For The Best Web Marketing And Search Rankings, Follow Google’s Example

In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Google hired Irish Illustrator and Animation Director Eamonn O’Neill to liven up the search engine’s homepage. O’Neill contributed a flock of dancing, instrument-playing shamrocks in honor of the holiday and its namesake, Saint Patrick. Clicking on the festive shamrocks will lead users to the top search results of the query “St. Patrick’s Day.” Underneath its search bar, the search engine giant links to “Ireland’s Highlights” with a glimpse of the interior of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Google Maps street views of Swiss Cottage and Ormond Castle, among other popular and/or historical destinations.

Believe it or not, there is a lesson for search engine optimization firms, social media marketing professionals, and all businesses (small and large) in this simple overhaul of the Google logo. Here are a few lessons marketers can learn about creating an Internet presence by following Google’s example:

Why The St. Patrick’s Day Logo Is Important
Google urges business owners to create relevant and genuinely useful content, but there aren’t necessarily specific parameters for doing it (other than avoiding dead links and spelling errors). The St. Patrick’s Day logo demonstrates Google making the most of a current holiday and increasing visits to its homepage, while also doing its best to still deliver an excellent user experience. The logo isn’t just something pretty to look at; users can also follow the hyperlink to top results about the holiday, or use Google Maps (the link at the bottom of the page) to explore Ireland.

Search engine optimization services (SEO services) should do the same. Yes, content can lead to a 40% spike in revenue, and 75% of Internet users will read bullet points (compared to 55% who read lists without bullets). And it is more than acceptable to write content about St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and other widely recognized occasions. It’s even okay to do it with a bullet point list. The most important lesson to take away from Google is: Don’t just wish customers a happy St. Patrick’s Day. Relate it back to your product or services in a clear and direct way, if at all possible.

While Google can certainly demand a lot of businesses and SEO services, it is also demonstrating the right way to do SEO and the right way to earn more page views. Take recent events or a holiday and organically tie them back to company services or goods, and keep all information relevant and useful.