There are three big brands that get a disproportionate share of many people’s disposable income, not just because of the products and services they provide, but also because of the way they go about talking to customers. Amazon, Nespresso, and Netflix do one thing right above all else – they create an experience that can leave people feeling satisfied and happy. And an important part of that experience is created by what they say and when they say it because they say the right things at the right time.
Good and Bad Examples
Nespresso knows when to remind you to buy more capsules and how to remind you so that it doesn’t become a nag. Netflix gets its recommendations right, and as a result, scores of people have discovered dozens of new films and series they otherwise would never have seen. Amazon does a good job with its promotions, suggesting things people might actually want to buy. It feels as if they’re all listening, taking notice of what people like and trying to give them what they want.
Contrast that with the experience I had when I recently bought a fridge, from an online-only appliances retailer. The buying experience was perfect, the product was spot on and I was very pleased with it all.
Until I started getting emails from them promoting fridges. Endless emails trying to sell me a fridge. Having just bought a fridge, I didn’t need another one and I was somewhat surprised that they hadn’t worked this out. I haven’t bought anything else from them.
So, what did this appliance retailer do wrong that the three other brands don’t? They messed up their use of data. Someone there knew I’d bought a fridge but hadn’t told the marketing people, or the marketing people hadn’t bothered to look or, most likely, the data wasn’t available.
Humans Need to Interpret AI-Collected Data
Using data effectively is an art and a science and, even if you gather and maintain it correctly, it’s how you interpret it that matters. Faced with an increase in sales of kitchen utensils every September, a retailer needs to be able to figure out that it’s because students are buying their homewares before leaving for university, and not because people replace their spatulas every autumn.
The trouble is, data is not taken seriously. We’re always going on about how vital it is, but how many companies employ proper data scientists to deal with it? Too often that job is left to marketers and although we’re pretty good at many things, we’re not data scientists. Relying on artificial intelligence to do the job for you has its limitations; while it can spot patterns, it might not be able to work out what they mean (see the spatula example above.)
Invest in Data Scientists
And the fabled single view of a customer can be very hard to attain. The car industry works almost exclusively on the franchised dealer model, and that means the car manufacturers have little direct contact with the customer. The dealer owns the customer relationship, which leaves the customer isolated from the brand. This isolation means it’s easy for customers to assume that the brand they’ve loyally driven for years doesn’t care about them.
There’s no single solution to improving this situation. But investing in data scientists is a good start, especially if it stops marketers from having to do the job. Leaders need to do a better job of integrating the left and right brain parts of a company, getting operational data to mix with experience data. Understanding customers and giving them a positive experience is fundamental to remaining competitive; data provides the means to do so, and we need to start using it properly.
How do you ensure accurate data interpretation and seamless collaboration between your marketing and data science teams? Let us know in the comment section below!
Think about the things that stick with you. The song that repeatedly transports you back in time. The vacation that reshaped the way you look at the world. The book that changed your perspective.
There’s no question creativity adds depth and meaning to our experiences. From films to theatre to architecture to your favorite recipe — life experiences are all about the careful composition and creativity needed to create a one-of-a-kind, memorable moment or interaction.
Shouldn’t the same be true for the content and the experiences you create for your audience? And in a data-driven world, should facts or feelings drive creative execution?
Proving the ROI of creativity
Today’s data-driven marketing landscape is all about proof. Marketers must be able to back up their creative content decisions with data and proven ROI. Their jobs, budgets, and headcount depend on it.
Yet, while our everyday experiences show us that emotion matters, it’s become increasingly difficult for creatives and designers to prove the value of their creative marketing work. Creatives often lament that data-driven approaches are stunting their inventiveness and ability to make content that will stand out to their audience. And executives struggle to justify marketing spend on projects that they can’t measure.
However, Adobe’s Executive Creative Director, Adam Morgan, argues that “creativity still deserves a seat at the logic table.” His recent article outlines the ways neuroscience proves what creatives have always felt in their gut — that emotional content creates a lasting impact. It drives loyalty and decision-making. It makes your message memorable. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio explained, “A brain that can’t feel, can’t make a decision. We need emotion, not just logic alone.” And to invoke that emotion, marketing organizations need to either have full reign to get creative or have the ability (and budget) to lean on other creative teams.
Experiences matter
We know that today’s consumers demand more from brands than ever before. They expect seamless interactions across every touchpoint and experiences that feel completely tailored and personalized to them.
Yet recent Gartner research shows that 84% of consumers find their digital experiences fall short of expectations. As a result, marketers face increasing pressure to build creative marketing experiences that stand out in a sea of content sameness.
Data can actually help marketers create the experiences customers crave. However, because most every marketer has access to similar data, the key to creating truly unique experiences will still rely on the creatives who dream up the ideas. And by unique experiences, we don’t just mean a cool video or image on social — thinking outside the box with experiential marketing, short video series, or podcasts can help set your brand apart in a creative (and measurable) way.
Using data to inform creative marketing concepts
Of course, data and analytics are critical to creating content that moves the needle for your marketing campaigns. However, data alone shouldn’t drive creative execution. The key is to use data to inform your creative decisions — and make them even better.
For example, at Google Creative Lab, creativity is never sacrificed in the name of analytics. When building a new user experience, the creative idea is always more important than the flawless execution of the campaign. Once the campaign or experience is launched, the team will then use performance metrics and live feedback to iterate and optimize the experience.
That’s one approach. Conversely, creative marketers can leverage data to uncover insights about their audience to use as inspiration for new ideas. A combination of data-driven insights and creative innovation can come together to create truly memorable experiences.
“Data inspires ideas. Metrics drive creativity. They are not mutually exclusive,” says Morgan.
It’s time to gather around the campfire and tell some spooky Google My Business (GMB) horror stories. Since he shares the name of Friday the 13th killer Jason Voorhees, it’s only fitting that Jason Brown acts as the narrator. Please do not read this post in the dark.
Google allows and encourages users to create and post User Generated Content (UGC) such as reviews, Q&As, and photos to local business’ GMB profiles. Sadly, not all of that content helps users or businesses. When users get bored they like to play games with GMB listings. Some were so bored that they graced us with these listings.
From the big house to the White House, see for yourself that no-one is safe from the horrors of UGC in GMB.
Frighteningly Fake Listings
Now here’s a listing that ‘Suggest an Edit’ couldn’t get removed, “Thor’s Dildo Repair.” Something powerful was preventing the listing from being lifted off Google.
Users love to post photos, but not all photos fit the business. Take this unclaimed Publix Bakery listing, for example. The default photo is the scariest looking cat I’ve ever seen. Is the cat food they sell really that bad?
Starbucks is known for its coffee. Sadly, they get their fair share of bad photos. “Ma’am, this is an Arby’s, not a Starbucks.” (literally).
Apparently, Kit Kat and his owner love posting nonsense photos to random businesses.
Speaking of random photos, may I have a Skinny Half-Caf Camel Milk Latte?
As we’ve seen, users will try anything and everything for a laugh… even the kitchen sink.
That’s right, even The White House is not immune to pranks, but it does highlight our growing infrastructure problem.
Rotten Reviews
Not all fake reviews are negative. The HMP Belmarsh Prison, for example, is apparently a great place to celebrate your wedding anniversary. I know where I’m taking the wife this December. (I just hope to leave with both ears.)
Poor Jesse Frick is trapped at the Theo Lacy Facility. It’s almost like they’ve locked the door to his room.
Meanwhile, the Santa Ana Jail really needs to upgrade its wait staff.
Still, three stars!!!
On a less flippant note, reviews targeting people can have really negative effects. Sadly, the Skyway Animal Hospital in Florida keeps getting negative reviews meant for a veterinary service in Canada with the same name.
Questionable Questions and Awful Answers
Google has given us the ability to ask questions but let’s just say that not all questions need to be asked.
The Red Hen made the news when the restaurant asked embattled White Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave. Since users can’t post reviews, they are now voicing their displeasure by asking and answering questions.
Sadly a different restaurant with the same name was attacked by a poor misguided soul in the Q&A.
If you’re going to slam a business, at least get the right one!
Happy Halloween!
These excruciating examples show us that anything can happen to your business listing on Google if you’re not careful. The bottom line is if you have a GMB listing, you have to monitor it, because any user can add and upload anything they want. If you’re not careful, that user’s joke can backfire and do major harm to your business or brand.
Do you have your own GMB horror stories to tell? Please share them in the comments below.
When it comes to creating engaging experiences with your students, personalization is key to your marketing strategy. However, marketers often get caught in a rut thinking they’re achieving it if they remember to include: ‘Hi First Name’ in their emails.
So how can your university leverage personalization? The reality is that personalization is far more vast and complex than addressing someone by name, and students expect much more when they are interacting with your site.
A great model for shaping your university’s online personalization strategy comes from Netflix. Often considered the king of personalization, the entire end-to-end experience of Netflix is personalized. We all read their emails and rely on their recommendations for what we should be watching next.
By implementing the four different types of personalization, your university can create experiences that are just as engaging as Netflix.
#1: User Set Personalization
Let the user tell you easily and explicitly who they are, so you can personalize based on those set responses. Think of when you log in to Netflix and they ask you, “Who’s Watching?” The benefit they provide to the user is the ability to directly make a choice about what they see.
How can your university do this? Start with a generic homepage with a call to action to transform the interface with personalized content, by asking the user to tell you exactly who they are and what they’re interested in. This lets users directly classify themselves as undergraduate, postgraduate, parent, or staff member.
Providing these options gives the user an overarching segmentation or persona that best fits their situation. It also gives you the chance to cleary personalize their web experience to provide the most relevant information. You just might find your bounce rates decreasing as a result.
#2: Profiled Personalization
Profiled personalization goes a step beyond user set, by using additional information the user has explicitly told you or that you have learned to customize their experience.
This is a more proactive approach to delivering the information you think your users will be the most interested in, but it requires more specific data points. Think of how your Netflix experiences change when you travel to different countries and they can see your international IP address.
Why is this important? As a university, it is key for your international student recruitment to use images and content tailored specifically to them. Similarly, for mature students, images and content focusing on younger students may be a deterrent, so automatically switching content to focus on the particular audience could keep them engaged for longer. If your prospective students fill in a form saying they’re interested in a short course vs a degree, you can tailor their experience to match.
#3: Behavioral Personalization
Where profiled personalization waits for a user to explicitly tell you something to use as a basis for personalization, behavioral personalization tracks how a user interacts with different content across a website and then implicitly infers their interests. This engagement is then used to effectively guess what will be the next best step.
How can you achieve this? This is often done using pre-defined personas. The way Netflix decides which content it recommends using behavioral personalization is more complex than people realize. Not only does the artwork used on the recommendation change based on what you’ve watched in the past, it also changes based on time of day.
Your university can suggest other courses that might interest students based on their past searches or pages viewed, or proactively recognize when a student is ready to sign up for an open day event. This type of personalization is ideal at reducing friction, helping users find the information they want faster; revealing information they didn’t know about.
#4: Triggered Personalization
Triggered personalization is one of the easier types to implement. This is where experiences are changed based on direct action taken by the user.
If a user has already filled in a form, don’t make them fill it in again. What to do instead? Have a download button or utilize progressive profiling to ask different questions. That way, each time they fill out a form, you’re able to build out your knowledge of them. Also remember: If they’ve already signed up to the newsletter, stop showing the pop up promoting this.
Think of Netflix’s ‘Continue Watching’ option, where they display content that the recipient has recently viewed but not completed. This aligns with their algorithm that predicts when subscribers will continue a show or start a new series – it triggers emails and app notifications to ensure that the user knows about them.
Where to next?
Whatever personalization you decide to use, remember that the core of your strategy is to create a meaningful, engaging experience for your students. While the possibilities of personalization are endless, there is a fine line between what users consider creepy and cool. Just because you can personalize everything doesn’t mean you should. Keeping the student experience at the heart of your personalization strategy is key to ensuring long-term engagement.
If you need any help mapping user journeys, segmenting your audience, or completing targeting grids, reach out to our friends at Squiz. Whether it’s workshop facilitation or a complete done-for-you package, we can help you take your engagement to the next level and provide personalized communication to your entire audience. For a how-to plan for marketers to reach peak personalization, check out this article – it will leave you with clear steps to step up your personalization game.
Let us know what are some of your favorite website personalization strategies below in the comment section!
The idea that millennials are killing brands has become a bit of a running joke on the internet. Headlines like, “How Millennials Killed Mayonnaise” and “Blame Millenials for the Vanishing Bar of Soap” make us laugh, but in many ways, they aren’t entirely off-base. The consumer landscape is changing, and savvy brands are using purpose-driven marketing to stay connected.
It’s true that the current generation of consumers are making very deliberate purchasing choices – but so did the previous one. The concept that consumers buy brands that confirm, enhance, or allow them to display their identity also remains true. What’s shifted is how the modern consumer base defines what matters to them. Which part of their identity do they hold most important, and how is it different from previous generations? Aside from the alleged disregard for bland condiments and rectangular soap.
Purposeful Purchasing
Futerra, a sustainability consultancy recently asked a sampling of 1,000 consumers in the US and UK an important question. “Do you think personal actions (like donating, recycling, and buying ethically) can make a real difference in the world?” The answer was a resounding yes, as 96% of the participants answered affirmatively.
The fact that there is even a market for sustainability consultancies, one that market research firm Verdantix predictswill exceed $1 billion dollars by the end of 2019, shows us that being a world changer is an integral part of today’s consumer identity.
Help Your Customers Live Their Values
However, exclusively promoting your brand’s dedication to sustainability or other philanthropic initiatives may fall short. Forbes contributorSolitaire Townsendperfectly sums up why, “Because just talking about your own values isn’t enough, consumers want you to help them live theirs.” Buyers are investing their money into purpose-driven brands that invite their consumers to create change with them, rather than just bear witness.
Townsend explains that “Too much of the cause-related-marketing, sustainability or CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities of brands promote what the company is doing, rather than helping the consumer to make their own difference.” Empower your customers with the feeling that investing in your products or services makes them a hero. Draw a clear, straight line from their point-of-purchase to the impact they’ll have on the world.
The Body Shop and Patagonia Nailed It
Companies like The Body Shop create a hero connection through storytelling. The company was founded with the mission of empowering small, global suppliers in order to promote sustainability. They’ve used storytelling as a way to invite consumers into the worlds of their suppliers. Giving buyers an intimate connection with their brand’s mission makes point-of-purchase feel like activism.
Ad Age’s article, “Three Ways to do purpose-driven Marketing Right” shares an example. “On its corporate website, for instance, you’ll learn about a female farmer in England who provides roses for the company’s British Rose collection. The Body Shop’s YouTube channel has a video that tells the incredible story of the Tungteiya Women’s Shea Butter Association in Ghana which sources shea butter for the company while uplifting women in Ghana. Those are just two examples of how this company employs digital to tell the story of its commitment.”
Patagonia has a reputation for being a leader in purpose-driven marketing that’s resulted in a loyal consumer following. The company was recentlyin the newsfor declaring that they would only be selling their popular corporate logo vests to companies that shared their mission of responsibility. They’re a great example of a company that promotes their own mission of sustainability while simultaneously helping their customers feel like purchasing their product can have a positive impact on the planet.
Their Instagram accountWornwearshares ways that customers can upcycle and repair their merchandise. This type of customer engagement demonstrates to consumers how buying their product directly contributes to waste reduction. Buying a cozy fleece now feels like an act of environmental activism.
Both the Body Shop and Patagonia use narratives to foster the hero connection, but some brands are taking a more direct approach. Bridgewater Candles partnered with the charity organizationRice Bowlsas part of their company’s purpose-driven mission to provide meals for orphaned children.
Light a Candle. Feed a Child.
The upscale candles are packaged with a lid telling customers that their purchase will directly provide 3 meals to a child in need. Their website has declarations like, “Light a candle. Feed a child” and “Smell good. Do good. Feel good,” and there’s arunning tallyof exactly how many meals their candle sales have resulted in, more than 9 million when this article was written.
This company has not only wrapped its brand in purpose but is a great example of finding unique points of customer engagement to talk about. A product that could be perceived as an indulgence is now a necessity for customers who want to make a difference during their lunch-hour shopping.
When you’re thinking about your organization’s purpose-driven marketing strategy, it’s important to put your customers at the forefront. Purposeful purchasing allows consumers who identify as change-makers to see your product or service as an entry point to their personal mission. Customer engagement strategies, such as using storytelling and evidence sharing are only a few of the many ways you can position your buyer as a hero.
Comment below to let us know the causes you care about and what world problems resonate with you the most.
Every business has its own unique objectives for digital marketing and the techniques they use. However, no matter what your business does, lead generation is usually at the top of your list. This is only natural. As a business, your entire purpose for being and primary source of revenue is client sales. Acquiring and retaining clients is the name of the game. Employing a variety of digital lead generation strategies and tactics will keep the sales funnel flowing and the business thriving. So it helps to have more than a few tricks up your sleeve.
Here are the top 10 digital lead generation strategies that we have found to be effective today for businesses competing at a local level. No need to stop at just one or two digital lead generation techniques. Most teams benefit from employing at least a small slice of all the options available.
1) Website On-Site SEO
The essence of lead generation is getting your content, goods, and services in front of the audience looking to buy them. Digitally speaking, this can only happen if they find you.
As you probably already know, everything starts on the website. Your website should not only be elegantly designed and easy to navigate, but it also needs to be optimized for search engine results. AKA: SEO.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about making it easier for the search engine crawlers to know when users want the content contained in your site pages.
This means smart, organic use of keywords, a network of internal and external links, header formatting and all the right metadata. These factors, among many others, like embedded media and responsive mobile design, will boost how often your website pages appear in related search results and how high in the results they are ranked.
2) Local SEO
Local SEO is a bit different from standard SEO because it is designed to appear only in the searches of users who are close to your physical location. This is vital for local businesses with walk-in customers or an area of service.
The first step for any local SEO should be completing your Google My Business entry, from top to bottom. Place your pin and claim your address. Indicate your business type, then fill out every form. Provide your hours, website, and contact information. Stock it with a few photos, then set up the really cool stuff like ‘book an appointment’ or ‘online order’.
As for the rest of your local SEO, be sure to provide your physical address in the footer of every webpage on your site. Then mention the regions you serve, by name, organically in your content. Do this often. Mention both the city and specific neighborhoods and outlying communities.
3) Review Generation
Reviews are incredibly powerful in today’s digital marketing environment. There is so much ad copy out there that most users trust reviews more than they trust a product page. This means that the more reviews you have, even mixed reviews, the better. You want to start generating reviews on Google, your local site, and any platforms you sell through by connecting with your current and recent customers.
The best way to get reviews is to ask for them. Slip a card into packages you ship and paperwork you hand over. Send a friendly follow-up email. Offer mild incentives if that works for your audience. Then respond to your reviews. Thank reviewers, answer questions, and solve negative-review problems. This is a very strong way to win leads.
4) Inbound Content Marketing and Blogging
Inbound marketing is the art of attracting search-engine users to your site with great content. Blogs are often the most effective way to draw brand new leads to your website, leads who have never heard of your brand but are ready to be won over.
Write blogs about things that interest your audience, not just about your products but also about the industry or lifestyle your products relate to. Then be sure to include a CTA (Call to Action) to inspire readers to do something like checking out more of your blogs, explore your services, or contact you to sate deeper curiosity.
Don’t forget to localize your content. Share industry-related local news. Mention that you provide the mentioned services to residents of nearby neighborhoods. Relate your subject to how it affects the lives of people in your region. This will help you build local SEO as well as local interest.
5) Video Marketing
Video is the #1 digital format for content consumption, and its importance is only rising.
Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text. (Insivia)
72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. (HubSpot)
Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year. (Insivia)
By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)
Videos pack a powerful punch. Just look at what the “Will It Blend?” series did for BlendTec. They’ve been running the video series for over ten years, and people are still tuning in to watch them blend the latest iPhone.
Build a YouTube channel of interesting videos, then embed those videos everywhere. On your site, in your blog, and in your social media marketing. An interesting video series that catches the curiosity of viewers and vividly answers questions can really make your digital marketing stand out from the competition.
6) Podcasting – Interview Influencers and Industry Experts
Podcasts are another great approach. These “on-demand radio” programs are popular because they provide a way for people to absorb media without needing to look, and without needing to ‘tune in’ to a live broadcast. You can spread awareness by advertising with popular local podcasters or you can start your own podcast very easily.
One great podcasting angle for any business is to interview influencers and industry experts. This draws attention and interest from a wide audience and brings real substance to your podcast.
7) Social Media Marketing
Never underestimate the power of a social media presence. There are millions of people on social media at any given time, and even better, social media will help you target a local audience. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all geared to help businesses build their presence and through social media, you can actively engage your growing local audience.
Social media is the best place to host events, contests, and ongoing campaigns, and it can also be used as a reflection of other campaigns you are running.
8) PPC/SEM – Strategically Paid Marketing
PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click, and SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. Both have come to represent an array of tactics that boil down to paying search engines to prioritize your content for specific search results. PPC defines the exchange where you only pay for marketing space when a user not only sees but chooses to click on your content. Hence, paying per click.
SEM is any kind of paid search engine marketing tactic, often more closely associated with recommended products and services through platforms like Google when users search for keywords that relate to your products or services. Even better, you can focus your SEM and PPC to only appear for users who are within your local service range.
9) Email Marketing – Newsletters and Targeted Deals
Email marketing is still going strong. It may be one of the oldest forms of digital lead generation strategies, but it’s still strong because we all still rely on our email accounts to stay in touch. Automated marketing engines have made it much easier to maintain a well-scheduled and personalized email marketing campaign, with personally targeted deals and content.
But even more powerful still is the common newsletter. Write your newsletter in an engaging way full of useful information and your audience will open it every single week. Sometimes more than once a week. Newsletters are a great way to turn leads into return-customers and keep return-customers engaged.
10) Report Generators, Calculators, and Mobile Apps
Finally, there are handy tools that will draw feature-focused leads like hummingbirds to sugar water. Report generators and information calculators are incredibly effective lead generation tools, provided they give good value.
Mobile apps make these tools far more accessible than they ever were before. People love to calculate things like savings and mortgage plans or see generated reports with the latest data on neighborhood housing markets.
Whatever industry you’re in, report generators, calculators, and mobile apps with handy tools are incredibly popular. You’ll win customers over first by proving how useful your website and app can be, then they’ll notice your brand and wonder what else you have to offer that might be very useful to them.
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Looking to draw more leads in from your local community, not just the internet as a whole? We can help! Contact ustoday to talk about how your business can make use of these top ten digital lead generation strategies to get the attention of your local customers.
Google announced that it has been rolling out a new update call Bert.
I know what you are thinking… does this update really matter? Should I even spend time learning about it?
Well, Bert will affect 1 in 10 search queries.
To give you an idea of how big of an update this is, it’s
the biggest update since Google released RankBrain.
In other words, there is a really good chance that this impacts your site. And if it doesn’t, as your traffic grows, it will eventually affect your site.
But before we go into how this update affects SEOs and what you need to adjust (I will go into that later in this post), let’s first get into what this update is all about.
So, what is Bert?
Bert stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from
Transformers.
You are probably wondering, what the heck does that mean, right?
Google, in essence, has adjusted its algorithm to better understand natural language processing.
Just think of it this way: you could put a flight number into Google and they typically show you the flight status. Or a calculator may come up when you type in a math equation. Or if you put a stock symbol in, you’ll get a stock chart.
Or even a simpler example is: you can start typing into Google and its autocomplete feature can figure out what you are searching for before you even finishing typing it in.
But Google has already had all of that figured out before
Bert. So let’s look at some examples of Bert in action.
Let’s say you search for “2019 brazil traveler to usa need
visa”.
Before Bert, the top result would be how US citizens can travel to Brazil without a visa. But look at the search query carefully… it’s slight, but it is a big difference.
The search wasn’t about US people going to Brazil, it was
about people from Brazil traveling to the US.
The result after the Bert update is much more relevant.
Google is now taking into account prepositions like “for” or
“to” that can have a lot of meanings to the search query.
Here’s another example… “do estheticians stand a lot at work”…
Google used to previously match terms. For example, their
system used to think “stand” is the same as “stand-alone”.
Now they understand that the word “stand” has the context of physical demand. In other words, is the job exhausting… do you have to be on your feet a lot?
And one more, “can you get medicine for someone pharmacy” …
As you can see from the before and after picture, it’s clear
that the new result is more relevant.
Same with this one on “math practice books for adults” …
Is that the only change?
It isn’t. Google also made changes to featured snippets.
For example, if you searched for “parking on a hill with no
curb”, Google used to place too much emphasis on the word “curb” and not enough
emphasis on the word “no”.
That’s a big difference… and you can see that in the
results.
The new changes this algorithm update brings makes it much more relevant for searchers and it creates a better experience for you and me and everyone else who uses Google.
But how does it affect SEOs?
You need to change your SEO strategy
There are three types of queries people usually make when
performing a search:
Informational
Navigational
Transactional
An informational query is like someone looking to lose
weight. They aren’t sure how so they may search for “how to lose weight”.
And once they perform the search, they may find a solution such as different diets. From there they may search for a solution, using a navigational query such as “Atkins diet”.
Once someone figures out the exact solution, they then may perform a transactional search query, such as “the Atkins diet cookbook”.
From what we are seeing on our end is that Bert is mainly impacting top-of-the-funnel keywords, which are informational related keywords.
Now if you want to not only maintain your rankings but gobble up some of the rankings of your competition, a simple solution is to get very specific with your content.
Typically, when you create content, which is the easiest way
to rank for informational related keywords, SEOs tell you to create super long
content.
Yes, you may see that a lot of longer-form content ranks well on Google, but their algorithm doesn’t focus on word count, it focuses on quality.
The context of the tweet from Danny Sullivan, who is Google’s search liaison, is that he wants SEOs to focus on creating content that is fundamentally great, unique, useful, and compelling.
So when you use tools like Ubersuggest to find new topics to go after, you need to make sure your content is super-specific.
For example, if you have a business about fitness and you blog about “how to lose weight without taking pills”, your content shouldn’t focus on diet shakes or supplements or anything too similar to diet pills. Instead, it should discuss all of the alternative methods.
I know what you are thinking, shakes and supplements may not be diet pills and they aren’t the same keyword but expect Bert to get more sophisticated in the next year in which it will better understand what people are really looking for.
Additionally, you should stop focusing on keyword density.
Yes, a lot of SEOs have moved away from this, but I still
get a handful of emails each day asking me about keyword density.
Keyword density will even be less important in the future as
Google better understands the context of the content you are writing.
So, where’s the opportunity?
As I mentioned, it’s related to creating highly specific content around a topic.
It’s not necessarily about creating a really long page that talks about 50 different things that’s 10,000 words long. It’s more about answering a searcher’s question as quick as possible and providing as much value compared to the competition.
Just like when you search for “what is it like to be in the
Olympics”, you’ll see a list of results that look something like this:
Although the first result has the title of “What it’s like
to go to the Olympics”, the article doesn’t break down what it is like to go as
an attendee, it breaks down what it is like to go as an athlete. Just like a
searcher would expect based on the query.
Bert was clearly able to figure this out even though the title could have gone either way. And the article itself isn’t that long. The article itself only has 311 words.
If you want to do well when it comes to ranking for informational keywords, go very specific and answer the question better than your competitors. From videos and images to audio, do whatever needs to be done to create a better experience.
Now to be clear, this doesn’t mean that long-form content doesn’t work. It’s just that every SEO already focuses on long-form content. They are going after generic head terms that can be interpreted in 100 different ways and that’s why the content may be long and thorough.
In other words, focus more on long-tail terms.
You may think that is obvious but let’s look at the data.
It all starts with Ubersuggest. If you haven’t used it yet, you can type in a keyword like “marketing” and it will show you the search volume as well as give you thousands (if not millions) of keyword variations.
In the last 30 days, 4,721,534 keyword queries were performed on Ubersuggest by 694,284 marketers. Those 4,721,534 searches returned 1,674,841,398 keyword recommendations.
And sure, SEOs could be typing in head terms to find more long-tail phrases, but when we look at what keywords people are selecting within Ubersuggest and exporting, 84% of marketers are focusing on 1 or 2-word search terms.
Only 1.7% of marketers are focusing on search terms that are
5 or words longer.
Following the strategy of creating content around very specific long-tail phrases is so effective that sites like Quora are generating 60,428,999 visitors a month just from Google alone in the United States.
And a lot of their content isn’t super detailed with 10,000-word
responses. They just focus on answering very specific questions that people
have.
Conclusion
Even if your search traffic drops a bit from the latest
update, it’s a good thing.
I know that sounds crazy, but think of it this way… if
someone searched for “how to lose weight without diet pills” and they landed on
your article about how diet pills are amazing, they are just going to hit the
back button and go back to Google.
In other words, it is unlikely that the traffic converted into a conversion.
Sure, you may lose some traffic from this update, but the
traffic was ruining your user metrics and increasing your bounce rate.
Plus, this is your opportunity to create content that is super-specific. If you lose traffic, look at the pages that dropped, the search queries that you aren’t ranking for anymore, and go and adjust your content or create new content that answers the questions people are looking for.
If you don’t know how to do this, just log into Search Console, click on
“search results”, and click on the date button.
Then click on compare and select the dates where your
traffic dropped and compare it to the previous periods. Then select “Queries”
and sort by the biggest difference.
You’ll have to dig for the longer-term search queries as those are the easiest to fix. And if you are unsure about what to fix, just search for the terms on Google that dropped and look at the top-ranking competitors. Compare their page with yours as it will provide some insights.
