Google has always aimed at providing relevant, quality content to its users. So, it’s constantly updating its core algorithms, the very same algorithms that determine how websites are ranked on the search result page.
Google’s launching thousands of algorithm updates every year. For example, in 2018, Google developers made a whooping 3,000 changes to its algorithms. And while some of these updates aren't extremely significant SEO-wise, quite a few of them can impact your site's visibility, and Google’s 2022 future updates are no different.
Google is placing more emphasis on the user's overall experience on a certain site. So, the better the user experience is on a particular page, the more traffic the page will get.
So how can site owners optimize the content on their pages to ensure their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy isn't outdated?
This page speed update is being gradually applied; between June and August of 2021, Google released the update for mobile search, while the desktop update is expected to come between February and March 2022. And here are the six pillars of this update to help with your SEO strategy:
LCP is a ranking signal that measures the time it takes for the primary visuals of your web page to load, be it the main text or the images on your page.
The best websites should have an LCP speed of around 2.5 seconds, according to the search engine. Anything longer than that means the website is slow and negatively affects the users' experience.
Have you ever been on a website and seen the page jerk up and down while loading? That's what the search engine refers to as layout shifts, and they’re often caused by loading ads. Overall, Google expects a website's CLS to be less than 0.1.
The time it takes to perform the user’s intended action on a website is known as FID. For example, if you're visiting a website to download a PDF, the time you have to wait on a website before being able to click on the download link is the site's FID. And for Google, an FID of 100 milliseconds or less is ideal.
HTTPS is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is the secure version of the popular HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
The encryption offered in this protocol ensures that the data users enter doesn't compromise their security. This encryption is vital if your website receives sensitive customer data like bank accounts, emails, and any form of login details.
Modern browsers like Chrome already flag websites that don't have HTTPS security. But with this update, any website without HTTPS security will receive low rankings.
Have you ever visited a website only to be confronted with a considerable ad banner that seems difficult to close? Unfortunately, this trend is the new order of the day, and it significantly affects user experience.
Google frowns on such intrusions, especially for mobile devices because of their smaller screens. That's why, for years, the search engine has been lowering the ranking of websites that show these ads.
And with this update coming to desktop search in 2022, the search engine will reward sites that don't have such unwanted popups with high rankings.
Mobile-friendliness has been a popular SEO strategy for a long time. With millions of people using their phones for browsing rather than a desktop, having a mobile-friendly website is a must for most, if not all, sites.
And while this isn’t a part of the desktop update coming in March 2022, it’s still a core element of this update as a whole. So you wouldn’t be getting good rankings if your website is optimized for desktop search at the expense of mobile search.
To prepare for the upcoming update, you need to check your website to make sure it meets all of Google's specifications for the points above.
Making sure that your website uses the “HTTPS” protocol and has little to no popups or intrusive ads should be easy enough to rank high in Google search. But the first three points (LCP, CLS, and FID) are where the difficulty lies.
When most people read that their CLS should be less than 0.1, they’d probably wonder how to even measure that figure. Yet, thankfully, Google Search Console offers you a Page Experience report and a Core Web Vitals report.
The Page Experience report shows you the web pages or URLs that are performing well and those performing poorly. Here's an example.
And the Core Web Vitals report is even more insightful. You can see which pages are good, poor, or need improvement.
So, for SEO success, it’s essential to keep an eye on your Page Experience metrics to see which URLs need tweaking, not wait until your rank in the search results for relevant keywords to go under for you to take action.
In July 2021, Google announced the Link Spam Update, its latest effort to fight spam links. And if you know a thing or two about SEO, you know that ranking in Google SERP (Search Engine Result Page) largely depends on links.
Think of links as academic citations or references; just as journals don't accept publications without authority links, Google also prioritizes content with authoritative and relevant links.
As a result, an entire linking industry has emerged. Some websites have posts stuffed with keywords and links in an attempt to outwit Google's algorithm, and others engage in link buying.
These trends have helped Google clearly outline link schemes that can negatively affect your site. They include:
Of course, search engines don’t frown on bloggers monetizing their blog, for example, but they expect this monetization to be done right. Read more about Google's thoughts on link schemes.
The Link Spam update is meant to further reduce the occurrence of all kinds of linking schemes, and it primarily focuses on affiliate links and sponsored guest posting. So here's what Google expects website owners and managers to do:
Most product reviews and shopping guides have affiliate links. In fact, there are many websites and businesses solely dependent on affiliate marketing; it’s how they make money.
Google algorithms don’t have any issue with people running affiliate sites or creating posts with affiliate links. However, they require sites involved in these programs to tag such posts appropriately.
Basically, affiliate links should be tagged: <rel="sponsored”>, and this tag must be added whether the link is created dynamically or manually.
So when Google algorithms find affiliate links that aren’t tagged as such, they actually manually nullify these links. In other words, Google will ignore such links, affecting your position on the search results page.
As Google puts it, "Both manual and algorithmic actions may affect how we see a site in Search, so it's good to avoid things that may cause actions, where possible."
Sponsored and guest posts are also another popular way of monetizing content; many marketers and businesses run campaigns to post on other sites to get backlinks.
However, having seen numerous poor guest post campaigns, Google has become more stringent on such practices. Again, the Google algorithm expects sponsored and guest posts to have proper tags. In general, you should have the following tags:
And for more information on tagging your posts correctly, read this post.
Well, the Link Spam update is already in force, and most websites will likely begin to feel the brunt of the update soon.
So if you've had some shady links in the past, it might be time to do some house cleaning. Better yet, having a website audit will immensely help you develop a successful SEO strategy.
Generally speaking, if you've already tagged links as "nofollow," you don't have to relabel them to "sponsored."
However, be sure to tag appropriately in the future. And if you've sponsored some posts yourself, consider reaching out to the website featuring your sponsor links and having them add the <rel=”sponsored”> tag.
What's more, when reconsidering your SEO strategy, think about expanding your guest blogging strategy. So, instead of paying for or buying links, look at creating content that earns you links.
In light of the 2022 update, other major Google algorithm updates will also affect how you rank in Google’s search results. So here’s an overview of them.
While Google isn’t really upfront about what this update involves, we do know that it affects the indexing and ranking processes.
Google began rolling two algorithm updates before the July iteration of the Core Algorithm Update, which is somewhat unusual. As a result, many are speculating that Google might have introduced more effective anti-spam tools in this update. Also, the update is believed to have helped with domain crowding.
This Google algorithm update uses AI to help users get answers for complex search queries that can't be answered comprehensively by traditional Google search results.
For example, the answer to this Google search, “What are the differences between bodies of water like lakes, rivers, and oceans?” would require multiple paragraphs, something that a featured snippet can't do. That’s where the MUM update comes in.
So far, MUM has been trained in over 75 languages and is ready to answer complex questions. And currently, it's being used to process and understand vaccine queries. So, we can expect MUM to be more prominent in 2022.
Lastly, let's look briefly at the Product Reviews update. It’s been rolled out in two phases thus far, one in April and another in December of 2021. And both rollouts were geared towards ensuring that people are producing in-depth and relevant reviews on their websites.
As a result, Google rewards reviews that provide expert and first-hand knowledge, demonstrate the uniqueness of the reviewed products, and provide quantitative data on them. Also, the reviews must mention similar products, compare them, and show which ones are best for specific use cases to rank high on the search results page.
A good review would also speak on the drawbacks of a product and what can be done to improve it. Further, it’d describe how a product has evolved over the years, what improvements have been made, and touch on what actual users have to say about the product from their experience.
So, if you do product reviews, it's time to add some depth and expertise to it and make it as comprehensive as possible.
Whenever major Google updates are announced, there's apprehension in the SEO world. And although it can be confusing at first, altering your SEO strategy to comply with Google updates isn’t at all impossible.
The main goal for any search engine is to return relevant and helpful content to users, so as long as you're creating high-quality content, you have nothing to worry about.
And for a successful SEO strategy in 2022, keep an eye on Google's algorithm updates. This year, the main Google updates are the Page Experience Update, the Link Spam Update, Core Algorithm Update, MUM Update, and Product Reviews Update.
Overall, focus on delivering a smooth experience for your website visitors, earning links instead of buying them, creating relevant content, and making changes before your rank in the search results page goes under.
In today's digital era, where everything seems to be moving online and companies and individuals always looking for ways to beat their competition in the digital sphere; it's evident for both newbies and experts to explore SEO (search engine optimization) as it is a standalone essential component that helps you rank up in Google searches.
SEO is a complex strategy that consists of several crucial parts to consider, from which "Backlinks" serve as a start strategy that helps you attract more traffic to your website.
Backlinks are critical to SEO success because they are the cornerstone of Google's page rank algorithm. Backlinks have been shown to have a favorable impact on organic search performance in independent SEO studies. Another important point to remember about inbound links is that they pass link equity or backlink authority from one website to yours.
In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about the start of SEO Strategies "Backlinks." So if you are a business owner looking for ways to attract more traffic to your website, or an SEO professional looking for a refresher or learn to create high-quality links; stay tuned, as we are going to cover the following;
A backlink is a link created between the websites to link one website to another. In simpler terms, a link of your website/webpage/landing page that you place on some other website, and when someone clicks that link; it brings them to your website. Backlinks are also referred to as inbound links or external links because they attract the traffic of another website to your website.
However, just like any other game, we must understand the rules and underlying link-building opportunities to win the traffic from the other sources. The quality of the backlinks placed plays a vital role in yielding the desired outcome. Some of the basic rules to keep in consideration while creating a backlinks strategy are the following;
NOTE: If you have added a backlink to some website that doesn't match the content and your website's offering; the irrelevancy of information might drop your quality score in Google ranking.
Creating backlinks to your website increases your SEO's quality. Furthermore, they help the search engine distinguish between the websites that offer valuable backlinks and high-quality content. Consequently, Google and other search engines rank such websites higher than others.
Three primary results that you can achieve through backlinks are;
Backlinks are seen as a vote of confidence by search engines such as Google. In general, the more votes your web pages receive, the better chance they have of ranking for relevant searches.
Organic search traffic is significantly correlated with the number of backlinks from unique websites (referring domains).
SEO assists your website to rank higher in the search engine, allowing more people to find it when they search for specific terms. You can attract more traffic to your websites by creating backlinks from authoritative websites, either from the sites that are linked to you or from search engines.
Search engines discover new material by returning to previously visited pages in order to find new links.
Because search engines return to popular pages more frequently than those that are less popular, if you receive backlinks from known pages, they will be able to find your content more quickly.
Simply put, the more backlinks your site has, the more likely it is to be among the first few results. You can bring more focused traffic to your site if you have a higher page rank in search engine results.
Backlinks are used to direct users to useful sites. It's for this reason that they're clickable. You obtain referral traffic when someone clicks on a link to your website.
Most importantly, backlinks can aid in the promotion of your company. People are more likely to believe in your goods or service if they find links to them from trusted bloggers or websites. This is because they trust the people promoting your expertise or in this case having the backlink of your website. You can leverage others' influence and advertise your company through backlinks.
When examining your backlink profile keep in view that not all inbound links achieve equal results in SEO ranking. Here are the six key factors that influence the quality and usability of your backlink profile.
A high-quality backlink should, first and foremost, have relevant content. One reason for this is that your visitor is more likely to click on a relevant link.
For example, if you run an architecture website, it makes sense if you obtain a link from a building website or possibly a lumber supplier. It passes a signal to search engines that others vouch for the piece of content on your site. It implies that anyone searching for lumber to restore or build a home will almost certainly require the services of an architect.
Another factor that contributes to a high-quality backlink is the site's trustworthiness. One of the advantages of the internet today is that anyone can publish their work, but unfortunately, not every source is reliable, especially if you need quality links.
High-quality websites normally carry more "authority backlinks" and offer more value (link equity) than otherwise.
Quality links are used by search engines to label your page as authoritative. When websites with great content have links from other high-quality websites, search engines appreciate it.
Before you consider using backlinks to improve your rating, keep in mind that these links are primarily intended to drive visitors from another website to yours that works as a signal for search engines to know to identify which backlinks are liked by the audiences.
As a result, Google keeps those websites in higher ranks where the traffic is routing to and finding their required information. Track your traffic with Google Analytics.
Some links on web pages are likely to pass more authority than others since people are more inclined to visit prominently placed links. The main reason why links seen in the mid content are more valuable than those at the content's footer is that users rarely click on it due to lower search visibility.
Although the No follow tags might affect the rankings of the connected website, they rarely do.
Because link building requires time and work, it's preferable to focus on gaining follow links. If you obtain a Nofollow link, don't make a big deal about it as it could still be useful for SEO purposes.
The clickable words or visible characters that make up a backlink are referred to as anchor text. These are words/phrases that are displayed usually in underlined blue color as hyperlinks.
Google claims that anchor text has an impact on rankings. An exact match anchor text is a keyword that reflects the page's topic. For example; an exact match anchor text in a link to this page would be "backlinks."
There are three most prominent ways of acquiring more backlinks;
When people find your material through search engines like Google, social media, or word of mouth, they choose to link to it. Earned incoming links are organic.
Create truly useful content that others will want to connect to for increasing your chances of getting more backlinks.
This is when you manually add your website's links to other websites. You may need to double-check any existing hyperlinks to your website. Before you try to add more backlinks, think about how effective are the ones you already have.
While creating backlinks remember the following
When you contact other site owners, editors, or webmasters and ask them to connect to your page, you're trying to build backlinks. You'll need a clear value proposition for this to succeed. This is where link-building strategy comes into play.
A common method of gaining backlinks is to write guest posts on other blogs and websites. The links received from guest posting definitely give your organic traffic a boost.
Finding relevant dead links on other sites and contacting them to recommend your working link as a replacement.
Find relevant material that has a lot of connections, improve it, and then ask those who are connecting to the other content suppliers to link your content instead.
Contact influencers in your field and ask them to post about your business or service on their site or social handlers with a backlink to your website.
Creating articles and submitting them to online directories is another approach to obtain backlinks to your website. Many webmasters will allow you to post articles on their website if your piece of content is relevant to their industry. Some will even let you publish your articles for free.
Request that unlinked references of your brand be made clickable by contacting the author.
There are two types of backlinks that help boost our SEO:
A Nofollow link instructs search engines that a link should be ignored, it does not pass link equity. These external links don't share any information from one website to the next. As a result, they usually don't help you improve your search rank or visibility. In 2019, Google announced evolving the Nofollow attribute as a means to provide webmasters with additional ways to identify the nature of links.
These links are the most desired backlinks. Just keep in mind that links from reputable websites are the most valuable and assist you to increase the search engine rankings.
However, certain do-follow links are deemed to be toxic. These links are obtained by breaching the terms of service of search engines or by visiting dubious websites.
Google may penalize or even de-index your site as a result of this. It's important to remember that the quality of backlinks determines where you rank; not the quantity.
You can get insights about your backlink profile through the following tools
Why Is It Important to Remove All Toxic Backlinks (Unnatural Links)?
Be careful who and what you are linking to, you should monitor your backlink profile every week to make sure nothing has changed. If you want to remove a link, you must contact the owner of the website. Avoid questionable link buying practices and regularly check your backlink profile.
Here we are talking about Reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking occurs when one webmaster sets a link on his site that leads to the site of another webmaster and vice versa. The benefit of this form of link exchange is that it allows you to promote each other's websites.
The disadvantage of reciprocal linking is that many of these links are irrelevant and do not fit in the search engine algorithms. Even if the irrelevant backlinks are ignored, the outward connections are still counted, which may lower the websites' relevancy scores.
Backlinks are important because they tell you how many people link to your site. You can find out who owns toxic backlinks through Back Link Checker.
Backlink Audits help you find all the backlinks to your site including the toxic ones that could harm your website's SEO ranking and credibility.
SEO is essential for every business these days to enhance its online presence. It consists of several elements that complete the SEO puzzle and help you rank higher in Google searches. Out of SEO core elements "Backlinks" serve as a cornerstone in improving your website's SEO score, authority and deriving more traffic.
Gaining backlinks is essential for search engine optimization so it is advisable to earn links from reliable and authoritative websites. Backlinks can help search engine crawlers index your page or website as a well-optimized website.
So, be considerate and adapt to backlinking strategy to be on top of your SEO game. It might seem a bit overwhelming; therefore our experts always remain available 24/7 to help you create a winning SEO and backlinks strategy.
Have a happy ranking-higher journey ahead. 🙂
Most small businesses don't have the time, budget, or resources to invest in traditional outbound marketing strategies such as television, radio, print ads, billboards, and direct mail. This leaves many business owners wondering how to get more leads through their websites.
That's where inbound marketing comes into play! It's a great strategy for any business, but it can be hard to get started and even harder to know what works best.
But, what is inbound marketing to begin with?
That’s precisely what you’ll learn in this guide. We'll break down the basics of inbound marketing, how it works, and what makes it effective so you can start leveraging it for your business.
Inbound marketing is a method of attracting, engaging, and delighting customers online through content with the help of search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, social media, and more.
It’s based on the idea that you can attract visitors to your website by producing valuable, relevant, and consistent content that pulls people toward your business.
By doing this, businesses can develop trust with their target audience, which leads to more sales opportunities down the line.
Since inbound marketing is the opposite of outbound, you may be wondering how it's any different.
Here are three key differences between the two.
First and foremost, inbound marketing isn't like traditional advertising that interrupts audiences with messages or promotions that they don't want. Instead, inbound marketing focuses on pulling people to your website through relevant content that they want to see.
Second, traditional advertising is mostly about branding as a marketing tool– that is, telling audiences who you are and what you stand for with the hope of making an impact on their perception of your company or product.
On the other hand, inbound marketing is about listening--that is, understanding your target audience through research and engaging with them on an emotional level.
Finally, traditional advertising (or outbound marketing) makes you visible to customers who may not be interested in what you have to offer at that time (or ever).
Conversely, inbound marketing efforts are all about –that is, targeting qualified leads and engaging with them in a way that turns them into loyal customers.
The main difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing is that the former is all about consumers, while the latter is mostly about businesses.
With outbound marketing tools, marketers push their message to people who may or may not be interested in what's being advertised.
With inbound marketing, businesses attract consumers by producing relevant content that answers questions and provides value, leading to lifelong customer relationships.
Inbound marketing has been around for decades, and it's still going strong because it offers so many benefits to businesses and consumers alike. Here are the key ones.
It's simple: for lead generation, you need to have a website that people can find. By using inbound marketing strategies such as blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), PPC, and social media, you'll boost your rankings on search engines like Google so that you rank higher than your competitors for keywords related to your business.
How does that happen? By targeting the people you want to reach through content they actually care about. This is the best way to get your business in front of a larger audience.
This will result in more visitors to your website and, as a result, an increase in the number of leads and sales you get.
Inbound marketing helps build trust by demonstrating authority and expertise with every content piece you create.
If you can answer your target audience's questions with helpful, educational content that they want to watch, read, and share with others, you'll find that they're more likely to give you their business when it’s time.
That's because your business will be top of mind when your audience looks for solutions to their problems. And it's easier to purchase something from a company that you already know, like, and trust.
Closely related to the previous point, with inbound marketing, your brand becomes part of your target audience's life rather than an interruption to it. In other words, you become an integral part of your target audience's day-to-day conversations and interactions.
This makes them more likely to become loyal customers because they'll feel personally invested in your brand. And once you have their business, they're unlikely to switch to your competitors.
Why? Because your target audience will have been exposed to your brand, product, or service on a more personal level. They'll be treated more like friends rather than strangers who are only interested in what you can do for them right now.
While inbound marketing does cost money to engage in, it's less expensive than traditional outbound marketing strategies.
If you think about it, traditional marketing requires you to spend money on advertising, while inbound marketing work involves investing time to create helpful content that your target audience is actually looking for.
Plus, you're investing less money into people who may or may not care about your company. Well-targeted content that has been created with a specific buyer persona in mind is highly unlikely to be ignored.
Therefore, you'll get out more than what you put in because, when done well, the returns are greater with inbound efforts. That's why it can be a great investment.
Inbound marketing plays a significant role in improving your search engine rankings because it helps you target those keywords that your potential customers are using to look for products or services.
So, as you develop content and publish articles, blog posts, videos, infographics, or any other helpful resource on the web – all of which is optimized – you're going to improve your search engine rankings.
And when you do, you'll have more traffic, which will lead to an increase in qualified leads and conversions to help grow your business.
Plus, search engines love fresh, quality content, so blogging will give Google a reason to rank your site higher than others.
Getting more traffic to your site is one thing. But it's not going to do you any good unless those people actually take an action that's beneficial for your business, right?
For example, if they visit your blog and browse through the articles but never sign up for your email list or make a purchase, this won't benefit you.
Well, don’t worry about that because by optimizing your content, you'll be able to convert users into leads and leads into new customers at a higher rate than traditional outbound marketing. And that’s all because you’re actually targeting qualified leads in the first place.
So if you're looking to scale up and grow your business, inbound marketing works!
So, now that you know the benefits of inbound marketing, what problems can it solve? Here are just a few.
If your website is like everyone else's website and only gets traffic at random intervals, then you probably don't see any results. But since inbound marketing revolves around creating quality content for your target audiences, you'll get more consistent and relevant traffic.
In contrast, if you don't have a plan for content creation, you're unlikely to get traffic consistently. And if you can't bring people back time after time, then it’ll be challenging to build up your business the way you want to.
Therefore, inbound marketing puts an end to the lack of consistent traffic because it allows you to publish high-quality content over time that'll first attract your target audience and then engage them.
And because this content is evergreen (meaning it’ll remain relevant for an extended period), people will continue to visit your site regularly.
If you're not ranked high in search engine results, you won't have traffic coming to your site. And if you can't capture that traffic, then there's no way you'll be able to achieve business growth.
With inbound marketing, namely through an SEO strategy, you'll be able to optimize your content through the use of keywords so you can attract your target audience and improve your site's visibility.
That way, more people will find you, and you'll receive more leads and sales. And, of course, you’ll rank higher on the SERPs!
Building a successful business takes time, right? Well, the problem is that some people don't have all of that time because they need their business to grow more quickly.
That's where inbound marketing can be helpful again because it allows you to bring in leads and customers more efficiently than other forms of marketing.
So you're not just growing your business at a faster rate, but you're also spending less money to do it since inbound marketing is more cost-effective.
You know that sinking feeling when your funnel is working, but the leads aren't there? That's only natural because it takes time for people to be exposed to your brand on social media or in their email inbox.
But since inbound marketing helps you gain exposure through various types of compelling content, you can get more leads in less time.
All businesses know that they need to establish credibility and expertise in their particular field. That way, people can trust them and become more willing to buy from them.
Yet, of course, that’s easier said than done because it takes a lot of time and effort to achieve this type of authority.
Well, once again, inbound marketing can help you do all of that because it’ll allow you to publish content regularly to teach people about your industry and what you have to offer.
So not only will more people be exposed to your business, but they'll also be more inclined to trust you.
The inbound marketing methodology consists of three main strategies, all aiming to attract, engage, and delight customers. In fact, those are the names of the strategies, too.
Here's what they're all about.
Just like its name implies, you want to attract your target audience by creating valuable content. You'll be doing things like blogging, producing videos, sharing useful infographics, and providing helpful e-books, case studies, or white papers to those who are searching for those types of resources online.
The purpose here is to deliver the content that your audience wants to consume, which will ultimately lead them to your site and attract them to your business at large.
To make this work, you’ll need to establish a content production schedule and a publishing schedule.
In short, create a content calendar and map out what resources you’re going to produce and when each piece of content will be published.
Here are a few tips to create content that attracts customers:
Following the success of your attracting strategies, the different types of content you create will lead to increased traffic, which is exactly what you want!
So, the goal here is to engage with this targeted audience by encouraging them to take one action or another – like signing up for your email list, visiting your blog or social media profiles, filling out a contact form, opting for a free trial, and similar.
To get engagement off the ground, you're going to need to keep in touch with prospects and leads while they visit your site. That way, when it comes time for them to make a purchase or take another action that's beneficial for your business, they’ll think of you.
Moreover, you'll need to utilize different strategies like blogging (for content marketing), monitoring your brand's social accounts (to provide responses and converse with followers), and email marketing (so that you can send special offers or newsletters to subscribers).
Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to engaging with your audience:
The final step in the inbound methodology is to use various strategies to delight and provide value to your leads and customers after they've already made a purchase or taken other actions.
Simply, the goal of delighting strategies is to provide your customers with an experience that makes them want to come back for more (or refer others to your business).
You want them to become loyal brand advocates, continue doing business with you, and recommend you to their family and friends.
To do this, you’ll need to focus on any issues that your customers may have by having a customer service team in place.
You'll also have to think deeply about how you can go the extra mile to delight your customers so that they'll want to keep doing business with you for the long term. Here are some ideas:
According to HubSpot, the marketing automation platform, every inbound marketer should follow five fundamentals of inbound marketing to achieve success.
Namely, they're contacts, buyer personas, the buyer's journey, content, and goals.
Here’s what they are and how each one can help you plan out a successful inbound marketing strategy.
A contact is a person with whom a company has relationships – either in real life or in digital space. A contact could be a customer, prospect, employee, or even just an interested party.
Contacts are the foundation of any business, and they'll be your starting point for any inbound campaign that you create.
Remember to capture contacts in person, over the phone, and through the exchange of content either online or offline.
More importantly, you'll want to keep track of each of your leads so that they don't get lost in the shuffle and you don't lose them as a pipeline of new business.
For that, it's a wise idea to invest in a CRM (or customer relationship management) tool. You'll be able to organize, track, and measure contacts through their interactions with your brand.
According to HubSpot, buyer personas are “a semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer based on real data and educated speculation about demographics, behaviors, motivations, and goals.”
To simplify, personas are the unique fictional profiles that describe your ideal customers, and they’re based on data and insights collected through research and information gathered from past customers.
This means knowing their demographics, what they're interested in, where they live, how old they are, and more. You can also think about the persona of your ideal customer by including personality traits.
You'll further want to think about what kind of questions they might have, what their challenges are that they'd need help with solving, how you'd be able to assist them throughout the buying journey, and which pain points they might have that could be met with solutions from your business.
Create personas for every major segment of your customer base so that you can tailor your inbound marketing strategies to their specific needs.
For instance, this will allow you to generate content for your target personas so that they can see themselves reflected in your messaging.
This, in turn, will increase their engagement with your brand because of the emotional connection that they'll feel.
The buyer's journey outlines the entire process that each of your customers goes through before purchasing something from you or becoming loyal advocates for your brand.
There are three main stages of the buyer's journey or sales process:
Remember that prospects might not go through each stage in this exact sequence. Buyers’ journeys can be very fluid, so you should consider it more as a general guide rather than something carved in stone.
Yet, keeping this framework in mind, it's easier to plan out your inbound strategy based on these different stages. You'll need different types of content for when they're in each stage of the process.
For instance, you'll want to create awareness content for the awareness phase so that people will be introduced to your brand before they even think about making a purchase. This could include producing useful industry-related content that helps people to learn about your topic while subtly promoting your brand at the same time.
You'll also want to ensure that you're capturing the right data while your prospects are in the consideration phase so that you can continue nurturing them with targeted content after they've become a lead.
Inbound marketing relies on content in a few different ways. First of all, creating valuable content for your personas so that they can find it when they're searching online is key.
Your content has to be helpful for people and speak directly to their needs if you want them to look at your brand instead of just clicking past.
In addition to creating content for people, you can also use it to attract potential buyers. People are more likely to interact with your business when they know what kinds of information you're going through on a regular basis.
This is why it's important to share blog posts and social media updates based on the buyer’s journey discussed above.
Finally, you'll need content that helps to convert prospects into customers. Let's say that you've got a great webinar or white paper that'll really help people in the consideration phase of their buying process. You can use this content to get more people on your email list so that you can continue providing them with value and converting them into customers.
As you develop the content, it's important to remember SEO rankings. You want to rank higher in search engines and establish yourself as a thought leader within your industry. For that, focus on pillar pages and topic clusters.
Pillar pages are high-level blog posts that cover a specific topic thoroughly. You'll be able to rank with this type of content for a long time because it provides people with straightforward answers to their questions.
In contrast, topic clusters focus on different aspects of your main pillar topic. This is helpful because people often have a wide variety of questions that they're looking to answer. Instead of providing them with one or two answers, you can use topic clusters to give them a few different blog posts covering their needs.
Finally, you'll also want to make sure that it's easy for people to share and spread the word about your content online. This is especially important if you're using social media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to distribute updates on your blog posts. Another great idea for your business is to request reviews from your customers.
Speaking of social media, social networks are an integral part of inbound marketing because they can help you to reach people who might not have otherwise found your website and have a pretty wide audience. So, it helps with brand awareness and might potentially give you access to new audiences.
For instance, Facebook has over 2.89 billion active users each month. If you're not using it to share your content, then you're missing out on a huge opportunity to get in front of new people who fit into one or more of your buyer personas.
Accordingly, it's important to have a social media presence that gets people excited about your upcoming content. You can do this by using images, videos, GIFs, and other types of social media posts that are eye-catching.
Then, you'll want to schedule the actual content ahead of time to ensure that it’s published at the best times for engagement with your social media followers.
Of course, it doesn't end there because you'll also want to use each platform's analytics tool so that you can track the traffic that your updates are driving back to your website. This will help you determine what types of social media content are most effective at increasing your inbound marketing performance.
Inbound marketing is a customer-focused strategy that helps to bring people into your sales funnel. What makes inbound marketing efforts effective is that they take into consideration the buyer's journey and create valuable content that matches each stage of the journey.
You can also use social media marketing channels to broaden your reach and drive more people back to your website so that they can learn more about your business. Just remember SEO, pillar pages, topic clusters, and analytics so that you can consistently improve inbound marketing performance.
Now that you know what inbound marketing is and how to use it, feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you might have or for a website audit. We're always happy to help our clients launch a successful inbound marketing campaign, so let's get the conversation started today!
Google Ads can be a great source of traffic for your business. But it’s also one of the most complicated platforms to manage. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might waste money and time on ads that aren't performing well.
If you’re just starting using Google Ads, this guide is for you. In the ultimate guide to Google Ads management, we’ll walk you through all of the steps necessary for managing a successful campaign to make sure you get the most out of your ads.
So if you want more customers coming in through paid channels or just need some guidance on how to make sense of all those numbers flying around in your Google Ads account, keep reading!
Campaign management involves managing and optimizing Google Ads campaigns and ad groups on an ongoing basis to get the most value possible from them. The optimizations are usually based on performance metrics that indicate how well a campaign is doing.
Precisely, campaign management mostly focuses on:
All in all, the process of Google Ads campaign management usually involves several rounds of A/B testing and tracking changes in data to see how they impact paid search ad campaigns.
Making sure that your ads are performing well is important because paid advertising represents a significant investment in your business. Depending on the type of campaign, you can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your ads every month.
For instance, over time, you might see that some portions of your campaign are performing well, but those in another part aren’t. In that case, it’d be more profitable to focus your paid search efforts on the former rather than continuing to invest in the latter. Otherwise, you might end up paying for clicks or impressions that are essentially worthless.
But how would you know which ads and keywords are performing well without tracking this data in the first place?
So, making sure that your ads are performing well is ultimately important because paid advertising represents a significant investment in your business. Depending on the type of campaign, you can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your ads every month.
And with that being the case, there's no room for any wasted spending.
Now, here’s a campaign management process overview. With these steps, you’ll be able to handle a Google Ad campaign more effectively and efficiently.
The first step in managing Google Ad campaigns is to check how they've been performing so far. You can do this by looking at the metrics in the campaign dashboard and then using this data to determine the areas of improvement within your campaigns or your Google Analytics.
For instance, if you find that one campaign's ads have a CTR of around 1%, which isn't very good, then you'll need to make changes to improve it. Similarly, if a campaign's average ad position is quite high and has a higher CTR, then you'll want to focus on getting the cost per click down.
In general, some KPIs that you should keep an eye on when doing this initial assessment include:
These are just some of the most important metrics that you’ll want to pay attention to as you begin managing your Google Ad campaign. But there's a whole host of data available as well, which includes some more granular statistics, of course. Plus, you should focus on the KPIs that matter most to your business.
Once you have all this information, you can determine what needs improvement. You can then work on making those improvements and checking how they affect how your ads perform.
By taking a good look at your Google Ad performance metrics and using them as a guide for building new campaigns or amending existing ones, you can start to determine what needs improvement. You can then make those improvements immediately and keep checking how they affect the way your ads perform.
Next, you'll need to reevaluate the audience targeting for your campaign. This means you'll need to reevaluate the keywords, interests, demographics, and remarketing targeting options that you've chosen for your ad group. The goal here is to find audiences that give you a high volume of clicks and conversions at low costs while maintaining strong ad relevance scores.
Now, this may seem like something that takes a bit of time at first glance. But it doesn't have to take much if you know what you're doing beforehand. If done correctly, then reworking the audience targeting for your campaigns could be something that takes as little as an hour or two altogether.
To speed up the process, you should take note of keywords and interests (the audiences you've built out) that are paying off for your business. Then, try to narrow down any groups that aren't pulling their weight into separate ad groups.
Finally, you'll want to make changes accordingly. For example, if you notice that some audiences aren't performing very well, consider removing them from your campaigns entirely. Meanwhile, if others are performing well (and they're relevant to your business), then double down and focus on them more.
You may also want to consider creating new remarketing lists. If your audience targeting is on point, you can create a new list and add your website visitors as the target audience for the appropriate ad group.
And remember, the goal here isn't to be perfect or complete at this stage; it's just to get started. The idea is that with a good structure in place, for both campaigns and ad groups, you'll be able to work with the data and improve your ads' performance from there.
Following that, you'll want to test and optimize ad copy and design. This will be a step that you should come back to frequently as it's easy for new data to come in that requires you to change up your ads' designs or content.
To do this, you can use Google Ads' robust ad testing tools. You can start with something like A/B split testing.
For instance, you could create two different variations of the same ad and then switch back and forth between the two to see which one performs better. You can continue alternating between them until a clear winner emerges.
And if you're curious about the particular elements of the ad that seem to affect its performance, try running another A/B test with just certain changes.
For ad copy, you can test elements like ad headlines, ad descriptions, CTAs, ad extensions, and the display URLs that you're using to drive traffic. You should use the same process here that Google recommends for testing ad copy.
As for design, you can test different sizing, color schemes, image ads/videos/other ad formats, call-to-action positioning, and messaging for your ads themselves.
Eventually, you'll figure out what works and what doesn't for your business. If possible, we recommend setting these up in a way where you run multiple versions of each at the same time. In this way, you'll get faster results from your tests.
But remember, it's critically important that you don't needlessly spam your audience with numerous ads in a short period. This will likely lead to a drop in CTR (and therefore in quality score). Instead, only run new ads on a regular basis (say, once or twice a month) and make the most of what you've already tested out before.
Another important step that many advertisers tend to forget about is negative keywords. These are words and phrases that you should add to your campaigns' negative keyword lists if they're irrelevant to your business.
This is especially true if you have tightly-themed campaigns that are also very competitive. This means the potential of irrelevant keywords being added on accident/automatically is very high, so it's important not to ignore these details.
For example, if you're a local business that deals with house painting, you probably want to include words like "locksmith" and "fencing" on your negative keyword lists. Similarly, if you're selling fruit baskets, but your ads are showing for "fruit ninja" on the Google Display Network, then you'll want to add "fruit ninja" (and any other related terms) into your list.
But how do you find out which keywords are possibly too irrelevant to bother with? Well, there are a few ways to do so, but one of the easiest is what Google suggests: take a look at your search terms report.
In this report, you'll be able to see which terms have been triggering your search ads' negatives recently. With that, you'll be able to add any irrelevant words into the negative keyword list easily.
As a whole, though, it's good to remember that not all keywords are created equal. Some can actually work in your favor if they're relevant enough to your business. This is especially true for industries like local businesses often trying to be found via relevant, location-based terms.
The next step is to optimize your landing pages. This means you'll want to make them as relevant as possible to the ads driving traffic their way. This is especially important given the fact that Google Ads' Quality Score favors landing page relevance tremendously.
At this point, you might be wondering why landing page relevance matters so much to Google Ads Quality Score. Well, it's because your ads' performance is judged by users' behavior after they click on your ad.
So if the user clicked on an ad for swimming pools but ended up at a page about home insulation instead, then Google will judge the ad based on that page's relevance compared to the users' search intent.
Therefore, when it comes to making Google Ads work, optimizing your landing pages is almost as important as everything else we've covered so far. The reason is that you want to lower your cost-per-acquisition (target CPA). And to do this, you should be driving traffic to the pages on your site that are most relevant to what the user actually searched for.
So how do you improve these?
First, on the Google Ads tool, go through each of your paid ads and make a list of the keywords they're targeting. Next, go through the landing page URLs attached to each ad. Then, make a list of which keywords they actually contain.
If there's a mismatch between what you're targeting and what your landing pages contain, then this is one area where you'll want to improve as soon as possible. You also need to make sure your ad copy matches what's on the landing page.
Other things to keep in mind are load time and font size. You want to make sure that your landing pages load fast and are easy for users to read.
And, if you have the option, use a clean design with full-width images/video and large fonts to grab users' attention (especially with things like call extensions). This is especially important if the page they're going to isn't a product or service offering page.
Once again, this process will require that you do some split testing on the Google Ads platform to figure out what works best. However, it's important because it directly impacts your score (which in turn affects how many clicks you'll be able to buy).
So, in short, optimizing your landing pages is all about focusing your ads' traffic, so you get paid for what you deserve. If you don't do this properly, you're costing yourself money, plain and simple.
With one of Google Ads bidding strategies, you have the ability to manually set bid amounts for each campaign individually. The problem with manual bidding is that it involves a lot of research and upkeep if you want it to be effective enough to drive your business forward (especially for new campaigns).
This is where automated bidding (or smart bidding) options come in. With the automated bid strategy, you can set the maximum bid amount you're willing to pay for each impression or click without manually adjusting things all the time.
The way it works is simple: Google Ads will automatically change your bids to maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS). That means if you're trying to reach a certain goal (such as conversions), this bidding strategy will adjust your bids to focus on the keywords that are best at generating those kinds of results.
And, if you've already set up conversion tracking, Google Ads will even work to make sure you get as many conversions as possible within the ad budget you have available. That means you'll never have to worry about not having enough clicks or spending too much.
This is the future of digital advertising, and it's simple, quick, and hassle-free. Fortunately, Google Ads actually makes it very easy for you to start using this feature, so it’s a good option to consider.
Yet, in general, you want to be as competitive as possible without going overboard. Remember that the higher you bid, the more likely it is that your ad will show up on search results pages, and also, the more Google will charge you per click. So if you go too high, then you could end up spending way too much money for what you're getting in return.
Even with all the knowledge in the world, it's easy to make mistakes. However, a few common missteps can have a huge negative impact on your campaigns if you're not careful. Here are just a few of the most common Google ad no-no's.
Using too many negative keywords is a common Google Ads mistake. The problem with this approach is that it can cause you so many restrictions that your search ads won’t show up for anything.
Instead, focus on finding highly relevant terms that you can target and keep things as simple as possible by targeting very specific irrelevant keywords (like a competitor's name) at the beginning. You can always use these keywords to filter out irrelevant searches after the fact to weed out low-quality traffic from search results.
Doing so will allow you to avoid spending money on irrelevant terms while also giving you the chance to show your ads for relevant searches.
As great as broad match keywords are, their results can be unpredictable if you don't specify exactly what the search terms should include to count as a relevant match.
The closer your match types are, the more predictable your website traffic sources will be. So instead of just letting Google decide which terms to target when someone performs a broad match, create separate keywords for each match type to make sure you get the results you expect.
This is because Google's technology processes every word in your search query so it can show ads that are relevant to what people want. As time goes on, Google will only become better at this. Plus, you’ll get more opportunities to show your ad to people who are specifically looking for what you offer.
Just like with every other budgeting strategy, you need to be smart about how much you're willing to spend on search campaigns, especially if you'll run multiple ads at once.
Set a daily or lifetime budget that works for your business goals while considering the fact that some days will be more successful than others.
If things are going well, don't be afraid of spending more money so you can take advantage of the high-volume traffic from your ads. If things aren't going well, make sure you have a set amount that you absolutely won't overspend on (and if it happens, be prepared to scale back).
This will help you remain flexible while keeping your budget in control.
Though they might seem like a good idea at first, using expanded text ads can actually lower your click-through rate and affect your Quality Score. And as we mentioned earlier, these two factors have a direct impact on your costs per click.
Because of this, your best bet is to stick with the standard Google text ad format. That way, you can keep your costs relatively low while giving yourself more room for optimization down the line.
While they might be shorter than the expanded alternative, they do a better job at blending in with search results (which is what you want) and delivering more valuable messages to users (so long as your ad headlines are on point).
Quality Score is important to Google Ads for several reasons. First, it affects how much you pay per click (your total cost per conversion). Second, the higher your score is, the easier it'll be for Google to get your ad noticed by more people in search results.
And lastly, if you have a low quality score but want to rank in top positions, you'll have to pay a lot more per click (PPC) than your competitors do. In short, it's an important Google Ads metric that all advertisers should track.
Therefore, it's important for you to obtain a high Quality Score and do what you can to improve it. It might seem impossible right now, but if you consistently meet Google's standards, you'll have a much easier time keeping costs low while still getting noticed by new potential customers.
Creating mobile ads isn't as simple as resizing a desktop ad or making a few minor changes to the copy. Because people interact with their phones differently, you need to consider those differences when developing mobile messages.
For example, larger, high-quality images are typically more engaging on smartphones than smaller ones. Plus, keeping your ad content short is important because mobile users are unlikely to read through long messages.
Put about as much effort into creating the perfect mobile ad as you do for desktop ads. Though it might take a bit longer at first, you'll reap the benefits for years to come if you can get it right.
Another Google Ads mistake is having too many ad extensions. Adding too many extensions can make your ads look spammy and even cause the ad rank to go lower on the respective search engine results page. What you want to do is reduce your ad extensions to the lowest amount that'll work for you to make sure you land a better ad placement.
For example, if you have seven different extensions, cut it down to three or four and see how it works. If this doesn't work, try two.
It may seem like Google Ads would be stress-free once your campaigns are set up and running. However, just because all of the work is done doesn't mean that there aren’t some things you’ll want to check on and optimize over time.
From the first day your campaign is live, you need to monitor your keywords, ads, bids, and targeting so you can adjust them as needed. For example, new competitors might come onto the market, or new features could change the search queries people use to find what you offer, accordingly changing where you appear when users use Google search for their queries.
Therefore, you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities to improve your ads and campaigns. Investing the right amount of time in this step will definitely pay off when it comes time to see how well you're doing.
And if you don't put any effort into optimizing, there's a very real chance that Google will start showing your ads less often on the Google Search results page, which means that you'll lose valuable clicks and revenue for no reason.
One of the most common questions when it comes to Google Ads is how much you should spend each day, especially if it's your first Google Ads campaign. An acceptable range would be anywhere between $10 to $50, but generally, the exact amount you'll spend depends on your campaign goals and how much you're willing to invest during your test phase.
That said, it's a good idea to start low and increase your daily ad spend as needed. If you try increasing right from the start, you might not have enough data to justify a higher budget because you need to give your test time to work.
Meanwhile, if you start by using too little, you won't get the results that you want and will need to increase it anyway. Taking the time to get things right at first is definitely worth avoiding this situation later on.
The best way to optimize Google Ads is to pay close attention to Quality Score since it's the key to getting your ads in front of more people. Also, make sure your ads match your keywords, have a clear call-to-action, avoid being misleading, and follow Google’s guidelines.
If you want more conversions, whether they're sales or sign-ups, then your primary goal is to get people to your website by using compelling ad copy and targeting. To do this, your keywords need to be relevant to what you're offering so that when people search for related terms, they'll see your ads.
Also, be sure your landing page is optimized for the ads that led visitors there so you can increase conversions. If necessary, optimize your site to load quickly. After that, the best way to optimize for higher conversion rates is by taking advantage of Google's conversion tracking.
To run your Google Ads effectively, you need a great tool for tracking. There are many options out there, but we recommend taking advantage of Google Analytics and AdWords conversion tracking so you can get the most insights and won't miss any important data.
Then, you should do regular audits of your ads, maybe repeat your keyword research, and check optimizations and changes to see how they're performing. That way, you'll be able to catch any potential problems before they become wider issues.
It takes time and experience to know how to manage Google Ads campaigns effectively, but with proper management of your ads, you’ll see a higher return on your investment.
With a great tool, regular audits, and attention to Quality Score, you can see the best results from your Google Adwords campaigns. We hope our ultimate Google Ads guide has been helpful and will help you make the most out of your advertising efforts.
And if you need help, feel free to contact us. We'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about the best way to manage your PPC campaigns.
Local SEO is a tricky game to master, isn't it? There are so many moving parts and details that the process can often be overwhelming. Not to mention, it takes time, effort, and money to get it right. We get it!
Despite that, the importance of local SEO can't go unnoticed. If you want your business to succeed online, you need a good local search engine optimization strategy in place, or else your competition will beat you out of those coveted spots on page 1 of Google's search engine results pages (SERPs).
With that being so, if you're thinking about ways to improve your local SEO in 2022, here's how to implement an effective strategy this year to get a jumpstart on the competition. We'll give you some "do these things now" to improve your rankings.
First things first, let's talk about why local SEO is so important. In fact, it’s an integral part of any business's overall digital marketing campaign these days.
Simply, the reason is that people use Google to search for local businesses. Whether they're trying to find the best local restaurant near them or a plumber, you can bet that more than half of the online searches are performed by location. Actually, four in five consumers rely on search engines to find information about local businesses.
This means that if you have an online presence, consumers are likely searching for your business right now on their phone or desktop computer, and they’ll make a purchase decision based on what they see in the search results.
This explains why most businesses today have some presence on Google's Search, Maps, and Photos (these make up Google My Business). In fact, Google accounts for nearly 80% of all digital ad spend. And with consumers using their platform more than any other, it’s no wonder why this is the case.
Accordingly, you can't ignore the importance of having strong SEO for your business's local page. It'll be difficult for your local customers to find you if they can't even see your website in local search results.
Fortunately, even if you aren't a pro at search engines and SEO, there are ways you can improve your local SEO. With the right plan and execution, you can create strong campaigns that'll make a difference.
Local SEO will help you gain visibility, increase your customer base, and improve conversions. Without a local SEO strategy in place, you’ll lose out to competitors whose online presence is more visible than yours. Let's take a look at some ways local SEO can help your business grow:
This is where you can benefit the most from local SEO. You see, having your website mapped on Google has its benefits beyond just showcasing your business in the SERPs.
If people are looking for information about a certain business location (or multiple locations), this will match your website, and they'll be directed to it. In other words, if someone does a search in Google Maps and clicks on your business, they'll be taken to your Google My Business page.
From there, people can learn more about your company, like the services you offer and your location. You might even catch them clicking through to see your website or social media channels.
This means that you'll get free traffic from those looking for information about your business, similar businesses, and sometimes, industry at large!
And the best part about this is that, unlike paid ads, organic visibility is free to obtain. You just have to follow the right SEO techniques to reach customers looking for local businesses.
Another benefit of implementing an effective local SEO strategy is to gain authority and credibility online. Again, this is free to do, and it'll be worth your time in the long run.
If you want people to trust you and your business, all you have to do is show up where they’re searching for local businesses. For example, if someone does a Google search for "plumbers near me," the first few local search results will likely be pages from Google My Business.
So when you rank for these keywords, you're telling people that your business is legitimate and trustworthy. By using the right local SEO techniques and keyword research, you'll increase your local presence in search results and will appear in more searches than before. This alone can help build trust with consumers who might become future customers.
But remember, once you’ve mastered local SEO and improved your local ranking, you’ll want to hold on to that top spot and avoid getting demoted. Otherwise, you could lose your status and struggle to regain it later.
Another benefit of local SEO is increasing the number of leads for your business. Once you get more visibility on the web, you should see an increase in the number of people contacting you.
This can be attributed to two reasons:
1) Many first-time customers will find your business online through local searches and turn into leads.
2) Once your website improves its visibility, more potential customers will come across your page and contact you for services.
To get more leads by being visible on the SERPs, your local SEO strategy should include:
Improving your local ranking will help your business attract more relevant visitors and increase conversion rates with targeted traffic. That's because local SEO, in particular, taps into your local audience who are looking to do business in their neighborhood. In other words, the searchers' intent is more clear when they search for a local business.
For example, when someone searches for “Italian food” online, it can be hard to decipher if the person wants Italian cuisine in their area or just wants information about pasta recipes, whereas when they search for "Italian food in Philly", it's more clear that the person is looking to do business locally and actually eat Italian food.
So, if people are searching for what you offer locally, they're most likely ready to purchase right away. That’s why with targeted traffic from improved local rankings, you'll see more leads that convert into paying customers. Make sure that you record your website data with a free tool like Google Analytics.
So, what are the very specific ways you can improve your local SEO? Here's a list of 8 key local SEO tips that can certainly help you.
Although this may seem like an obvious tip, many businesses don't actually put their location(s) on their site. And even if they do, it's not in the best strategic spots. So, you need to make it a priority to ensure that your location is visible and easily found.
When determining where to put your address(es) on your site, think of the most strategic spots for this information. For example, if you're a restaurant or food delivery service, consider putting this on your homepage as that's the first thing visitors will see.
Similarly, if you're a plumber, perhaps consider putting your location on an about page or the footer where it won't be lost in the sea of other content on your site.
The idea is that you want to make it easy for your potential customers to find out where you're located quickly and without having to dig through pages of content.
You know that NAP stands for business name, address, and phone. We get it, you've heard this a million times, right? But did you know that these 3 aspects of your business are still something you need to pay attention to in 2022 for local SEO purposes? You do!
Typically, if you're a local business, your NAP information is standard across directories and search engine results pages. However, there's always room for improvement, so ensure you keep your data up-to-date. For example, if you recently moved locations or switched phone numbers, make sure to take action right away so that these changes are reflected online.
That way, whenever someone looks up your business, they'll always be able to find the most accurate contact information. And this is important because it's one of the top factors search engines like Google look at when determining where you rank for specific relevant keywords.
This one should come as no surprise – more than 50% of internet traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices. And given the fact that most consumers use their phones to search for local businesses like yours, it's clear why this tip is so key.
If your local business website isn't optimized for mobile devices (meaning it works on a typical mobile device), then you're restricting yourself from reaching a virtually unlimited market. In fact, according to Google, a business's website should be optimized for all devices or risk being left behind in the dust.
So, if your site isn't already mobile-friendly, set aside some time and make it happen. To make it mobile-friendly, you need to have a responsive design, ensure your site can handle mobile visits, and optimize all content for mobile display so that it doesn't look stretched or distorted. In doing so, you'll be boosting local SEO!
These days, more and more people use their voices to search for things online. And this is especially true when it comes to local businesses. In fact, a recent study shows that around 50% of all mobile searches (especially for shopping purposes) are made through voice.
Therefore, if you're not prepared to answer questions and optimize for voice search, then you're probably going to struggle to rank highly. So, how exactly should your business optimize for voice search?
Since most voice searches are done on mobile devices through several voice assistants (i.e., Siri, Google Assistant), your website must be optimized for mobile-first. This means ensuring it loads quickly, is compatible across all devices, and uses text content instead of Flash so that voice assistants can easily read it.
Then, when optimizing your search rankings, make sure you optimize for phrases instead of keywords. For example, if someone asks Siri to search for "Italian restaurants in NYC," the best result would be an Italian restaurant located in New York City.
In contrast, if you just target keywords, you might rank for "NYC restaurants" or "Italian cuisine." But this will make you seem less relevant compared to the NYC-based restaurant.
Finally, focus on creating a knowledge graph and publishing content that answers frequently asked questions about your business or industry. This won’t only boost your website's ranking, but it'll also give you an upper hand when it comes to voice search.
Another way to ensure that potential customers see you is by getting your site listed in relevant directories. And this goes beyond just the big-name industry-specific sites like Google Business, Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Merchant Circle (although these are important).
Instead, look for smaller sites that might be specific to your region or industry. For example, if you're a florist in the Rocky Mountains, sign up for directories like Winter Park Flowers and The Flower Finder. Another option is to check out the local chamber of commerce for listings that you can add to your site.
In some cases, directory business listings might cost money – but this will depend on the entity and how much website traffic it receives.
However, most sites won't require any payment to list a website – they'll simply ask you to fill in a form with basic details about your business. And in return, you'll have access to a new audience who can visit your site and learn more about your products or services.
The modern consumer loves reading reviews about businesses on sites like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and beyond. Not only that, but studies show that people are more likely to make a purchase if they read positive reviews online.
In fact, around 95% of consumers read reviews before making any purchase, and 8% discover new local businesses through them. And this is especially true for online channels, where reviews are often used as a proxy for how good or bad a company's products or services are – that's the best advice they seek.
Therefore, as a website owner, if you want your business to rank higher on Google search results (and even show up first on local listings), you need to encourage customers to write Google reviews about your business.
Simply asking customers to leave reviews can have a big impact on your business because it shows that other people are happy to recommend your business – which means that more customers will be likely to follow suit. Furthermore, it gives other potential customers the confidence to buy from you.
To ask for reviews, you can create a page on your site dedicated to reviews and link it from your homepage, include a review request form or widget on your website and incorporate it in your emails, or even encourage face-to-face customers to write reviews during checkout or after the sale. There are plenty of ideas – all you have to do is ask!
Research has shown that people engage more with businesses they can physically visit or walk into (just think about how often you Google search for a local business while you're out and about).
Although most Google searches are still for generic keywords, people still search with intent, typing words into Google with a purpose in mind. And if they want to visit your store, they'll use their phone or tablet to find your address and location information on Google Maps.
This means it's essential that you have a strong presence on Google, and that starts with optimizing your business for Google Maps.
The good news is that this type of optimization doesn't take as much time as you might think. All you need to do is claim your Google My Business page and add as many details about your business as possible on your Google business profile.
Then, you can optimize this information for Google Maps by including keywords in the following areas: location, hours of operation, phone number, address, and you can even optimize images and videos (although this is optional).
Although content marketing is a proven way to grow any business, many local businesses struggle with creating relevant content for their customers. In addition, when they do create content, it's often generic and not written specifically for their audience. This means it doesn't perform anywhere near as well as it could.
However, that's an easy mistake to fix because Google rewards local businesses that create rich content relevant to their customer base and produced with a specific geographic target in mind. This means you need to put yourself in your customers' shoes and consider what they’re searching for when researching local businesses.
Once you know what your customers want, try creating content that answers these questions and more: Where should I eat? Where is the best place to get a haircut near me? Where can I go for a walk in my neighborhood? What's happening this weekend around here? And so forth.
For instance, a digital marketing strategy that really works is to publish helpful articles and blog posts about the issues people in your local area might have as well as local news. After all, consumers searching online are looking for information – not just a business selling products or services.
Actually, writing local blog posts will improve your site's trustworthiness, as it shows visitors that you’re a legitimate brand with valuable information. In turn, this will make it more likely for people to click on your site in the search results and become customers.
Attracting inbound links from relevant sites is another type of local SEO that can help boost your rankings in the SERPs. Inbound links are a sign of trustworthiness, so if you have a good amount of them, Google will be more likely to show your site in its search results.
In short, Google will give a website a ranking boost when they see an incoming link with relevant anchor text pointing to them from another reputable website or authority site. So, if you have connections at other websites within your niche, ask for high-quality backlinks that use anchor text relevant to your local service or product (e.g., "best plumber in London").
Not only will this type of inbound link help you with your Google rankings and get you more traffic, but it'll also provide referrals from those websites. And as we all know, referrals are one of the best ways to grow any business!
Using the right local keywords is essential for local SEO success. You need to make sure that you're using location-centric keywords on your site (and social media) so that it appears in the correct search results for locals looking for your business.
For instance, if you're a restaurant in New York City called "Pizza Heaven," users will use search queries like "best pizza NYC" or "NYC pizza." Therefore, if you're trying to improve your local rankings in the SERPs, make sure to include keywords like "pizza" and "NYC" and use them in relevant areas on your site. This type of practice is known as on-page SEO.
Another good method is to include these keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, image file names, and image ALT tags. This is because Google uses these to judge what your page is about, so they must be relevant to your business.
Social listening has become a widely used platform as far as marketing and customer service goes, and is an essential part of local SEO. Small businesses taking advantage of social platforms like Twitter and Facebook to listen to what their customers are saying about them will see better results than those who don't.
This is because social media is one of the best tools to see what your customers are looking for and provide them with great content or promotions that make them want to visit your site.
For example, if someone said on Twitter that they were craving sushi in Boston this weekend, you could respond with a tweet saying, "Just the thing I was thinking! Enjoy our $5 all-you-can-eat sushi this weekend at @SushiTemptation!"
Not only would this help you with marketing for your social media profiles, but it'll also provide potential customers with all the information they need to know about your business – making them more likely to click on your website.
Before you try to improve your local SEO, make sure that you’re not inadvertently hurting it with these common blunders:
Instead, here are some of the elements that you should ensure:
Some examples include your city, state or province, landmarks, zip codes, neighborhoods, and similar. Try using Google AdWords Keyword Planner to see what sort of words people are searching for in your area.
Though there are overlapping factors, organic SEO is focused on the general terms users type in when searching online—people might search for "Italian food" or "NYC restaurants", for example.
In contrast, local SEO is focused on specific locations or places – users will be searching for a particular city, neighborhood, or landmark, such as "best Italian restaurant in Manhattan" or "NYC's best bagels."
There are plenty of ways to get inbound links from other sites, including:
The best type of content for local SEO is written content that targets specific keywords relevant to your local business and its service area (e.g., "best electrician in NYC"). When creating this content, make sure that your site is also linking to other pages on your website for more context.
Local SEO is essential in 2022 and beyond because more and more people now perform searches on their smartphones to find businesses in their immediate vicinity. As a result, businesses need to optimize their websites to appear at the top of relevant local searches.
Otherwise, they'll lose out on attracting new customers that they potentially could have had.
The best local SEO strategies are the ones that have a long-term vision in mind. With this mindset, you’ll be able to implement efficient strategies that generate stable results.
If you feel that your business could benefit from improved local rankings, now’s the time to hire help! With the expertise needed to tweak your site, it’ll be optimized for all local searches in 2022 and beyond.
A website is the first impression that your potential customers get about your business. If they are not impressed, then they won't trust you and your products. A good website can help people find out what you offer, how you can help them, and if you are trustworthy or not. So, we should always make sure our websites look professional and attractive.
A good rule of thumb is that if someone is looking at your website then they are interested in what you have to offer. This means that they are probably going to click on something on your site and hopefully purchase something. If they don't buy anything, then chances are they weren't really interested in what you had to offer. Google Analytics and many other tools help in analyzing the traffic source through various reports to enable you to make impactful decisions. In this article we will look into the following:
Website Traffic refers to the number of users visiting a website. It can be measured as sessions or visits and is ideal to gauge the effectiveness of the business in terms of attracting an audience. Visitors use a variety of sources to arrive at your websites such as social media platforms, ad campaigns, and search engines. This number can vary greatly depending on how many visitors are coming to your site from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
Traffic refers to the number of visitors that your website receives per day. In order to increase this figure, you need to make sure that your site is easy to navigate and has high-quality content. This means that the more people who visit your site, the better.
You need to notice your website traffic as a marketing strategy. Website traffic is of utmost importance as:
In the initial days of E-Commerce, the web traffic was considered the only way to gauge the popularity of your website as other metrics were still not found. Now with the introduction of a vast array of metrics, we can comprehensively analyze the website's traffic.
Although the number of visitors to your website is of key importance. The business owners are also interested in the following metrics:
A lot of factors contribute to the website traffic, that is why the parameter of measuring traffic alone is not enough. Analyzing other metrics gives a deeper understanding of the website's performance and success.
There are several different sources of web traffic. Some of these include direct visits, referrals, organic searches, paid advertising, social media, email marketing, display ads, mobile apps, and other channels.
This type of traffic comes from search engines like Google, Bing, etc. These are organic searches that people actually do on your website. If you want to know where people find your site, this is the best place to look.
This type of web traffic comes from websites that link directly to yours. People can visit these sites by typing in your URL into their browser.
This type of online traffic comes from other websites that refer people to yours. When someone visits a website, they often see products and services offered by companies whose ads appear on that page. Those companies pay the owner of the referring website to include their ad. In return, the company assumes that customers who click on their ad will purchase something. Some common examples of referral traffic include Facebook Ads, AdWords, LinkedIn Ads, etc.
This type of internet traffic comes from social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. They are free, but they only work if you have a strong following of people who trust you. Identifying which social media platforms send you the most traffic can help provide exceptional insights into where your business should focus its efforts.
This type of traffic is generated by display advertising networks like Google AdSense, Chitika, etc. You sign up for an account with them, then they show advertisements on other websites around the web.
This type of marketing uses email newsletters to promote products and services. This type of traffic is great because you get to target specific lists of people who are interested in what you have to offer.
Campaign Traffic is the number of people that visit your website from different sources like social media, search engines, email, etc. This metric gives us a good idea about how many people are finding our content through various channels. Total Campaign Traffic refers to The total number of visits that came from all campaigns.
Search Engine Traffic (SEO) is a term used to describe how many people are searching your website from Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. SEO can be done through various methods including but not limited to link building, content creation, social media marketing, etc. There are two types of search engine traffic organic and paid.
Organic search engine traffic refers to visitors who arrive at your website without using any type of paid advertising. Paid search engine traffic refers to those who use paid advertisements to get to your website. You need both kinds of traffic to make money online. When it comes to SEO, you want to rank high in the search engines. Your goal should be to the rank the first page for popular keywords. The higher you rank, the more traffic you'll receive.
There are two ways to track traffic, which are:
A tracking pixel is similar to a cookie. It is also called a marketing pixel and is used to track web traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. When executed properly, these tiny codes can optimize your website as well as your digital ads campaign. They help create an audience base and increase conversion rates.
Tracking pixels are used by Google Analytics to collect data from the websites. These then generate information about the number of visitors to your website. There are three other types of pixels, such as:
This pixel is also known as the Facebook Pixel. It tracks users through cookies generated by a code put on your website. This pixel is a unique code that helps websites to
This pixel is the favorite of digital marketers as it tracks consumer behavior. Since it focuses on re-visits it does not focus on high-volume campaigns. However, they can produce relevant content to enhance user experience as well as encourage re-visits.
These pixels get activated once an actual purchase has been made. These pixels need to be placed within the code of the order confirmation page. These are helpful in collecting data of sales through an ad campaign.
Google Analytics is a free and very powerful tool to track web traffic. It’s very important that you get to know the basic functions of Google Analytics as quickly as possible so you can track your web traffic data and make decisions based on the data.
Google Analytics is the most popular web traffic tracking software. It’s used by over 100 million websites. Google Analytics can track and record a huge amount of information about your users, including where they come from, what pages they visit, what devices they use to access your site, how long they stay on your site, and much more.
Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It uses a variety of methods to determine who has visited your site. Some include IP address, referrer, location, search terms, and device type.
Google Analytics generates a huge variety of reports. Although useful for business owners these can be overwhelming to understand and interpret. Some need Google Analytics IQ Exam to be able to become an expert. This article will try to ease the process of understanding the reports for analyzing website traffic.
Google Analytics shows you how traffic arrived at a website through All Traffic Report. This is one of the most important reports in Google Analytics. This reveals the interests of your readers and indicates how they reached your blog. It can be through organic search on a different website or through ads.
The traffic report is also called Pages Report in Google Analytics. This gives information about the pages getting the most traffic on the website. It also shows the bounce rate and time-on-site metrics.
Google Analytics has seven types of reports divided into three broader categories as Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior. The All Traffic report comes under the Acquisition section.
You should look for data for a considerable period of time like six months or a quarter. Four kinds of reports discussed above come under the All Traffic Report section such as:
The All Traffic Report provides additional features like:
The landing pages report indicates the pages of the website where visitors first arrive. To access the report you will follow the path such as:
Behavior >Site Content >Landing Pages
This report gives you an overview of the most sought-after pages of your website and segregates the data into a number of visitors and the time period like a day, week, or month. It is also useful as it shows the following:
This report shows the top three referrers that brought people to your site. These referrers may include search engines, social media sites, blogs, email newsletters, or other websites. If you want to learn more about these sources, click on the link below each referrer's name.
You can also choose to look at your overall referral traffic by clicking on the Referrals tab. This section displays the number of visits from each of your referring domains. Clicking on any domain name opens a page showing detailed information about that visitor.
According to Google Analytics IQ, this report indicates users who visited your website during a period of time such as daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. It helps to analyze the retention rate of the website or mobile app.
A real-time report in Google Analytics allows monitoring activities happening in real-time on your website. Each hit is recorded in seconds just as it occurs.
A custom report is a report that you can create by selecting dimensions and metrics as well as the display pattern. You need to select at least one dimension such as city or browser and one metric like Sessions, Page Views, or Bounce Rate). To create and manage custom reports you need to take the following steps:
There are different types of reports under the New Custom Report, such as:
Once you have chosen the report type you will select the dimension and metric and even choose the display location. You can also add a filter to get the information you want to see.
Google Analytics also offers Custom Dimension and Custom Metrics to gather specific data that Analytics does not catch automatically on its own. These are just like the default dimensions and metrics present in Google Analytics, except the fact that you create the custom dimension and custom metrics on your own.
Custom dimensions can be primary dimensions in the custom report. While in standard reports they can be used as secondary dimensions or Segments. To view accurate data in the custom report pair metrics and dimensions of different scopes should be used.
This report shows the path the visitors took through the funnel to reach Goal Conversion. It answers questions like:
There are three types of Behavior Reports such as:
The Frequency part of the report keeps a count of the number of sessions with reference to the frequency. The recency calculates the day since the last session. Based on the frequency and recency new segments can be created. Google Analytics has segments, which are audience groups that enable you to see how different customers interact on your website. The segments help improve your lead generation funnel.
The Engagement Report in Google Analytics helps you to see the pages and screens with maximum user engagement. It also allows you to better understand user behavior through events.
There are usually two types of visitors one which is visiting your web page for the first time and the other who have come back to your website. Google Analytics uses the difference to understand the visitors of your website.
In Google Analytics the Ecommerce transactions and conversions are credited to ads, campaigns, and searches that lead the user to convert. The multi-channel funnel report answers questions like:
This report helps analyze the conversion path through the time lag report and channel interactions. The channel labels in the multi-channel funnels report are defined as being part of the Multi-Channel Funnels Channel Grouping. The conversion funnel has conversion touchpoints and shows default conversions.
A network report is a Google Analytics report that tracks all the traffic from a particular domain or subdomain. It can also be used to track visitors from an entire website network, such as subdomains if you have access to Google Analytics for the domain.
Campaign reports are a great feature of Google Analytics. They let you see how your campaigns are doing in one place, so you can optimize them for better performance. Campaign reports in Google Analytics are a great way to see the impact of your marketing campaigns. They show you your conversion metrics, sales, and other stats broken down by campaign name.
There are three types of campaign reports that you should check out on a regular basis:
Email Campaign H4 need
This campaign engages the audience and drives site traffic in three simple steps:
Google Ads Campaign
The Google ads campaign helps you organize and schedule campaigns that display your ads or promotions to potential consumers. The most important thing that you need to know about creating a successful Adwords campaign is finding and selecting the right keywords for your business.
Conversions are the activities of users that contribute to your business's success. In GA4 these are called conversions while n Universal Analytics the same activities are known as goals. (Goal Tracking, Goal Completion, Analytics Import Analytics Goals, Google Analytics Goal)
Google Analytics Filters
Custom Filter
To check traffic sources on specific pages:
Google Analytics is one of the most popular web analytics tools on the market. Thousands of companies use Google Analytics to track their online traffic. Here are some best practices and things you should know before diving into Google Analytics. Lots of companies keep their analytics dashboards private, but here’s the thing – it’s really important and useful to share your analytics data with your team. Everyone needs a basic understanding of what’s going on in your analytics.
Google Analytics is a free service that allows website owners to track their visitors' online activity. This information can help them determine how much traffic they are getting from each site, where those people came from, what keywords they used to find your site, etc.
You can easily install this tool on your own website using a simple code snippet. If you already have Google Analytics installed on your site, just copy the code below into your website's HTML file.
Google Analytics provides an overview of how traffic arrived at your website. It includes information about where visitors are coming from (country), what browser they use, their operating system, and whether they have visited before. You can even view this data by day or month. If you require assistance from a Google Analytics expert. Look no further than the Osborne Digital Marketing team. We'd be happy to help.
Digital marketing will change the way you think about marketing your retirement community, and in many ways, it can make your advertising efforts more efficient and measurable. More and more people are searching online for Florida retirement communities and the experts at Osborne Digital Marketing can help prepare you to meet their demands. The past few years have shown all of us the importance of embracing digital marketing when traditional marketing methods were unusable and ineffective.
Digital marketing starts with your website. It is crucial to have an engaging and optimized website. You want to make sure when potential residents and their families find your retirement community online, they are able to explore an aesthetically pleasing site that is easy to navigate with clear calls to action. Having your site optimized will also help your Florida retirement community show in search engine results, guaranteeing your website is regularly in front of people as a prime choice.
In addition to search engine optimization and a clean website, one highly effective digital marketing strategy is pay-per-click advertising. Whereas SEO for your retirement community will increase the organic traffic to your Florida retirement community website, PPC will allow you to target your audience specifically and get your ads directly in front of them instantly. This type of digital marketing will give you insight into your customers, gain a better understanding of their behavior and trends, and is more cost effective than internet listings and direct mail. Osborne Digital Marketing is the trusted source for creating winning PPC ad campaigns and SEO for retirement communities and we can help yours too!
Digital marketing can also do one very important thing traditional marketing cannot do: showcase your community. Your Florida retirement community has unique features and qualities that make you stand out from your competitors. Digital marketing can showcase how you are different and why your community should be their first choice of retirement community. You can create compelling content to demonstrate the exceptional qualities of your Florida retirement community and share them on your blog and social media platforms. This will help potential residents feel like they are a part of your community before they even set foot on the property.
The Osborne Digital Marketing team are experts at SEO for retirement communities, digital marketing and web design. We can help you embrace digital marketing for your Florida retirement community and effectively reach your business goals. Our expert team has worked with retirement communities all over the state. We have the tools and expertise to help your retirement community with all of their digital marketing needs.
In today’s economy it is more important than ever to have a strong online presence when marketing your Florida restaurant. It is no longer enough to simply have an impressive location or rely on word of mouth. When potential customers are searching for restaurants to try or visit on their vacation, we can guarantee they are searching online for the best restaurants. The team at Osborne Digital Marketing will prepare a solid digital marketing strategy for your restaurant and will help you build your online presence to attract more customers with these five easy steps:
This is one of the easiest actions you can take to increase your restaurant’s search visibility. You will need to have some basic information about your restaurant handy, but one quick set up on Google business and your customers (old and new) will have key information available at their fingertips. You want to make it easy for customers to find you and Google My Business is a crucial step.
Everyone loves to hear how much they are loved, right? Encouraging customers to leave Google reviews is an opportunity to connect with your customers in a new way. Google will prioritize websites who provide an excellent experience for users, and this is one way to do that. We recommend you respond to all reviews, even if they are less than stellar. Most people will read user reviews before deciding to visit a restaurant, so it is important to monitor all reviews even on third-party sites such as Yelp.
We cannot stress enough the importance of this step. SEO for your restaurant is the key to showing up in search results. Your restaurant website cannot do that without the right keywords and phrases targeting your ideal audience. We are experts at providing SEO for restaurants, and can help you optimize your website to ensure you don’t miss out on potential customers!
Once your website is optimized and you’ve gained your customer’s attention, you need to create compelling content to keep them engaged. It is important to do this regularly to ensure they will keep coming back to your website. The more times they engage with your content, the higher the chance they will return to your restaurant time and again.
Last, but certainly not least, one of the most important things you can do to increase the visibility of your Florida restaurant is to have a compelling website. Your website is the heart of your entire digital media marketing strategy. Your website will oftentimes be the first impression your customers have of your restaurant, which makes it vitally important to have an excellent website.
If you need help promoting your Florida restaurant online, call the local experts at Osborne Digital Marketing today!
While COVID-19 kept many people inside and unable to travel, it also drove many online. People are using the internet more than ever before. As of January 2021, there were 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide.
At the same time, financial services are moving online. Brick-and-mortar banks are being replaced by online-only banks. Healthcare is starting to adopt telemedicine as a viable alternative to in-person doctor visits. Restaurants are relying less on indoor dining and more on order pickups and deliveries. Even grocery stores like Walmart are starting to offer grocery pickups and deliveries as a popular alternative to indoor shopping.
Almost every industry is seeing a shift toward online business.
And if you’re still trying to take your business online, there’s no easier way to start than through paid search advertising.
Source: Statista
Paid search advertising refers to paying search engine platforms like Google to display your ads in their search results under a sponsored section.
Most often, search platforms offer a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model in which you pay each time your ad is clicked on. If it’s not clicked on, they don’t get charged.
Sometimes paid search campaigns run on a cost per mille (CPM) model, which means you pay for every 1,000 ad impressions. However, this is less common.
The market for paid search advertising is expected to grow from $182,886 million in 2021 to $256,105 million in 2025. That’s an 8.78% compound annual growth return (CAGR).
This is because customers are spending more time online. To reach them, businesses are realizing that they need to have a strong online presence and paid search is one of the easiest ways to get there.
Users resort to search engines to look up pretty much anything. Whether it’s the final score on a basketball game or the nearest restaurants in the area, Google is the standard go-to.
You can take advantage of the popularity of search by paying to have your ads placed in front of users searching for a particular keyword related to your product. For example, if you sell combs, you could pay to have ads for your combs displayed in the search results for “how to comb your hair.” This way, you not only get your brand in front of more eyes, but you get it in front of targeted leads who are already interested in your product.
The same goes for local businesses. If you sell pizza in Philadelphia and you pay to have your restaurant ad displayed in searches for “pizza places in Philadelphia,” you limit your advertising to high-quality leads.
Not only that, but pay-per-click (PPC) ads are becoming more effective with the help of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Google has a wealth of behavioral data on its users, so its algorithms know exactly where to place your ads for the best results.
Search ads are also more responsive and dynamic than ever before. By helping you segment your audience into different buyer personas, search engines can tailor your ad message to each user. And the more personalized the ad, the higher the conversion rates.
You can also easily automate your ad campaigns and adjust them as you go. Start a paid search campaign today and end it whenever you want. They are highly flexible. This way, you don’t have to let an unsuccessful ad campaign drag on and you make sure you maximize your ROI.
To make the most of this powerful marketing tactic, you’ll want to stay on top of current paid search trends.
As people rely more on their phones, you’ll want to optimize your ads for mobile. Make sure they are relevant to mobile users. Also, consider the rising popularity of voice search and how that could impact how an ad is received.
Also, relying on third-party data is a thing of the past. Data privacy laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) make it near impossible. So it’s more important to focus on gathering first-party data through purchase history, website activity, and other interactions instead.
Video ads are also becoming more prevalent and effective. People are no longer as responsive to text ads. They’re much more likely to engage with an ad if it’s a video. It takes less energy to watch than to read, so video ads are the path of least resistance.
To have a successful paid search strategy, don’t stop your ad spend when things aren’t working. Rather, adjust your messaging.
For example, you might need to update your ad copy. Since many shoppers can’t shop in-person for health and safety reasons, you may need to change any in-store language like “come to our store near you.” Ads featuring vacation spots might now work either. You need to adapt your ads to your customers’ current situation.
You should also take advantage of the many data-driven insights available through AI and automation technology. As they say, information is power. And nowhere is this more true than in paid search marketing.
Diversify your paid ads by placing them across different platforms, too. Though Google is the number one paid search advertising platform, many shoppers go directly to ecommerce platforms like Amazon to start their search for products. So this is an opportunity to spread your ad exposure by running paid search campaigns on Amazon in addition to Google.
Finally, different verticals will require different strategies. So do your research on your industry and target audience to know how to best approach them.
Ultimately, paid search is a powerful tool to grow your business. Don’t be afraid to adapt and change it as you go. The best paid search ad campaigns are built from trial and error.
But if you need help developing an effective PPC strategy for your brand, Osborne Digital Marketing can help. Our marketing experts have the industry experience and skill to help make your advertising goals a reality. Reach out today to learn more.
People live online. It’s where they socialize, shop, and find answers to questions. In fact, search engines like Google answer billions of search queries every day, from “what’s the height of Mount Everest” to “how to breakdance.”
And as long as people rely on Google for answers, search engine optimization (SEO) will be a critical part of digital marketing.
After all, if customers can’t find you on Google, how will they know you exist? You need to rank on search engines to be visible and relevant.
Of course, ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) is not easy. It’s highly competitive, and Google doesn’t share how their ranking algorithms work. Instead, we learn through trial and error what Google values in web pages that rank high.
And even then, Google rolls out frequent algorithm updates that make it hard to keep up with SEO. That’s why some argue SEO is dead. They feel it’s too volatile to be a reliable form of marketing.
But in fact, SEO is more important than ever. Ranking algorithms change, but only to better satisfy search intent. Google constantly tweaks its ranking factors to better serve users. So as long as search engines are around, having a long-term SEO strategy will be critical to your brand’s success.
To succeed at SEO, you need to put in the work. You can’t simply optimize your website once and expect it to start rising in search results. You need to put into place a long-term strategy and make tweaks along the way. With time, your consistent SEO efforts will yield measurable results.
That said, here are the latest search engine trends to look out for when developing your SEO strategy:
People are using their smartphones to search online more than ever before. In 2020, there were 211 million mobile phone search users. And that number is expected to grow as users become more dependent on their phones.
To accommodate the increasing amount of mobile search users, you need to make sure your web pages are optimized for mobile screens and load fast on mobile devices.
Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant—they’ve all transformed how we use search on the fly. Now, we can simply ask our device questions with our voice and get an audible answer in return. In fact, a whole third of the US population uses voice search.
Voice search users are also asking longer questions. For example, instead of saying only the keyphrase “Detroit sushi,” they might ask, “where can I find sushi in Detroit?” So targeting long-tail keywords in SEO is critical in capturing more voice search traffic.
Ever since Google released its Core Web Vitals metrics in May 2020, user experience (UX) has been an important SEO factor. Specifically, Google favors pages with fast loading speeds, interactivity, and visual stability.
So it’s not enough to provide basic content anymore. You also need to make sure that the content is user-friendly and that the user experience is as seamless as possible.
Source: Google
With COVID-19 disrupting the economy, many shoppers want to support their local businesses. Plus, with travel restrictions, many are limited to local options anyway. So optimizing for local business searches is more important than ever.
Make sure your Google My Business page is up to date, so shoppers can find you easily when searching for local brands. And make sure to offer contactless pickup or delivery options when you can to support customers who are social distancing.
Zero-click searches are queries that get answered without the user needing to click on a search result. For example, Google often displays a “featured snippet” at the top of SERPs to provide quick answers to a question.
To take advantage of zero-click searches, try developing content that provides concise answers. Lists, guides, tables, and definitions all make for good featured snippets.
In 2020, online retail sales rose from 16% to 19% of total retail sales. So optimizing your product listings on ecommerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy is also important. You can do this by adding high-quality photos and engaging listing descriptions.
Source: UNCTAD
Since 2019, Google has started highlighting key moments in video search results. This means you can make your videos more searchable.
You can either use clip markup to manually tell Google how to mark different segments of your video, or you can use seek markup to tell Google your URL structure and have them use artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify key moments.
This allows you to tell users exactly where in a video they will find the answer to their question.
Source: Google
People have short attention spans. Having high-quality visuals and infographics to break up a text helps keep readers engaged and on your page longer. And the higher your page’s dwell times, the higher Google will rank it.
On top of that, Google’s AI is getting better at reading online images to match search queries. So use programs like Canva or Adobe Spark to develop visuals that add value to the reader, or hire a graphic designer to do it for you.
At the end of the day, Google will always try to satisfy search intent. They state on their website that “as technology evolves, we will continue to help everyone find the information they’re looking for.”
So the more you can give searchers what they want, the more inclined Google is to showcase your page at the top of their SERPs.
If you don’t stick to an SEO strategy, your brand will eventually drown in irrelevance. But if you focus on providing real value to others, you can leverage search engines to your advantage. But it takes diligent and consistent effort.
If you don’t have the time or skill to manage your SEO strategy, our team of experts can help. Get in touch today to learn how we can help you take your brand to the next level.
