3 Google mistakes that PR pros make

Google’s suite of apps touches every facet of corporate communications, from search to analytics and even social media.

Still, most communicators haven’t updated their Google strategies to keep up with the digital giant’s new “mobile first” mindset.

For example, over 20 percent of Google searches are conducted by voice. That number is as high as 55 percent for teenagers, according to Northstar Research. Despite this, not many PR people consider how Siri or Google Now affect their SEO.

“They should at least be writing content in a more natural tone so they’re speaking the same conversational language as mobile customers,” says Martin Shervington, Google’s only small-business advisor in North America.

Failure to account for voice search is just the tip of the iceberg. Shervington offers three more mistakes that many communicators make when using Google’s suite of tools:

1. Not being familiar with Android devices. PR pros seem to prefer IOS and iPhones, Shervington says, “but you should at least check out how Gmail, Google Drive, Google Search and Google Maps interact with Google My Business on Android.”

The results will give you unique insights into how you’re being found and viewed by Android users. “This is a big step toward optimizing your presence on the platform,” he says.

Register for PR Daily’s July 21 webinar “The New Google Playbook: Master SEO, Analytics, Adwords, YouTube and G+ in the Mobile Era” to create a “Google loop.”

2. Overlooking Google Plus. “There’s still a vibrant community on Google Plus,” Shervington says. “It’s worth going there to see if your industry is represented.”

Technology and content marketing professionals are especially active on the site. Other industries, however, are fairly under-represented on Google Plus.

In addition to contributing to search, “Google Plus can help drive clicks,” Shervington says. “For example, I recently shared a post from Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi, and it generated over 300 clicks in a few hours.”

3. Acquiescing analytics to advertising. Too many PR pros leave data analysis to their advertising, social media and marketing colleagues.

“This is a huge missed opportunity,” says Shervington. “At minimum, add Google Analytics to your measurement ecosystem, and crunch the data yourself to see what’s already working on your website. This will better inform you as to what content is working and what content to push.”

Brian Pittman is a Ragan Communications consultant and webinar manager for PR Daily’s PR University. Martin Shervington, Google’s only small-business advisor in North America, will share more Google tips in PR University’s July 21 webinar, “The New Google Playbook: Master SEO, Analytics, Adwords, YouTube and G+ in the Mobile Era.”

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