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Google’s Impact on Your Business

The successful digital marketing of your company is based on a seemingly endless list of criteria. I think of it as creating a flywheel, when all the spokes of the wheel are moving successfully in the right direction, and your business is firing on all cylinders. Your social media is getting great impressions, you have multiple funnels of leads coming in via phone calls and emails and your website is busy with visitors.

The marketing work behind the scenes that makes this happen is sometimes hard to articulate succinctly, as each component has its own complexities for success. Google is the champion of connecting businesses and customers, and has been for years. Customers search on items using keywords, and Google determines which websites show up in the results.

Google is now making the most comprehensive updates in its history, and business owners need to act to stay relevant, and improve their website placement.

Website Ranking Changes

You may have noticed your searches on Google are showing different results than in prior months. This is due to its June Core Update, which rolled out in June 2021 and rewards websites with quality content. Website content is graded for strong E-A-T – Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Another overarching assessment is called Your Money Your Life (YMYL). Collectively, they rate the quality of the content and if the content can impact the life of the visitor positively. Core competencies websites should:

Contain quality content for your website visitors. Does your website contain written content that just scratches the surface of the subject matter on your website pages? Add content that educates and informs your visitors by delving deeper into the topic. This is good for brands that have products with unique and desirable features. For example, The Corian Endura website goes into details about the product Corian Endura. “It is highly UV resistant. Colors and patterns will not fade…It won’t burn or melt in temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it a smart choice for decorative fire surrounds.” This detailed explanation of a benefit is exactly what Google is encouraging.

Use related keywords that satisfy the intent of the visitor. It is not just about the search keyword, but why that keyword was chosen. A good example is the keyword “DIY.” A person searching on “DIY Cabinetry” wants to save money on cabinetry by “doing it yourself.”  That person would also benefit from a video showing a step-by-step installation, how long the project may take to complete and an estimate of the money they can save by doing it themselves.

Be trustworthy. In addition to being a quality resource for expert information, your website needs to be safe. Make sure your website’s domain is secure by correctly implementing HTTPS (Security Certificate). It is very important to you and Google, and helps to ensure any data your users input won’t be compromised by an undesirable third party. Check your website URL to ensure it begins with “https.” If you have “http,” install a security certificate.

Eliminating Cookie Tracking

Third Party Cookies enable the advertisements that tend to follow you as you browse the internet. Cookies let websites remember you, your website logins, shopping carts and more. Google uses that tracking information to show visual advertisements. This is one type of Google advertising.

There are privacy laws being written that question the legality of this practice. In response, Google has developed “Privacy Sandbox,” an advertising method that still maintains your search history to use for advertising targeting. Google simply will no longer follow you around the internet in tandem. The Sandbox concept is that their advertising will become interest-based versus a focus on a particular product or subject. In 2022, Google will no longer be tracking your activity as you bounce from one website to the next, and then using that information to follow you around with advertisements.

If your marketing includes Third Party Cookie advertising, Google is testing a replacement via Federated Learning of Cohorts technology (FLoC). FLoC is a replacement for third-party cookies that gathers data based on the behavior of groups of internet users to generate relevant online ads, rather than tracking an individual’s browsing history.

Marketing TRENDS & New Guidelines

As technology advances, so do the expectations of your visitors on websites and social media. Here are some forward-thinking trends for 2022 that will not only satisfy your audience, but will also appease Google.

Interactive Social Media Posts and Web Pages. Think about information that adds value to your audience, and entices them to partake. Questionnaires and polls are great if the participant sees the resulting information as valuable to them. An appliance company can provide checklists for appliance maintenance, and informational videos on how to clean cooktops and keep vegetables fresh in your refrigerator, all with embedded clickable links to even more information. Create a list of the most common questions your customers have about caring for the item to start your video checklist.

Micro Influencer Marketing. A micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 to 100,000 followers on social media. Micro-influencers focus on a specific niche or area and are generally regarded as an industry expert or topic specialist. They are gaining attention because they tend to have stronger relationships with their followers than a Macro (500,000 to 1 million followers) or Mega influencer (1 million to 5 million followers). Micro influencers come with a smaller price tag and often convert (via more likes, increased followers or sales) a larger percentage of their followers over Macro Influencers.

Nostalgia Marketing. Nostalgia marketing recaptures your audience’s attention by sharing stories and images from your past. By taking a walk down memory lane, your growth and the humanity of your brand are shared. When we revamped Giorgi Kitchens website, they provided us with a photo album of their entire design history. We created a vintage page full of photographs that date back to the 1960s. It is one of their most talked about website pages.

If your website traffic had a noticeable reduction in visitors during May and June, the above items will improve your visibility. The recent changes made by Google are the most impactful changes made in their history. It may take time for the updates to be universally seen. If you have any questions, contact me at [email protected]. I am more than happy to help fellow Kitchen and Bath Design News readers navigate the new digital landscape. ▪

Denise Grothouse has an extensive background in international business, branding and marketing.  She specializes in digital and social platforms and integrating them with traditional marketing and branding strategies.  No stranger to the kitchen and bath industry, she is best known for her work as chief brand officer of Grothouse, Inc., and president of the marketing company Perfect Six.

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Pandemic Sparks Kitchen Renovation

Los Angeles — When Shalena Smith, owner of Shalena Smith Interiors and Gaga Designs, purchased her Mediterranean-style home 17 years ago, she and her husband had a budding family life with a two-year-old daughter and another on the way. Before moving into their Los Angeles, CA, residence, they did a complete remodel, which also included the kitchen.

“At the time, trending colors were very dark,” she says, referencing the burnt orange and deep brown hues that were joined by faux paint techniques and Venetian plaster walls. “I also made a mistake that I now tell my clients never to make…making defining decisions before living in a house. It wasn’t until we moved in that I realized I have a dark house without a lot of windows, especially in the kitchen where I now had dark brown cabinets streaked with multiple colors, which was another trend at the time.”

Smith fast forwarded through years of growing her family, as well as an interior design business that includes a roster of celebrity clientele such as Mariah Carey, Sean Combs, Heidi Klum, LL Cool J, Tamara Mowry Housely and Mark Paul Gosselaar, to name a few. Then came the realities of 2020. One of Smith’s daughters was a high school senior, the other was in college. Due to the pandemic, the entire family of four was living and working at home…full-time in a dark, outdated kitchen.

“During the stillness of the pandemic and lockdown, I realized that our kitchen just didn’t function in a way that met our needs anymore,” she says. “I had time to think about our lifestyle and how we used the space. I saw that the kitchen is the heart of our family and that it was time for a change.

“I also realized that I could practice my craft in my own home,” she continues. “As designers, we’re all busy, and it is challenging to be our own client, but we deserve to treat ourselves. I think it’s important that our homes are a reflection of what we do…and they should inspire us every day.”

To accommodate her budget, Smith repurposed the peninsula cabinetry for the island, combining the 36″ door/drawer base cabinet with a new 24″ open-shelf cabinet that would enable her to remove the microwave from the countertop and house it in the island.

Personal island Café

As an advocate for organization, functionality and safety before aesthetics, the designer focuses on incorporating elements that complement a lifestyle, rather than on what is trendy or popular at the moment. For her family, that meant removing the existing peninsula and replacing it with an island where the girls could do homework and Smith could entertain family and friends.

“I could only ever fit two stools at the peninsula,” she says. “The girls sat in the stools while I stood up and my husband sat at a nearby small table. I wanted all four of us to be able to sit together, and I wanted to be able to have a party and set out a food spread. Now, my girls affectionately call the new island their own personal café and it has become a great place for family time.”

To accommodate her budget, Smith repurposed the peninsula cabinetry for the island, combining the 36″ door/drawer base cabinet with a new 24″ open-shelf cabinet that would enable her to remove the microwave from the countertop and house it in the island, which was another dream for her new kitchen. While Smith had hoped to replace the tile floor as a second phase of the project, running power to the island for the microwave ultimately damaged more tiles than what Smith had stashed away from the original remodel, so she had to move to plan B, incorporating commercial-grade luxury vinyl tile (LVT) that resembles hardwood.

“We were able to lay it right over the existing tile, using it as a subfloor,” she says. “I also love the vinyl’s wood look. While some clients like hardwood, between our kids and pets, we needed something that was waterproof and scratch proof.”

The designer was also cognizant to size the island with large enough aisleways to be ADA compliant.

“We are thinking about retiring in this home, so we wanted to have enough room for a wheelchair or walker,” she notes. “I’ve also heard horror stories about people not having enough room to pull out appliances when they stop working…or if you need to paint behind them!”

Choosing quartz as the island top checks both boxes for function and aesthetics, with its ease of maintenance meaning no worry about spills. Smith loves the quartz she used so much that she chose to repeat it as the backsplash throughout the entire kitchen, giving it focal-point status above the cooktop and behind the ventilation hood.

Checking Both Boxes

Choosing Vadara Quartz Surfaces’ Marbella quartz, fabricated by Planet Stone, as her island top checks both boxes for function and aesthetics. Functionally, its versatility and ease of maintenance means she needn’t worry about spills.

“As an interior designer I see so many different beautiful natural stones, including marble,” she says. “But I know my life couldn’t handle marble. I love my kitchen, but I don’t want to
be a slave to it. I can’t continually care for marble. Even now, I’m looking at my kitchen with spilled juice on the counter. We also just had a prom party where ice cream cake was melting onto it. If I had a porous surface, those ‘events’ could ruin it. Instead, the quartz gives me the look of marble, without the maintenance.”

This particular quartz color also matches the aesthetic goal Smith had envisioned for the space.

“It’s more of a cloudy pattern, without harsh veining,” she indicates. “It was important to me to have an updated modern kitchen, but I needed materials that matched the more traditional/Mediterranean vibe of my home, and a more prominent veining pattern would have been too modern. Plus, the grays, golds, browns and whites all blended together to tie in with my white perimeter cabinets, stained island and brown floor. People are constantly asking if it’s real stone!”

Smith loves the quartz so much that she chose to repeat it as the backsplash throughout the entire kitchen, giving it focal-point status above the KitchenAid cooktop and behind the Zephyr ventilation hood. While the designer kept her original perimeter cabinetry – giving it new life via a fresh coat of Dunn-Edwards’ Whisper paint and new Pottery Barn hardware – she removed the cabinetry above her previous undercabinet ventilation hood to give the quartz more opportunity to shine.

“I didn’t want anything to fight against the quartz,” she says. “I wanted it to be the primary focus in the space. Using it as the backsplash that goes to the ceiling really transformed the entire kitchen.”

Kitchen ‘Earrings’

While the quartz in large part steals the show in Smith’s new kitchen, she also attributes new lighting as a game-changer.

“People often think they can do a remodel without changing the lighting,” she says. “But lighting has so much to do with how welcoming a space is, and how it looks during the day and at night. It can also affect how large a space looks.”

Originally, Smith had a few recessed can lights and a flush-mount ceiling light to illuminate the space. During the remodel, she reconfigured the can lights and added two large Hudson Valley Lighting pendant lights above the island and a pair of complementary Hudson Valley sconces above the Blanco Precis Silgranit Anthracite sink, which is accented with a Graff Perfeque pull-down faucet that offers a modern mix of polished chrome and black.

“Sometimes it’s go big or go home,” she says in reference to the pendant lights. “If you have the room, adding large pendants above an island can actually make the ceiling seem higher. The pendant lights, and the hood vent, are also like a pair of great earrings that add subtle sophistication to the space. You can have a great outfit, but if the earrings aren’t right, the outfit is ruined.” ▪

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Lowe’s, AARP Collaborate on Aging-in-Place Initiative

MOORESVILLE, NC — Lowe’s, the major nationwide chain of home-improvement stores, has announced a multi-year commitment to become “the leading retail destination for aging-in-place and life-change solutions.”

The launch of Lowe’s Livable Home “will offer expertise, services and affordable products, with a range of styles and budgets to meet any ability by creating a one-stop destination for universal design options,” Lowe’s officials said, adding that the Mooresville, NC-based company has developed a unique online and in-store collaboration in customer education with AARP.

“Nearly every family in America at some point faces the important and often intimidating responsibility of preparing a home for life’s changes,” said Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s chairman and CEO. “Lowe’s Livable Home is uniquely positioned to help address customers’ desire for a one-stop destination with trusted resources and affordable solutions they need throughout every step of the journey.”

According to AARP, less than 1% of U.S. homes have particular features needed to support aging in the home, while 77% of people aged 50 years and older would like to stay in their current home as long as possible. In addition, eight in 10 adults aged 50 years or older want to stay where they live, but many lack the expertise or resources to adapt their home.

By visiting Lowes.com/LivableHome visitors can access a virtual library of articles and videos that will be updated regularly. AARP will help create educational online content on the site, focusing on taking age-friendly design action, Lowe’s officials said, adding that AARP will also assist in the training of Lowe’s associates.

In-store enhancements are currently underway in nearly Lowe’s 500 stores, the company said.

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