Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Thursday, June 9th, 2022
Search marketing channels are experiencing a surge in revenue. Macroeconomic and hiring impacts the world over have led to companies like Google experiencing massive growth, highlighting how search has become a key channel for marketers.
“It’s great for Google, but that means rising costs for us,” said Sean O’Connor, senior CSM and sales engineer at Adthena, in a recent webinar (scroll down to watch the video).
Attribution is one reason why these developments have made it difficult for paid search marketers to succeed in the space.
Google holds more data than ever before but doesn’t always show marketers the full picture when it comes to their campaigns. At the same time, its growth in the search space, and the decline of other marketing avenues, mean growing pressure on paid marketing teams.
“We are going to experience a higher level of scrutiny for Google Ads than we have in the past few years,” O’Connor said. “Search is the first thing you start, and the last thing you stop, when it comes to brand advertising. That isn’t going to change, but it is going to put the microscope over all the activities that we’re doing.”
“We need to have a clear attribution to the success we’re bringing to our businesses,” he added.
Here’s how paid search marketers can better attribute success using Google Ads’ auction insights tool and search intelligence.
Google Ads auction insights
“Auction insights is particularly valuable in providing context on what our competition is doing, but not how they are gaining ground,” O’Connor said. “Impression share and overlapping position rate are somewhat relevant, but they’re not the metrics I particularly care about.”
While many marketers long for the days of “old school” metrics such as average position for individual terms, auction insights still provides useful campaign stats. These include information such as marketing trends, which essentially gives marketers Share of Search data so they can see where they stand.
Source: Sean O’Connor
“It’s not so much about campaign optimization, but rather an insurance policy,” O’Connor said.
To get the most out of auction insights, he recommends the following:
- Installation: Build out enhanced dashboards to review campaign data alongside business metrics.
- Establish a new workflow: Segment campaigns to enable messaging and market share analysis.
- Take action: Focus on product roadmap development, regional/local segmenting, and spend adjustments.
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Search intelligence
“Google is taking information away from the auction insights section, so we need to be able to shed some light behind the curtain,” O’Connor said. “Considering automation policies, do we let it run? How long does it take to learn? How bundled does it need to be?”
“We need to be able to get past this ‘black box,’” he added.
Auction insights give a good amount of campaign information (e.g., impression share, positive above rate, outranking share), but limit your ability to gauge their efforts against competitors in areas they’re not showing up in, according to O’Connor.
This is why he suggests teams craft their own “formula” that combines data gained from auction insights and a search intelligence platform.
“This creates a ‘whole marketing view,’ which [includes] your terms and closely related competitor terms,” he said. “That whole marketing view is going to show your market opportunity.”
Apply the formulas for success
Acquiring and analyzing search data from auction insights and search intelligence tools isn’t enough to improve Google Ads campaigns. Marketers need to activate the combined data to adjust targets and set benchmarks.
“With enough evidence from auction insights and analytics, you can combine them into a nice visualization that can justify your job and make it easier,” he said.
However, marketers should note when it’s time to conserve budgets. The additional insights gained from these formulas will help teams spend more carefully – when it’s called for – and go after new targets when it makes sense.
“Google’s showing you just what you’re focused on,” O’Connor said, “But we need the context of everything else happening.”
Register to watch the full webinar now:
The post How to win in the SERPs with Google’s auction insights and search intelligence appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, June 8th, 2022
Google announced today that it is expanding its Ads Financial Products and Services policy to Australia, Singapore and Taiwan.
Last year Google announced the implementation of measures aimed at verifying the legitimacy of advertisers in the financial services industry in the UK. These measures were added to prevent financial product scams and scammers from exploiting the Google Ads platform for their benefit.
As Search Engine Land reported last year, the verification process included proving that the advertiser is “authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority,” or must qualify for an exemption.
Verification requirements for advertisers. As part of the verification process, “financial services advertisers in these markets will need to demonstrate that they are authorized by their relevant financial services regulator and have completed Google’s advertiser verification program in order to begin promoting their products and services.”
Launch date. Advertisers will be able to apply for verification at the end of June, and the policy will go into effect on Aug. 30. Advertisers that have not completed the new verification process by this date will no longer be allowed to promote financial services.
What Google says. “We work tirelessly to make sure the ads we serve are safe and trustworthy, and we know that partnering and collaborating with government regulators is critical to our success,” said Alejandro Borgia, Director, Ads Privacy and Safety. “That’s why we’re closely coordinating with regulators in these three markets to make sure this program is effective at scale. In the coming months, we plan to further expand these verification requirements to advertisers in additional countries and regions.”
The results are in. Google launched the verification program in the UK in September 2021. Since then, Google states that they have seen a “pronounced decline in reports of ads promoting financial scams.” According to Google’s 2021 Ads Safety Report, they blocked 58.9 million ads for violating their financial safety policies.
Why we care. Although nothing is 100% foolproof, it’s a good effort by Google to combat financial scams. If you’re running ads for financial services in Australia, Singapore or Taiwan, mark your calendars and keep an eye out for a notification inside your Google Ads dashboard. Review the procedures for exemptions and start the verification process ASAP so your account doesn’t get suspended.
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Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, June 8th, 2022
In the era of short attention spans and social media bombardment, it’s no surprise that quick, entertaining video clips perform well.
After the seemingly overnight success of social media short-form video app TikTok – and all of the platforms that offer Stories, Reels or other variations of short-form, mobile-first content – YouTube has released their own micro-video product, YouTube Shorts.
What are YouTube Shorts?
Here’s how YouTube describes Shorts:
“Shorts is the spot to shoot, share, and binge short videos (think 60 seconds or less) on YouTube. It’s where you can go to start trends, try out a dance challenge, bring your hilarious ideas to life, and more.”
Much like TikTok, Shorts have seen a quick rise among viewers and creators alike since their introduction.
In fact, many audiences prefer quick videos over longer-form content and shows.
While this may have initially had older generations scratching their heads in confusion, it’s no secret that these apps and their content are wildly popular among users of all ages.
YouTube has proven repeatedly that content does not have to be long to get, and keep, people’s attention. It appears that after decades of working to remove commercial breaks from television shows and other entertainment, we’ve come full circle and are now even seeking them out.
What is the point of YouTube Shorts?
While professional video often requires time and budget for filming and production, YouTube Shorts were developed as a mobile-friendly way for creators to share short content on a whim. This encourages them to quickly film and share right in the middle of everyday life, which helps creators promote and grow their channels without the effort of a full-scale video.
If your audience is viewing content from their mobile devices, you should be creating Shorts.
Users love this content because it is quick and to the point, and because they feel that they are getting to see the creators in their real, everyday environments.
While this may not always be the case, it helps increase trust in an audience, which increases loyalty, which increases income.
Qualifying Shorts channels generate anywhere from $100 to $10,000 per month from their Shorts. Creators love this content because it’s quick and easy, and they often see substantial increases in overall channel traffic in addition to increased revenue.
Shorts are a new product, so the platform is giving them a lot of attention in an effort to ensure they are successful.
Why not jump in and grab some of that increased attention for your brand as well?
Creating YouTube Shorts
Because YouTube Shorts are designed to be quick, on-the-go content, creating the videos is relatively simple.
YouTube breaks it down into six easy steps:
1. Log into your YouTube account from the app. Tap the Create (+) button, and select Create a Short or Upload a video if you already have the footage you’d like to use.
2. Add audio. Once you’re all set up, you can select music or other YouTube audio to use as the soundtrack to your video.
3. Record the video. Creators can start and stop recording, adjust recording speed, set a timer and even merge various recorded clips together.
4. Edit your Short. Add filters, captions, and text snippets to videos. When you’re happy with your editing, tap Next, and add a title.
5. Select your audience. Add any restrictions, and share it with the world! Once you’ve filmed, edited, and gotten your video where you want it, it’s time to get it out to your audience.
6. Upload. Tap “Upload” and you’re all set!
General tips for success with Shorts
Content length
While you have 58 seconds, don’t feel like you need to use them all.
Most of the highest viewed shorts are 30 seconds or less.
If you can get your point across or tell your story more quickly, do it.
And remember to eliminate dead air or unnecessary footage.
Be consistent
Try to keep length relatively consistent among videos if possible.
Users like to know what to expect. That familiarity can help increase trust in your brand.
Entertain and inform
How is your content benefitting the viewer? What might make them want to come back for more?
Provide valuable information while entertaining to keep users coming back for more.
Set expectations with value
At the beginning of each video, briefly tell users who you are and what you’ll be sharing with them.
Custom thumbnails matter
Shorts can also be viewed as regular YouTube videos, and users will see video thumbnails if they happen upon your shorts in their normal feeds.
A title screen or something eye-catching can be the difference between views and new subscribers and someone scrolling right past your content.
If you do not specify a thumbnail, YouTube will pull a still from your video. Do you want to take that chance?
Incorporate catchy titles
Use your title to attract users and let them know what your video will be about.
Keep it interesting and informative.
Bonus points if you can make them laugh.
Utilize stories
Create YouTube stories that highlight your top shorts, and ask users to subscribe and comment.
Keep it simple
Users are most often going to be on mobile. Don’t expect them to be able to see fine detail or read big blocks of text.
Consistency is key! Maintain consistency in:
- Style.
- Length.
- Post frequency.
- Subject matter.
- Overall tone and voice.
People want to feel like they know your brand. So make it easy for them.
How to increase view counts on YouTube Shorts
Remove the intro
For a longer video, intro music and/or screens are great. For a short, they steal valuable seconds that could be used to get a new viewer’s attention and curiosity.
Shoot vertical
Viewers are expecting vertical content, do not annoy or confuse them by changing what they’re used to seeing.
Jump right in
Just like in TikTok videos, jumping in and getting to the purpose of the video will likely increase views and engagement on Shorts.
Utilize captions and text effects
Add subtitles or text effects to increase interest and engagement.
Loop your shorts
Increase watch time by looping your shorts.
If your videos do not have a clear beginning and end, many viewers will watch your video more than once – especially if they’re not paying close attention.
You may have more than one opportunity to gain that subscriber this way.
Just remember: the longer a video is, the less likely a viewer is to watch multiple loops.
It never hurts to ask
Ask users to like and comment on shorts, and to subscribe to your channel on every video.
Start with one still frame
YouTube has a one-second delay at the beginning of each short.
Take advantage of this by replacing your intro song with a single frame still with your thumbnail image at the beginning and end of each video.
Incorporate a catchy title and image to attract more views.
Use pinned comments
Add a pinned comment to each video to encourage viewers to check out your channel or website.
People like clear direction. Again, it never hurts to ask!
Be careful with music
Timing music in Shorts can be hard.
An abrupt cutoff makes looping obvious and can be jarring to users, causing them to scroll on to the next video.
If you’re using music, make sure it flows well when looped.
Set thumbnail
What’s one thing that many Shorts with low view counts have in common?
They don’t show the user what they’re about or set an expectation for the viewer.
Let viewers know what you want them to get from your video so their expectations are set properly from the beginning.
Hashtags
Hashtags are important with shorts, especially the #shorts hashtag.
Include this in your description, and at the end of your title if it makes sense.
Take a shot on YouTube Shorts
Between the explosive audience growth, ease of use, mobile-friendly format, and potential for extensive reach, it makes sense to give Shorts a try.
Add in the fact that you don’t need expensive equipment or time-consuming production and it feels like a no-brainer.
However, YouTube Shorts are not a magic bullet. They may not be a single element solution for most brands. But they’re a fantastic way to increase brand and product awareness, reach and conversions.
YouTube is a massive brand, and has more staying power than newer platforms, so it is a relatively safe place to invest time and resources into creating content for their platform.
Shorts are likely going to be around for a while, so dive in and see how they can help your brand’s marketing efforts.
The post YouTube Shorts guide: How to get noticed appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, June 8th, 2022
Developers take note. Google Ads just announced v11 of their API.
What’s new. This version includes updates to the following client codes:
- Campaign performance max upgrade status
- Added support for Smart campaigns using business profiles optimized for ads as landing pages
- Accepting the resource names of the Google Business Profile location
- Support for Manual CPA, maximize conversions bid strategies, and ad schedules for local services campaigns
- Added asset source to show the source of asset or asset link for whom generated the entity
- Added new fields to support retrieving co-viewing metrics in Reach Forecast
View the complete list of updates. View the full list of updates and read the announcement here.
Launch date. The updated client libraries and code will be published next week.
Why we care. Developers who use API’s to manage and report on Google Ad campaigns will have an easier time making changes, migrating campaign types, and preserving budgets, assets, and settings. Further updates also allow more functionality options regarding the use of Business Profiles as landing pages, and ad schedules for local services.
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Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, June 8th, 2022
Search behavior is no longer limited to a single space. So, how can you build a unified keyword strategy across Google, Amazon and YouTube?
In this webinar, you’ll see how consumers interact with each search engine and what type of content resonates most effectively with different audiences.
Register today for “Build an Integrated Search Strategy Across Google, Amazon and YouTube” presented by Similarweb.
The post Webinar: Build a unified keyword strategy across Google, Amazon and YouTube appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
Love it or hate it, PPC isn’t going anywhere. At least not for a while.
As PPC experts, we get to deal with everything from new platforms, added features, disappearing metrics (we’re looking at you, Facebook), angry clients, privacy issues and baffled relatives who ask “what do you do, again?”
For example, doesn’t it just frustrate you to no end that Facebook got rid of nearly all of their targeting options? The exact thing that made Facebook a goldmine for businesses in the past is the exact thing that’s forcing advertisers away from the platform in 2022. Ugh!
But we want to hear it directly from you, whether you do PPC on the frontline at an agency, in-house, or as a freelancer.This is your chance to let us know: What is your least favorite thing about PPC?
Be honest: tell us what you find frustrating, difficult, tedious or even downright painful – and why. We may include your answer in our write-up of the poll results.
Submit your response below. We may include your quotes in a write-up of the poll results!
The post What is your least favorite part of PPC? [POLL] appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
Within the next 12-15 months, third-party cookies will retire across digital marketing channels.
Savvy advertisers know they need to begin developing a game plan for the cookieless future, but what will happen to those who don’t adapt to these changes?
Above all, marketers will suffer from signal loss, which will negatively impact how we measure campaign performance, optimize campaigns over time, create audiences for ad distribution and drive growth within our digital channels.
The industry sea change with the lion’s share of attention is the retirement of third-party cookies in Google Chrome.
Sure, other browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox, have previously restricted third-party cookies. Chrome is more monumental simply because of its market share.
SimilarWeb recently released a study that showed Chrome was the world’s most popular browser with 62% of web traffic.
To recap from my previous article, Google Chrome will retire third-party tracking cookies around Q3 2023. That is an approximate timeframe for this monumental change, but it gives us a target to make sure that our digital marketing campaigns will be ready.
This might sound like the distant future, but many of the measurement solutions needed to replace the functionality of third-party cookies could require significant time and effort from development teams.
This type of support usually requires a few cycles to be prioritized on project roadmaps.
Getting started in the next couple of months will be beneficial in the long run.
Look at it this way: your future self will thank you for being thoughtful and proactive!
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What happens when marketers do not build new measurement frameworks?
For over two decades, marketers have utilized third-party publisher cookies to track their media performance. This method isn’t perfect, but it’s been a standard practice that’s set to evolve in a major way during the next 12-15 months.
From a digital marketing perspective, one of the most significant impacts is the loss of conversion measurement. This loss of performance data includes sales, sign-ups, purchases, revenue and other engagement metrics since those actions are likely to be restricted.
If marketers do not evolve their measurement practices, their accounts will rely on algorithmically-driven modeled conversions.
Successfully enabling automation within PPC is critical to driving positive results.
One of the most potent algorithmic elements is smart bidding. Algorithms that drive cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) bidding need strong data signals to optimize performance.
The data that feeds these algorithms must be reliable so that accounts are optimized toward the most valuable actions and this conversion data needs to have enough volume to drive machine learning.
Data loss means bid algorithms will not function properly, which will result in decreased PPC performance. Let’s try to avoid this!
More conversions will be algorithmically modeled as a result of signal loss
There is too much at stake (i.e., money) for ad platforms such as Google and Microsoft to leave marketers without another option to gain back lost data.
When marketers forge new measurement frameworks via Enhanced Conversions (EC), Google Analytics 4 or Offline Conversion Tracking, those are considered Observed Conversions.
This mix of first-party data and user-matched data (EC) is generated by registered actions taken by our website visitors.
Try to collect as much observed conversion data as possible.
The alternative is Modeled Conversions in Google and Smart Goals in Microsoft Ads. According to Google, Modeled Conversions is:
“When Google surfaces modeled conversions in Google Ads, we are predicting attributed conversions. In most cases, Google will receive ad interactions and online conversions but is missing the linkage between the two. The modeling we perform is modeling whether a Google ad interaction led to the online conversion, not whether a conversion happened or not.”
Even after these large-scale privacy shifts, Google will continue to acquire mountains of data per user: search history, browsing history, and any other online activity when someone is logged into their Google Account, especially when those signed-in users are on a Google property.
Google will not be able to install a tracking pixel for that user specifically, but they should have enough data to algorithmically predict which media interactions lead to a conversion for an advertiser.
Microsoft Ads is working on a version of conversion modeling. This product is called Smart Goals.
According to Microsoft:
“Smart Goals use Microsoft Advertising machine learning models to identify the best sessions on your website. If you have the UET tag set up correctly, the smart goal will examine all your website sessions and determine which of those sessions can be considered a ‘conversion.’ Smart goals use multiple signals to identify conversions. Some of the signals that are used include session duration, pages per session, location, device and browser.”
In essence, they are similar to Google’s modeled conversions. They both rely on machine learning at scale to understand user behavior and potential reactions to paid media exposure.
Marketers need to provide numerous additional signals to make any modeled conversions as accurate as possible.
With the loss of user-level data, modeled conversions will be part of the measurement landscape going into 2023.
This brings us back to creating a strong framework for supplying as much Observed Conversion data within the platforms, which will help inform the Modeled Conversion algorithms.
Marketers have time and tactics to forge new measurement frameworks
The prospect of rebuilding your measurement framework can feel daunting, but you have the next couple of quarters to determine which solutions work best for you and your business.
Now is the time to start evaluating your current processes, review the new measurement tactics that are currently available and begin building a plan.
In my last article, we laid the groundwork for what this metamorphosis means for the digital marketing landscape and approximately when it should occur. This article has addressed why adapting to these changes needs to be a strategic priority.
Next time, we can begin drafting a plan on how you can build a privacy-centric measurement and audience framework for 2023.
The post How your PPC conversions will be impacted without privacy-first measurement appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
Meta Platforms’ Facebook is reportedly in the early stages of planning a Basic Ads product. Basic Ads would be aimed at advertisers who are looking to build awareness around their brands.
What are Basic Ads? A Basic Ads product would offer and report only the simplest metrics such as engagement and video views.
With the release of iOS14 in 2020, and the option for users to opt-out to having their data collected, Facebook advertisers are having a more difficult time reporting on performance.
The initial response. Since Meta hasn’t officially announced the new product, little has been said about it in the advertising community. But Facebook veteran Curt Maly of Black Box Social Media, who is aware of Meta’s plans, said it’s interesting to think how a basic product with no targeting and no objectives would be beneficial.
“More than 90% of all the online marketers I know are focused on direct response where efforts can be directly tracked… with this basic ads platform, it appears that tracking will be rather difficult,” Maly said. “Branding and awareness are used by larger companies with deeper pockets, most small businesses can’t compete with a brand who spends money ‘branding,’ small business owners need/want to drive results now.”
He added that brand new online advertisers and ad vets flock to Facebook to see fast results from targeting, conversion objectives and tracking results.
“If these three major goal lines are moved, I think we will be seeing a lot more people flock to Google/YouTube ads, TikTok ads and Apple’s new ad platform,” Maly said. “I mean Apple didn’t update iOS to ‘help protect users.’ Apple collects all the info they block on Facebook, Apple is about to get into the ad platform game once again and this is yet another reason for people to flock to a better ad platform.”
Privacy changes impact on Meta revenue. Meta estimates a $12.8 billion hit to their revenue in 2022 due to the Apple changes. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reports “unprecedented levels of competition” from new platforms such as TikTok.
In April, Meta laid out a three-tier plan to save its ad business in the wake of Apple’s privacy crackdown. At the time, Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg described the strategy as “doing more with less data.”
Meta’s response. Facebook declined to comment on the new product. There has not been a release date for a rollout, though Business Insider reports testing to start in the EU ahead of the U.S.
Why we care. The Facebook ads platform was previously known for its wide range of targeted audiences and demographic options. As of late, it seems like a lot of advertisers and businesses are moving away from the platform, reporting a decline in performance. Basic Ads could be a good alternative if they’re able to follow GDPR regulations while still providing useful targeting options.
Basic Ads may work well for household names such as Nike or Netflix whose goals are engagement and awareness. But smaller businesses that rely on more granular targeting and lead generation, such as courses for business owners, or youth soccer camp registrations, may have a more difficult time and may abandon Facebook for good.
The post Meta rumored to develop ‘Basic Ads’ in response to recent privacy changes appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
There’s never been a better time than now for a web developer’s approach to SEO.
The pace at which tools and resources, both new tools and anything familiar, innovate and open options for us also demand that we keep up. Recently, that has meant more requirements for performance optimization as Google releases algorithm updates and changes to metrics calculations.
One tool that you should be familiar with is WebPageTest. They recently released some incredibly useful new fully integrated test tools.
WebPageTest now proxies real-time user-specified HTML modifications through Netlify to run comparison tests right inside their user interface. No coding is required.
Genius makes sense
Smart application logic in three huge areas of concern bubble findings up for you, but not just with text blurbs, with re-test options prepped for you to run combinations of variations for comparison. The array of tests available in WebPageTest now means there will be no more setting up tests using third-party proxy tools that duplicate what you can test directly.
This was all technically possible before and the original approach continues to have importance.
Although impressively comprehensive, there will always be tests you will need to run using a proxy host of your choice. This requires handling JavaScript and Cloudflare, however.
With WebPageTest you get to point and click.
Pesky lab data
Always keep in mind the best possible combination of numbers from lab tests may not yield the same numbers in the field. It can actually result in broken website features.
Scripts and styles have developer-defined load order where any change can mean a breaking change that is not suitable for production. A proxy host can provide access for QA as part of the optimization process.
With that warning out of the way, let us tell you how great it is having a testbed for demonstrating HTML optimizations. It’s been the basis of our workshops and conference sessions now for well over a year.
Our Search Engine Land guide articles can help you set up a testbed. We’ll be using an updated version at SMX Advanced. Join us live if you can make it.
Opportunities
WebPageText’s Opportunities text is available to everyone in reports.
You won’t need JavaScript skills to run HTML variation comparisons anymore. Instead, you will need a paid account to run built-in proxy tests labeled Experiments.
The free account gives you better access to reports and history, but not running Experiments. You can still write JavaScript and proxy your own tests for free.
It’s just nowhere near as handy and it takes up way too much time.
Free opportunities. Paid account for experiments.
Experiments
Select the Opportunities & Experiments menu item in a WebPageTest report and you will be presented with a comprehensive list of findings.
Opportunities here are derived from real-world test conditions (simulated with hardware where possible). Our test indicated an opportunity to re-test experimenting with render-blocking resource variations (typically JavaScript and CSS), lazy loaded images, self-host third-party script and much more.
Pro Account Required for Variations
Test async, defer, or even inline scripts and stylesheets using the interface. We’ve been writing Cloudflare Worker JavaScript to proxy these tests and we also added inline style rules to defer loading content towards the bottom of the page, including the footer. The initial array of WebPageTest integrations can handle most, but not all, of our original tests.
It’s a snap to put tests together now.
Modify test settings and start running variations to hone in on the holy grail of green Core Web Vitals across the board. The offering is amazingly comprehensive and covers far more than what affects a webpages’s performance.
You’ll find three categories which group opportunities to experiment by the following questions:
- Is it quick? Quickness categorizes and groups performance optimization experiments.
- Is it usable? Usability groups HTML validation errors that can mess with screen readers and things that affect layout shifts.
- Is it resilient? Resiliency goes to security concerns including mixed protocols. Modify test settings with a checkbox interface and start running variations. You will get refined options in the comparison report.
Dashboard for a test suite
WebPageTest has to resemble a dashboard for a test suite and manage to do that inside reporting that provides more detail than Lighthouse, and with far better waterfall chart representation than Chrome Dev Tools.
Although it’s true with point and click you can run HTML experiments in a “no-code” environment, the detail provided and navigation requires experience – and coding experience is best.
A new built-in Experiment replicates another Cloudflare worker task by removing all JavaScript. Having stuff like that so accessible is exceptionally handier than writing a script for test variations.
Advanced Experiments allow us to insert HTML in key locations, test tactics to change load order, fail to load, or modify, including minify, resources.
There’s literally nothing technically stopping us from testing practically anything on any page.
Fall into the pit of success
Comparison reports themselves serve to funnel you into selecting and re-testing more variations. The result metrics banner includes color-coded improving and worsening scores between control and experiment.
A remaining opportunities section with a subset of experiment switches appears below. You can click your way through to significant improvement.
We’ve done the hard work to write tests for demonstration at SMX Advanced and when we’re live you can expect us to cover this major update to the very tools we used. It’s going to be so much easier.
We will see if the rapid text cycle of WebPageTest experiment integrations gain what we were already preparing to deliver. Let’s see if we can get to green across the board.
The post WebPageTest’s new Opportunities and Experiments: test practically anything appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Monday, June 6th, 2022
“We don’t have enough content on the website. We need to publish 100 pages per month.”
That is typically what I hear from the C-suite and across departments when they hire an SEO director for the first time at an enterprise company.
Content has long been considered the holy grail of SEO – continually sought after but difficult to grasp intent, relevance and trust.
More content published doesn’t mean better rankings. Martin Splitt and Lily Ray debunked this myth advising not to produce content for the sake of producing content.
So, when you get to the one million URLs, does your view on content frequency change? How do you maintain organic traffic increases without more content? And without an increase in organic traffic, how does more revenue come in from organic?
The truth is when it comes to enterprise SEO, if your work doesn’t improve the bottom line, then your SEO strategy needs a gut check.
Your enterprise company now recognizes that SEO drives revenue. Seize the shift.
There is a clear paradigm shift from small business SEO to enterprise SEO. It can often feel like an unwelcome sense of deja vu. The reality is when you get to millions of webpages; your SEO strategy needs to adapt.
Also, the relationship between technical, content and backlinks is entering a new era. Page experience is here to stay.
Over the past few years, enterprise SEO professionals have been forced to tailor their strategies to focus more on content topical relevance and authority and improve Core Web Vitals.
Luckily, if your enterprise company hired a director of SEO, they understand the importance of SEO for revenue. SEO is integrally connected to sales.
Now is the time to create a new enterprise SEO strategy that balances short and long-term results. Think of this as an opportunity to be on equal footing as your marketing counterparts.
As your mindset shifts from small business SEO to enterprise SEO, think about the entire funnel – from top to bottom – to create a holistic approach to SEO to support the different areas of business within your company.
Segment your technical SEO audit by categories or business function
The transition from SEO to enterprise SEO can be a bit scary from a technical perspective. One small change can have a major impact on your revenue.
This is what happened with Ryanair.
On the flip side, one small change to your page speed can have massive improvements across your entire website.
EBay targeted its category pages for image optimizations and eventually trickled this down to all website pages. For every 100 milliseconds improvement in search page loading time, eBay saw a 0.5% increase in “Add to Cart” count.
Enterprise SEO professionals need to get away from top-level and understand the inner workings of a company’s org structure.
As an enterprise SEO professional, your job is to respect and prioritize your technical SEO audits and roadmap based on categories or themes on the website or business function.
When you begin to segment your technical SEO by your company’s org structure, you’re opening the door for a collaborative discussion across multiple departments.
For example, I’m working on an audit for a company that sells printers, sewing machines, scanners, label makers, etc.
The business has structured its org chart by business unit (BU). There is one department that supports printers. If I presented a technical SEO audit to the printer’s team about sewing machines, that would be a complete waste of time for those BU leaders.
By sectioning your technical SEO based on BU, you can prioritize what’s most important to each.
Audit content by type and department
When it comes to auditing and strategizing on your enterprise SEO content, you want to rinse and repeat how you segment your technical SEO. Stick to the auditing based on content type and company org chart.
Remember, your value is created by a more holistic approach to content that drives last-mile decisions as opposed to a siloed approach. Utilize key stakeholders across teams to better understand pain points and see how you can help solve a problem with content.
Then, you want to focus on the right content fueling the engine for each department.
Ola King said it beautifully.
Once you’ve identified the top-performing content, start establishing templates and documentation to replicate the process on a larger scale.
By supporting other department initiatives with your content, you create a true partnership that drives meaningful, high-value organic traffic.
Leave the link building to digital PR and content distribution teams
Link building is dead. There I said it.
Now before you start to troll me on Twitter, let me explain.
Link building is dead at enterprise companies.
Why?
There are already multiple departments managing the link building work internally.
The goal of enterprise SEO with link building should be more about collaboration across your org structure.
I’m not alone in this ideation. See what Nick Wildson, CEO and founder of Torque Partnership, says.
Think about it.
Your PR department is already doing link building by increasing brand reputation and guest posts for your CEO (or other department head).
Under the PR department, you may have an Influencer or Ambassador Manager generating sponsored content and user-generated content.
Your social media team is already repurposing your content into social media, even repurposing to the C-suite social channels. And the social team manages your YouTube or Google Profile. If you’re lucky, the social team also owns Reddit, Quora and Wikipedia.
You want to create documentation and guidelines to support these department initiatives. You don’t have to own their strategies, but you can contribute to them with an SEO eye to establish guardrails.
With that said, there are certain SEO link-building tactics like broken link building that should continue to be on your radar quarterly for quick wins.
A solid enterprise SEO foundation is the key to scaling to one million organic landing pages
I noticed enterprise SEO professionals often ignore or don’t take the time to invest in foundational SEO. Even if it’s not sexy, foundational SEO will get you over the finish line.
Today, enterprise SEO leaders have an opportunity to connect the customer journey to the full-growth business plan. Your goals should be focused on scaling content and website performance in a more meaningful way for the customer.
By building connective tissue across other departments, your enterprise SEO strategy will begin to get engrained into the culture and transform your company to be more competitive and unlock new levels of content creation, giving you center stage in the C-suite.
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