Earlier this week Google released a new service on their Android mobile phone platform that immediately got my attention. Called, Google Goggles, the service works with the phone’s camera to search the product or location for more information. One of their use cases was wine (pictured here) where the user takes a picture of the bottle which starts a Google search for the item.
Most wineries have some level of search engine optimization (SEO) now but when this rolls out to more smartphones (like the iPhone) being the first or second link returned turns from nice to have to critical. I’m sure the folks at Google will have a way for you to pay for the first link but having this in the organic results will become more important, too.
A blog is a great way to build up your web SEO if you create compelling content on a regular basis. Having a Twitter presence also helps in the SEO department. More on this once I pick up my Google Phone in January.
Posted via email from The Social Winery
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the real question is "What are you currently optimizing for?" and "What are people searching for?" (which is what you should actually be optimizing for).
It's EXTREMELY unlikely that a winery will rank highly for generic (but commonly searched terms) like "red wine" or a varietal name such as "zinfandel". I'm not convinced that any amount of SEO will change that.
How should wineries approach SEO, in your opinion?
I was suggesting that wineries should own the first page of search results for their specific wines and not generic terms like varietal or even region. For example when you search on 'Goosecross Chardonnay 2007' you get the information the winery has provided as the first result. Do the same for 'Neal Family Cabernet 2003' and you get CellarTracker, Snooth and other retailers before the winery. They might end up selling the wine via those retailers but consumers like to buy directly from the winery particularly if they are limited production or hard to find at retail. The bottom line is to try to control the user experience and maybe capture the sale. Being the first or second result will be important as consumers start to use their mobile devices to make purchases.
I recommend producing compelling content regularly and use a CMS like Wordpress to power your website as the best way to SEO your web presence. If you want to do the fancy keyword stuff, fine, but I wouldn't start there.
What do you think Mr. Winery Website Report?
I think I agree with you.
So, why does Goosecross rank so well, and Neal appear on the 2nd page of results? What can wineries do (besides hire one of us)?