Priority Pursuit

What the Google Antitrust Trial Means for Small Businesses: How to Be Successful on All Search Engines

• Treefrog Marketing • Episode 166

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Google’s recent antitrust trial just shook up the digital world. If you’re a small business owner, this could mean big changes for your SEO and online visibility.

In this episode, I break down the key verdict details and explore how these changes might reshape the search engine landscape. It’s time to think beyond Google for your SEO strategy. I also share practical tips to help boost your rankings.

Don’t ignore these shifts in the search landscape. Tune in to learn all about making your business easy to find, no matter the search engine.

Specifically, this episode highlights the following themes:

  • The impact of the Google antitrust trial on small businesses
  • How to optimize for different search engines beyond Google
  • Tips for creating quality content that ranks well everywhere

Other Mentioned Links & Resources

Episode 083: The First Step in Marketing: Writing Your Marketing Guiding Statements
https://treefrogmarketing.com/first-step-marketing

Read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller:
https://amzn.to/3MDUUqW

Learn how to submit your sitemap to search engines:
https://yoast.com/help/submit-sitemap-search-engines

Get this free PDF guide: How to Use Keywords to Improve Your Small Business’s SEO:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/how-use-keywords-improve-small-business-seo

Get a Free PDF Guide: The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/most-effective-marketing-strategy-small-businsses

Learn how to write your Marketing Guiding Statements:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/how-write-marketing-guiding-statements

Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com

Receive 50% Off Your First Year of HoneyBook:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/honeybook-coupon-code

Book a Strategic Marketing Coaching:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/marketing-consulting-small-businesses

Join the Priority Pursuit Podcast Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/179106264013426

Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/treefroggers

Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/treefrogkelly

Follow or DM Victoria on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/victorialrayburn

Victoria Rayburn [00:00:00]:
It's important to remember that at the end of the day, search engines exist to help users find the content they need. As a result, one of the most effective things you can do to improve your SEO across all platforms is to publish quality content that helps search engine users accomplish this goal. It's important to remember that people don't search for things on a whim. Whether they want to solve a problem, get an answer to a question, or find specific information, they search with a goal or intention in mind. As a result, search engines prioritize the content that helps users accomplish their search goals. Hey there, you're listening to the Priority Pursuit podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners and leaders define, maintain and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love. I'm your host, Victoria Rayburn, and today we need to talk about what has been going on with Google. Now, you might have heard that over the last year, Google has been on trial as the US Justice Department worked to decide whether or not the company has illegally monopolized web search.

Victoria Rayburn [00:00:59]:
Well, the judge has officially ruled against Google and decided that the search engine giant has violated antitrust laws. Now, is this end of Google? No. Google is going to have to make some changes and the company is expected to appeal the trial. That said, it's important to understand that this isn't just some courtroom drama or news headline. This trial affects small businesses. In fact, this ruling could very much affect how your business gets found online and influence your SEO strategy moving forward. We still aren't sure of what all of the repercussions for Google for Google users, advertisers or businesses, big or small, are going to look like. But this ruling could very much affect SEO as we know it.

Victoria Rayburn [00:01:42]:
As a result, it's important to get ahead of these potential changes so that you can set your business up for success across multiple search platforms. With this in mind, in this episode, I want to break down the major points of the Google Antri Trust trial, how it might affect your business, and what you can do to help your business get found and succeed on other search engines. Now, to give you a little bit of background, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Google, arguing that the company was using unfair practices to dominate the web search market. These practices included deals with and paying companies like Apple more than $20 billion to make Google the default search engine on their browsers. As of 2024, Google retains just under 82% of the search market share. However, over the last decade, they've had as much as 90% now, Google argues that people choose their search engine because it's the best. But the court disagreed. The judge deemed Google a monopoly and ruled against the tech giant, arguing that Google had used deals and other actions to prevent their competitors from seeing significant growth.

Victoria Rayburn [00:02:45]:
Now, again, we still aren't sure what this will mean for Google exactly, and the past major tech trials, companies have had to divide up into smaller companies, change their practices, pay fines, or honestly, like, just end up doing nothing altogether and carrying on as always. But whatever changes Google is forced to make will be in an attempt to open doors for other search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, or even new search engines that come onto the market. Again, we have no idea how long the appeals process will take or what specific changes might be enforced, but we do know that this ruling has the potential to change how people search, and this would affect how businesses like yours get found online. Basically, as a small business owner, it's important to understand that this verdict means that search engine use could become more diverse. In other words, Google might not remain the leader that it has been over the last 25 years. Google is still the search engine giant for now, and most marketers would be shocked, honestly, if that changed. However, this ruling will likely encourage more users to explore other search engines, resulting in those search engines gaining more market share as a result. As a small business owner, it's time to diversify your SEO efforts and prioritize your search engine rankings on more than just Google.

Victoria Rayburn [00:04:01]:
Now, the good news is, is that if you're already ranking on Google, chances are you're already ranking well on other search engines. Essentially, Google sets the gold Star standard for search engine practices that you should be following. That said, while other search engines use algorithms that are similar to Googles, the algorithms aren't exactly the same. To give you an example, while Google values keywords, Bing actually prioritizes the use of keywords even more. Honestly, it isn't necessary for you to understand every little difference between search engines and their algorithms, but there are things that you can do to set your business up for success across all search engines. And that's what I want to talk about today. So, first and foremost, if you want your website and business to rank well on search engines, you more or less have to prove to search engines that you're an expert at what you do and that search engine users want to hear from you. I know this sounds funny, but it's important to remember that search engines exist to provide their users with the information they need, and any good search engine is going to strive to provide its users with the most helpful, accurate and credible search results that it can.

Victoria Rayburn [00:05:05]:
So in order for your website and content to rank well, you essentially have to prove to search engines that you're a credible source. In other words, you need to prioritize and improve your eat. EAt is a ranking factor that stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. All search engines prioritize eeat, which means that it should be one of, if not the top, SEO priorities for your business. Now, to improve Eat, you can do things like create quality content and earn backlinks. We'll discuss both of these tactics more thoroughly in just a bit, but you can also make sure that your website has an about page that highlights your business's history and your expertise by displaying things like relevant education, licenses, certifications and awards. Remember, your about page like every piece of your marketing should make your ideal customer the hero of your brand story. But you can still humbly make mention of these things to make both prospects and search engine users see you as an expert.

Victoria Rayburn [00:06:05]:
Or I mean, search engines see you as an expert. Yes, prospects, search engine users and search engines see you as an expert. You can also earn more online reviews and feature reviews and testimonials on your website, and you can and should cite credible sources in your content. Again, all search engines prioritize eat. So by making you making your eat a top SEO priority, you can strengthen your search engine rankings across all platforms. Plus, you can also help prospects see you, your business and your brand as a credible, trustworthy source, which will make them more likely to want to do business with you. As you do this though, please, please, please remember, do not make yourself the hero of the story. Yes, you want to show your authority, but you don't want to come across as braggy.

Victoria Rayburn [00:06:51]:
We have talked about this in past episodes, but in case you need a refresh, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to episode 83, the first step in marketing, writing your marketing guiding statements, which you can find in the show notes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or if you want to dive deeper into the subject, I highly, highly recommend reading building a story brand by Donald Miller. This is a book that every small business owner should read, so we will be sure to link this in the show notes as well. But back to discussing how you can rank well in all search engines. It's important to remember that at the end of the day, search engines exist to help users find the content they need. As a result, one of the most effective things you can do to improve your SEO across all platforms is to publish quality content that helps search engine users accomplish this goal. On that note, it's important to remember that people don't search for things on a whim. Whether they want to solve a problem, get an answer to a question, or find specific information, they search with a goal or intention in mind.

Victoria Rayburn [00:07:49]:
As a result, search engines prioritize the content that helps users accomplish their search goals. So as you develop content, whether that be blog posts, videos, or whatever other kind of content you publish to your website, ask yourself, does this content help my audience solve their problem? Does this content answer my ideal client's question? Does this blog post include the information my audience needs to insert whatever their goal is here. Now, if you can answer yes to at least one of these questions, chances are you have great content that will help you rank well on any search engine.

Natalie Franke [00:08:24]:
What would you do with an extra 45 minutes every workday that would save you 16 hours a month or roughly eight days a year? And over the course of your career, we're talking about over one year of your life. Saved all that time back? Well, many independent business owners spend far more than 45 minutes a day on administrative tasks, and with honeybook, you can get that time back, and then some. Honeybook lets you easily manage projects, contracts, invoices, scheduling and client communication, saving you time and allowing you to better serve your clients. For a discount on your first year of honeybook, visit honeybook.com and subscribe with the code priority pursuit, 45 minutes a day adds up quickly. Use it to focus on what matters most.

Kelly Rice [00:09:09]:
Many small businesses don't have an effective marketing strategy, and because of this, they try one tactic after another without seeing results. This not only prevents consistent business growth, it makes managing marketing efforts more difficult than it should be. As a marketing agency for small businesses, we understand how frustrating it can be when hard work doesn't deliver the results that you want. Because of this, Treefrog has developed a proven four step marketing system that will help any small business grow. On our website, you can also schedule a 30 minutes discovery call to discuss working with Treefrog to build a marketing strategy that will allow your small business to finally see the growth you've been working so hard to achieve.

Victoria Rayburn [00:09:47]:
Now, something else that all search engines prioritize, although at very like varying extents, is keywords. Basically, if you want your website and content to rank well, you need to make sure that you're choosing strategic keywords and using them correctly. Keywords are the ideas and topics that define what your content is about in terms of SEO. They are the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines. In other words, keywords are the words or phrases that people type into search bars. And as a small business, you want to include relevant keywords on your web pages and in your blog posts so that you can get your website in front of potential customers who are specifically looking for products, services or content like yours. Now, back in the day, you know, the 1990s and early two thousands more specifically, search engines scanned webpages and articles specifically looking for keywords. As a result, copywriters would do what they would call it keyword stuff, meaning they would put their keyword on a page as many times as physically possible.

Victoria Rayburn [00:10:43]:
So search engines would display their webpage first. Like we already discussed. Today, search engines strive to rank content based on relevancy, quality and authority. In other words, when in other words, like they try to rank the most helpful, relevant, reliable content first, regardless of how many times a keyword is included. So if you want your content to rank well, think quality of content, not quantity of keywords. However, this does not mean that keywords don't matter. With most search engines current algorithms, keywords are what link a user search to your website or content, and they help search engines determine what kinds of searches that you can help their users with. Now, we aren't going to get into how to choose and use keywords in this episode, but if you'd like to learn more about how to choose and use keywords, where to put them on your website, check out our guide how to use keywords to improve your small businesses SEO.

Victoria Rayburn [00:11:37]:
This guide walks you through exactly how to choose and use keywords according to your business goals, and you can find it at the link in the show notes or blowing treefrogmarketing.com slash keywords. Now if you want to be successful on all search engines, something else you need to do is optimize your website for user experience. Search engines care about user experience because their users care about user experience. Imagine that nobody wants to use a slow, glitchy website. As a result, mobile friendly, fast loading, easy to navigate sites are likely always going to rank better than poorly built sites. With this in mind, make sure that your website performs well. Focus on page speed, usability and mobile optimization. Basically, make sure that your ideal customers actually enjoy using your website and aren't frustrated by it.

Victoria Rayburn [00:12:25]:
Now, something else you're going to want to be sure to do is to submit your sitemap to search engines other than Google. In case you aren't sure what I'm talking about, your sitemap is just a list of all of your website pages and files. Chances are your web builder automatically puts a sitemap together for you, and submitting this list helps search engines better understand and index your site, which makes your website and content more likely to rank well. Now, many small businesses submit their sitemaps to Google Search console. However, if you take the time to submit their sitemaps to other platforms like Bing webmaster tools or Yandex webmaster. As a result, taking the time to submit your sitemap to search engines outside of Google is a really great way to help ensure your website ranks well across all search engines and can even give you a leg up on your competitors, simply because this isn't something that a lot of them are doing. Now in the show notes, you're going to find an article from Yoast that walks you through exactly where and how to submit your sitemaps. Another great way you can improve your SEO across all platforms is to build a strong backlink profile.

Victoria Rayburn [00:13:28]:
Backlinks, which are links to your website from other sites, are especially important SEO because they signal to search engines that other websites consider your content valuable and trustworthy. Essentially, when other websites, preferably reputable ones, link to your website, it boosts your eat. Now, backlinks don't typically just happen or appear. If you want to build a strong backlink profile, you're going to have to be intentional. That said, how you earn backlinks is very much going to depend on your industry, what your small business does. So to give you a few ideas, you might consider serving as a guest blogger, being a podcast guest, having your work published, or having articles written about you or your business. The possibilities are endless and again, heavily depend upon what makes the most sense within your industry. However, when search engines see other websites linking to your site and content, your website and content will be much more likely to rank well in search engine results.

Victoria Rayburn [00:14:25]:
Now this next step might sound funny coming from me. I mean, if you know me or have listened to a single episode of Priority Pursuit, you know that I'm really passionate about SEO for small businesses because it can do huge things for small businesses. However, SEO should not be your only marketing tactic. It should be part of your marketing strategy, but it should not be the only way you're getting in front of prospects. With this in mind, make sure your marketing strategy includes diverse tactics. You should, for example, also have a presence on social media. You should be leveraging email marketing and even be using paid advertising if that makes sense for your business. A well rounded strategy ensures that you aren't completely dependent on one marketing channel now, because there is nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed.

Victoria Rayburn [00:15:12]:
If you'd like a step by step guide for creating a diverse strategy that's proven to work for small businesses, I want to encourage you to check out our guide, the most effective marketing strategy for small businesses, the flywheel marketing method. This guide breaks down the exact strategy we use to help small businesses grow in full so that you can make the strategy your own. Visit link in the show notes or to treefrogmarketing.com flywheel to access the guide, which, like I said, walks you through our entire strategy step by step, and even includes examples and checklists you can use to implement the flywheel marketing method on your own. Last but not least, if you want to ensure you rank well across all search engines, stay informed and adjust as necessary. This antitrust ruling could bring even more shifts, so stay up to date on Google SEO trends and algorithm changes, and watch for announcements that may come from Bing, Duckduckgo and other search engines. Regularly assess your strategy and make adjustments as needed to stay competitive. Now I know your plate is full and you probably don't have time for one more thing. So with this in mind, please know that we will always provide you with the latest SEO information for small businesses.

Victoria Rayburn [00:16:20]:
Basically, I'll let you know via the podcast or via email if there's anything you need to know. Also, you can find me on Instagram iktorialrayburn where I also regularly share SEO updates, strategies and tactics. On top of this, please know that you don't have to handle your own SEO. In fact, this is something that our team would love to do for you. With our done for you SEO service, we'll create an SEO strategy for you based on your business goals, optimize your website for search engines and provide you with the resources instructions you need to continually improve your eat so you can get to the top of search engine results and stay there. To learn more about our done for you SEO service, visit the link in the show notes or go to treefrogmarketing.com to explore the service and schedule a discovery call. As a small business owner or leader, I know that your plate is full, but SEO isn't something you can likely afford to put on the back burner. After all, 97% of people use search engines when they're in need of a local product or service.

Victoria Rayburn [00:17:17]:
90% of consumers who search for local businesses make purchases within a week, and SEO drives 1000% more traffic than organic social media. As a result, if your website and content don't rank well on search engines, you're losing money and missing out on business and opportunities simply because your ideal clients cannot find you. So don't wait. Take the Google antitrust trial seriously and make sure your business is set up for success across all search engines. And on that note, thank you for tuning into another episode of the Priority Pursuit podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, we hope you'll take a moment to share it with your small business friends and that you'll join us next week for even more marketing boundary and priority driven tactics you can use to build a life and small business that you love.