Slippery Rock Gazette

Google Traffic Sources for Countertop Shops in 2023

Stephen Alberts

Countertop Marketing

Last month I gave you some tips about what we learned in 2022 for countertop shop marketing online. In this article, I want to discuss where you can get traffic from in 2023 on Google, and what to focus on. We’ll go over three traffic sources that will help you bring in more retail countertop projects each month.

1. Organic Traffic in Google

Organic search traffic is when someone goes to Google, and types in “countertops near me” or “granite countertops Austin.” The organic results are under the paid ads and maps section. A large part of homeowners will click on this section when searching for a countertop company. Ideally, you want to be in all three sections.

If you have a paid ad running, you’re in the maps section and listed in the organic results, and you have more real estate on that first page in Google. When we are looking at web traffic for our clients, visitors tend to spend more time on the shop’s site from organic traffic, which is good. You want someone to invest as much time as possible on your website. The more they are on your website, the less time they have for competitor sites.

In order to get good search engine results you need a quality website. WordPress is a great option, and you want to build it out with useful content that a homeowner is looking for. Pages on your site should include:

A homepage with a lot of useful in- formation on different types of stone.
City pages with “(your hometown) countertops” and “(your company name) countertops.”
Pages about each of the stones that you offer.
Blog content that is going after specific keywords.

This type of content will help your website get better rankings in Google. It will not happen overnight, but it will build. And the more you rank in Google (and the higher you rank), the more website traffic you will get, which will lead to more projects.

I recommend getting your website in order so it’s easy to navigate and use for people landing there. Then start to look at the pages I mentioned above and build them out. If your homepage only has a few small paragraphs, then add to it! Also, put out some blog content each month. If you do this consistently you will see an increase in website traffic around your local area.

Organic Traffic in Google

2. Paid Traffic Ads in Google

You can get some great project leads from Google ads. You can also burn money with Google ads. I recommend using a hybrid strategy if you want more organic traffic from Google, and are using paid ads from Google. Certain terms do not convert very well with Google ads. For example, if someone types in white quartz with veins and clicks on your Google ad, you better have some info about white quartz with veins, or they are going to click that back button, and you just wasted money.

General keywords like granite countertops, quartz countertops, and others will get you leads with Google ads. I suggest having a search campaign setup, a display campaign (banner ads), and then a retargeting campaign. These campaigns will bring you in leads.

How much do I have to spend and how many leads will I get?

I get this question often. A good budget to start with is around $1,500/month on Google ads. This is a solid budget for most areas in the US. As for lead cost, there is a range. We usually see them from $50-$125/lead, depending on a few factors. Your website, your competition, the area you serve, the time of year, et cetera… All of these elements factor into your lead cost.

Paid Traffic Ads in Google

3. Google Maps Traffic

Organic maps can be a tricky place to get your business listed. You need to get your Google Business Profile claimed and set up correctly. That’s the first thing you want to do. We do see a lot of leads from Google maps. Typically we want to see around 50 calls per month and 100 clicks to your website per month from Google maps (obviously the more the better). Usually, about 50% of these will be current customers who type your business name into Google and call you.

One thing you can’t “optimize” with this profile is your proximity. If a person is searching 30 miles away from you and types in “marble countertops” you most likely will not show (depending on the population of your city). The closer they are to you, the more likely you are to show up in that map section. But I’ll list a few things you can do with your profile to improve it:

Make sure it’s 100% filled out and complete.
Pick the correct categories. Your main category should be “countertop shop.”
Add pictures to it monthly. These should be unique, project pictures. Don’t use stock photos.
Get reviews! You want to get a steady stream of reviews each month. Around two to three a month should be your minimum. The more the better but also, the more consistent you are, the better.
Your website and the SEO you do for your shop factor into where you rank in Google maps. Follow the tips in tip number 1 of this article, and those actions will help your maps rankings.

If you focus on one of these traffic sources in Google, you will see more leads come in over time. Make sure to track what you are doing and set up Google Analytics (it’s free) so you can look at your traffic each month.