages (SERPs). While Google doesn’t disclose specific details about its algorithms, observations and analyses from the SEO community provide insights into the changes and their implications.
Here’s how the March 2024 core SEO release relates to Google Business Profile listing information:
1. Enhanced Local Search Relevance
Google’s algorithm updates often refine how local businesses are ranked in search results, particularly for location-based queries. With the March 2024 update, Google continues to prioritize relevance and proximity factors, aiming to deliver more accurate and personalized local search results to users. Ensuring that your Google Business Profile is complete, accurate, and optimized with relevant keywords, categories, and attributes can help improve your business’s visibility in local search results.
AMP OPTIMA™ programs pair each customer with a team of experts that ensure every listing has accurate, fresh information and this content is consistent across all major search engines (Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp) or others selected by the customer.
2. Emphasis on Trust Signals
Trust signals play a crucial role in how Google evaluates and ranks businesses in search results. This includes factors such as reviews, ratings, and other indicators of credibility and reliability. The March 2024 update may place added importance on trust signals associated with Google Business Profiles, such as the quantity and quality of reviews, response times to customer inquiries, and overall visitor engagement with the listing. AMP Comprehensive, Premium, or Platinum OPTIMA™ programs prioritize reputation management and actively engaging with customers through your Google Business Profile can help build trust and positively influence your local search rankings.
With the AMP OPTIMA™ Comprehensive, Premium, or Platinum programs, we provide you with several reputation management tools to ensure you are able to manage your reputation at the highest level. Utilizing our Review Response portal is a great way to provide timely responses and demonstrate a high level of engagement with your listing – all with the click of a button!
3. Integration of Business Attributes
Google Business Profile listings contain various attributes that provide valuable information to users, such as business hours, services offered, payment methods accepted, and more. The March 2024 update may refine how Google interprets and utilizes these business attributes to better match user queries with relevant businesses. It’s essential to regularly review and update your business profile with accurate and comprehensive information, ensuring that it reflects the most current details about your business and offerings.
The AMP OPTIMA™ programs all come with standard updates to these critical business attributes on your Google listing as part of our listings management service. We know how crucial these pieces of information are to you and your business which is why we strive to ensure the fastest turnaround possible.
4. Alignment with Core Web Vitals
While the March 2024 update primarily focuses on core algorithm changes, it’s important to note that factors impacting website performance and user experience can also influence the visibility of Google Business Profiles. For instance, if your business website is slow to load or not mobile-friendly, it can negatively impact user engagement and, consequently, your Google Business Profile’s performance in local search results. Therefore, optimizing both your website and Google Business Profile for factors such as Core Web Vitals, mobile responsiveness, and page speed is integral to improving overall search visibility and user experience.
One of the 3 pillars of the AMP OPTIMA™ program is to provide a mobile-responsive, fast loading, easy-to-use website to all of our customers. We have optimized our website templates to the highest standard to ensure every customer’s Google listing is positively impacted by the link to a website created and hosted by AMP. While Google’s core algorithm updates do not specifically mention or address individual structured data markups like Google Speakable, Article JSON-LD, and LocalBusiness JSON-LD, incorporating these markups via AMP’s Plus Voice OPTIMA™ add on for each website can have tangible benefits for SEO. By providing search engines with structured data that enhances the understanding, relevance, and accessibility of your content and business information, AMP OPTIMA™ websites improve your chances of ranking well in search results and attracting more organic traffic.
5. Continued Emphasis on User Experience
Google’s core updates consistently emphasize the importance of user experience across all aspects of online interaction, including interactions with business listings on Google Search and Maps. As such, ensuring that your Google Business Profile provides users with accurate, relevant, and helpful information in a user-friendly format is essential for maintaining visibility and attracting potential customers. This includes optimizing your business description, adding high-quality images, responding promptly to reviews and inquiries, and leveraging additional features offered by Google Business Profile, such as Posts and Q&A. The AMP OPTIMA™ do-it-for you service model ensures that a dedicated team of account managers is continuously reaching out to make relevant changes, announcements and updates across search engines and social media for each customer to keep information fresh and engaging.
In summary, the March 2024 core SEO release from Google has implications not only for website performance and content but also for how businesses manage and optimize their Google Business Profiles. By staying proactive in optimizing your business listing information, engaging with customers, and aligning with Google’s evolving algorithmic preferences, you can improve your local search visibility and attract more customers to your business.
