Atomic Media

When and how to fire PPC clients

Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

As PPC professionals, we strive to deliver results, optimize campaigns, foster strong client relationships and grow along with our clients. 

However, not all client partnerships are destined for success. Sometimes, the difficult decision to part ways becomes necessary.

Why maintaining a healthy client portfolio matters

A thriving PPC agency or freelance business relies on a client portfolio that aligns with your expertise, values and business goals.

Each client relationship should be mutually beneficial, allowing for:

• Sustainable growth for both parties.
• Professional satisfaction and development.
• Fair compensation for your services.
• A positive working environment.

When these elements are balanced, you can deliver your best work and achieve outstanding results. However, when the scales tip unfavorably, it may be time to reassess the relationship.

Dig deeper: 8 questions to ask your new PPC clients

Challenges of managing difficult PPC clients

Even the most experienced PPC professionals encounter challenging clients from time to time. These difficulties can manifest in various ways:

• Micromanagement: Clients who constantly question your strategies and demand excessive reporting can hinder your ability to implement effective campaigns.
• Scope creep: Some clients may continually request additional services without adjusting compensation, leading to overwork and reduced profitability.
• Unrealistic expectations: Clients who expect immediate, dramatic results without understanding the realities of PPC advertising can create undue stress and strain on the relationship.
• Poor communication: Unresponsive clients or those who fail to provide necessary information can impede campaign progress and optimization efforts.
• Ethical concerns: Occasionally, clients may request actions that conflict with industry best practices or ethical standards.

While facing these challenges is part of the job, there comes a point when the cost of maintaining a difficult client relationship outweighs the benefits.

Recognizing when to draw the line is key to your PPC business’s long-term success.

5 signs it’s time to consider firing a client

1. Consistent late payments

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, and consistent late payments can seriously jeopardize your operations:

• Repeated delays: If a client regularly pays invoices weeks or months after the due date, it’s a red flag.
• Excuses and broken promises: Constant explanations for late payments and unfulfilled promises to improve indicate a systemic issue.
• Impact on your business: Late payments can affect your ability to pay for ad spend, staff or other operational costs.

When late payments become the norm, it’s time to reconsider the relationship. 

Consistently paying late shows a lack of respect for you and your services, and it’s important to address it.

2. Unrealistic expectations

Clients with unrealistic expectations can create undue stress and strain on your team:

• Demanding immediate results: PPC campaigns often require time for optimization. Clients who expect overnight success may not understand the process.
• Ignoring market realities: If a client refuses to acknowledge competitive landscapes or market conditions that affect campaign performance, it can lead to frustration on both sides.
• Constantly moving goals: Clients who continually change objectives or set unattainable targets without adjusting budgets or timelines may be impossible to satisfy.

When a client’s expectations are consistently unrealistic, it may be a sign the relationship isn’t working. 

These expectations often stem from a lack of marketing knowledge or because another agency or freelancer made promises that are now your responsibility.

Dig deeper: How to set and manage PPC expectations for teams and stakeholders

3. Poor communication

Effective communication is the foundation of any successful client relationship:

• Unresponsiveness: Clients who consistently fail to respond to emails, calls or requests for essential information can hinder campaign progress.
• Lack of clarity: Vague or constantly changing instructions can lead to misunderstandings and poor campaign performance.
• Inconsistent availability: Clients who are hard to reach but demand immediate responses from you create an imbalanced relationship.

Before starting, you and your client should agree on communication channels, meeting frequency and when you need feedback versus when you’re just sharing information. 

If communication issues persist and affect your ability to deliver results, it may be time to reconsider the partnership.

4. Disregard for expert advice

As PPC professionals, our expertise is what clients pay for. When that expertise is consistently ignored:

• Overriding strategic decisions: Clients who regularly dismiss your recommendations in favor of their own ideas, despite poor results, can be frustrating.
• Refusing to adapt: If a client is unwilling to adjust strategies based on data and performance insights, it limits your ability to improve campaigns.
• Micromanagement: Excessive involvement in day-to-day operations without trusting your judgment can hinder progress and efficiency.

If your advice is regularly ignored, it may signal a lack of trust or respect for your expertise.

5. Unethical requests

Maintaining ethical standards is non-negotiable in PPC management:

• Asking to mislead audiences: Requests to create deceptive ad copy or landing pages that violate advertising policies are major red flags.
• Pressuring for black hat techniques: Clients who insist on using tactics that go against platform guidelines put your account and reputation at risk.
• Ignoring legal requirements: Disregarding industry regulations or data privacy laws can have serious consequences.

Parting ways with a client who continually makes unethical requests is a must to protect your business and integrity.

Dig deeper: 5 tips for handling client and stakeholder requests for PPC projects

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What to do before firing a client

Before deciding to fire a client, it’s important to handle the situation thoughtfully and professionally. 

Consider these steps to potentially salvage the relationship or ensure you’ve addressed the issues thoroughly.

Open communication about issues

Clear, honest communication is the foundation of any successful professional relationship. When problems arise, it’s essential to address them directly:

• Schedule a formal meeting: Set up a dedicated time to discuss your concerns. This shows the client that you take the issues seriously and are committed to finding a resolution.
• Be specific and factual: Clearly outline the problems you’ve observed, using concrete examples and data where possible. For instance, “Over the past three months, payments have been late by an average of 15 days.”
• Listen actively. Give the client an opportunity to share their perspective. You may be unaware of underlying issues or misunderstandings.
• Document the conversation: After the meeting, send a follow-up email summarizing the key points discussed and any agreed-upon actions. This creates a paper trail and ensures both parties are on the same page.

Document everything. If issues arise, having records will protect you. It’s always safer to have documentation than to be without it.

Setting clear boundaries and expectations

Once you’ve openly discussed the issues, establish or reinforce clear boundaries and expectations:

• Create a formal agreement: Develop a written document that outlines the terms of your working relationship. This could be an addendum to your existing contract or a new service level agreement (SLA).
• Define roles and responsibilities: Clearly specify what the client can expect from you and what you need from them to perform your job effectively.
• Establish communication protocols: Set guidelines for response times, preferred communication channels and regular check-ins.
• Outline consequences: Clearly state what will happen if the agreed-upon terms are not met. This could include late fees for overdue payments or the potential termination of services.

Dig deeper: 5 essential PPC skills every agency pro must have

Offering alternative solutions

Before resorting to terminating the relationship, explore alternative solutions that could address the core issues:

• Adjust the scope of work: If the client’s expectations are unrealistic given their budget, propose a scaled-back version of your services that aligns with their resources.
• Implement new tools or processes: Suggest using project management software or automated reporting tools to improve communication and transparency.
• Offer training or education: If the client’s disregard for expert advice stems from a lack of understanding, propose a training session to help them better grasp PPC concepts and strategies.
• Revise payment terms: For clients struggling with cash flow, consider offering a different payment structure, such as smaller, more frequent payments instead of larger monthly invoices.

Taking these steps shows your commitment to the client and your effort to find solutions. 

If the situation doesn’t improve, you can confidently move forward with ending the relationship, knowing you’ve done your best to resolve the issues.

How to fire a PPC client professionally

After exhausting all efforts to salvage the relationship, you may find that terminating the contract is the best course of action.

Handling this process professionally is crucial for maintaining your reputation and minimizing potential negative impacts on your business.

Let’s explore the key steps to firing a PPC client with grace and professionalism.

Timing considerations

Timing is key when ending a client relationship. 

• Before proceeding, review your contract for termination clauses and notice periods. 
• Ideally, align the termination with the end of a campaign or reporting period for a smoother transition. 
• Be mindful of your client’s business cycle. Avoid ending the relationship just before their peak season or major events. 
• Ensure you have the capacity to manage the transition and handover of accounts or data. Considering these factors will help minimize disruption and maintain professionalism.

Preparing necessary documentation

Gather all relevant documentation for the termination process. 

• Start with performance reports that highlight the work done and results achieved. 
• Prepare a document containing account access information, including login credentials and any accounts created for the client. 
• Create a transition guide outlining the campaign structure, naming conventions and specific strategies used. 
• Don’t forget to prepare a final invoice detailing any remaining billables or refunds. 
• Draft a formal termination letter that includes the end date, a clear reason for termination, an overview of the transition process and any final obligations. 

Initiating the conversation

When it’s time to inform the client about ending the relationship, approach the conversation with professionalism and empathy. 

• Schedule a call to deliver this news verbally rather than by email. 
• During the call, be direct and respectful, clearly stating your decision without being emotional or accusatory. 
• Offer a brief, honest explanation for the termination without going into too much detail or inviting debate. 
• Then, shift to the next steps, outlining the transition process and what the client can expect. 
• Be ready for questions or objections by anticipating concerns and preparing calm, professional responses. 

By managing this difficult conversation thoughtfully, you can maintain professionalism and preserve a positive relationship, even as you part ways.

Handling the transition

A well-managed transition process can help maintain a positive professional reputation:

• Provide a transition timeline: Outline clear deadlines for each step of the handover process.
• Offer a handover meeting: Propose a meeting with the client or their new agency to walk through your campaigns and strategies.
• Transfer assets and access: Ensure all relevant assets, data and account access are transferred securely and in a timely manner.
• Be available for questions: Offer a reasonable timeframe for addressing any follow-up questions after the transition.
• Maintain professionalism: Even if the client reacts negatively, remain calm and professional throughout the process.

Dig deeper: Client onboarding and offboarding: The PPC agency’s guide

Reflecting on the experience

After you’ve gone through the process of firing a client, take a step back and reflect on the experience. 

This isn’t just about closing a chapter; it’s an opportunity for growth and improvement in your PPC business.

Analyze the reasons for termination

Take some time to analyze what led to the termination.

Were there early warning signs you missed? Could you have addressed any issues sooner?

This reflection isn’t about beating yourself up, but about learning and evolving your business practices.

Refine client selection and onboarding

Use these insights to refine your client selection process.

Consider developing a more detailed ideal client profile. What characteristics make for a great long-term partnership?

You might want to create a more comprehensive onboarding questionnaire to help identify potential issues early on.

Setting clear expectations from the start can prevent many problems down the line.

Dig deeper: PPC client kickoff: Strategies for a successful first encounter

Strengthen existing client relationships

Take this opportunity to strengthen relationships with your existing clients during this process. 

Conduct a relationship audit with your current clients.

Are there any emerging issues you can proactively address? 

Increasing communication and transparency can go a long way in maintaining healthy, long-term partnerships.

Review legal considerations

Always review your service agreement before terminating a client relationship. 

Pay close attention to termination clauses, ownership of work and data and any confidentiality agreements. 

Adhering to proper notice periods is important. If it’s not specified in your contract, a 30-day notice is typically standard in the PPC industry.

Manage proprietary information

Handling proprietary information is another important consideration. 

Be clear about what constitutes proprietary information and outline the process for returning or destroying client data. 

Make sure you’re complying with all relevant data protection regulations.

Ending client relationships: Steps for a smooth and professional transition

Healthy business relationships are crucial for long-term success in PPC management.

While retaining clients is important, it shouldn’t hinder your agency’s growth. 

Open communication helps prevent issues, and clear contracts benefit both parties. However, sometimes, ending a relationship is the best option for everyone.

You can build a stronger, more sustainable PPC business by managing client relationships strategically and handling terminations professionally.

Focus not just on keeping clients but on finding those who share your values and goals.

Each client relationship, including those that end, offers a chance to learn.

Use these experiences to improve your processes and services, ultimately creating a thriving PPC business.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Open for your exclusive SMX agenda preview

Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

Join some of the world’s most respected search marketing minds for the final SMX event of 2024 – online November 13-14 – for free. Together, you’ll explore the latest, most critical search marketing trends and head into 2025 with the skills you need to stay ahead of the competition:

Your free pass unlocks the complete program:

• Actionable tactics. Walk away with reliable, actionable, brand-safe insights you can immediately apply to your campaigns to drive measurable results.
• In-depth live Q&A. Tap directly into some of the brightest minds in search, ask them your questions, and get real-time answers during Overtime!
• Engaging discussions. Connect with and learn from like-minded search marketers and industry experts during live Coffee Talk meetups.
• Instant on-demand access. Can’t attend live? On-demand replay is included with your free pass so you can train at your own pace.
• 100% online. Log on from your cubicle, coffee shop, couch – wherever! – and skip the plane ride, hotel room, and time out of the office.
• 100% free. Continued training doesn’t have to break the bank. Leave the expense reports (and expensive in-person training experiences) behind!
• Certificate of attendance. Showcase your knowledge of the latest industry trends with a personalized certificate and digital badge, perfect for posting on LinkedIn.

Since 2006, SMX has helped more than 200,000 search marketers from around the world achieve their professional goals. Now, it’s your turn. Grab your free pass now!

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

TikTok Search Ads Campaign launch in U.S.

Wednesday, September 25th, 2024

TikTok is taking a direct shot at Google with the launch of TikTok Search Ads Campaign in the U.S. Advertisers can now target users on its search results page.

Previously, ads on TikTok’s search page were more generic. But now brands can tailor their ads to align with specific search behaviors.

Why it matters. TikTok has a growing role as a search engine for younger users – 57% of users use the app’s search function, according to internal TikTok data. This new feature lets you capture attention at critical moments of intent. TikTok’s move could threaten Google’s dominance, as younger users are increasingly using social media for search instead of traditional engines.

What can be done. Brands can now tailor ads to match TikTok’s unique search behaviors, which often blend intent-driven and spontaneous discovery.

The numbers. TikTok’s testing shows that combining Search Ads with In-Feed Ads boosts conversions by 20%, with users who don’t engage with an ad initially more likely to interact after seeing a related search ad.

The big picture. TikTok’s search capabilities continue to evolve, positioning the platform as a real contender in the search advertising space, and giving advertisers a new way to reach users who are actively seeking specific content.

But. The impending U.S. TikTok ban, which is expected to occur in January, could severely limit any threat to Google’s search ad dominance.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

6 advanced (yet missing) Meta Ads KPIs to track success

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

Meta Ads provides a solid foundation of basic metrics like ROAS and conversion rate, but savvy marketers know that true optimization lies in the details.

Are your clicks translating into quality visits? Is your audience reach expanding or stagnating? These questions demand more nuanced data.

Below are six advanced key performance indicators (KPIs) that Meta Ads doesn’t readily offer out of the box but which can dramatically elevate your paid social strategy.

1. Awareness KPI: Net new reach

The first missing KPI to add to your Meta Ads strategy should focus on audience reach and saturation.

The key question: Is your top-of-funnel approach attracting people unfamiliar with your brand?

This is crucial for most businesses, especially B2B accounts with longer sales cycles.

Without fresh prospects, you risk depleting your funnel by repeatedly targeting the same audience, leading to diminishing returns.

To answer this question, you will want to tweak how Meta Ads shows your data.

Let’s start with frequency. It’s the average number of times each user saw your ad. The formula is:

• Frequency = Impressions / Reach

Frequency is a powerful KPI for tracking audience saturation, but it comes with two major caveats:

• Frequency is an average. And just like every average metric, it hides discrepancies that can destroy your campaign results. This means you always need to implement frequency caps. Unfortunately, Meta Ads does not always offer such options and you will need to contort your campaign settings to prevent such issues. But that’s a topic for another article.
• It’s bound to a predefined time frame. So you need to break it down to understand its full story:
  • Last 3 or 7 days for an immediate snapshot.
  • Last 14 or 30 days for your audience’s recent experience.
  • Last 90 or 180 days to get a smoothed-out perspective.
  • Etc. 

This means Meta Ads could easily improve Ads Manager by providing frequency columns with such default time frames. But you have to manually do it. Or do you?

Meta Ads offers an alternate metric called “frequency (cumulative).” However, it’s not available as a column in Ads Manager: you can only get it if you hover over a campaign (ad set or ad) and click on “view charts” and then “customize.”

Here is an example of a retargeting campaign with a budget that’s probably too big for a relatively small audience:

Looking at frequency over time, it looks OK. We’re reaching unique users about once a day. 

However, the overall number should trigger some questions: why is it so high (17 impressions in about a month)? If we switch to frequency (cumulative), this is what we see:

You never want to see such a frequency (cumulative) curve in most scenarios because:

• You don’t want to tap into the same audience indefinitely, resulting in a dried-up top-of-funnel.
• You want to anticipate such a scenario and avoid reactive behavior. That way, you avoid seeing performance go up and down and up and down again.

The question is: how? 

Unfortunately, Meta Ads does not provide an easy way to do this: frequency (cumulative) sits at the campaign level only, and its sister KPI, reach (cumulative), too.

Also, it can’t be found in the regular data exports (API, Ads Report, etc.).

You’ll need to create a custom KPI called net new reach to accomplish this. Here’s the formula:

Net New Reach = Reach(s→y) – Reach(s→m)

With:

• Reach(s→y) being Reach from your start date (“s”) to yesterday (“y”)
• Reach(s→m) being Reach from your start date to a middle point in time (“m”)

This lets you know how many new users you reached who were not exposed to your ads before “m.” net new reach has two advantages:

• Unlike frequency (cumulative), it adapts to your granularity needs up to the account level. You can export its root component (Reach) relatively easily through the API, the user interface, etc.
• It shows your latest net new reach, which allows for anticipation. If it falls week over week (for example), you know you want to act to avoid saturating your audience

Now, there’s still one caveat with net new reach. You need to make it a recurring exercise (weekly?) and build a nice table out of that to make it digestible. Fortunately, since it’s recurring, it means it’s automateable.

I suggest exporting Reach(s→y) weekly to your database of choice and running a script to subtract Reach(s→y) from the previous week’s Reach (s→y) (that is, Reach(s→m), from the perspective of that new week).

That way, you will end up with a table like the one below, with “s” being your start date and “y” being yesterday, the date of the data pull. 

Once that table is ready, you only need to graph net new reach and/or analyze it weekly to know whether you have a top-of-funnel saturation challenge. 

In the table above, since the net new reach is much lower than reach (s→y), it indicates that we’re not bringing in enough new users to our top-of-funnel tactics and/or have a disproportionate budget compared to our audience size.

Dig deeper: B2B audience targeting: Meta Ads as an alternative to LinkedIn

2–3. Engagement KPIs: Hook and retention rates

Another area where Meta Ads could do better is the engagement stage of the funnel.

If you ask me, when it comes to engagement, the most important goal is to catch users’ attention in a crowded feed or string of Stories and Reels. What they do next (from leaving a comment to purchasing) is up to the next stages of the funnel.

When your ad is catchy enough, it gives you a chance to:

• Deliver your message.
• Push your audience to complete the action you want them to take.

These two items can be calculated very easily using Meta Ads’ custom metrics:

• Hook rate: Determine if your ad is catchy enough to stop users from scrolling and grab their attention.
  • Formula:
    • Hook Rate = 3-second video plays / Video plays

• Retention rate: Check if your ad is well-crafted to deliver its message and encourage users to act (though this mainly ties into CTR and conversion rates).
  • Formula:
    • Retention Rate = ThruPlays / 3-second video plays

Using these two metrics, you can determine whether to improve your ad’s hook or body. This will help you create better-performing assets at a lower cost since you’d only need to adjust one part.

However, Meta Ads doesn’t offer the same depth of raw KPIs for images as for videos, which is unfortunate. Despite using it internally, a metric like dwell time could easily resolve this issue, but Meta Ads has yet to make it available to advertisers.

In the meantime, I don’t see a solution other than using CTR to determine whether an image engages well.

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4. Traffic KPI: Quality visit rate

Like the engagement stage, the traffic stage of the funnel could benefit from additional KPIs. 

Once your ad grabs users’ attention, the goal is to prompt them to take action. While Meta Ads provides various click-based KPIs to measure this, they tend to be fairly shallow.

Meta Ads doesn’t tell you whether that click was valuable: Did those users bounce? Did they consume your content in-depth? 

You will not know unless you have enough typical conversions (purchases, leads, etc.). 

In those cases, how do you assess performance? The good news is that you have everything you need to do so, and easily! 

Your first goal should be to define what is a quality visit. One way to look at this is to consider users who, once they reached your website, did one or more of the following actions:

• Visited at least two pages.
• Scrolled all the way down to the bottom of your landing page.
• Spent more than 30 seconds on your landing page.
• Played a video on your landing page.

With these simple triggers, you can set up a custom conversion in Meta Ads. This allows you to optimize your campaigns with the new KPI and evaluate your landing page’s performance using the quality visit rate.

Here’s the formula:

• Quality Visit Rate = Quality Visits / Landing Page Views

I recommend using landing page views to filter out clicks that weren’t tracked due to issues like cookie consent or ad blockers. This way, you’ll have a reliable KPI for your analysis.

Dig deeper: 3 powerful micro-conversion strategies for paid social

5-6. Performance KPI: Lifetime value and benefits

While those KPIs may seem like a stretch since you typically need an analytics or CRM solution to access that data, it’s disappointing that Meta Ads doesn’t fully leverage its integrations with tools like GA4, HubSpot and Salesforce to showcase its true business value.

Still, I believe every PPC should periodically review these metrics. Here are the formulas you need to calculate:

• Lifetime Value (LTV) =  average order value x total transactions / unique customers
• Lifetime Benefits (LTB) =  LTV x profit margin

I wrote an entire article on this exact topic, so feel free to check it out and dive deeper into LTV.

KPIs to elevate your Meta Ads strategy

Meta Ads offers a robust set of KPIs for campaign management, but advancing your measurement and optimization capabilities requires the creation of more sophisticated metrics.

KPIs such as net new reach, hook rate, retention rate, and quality visit rate, along with more complex metrics like lifetime value, provide deeper insights into campaign effectiveness, allowing for more informed decision-making beyond just ROAS or conversion rates.

Hopefully, Meta will recognize the value of integrating these metrics directly into Ads Manager. In the meantime, savvy PPCs can leverage these advanced KPIs to stay ahead of the competition.

Dig deeper: Here’s why PPC now looks more like paid social and what it means

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

How to plan a website to maximize SEO success

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

Many redesigned websites fail to improve SEO, often damaging existing rankings and creating challenges for SEO teams trying to recover lost traffic. This can severely affect business visibility, lead generation and sales.

I have been handed many a brand new website and asked to “SEO it” when untold damage has been done and significant time and effort must be spent just to get traffic levels back where they were before the redesign. 

Many articles help with website SEO and how to retain SEO traffic during a redesign. There are also helpful books and frameworks for website planning.

Yet, seemingly no resource combines a sensible approach to planning a new site with the retention and improvement of SEO. 

This article will outline how to plan a new website effectively to retain existing traffic and create a platform to improve your SEO. 

To make following along easier, you can fill out the steps in the template below:

• Website planning to maximize SEO [Template]

Website planning and SEO 

To ensure your new website retains and improves your SEO, it is helpful to ensure you have a clearly defined SEO strategy and you have articulated this in a simple SEO plan. 

The worst thing in any website design project is when unexpected problems or changes arrive during development. 

A well-developed plan that has input from all stakeholders helps ensure less of this. More importantly, if the customer changes their mind or the scope creeps (the scope always creeps), you have the document to show the original scope and justify the necessary fee increases. 

I wish I had a dollar for every time we were asked to review a new site that was almost finished – only to find that SEO hadn’t been considered, putting its success at risk.

We recently worked on a six-figure project for a business that thrived on organic traffic. The project would essentially destroy all the hard-earned SEO. 

This took several months and probably another six figures in PPC spend (to replace what was free SEO traffic from an SEO vs. PPC perspective), as well as further SEO time and redevelopment. You want to avoid that if at all possible. 

We have also seen other sites that had so comprehensively damaged SEO traffic that the only sensible approach was to roll back to the previous site. 

Suffice it to say that ensuring you retain SEO traffic and set the scene for improvements is not something you can leave to chance. 

The approach laid out here combines a fairly standard approach to website planning, which, done well, will save much time, money and pain, with the kind of jobs needed to retain existing SEO traffic while building a furtive platform for further SEO development. 

The output of this process should be a document that either acts as the foundation of the website brief or is integrated into a traditional brief. 

Note: Where the SEO brief and website brief are separate entities, I always recommend reviewing the final website brief to ensure the SEO brief has been incorporated before the project kicks off. 

There are five key steps to work through to create your SEO-friendly website blueprint:

1. Existing rankings and traffic 

Your must understand your traffic and where it comes from.

To do this, spend some time in Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify:

• High-ranking keywords.
• High-traffic keywords.
• High-traffic content.
• High-opportunity pages.
• High-opportunity keywords.

Your goal is to clearly document what works currently. These must be included in the new site.

If high-traffic content is removed, not correctly optimized, or lost in the new site’s hierarchy, then you are inviting problems. 

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a treasure trove of SEO information and will give you the straight dope on your rankings and traffic. 

Here, you’ll see high-opportunity keywords and pages with lots of impressions but not many clicks. 

• Visit Search Console
• Performance > Search Results

The main information you are looking for is in the queries and pages tabs. You can order this by clicks (traffic) and impressions (which is an opportunity). 

Work through this information and document your findings in the template. 

Crawl data

Crawl your website and save a copy of the crawl (Screaming Frog is a cost-effective or free way of doing this under 500 pages).

This will allow you to check links to the page and compare with the new site if (and when) problems arise. 

SEO tools

You can also use any SEO tools for rank tracking. 

Still, I prefer Search Console and Google Analytics for this as they give you real data and insight, not the extrapolated data the typical SEO tools provide, which can often be wildly inaccurate and misleading. 

Dig deeper: Website redesign SEO checklist: Retaining and improving SEO

2. SEO and website goals 

Goals are crucial to any project. Starting with clear goals helps you understand your destination, making it easier to find the right path forward.

Goals provide you with a tool for assessing all decisions throughout the project.

Will doing something help us hit our goals? If not, don’t do it. If so, go for it! 

You may have goals for the website project overall, ideally these will be hierarchical. For instance, we may have one super goal that states the goal of the new website is to generate more leads. 

You may then have sub-goals such as to improve SEO and improve conversion rates that work in service of the master goal. 

Remember to make your SEO goals specific and measurable, so SMART goals are helpful here. 

Overall, you may need a hierarchy of goals here that covers:

• Website Goal: Generate more leads/sales.
• SEO Goal 1: Rank our service pages more highly.
• SEO Goal 2: Rank our upper funnel marketing content highly. 

You may also find it useful to look at things you want to avoid with the new site. Determining what you are aiming at and what you are running away from can be just as helpful, if not more so. 

• Anti-goal: Avoid having a site that is essentially no different from our competitors. 

Document your goals in the website plan template and move on. 

3. Audience and customer segments

Carefully define your target audience(s) along with some considerations regarding your competitors. 

Remember, in marketing, targeting everyone is targeting no one. 

That is not to say you can’t target multiple audiences, but you do need to give some consideration to each audience and factor this into the structure and segmentation of your new site.

We want to carefully consider the goals, problems and jobs of our target audience to ensure our business goals, website goals and the goals of the people we serve are all finely aligned. 

Audience questions

We want to start by simply identifying the different audiences: men, women, students, Gen X, Millennials, etc. 

For each audience:

• Audience name.
• Demographics (age, sex, location).
• What is the problem or goal of the target audience?
• Where do they hang out or find information online?

The information you gather here will help you when it comes to structuring your site to support the individual needs of each audience (which, in turn, makes optimizing for each audience so much easier). 

To explore each customer segment in more depth, you can use the SEO Value Proposition Template and SCAMPER to understand your customers and identify the content you need to hit your goals. 

Remember that Google wants you to focus on creating helpful, people-first content. To do this, you need to understand your people (audience) and ensure you are writing for them. 

This process feeds into your SEO like no other, so spend the time getting into the minds of your audience segments. Your SEO will thank you for it.  

Note all of this down in the website plan template and move on. 

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4. Structure and sitemap

A sitemap provides a simple overview of the new site and can be cross-referenced with the existing goals. 

For instance, the new sitemap should include high-traffic pages on the current site that drive business performance. 

Sitemaps help gather feedback from all stakeholders and facilitate difficult conversations during the planning stages. Addressing these issues early can prevent problems later on with delivery, timelines and budgets.

I am a big fan of the idea that you should really thrash things out at this point and good ideas get strengthened and remain, while bad ideas can die here – rather than in costly development. 

Creating your sitemap

You want to create a simple bullet point sitemap in the first instance.

• Home 
• About Us
• Category A
  • Sub Category A1
    • Detail Page
• Category B
  • Sub Category B1
    • Detail Page
• Resources
  • Article A
  • Article B
• Contact

I recommend writing this all down in a spreadsheet so you have clarity and numbering for all pages (which will be useful in the next steps).

You can use your favorite drawing tool to create your sitemap. Draw.io has a useful set of templates, including various maps, that you can use for site mapping (all of which are saved to Google Docs).

A visual sitemap can be useful for the major categories and sections of the site and can aid in getting feedback from stakeholders.  

The key takeaway here is that we want to create a sitemap that is segmented by our target audiences and serves the overarching marketing objectives. 

If our SEO goals are to retain traffic and create an optimized structure, then we can assess that here. 

Key pieces of content that have been identified should be recreated on the new site within an optimized structure that sets the scene for growth. 

Remember, the hierarchy here will inform you of your site’s folder structure, which helps provide context for each document. 

This, in turn, helps you structure your keywords from high-level broad keywords to more specific categories and longer-tail product/service keywords. The structure is key, so spend time here until you are happy. 

5. Page scoping

The next step of the planning process is to determine what content will be on each page.

Based on the level of detail you want to use here, you can either create columns in your spreadsheet sitemap that you created previously or go into more detail.

Typically, for each page, we should include:

• Goal of the page.
• Functionality / Features (e.g., forms).
• Content (images, text, video etc).
• SEO (Notes, Page Title, Meta Description).
• Notes.

The SEO aspect here is fairly obvious, and if we have a high-performing page currently, we want to ensure the main content is recreated. 

There is little point in adding a page and changing things radically – minimize the variables wherever possible. 

We want to examine the page’s goal and ensure that its functionality and content support it. 

Some example goals for pages are:

• Generate exposure from SEO (to feed remarketing).
• Generate leads.
• Funnel users to product pages. 

Work through each page detailing the goal for that page and then outline the content that supports that and update the website plan template. 

6. SEO specifics

The planning is important, but we must document a few SEO specifics to ensure this build aspect will be handled correctly.

• Keep the old site live on a temporary URL if possible.
• Create a list of redirections from the old pages to the new ones.
• Migrate content, page titles and meta descriptions for high-performing pages.
• Update external backlinks where possible.
• Monitor performance after launch (rankings, traffic, impressions).

Factoring in these five areas will ensure the main SEO points are covered.

6. Your website plan 

At this point, you should have a comprehensive but concise plan outlining what is needed on your new site. 

The plan should cover:

• Existing rankings and traffic.
• Goals for the project.
• Customer segments.
• Website structure and sitemap.
• Page scoping.
• SEO specifics (redirects, etc.).

Most people don’t do this. They create a super skinny brief and leave it to the web developers. 

But the web developers don’t know your business, so you have to put in the work to ensure the new site retains and improves your SEO (while also hitting the likely myriad of other goals that trickle down from management to marketing). 

While it may seem like an additional step, planning will save you time, money and pain while improving your overall results – a win-win. 

In a nutshell, you will get better results by doing the research and planning work. 

Launch and beyond

The final aspects to consider are the monitoring of the launch and what your marketing and SEO KPIs are to measure results. 

We always expect some turbulence, but keeping a close eye on the Search Console and your KPIs will help you spot issues and squash them quickly. 

SEO-friendly website planning to retain and improve traffic

Most websites could be better planned.

If you follow the simple steps here, you will have done more pre-design planning than 99% of other website projects, which can help you join the 1% of companies that get all the results.

Ensure you understand what works currently and where you want to go. Weave that into the planning for your new site and prepare to fly high.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google Ads adds Video Enhancement for Performance Max

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

Google Ads is rolling out a new Video Enhancement feature for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. This feature aims to improve video ad performance through automated adjustments.

Why we care. The feature is designed to optimize video creatives, but you may not want to give Google this level of control. So, depending on many caveats, it may be worth testing. 

What’s happening. Advertisers reported seeing this feature in some campaigns, with the option being automatically opted-in by default.

Reactions. Some advertisers are wary of Google’s use of terms like “enhance” and “optimize,” suggesting a cautious approach to automated adjustments that could affect campaign outcomes.

• Odi Caspi, Founder at EffectiveMarketing.uk responded to this update – “Any time Google use terms like ‘Enhance’ or ‘Optimise’ I get nervous”

First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Natasha Kaura on X:

Bottom line. As Google continues to introduce AI-driven enhancements to its ad tools, advertisers should monitor how these changes impact campaign performance, and adjust settings as needed to maintain control over their creative assets.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google Search Ads 360 (SA360) starter guide

Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

Since its rebranding in 2018, Google Search Ads 360 has continued to be a powerful tool for PPC advertisers. However, many marketers still struggle to understand its full potential.

This confusion often leads businesses, agencies and corporations to miss the benefits of integrating it into their marketing strategies.

This article will address some of the most common questions about Google Search Ads 360 and help clarify how it can enhance your marketing efforts.

What is Google Search Ads 360?

Search Ads 360, or SA360, is a tool created by Google to manage multiple paid ads accounts and platforms in one interface. 

Search Ads 360 has a direct API connection with several search engines, allowing you to view all your campaign data in one place. This streamlined access helps you make informed strategic decisions without consulting multiple sources, saving you time and money.

Once you link Search Ads 360 to a search engine, you can create and manage your search marketing campaigns within the platform. Any changes you make can be automatically copied back to the engines. 

You can also make adjustments directly in the search engine’s ad platform and easily import those changes back into Search Ads 360.

Currently, SA360 supports the following platforms:

• Google Ads.
• Microsoft Advertising.
• Yahoo Japan sponsored products. 
• Baidu.
• Other third-party search engines.

You might remember SA360’s predecessor, DoubleClick or DoubleClick’s main product line, known as DART (Dynamic Advertising, Reporting and Targeting). 

Google acquired DoubleClick in 2007 and integrated it into its offerings as DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM). The tool was renamed Search Ads 360 in 2018 – the same year Google AdWords became Google Ads. 

How does Google Search Ads 360 help marketing efforts? 

And what does Google Search Ads 360 have that regular ol’ Google Ads doesn’t? 

Multi-platform campaign management with add-on cross-channel integration

Search Ads 360 allows you to manage and optimize search ads across multiple platforms, such as Google and Microsoft Ads, all from a single interface. 

On its own, SA360 streamlines your advertising efforts and saves you time. 

When integrated with other tools in the Google Marketing Platform, like Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360, it allows you to develop cross-channel strategies that seamlessly combine search, display and video advertising for a more unified and consistent marketing approach.

Advanced audience targeting

With Search Ads 360, you can use advanced audience targeting features to reach specific segments across platforms. 

Since it integrates with multiple search engines, you can consistently create and target audience segments across platforms like Google, Bing and Yahoo. 

This ensures your message is relevant and reaches the right people no matter which search engine they’re using, thus improving engagement and ROI.

Time-saving automation

Beyond bidding, Search Ads 360 offers automation for many campaign management tasks, such as real-time budget pacing, scheduling and reporting. 

Again, since it integrates with multiple search engines, you’ll have the ability to set up and manage automated rules across all your accounts and platforms. 

This helps you and your marketing team to focus on strategy and analysis rather than repetitive tasks.

Dig deeper: Search Ads 360: 3 best practices for advanced PPC marketers

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Why would you want to use Google Search Ads 360 instead of Google Ads?

At the time of publication, many features that used to be exclusive to Google Search Ads 360 have been integrated into the Google Ads platform. 

Automated bidding, advanced reporting and ad copy testing all used to be unique to the Google Search Ads 360 platform. 

While Search Ads 360 still boasts additional desirable features and flexibility, such as direct integrations with third parties and real-time reporting, the most widely-used features have also been migrated over to Google Ads.  

Today, the biggest reason to use Google Search Ads 360 instead of Google Ads is the size of your marketing efforts. 

If you’re a marketing agency managing hundreds of search campaigns across several accounts in Google and Bing, a centralized base of operations probably sounds pretty appealing. 

SA360 makes it easier and faster for strategists to make changes across multiple campaigns on multiple platforms. 

I liken it to comparing Google Ads Editor to the Google Ads UI via browser. The former simply makes my job easier and enables me to finish optimizations faster without needing to waste time navigating to the page I need. 

Another reason to use SA360 over Google Ads is its integration with other Google tools. 

SA360 is designed to interact with Display & Video 360 (DV360) and Campaign Manager 360 (CM360). 

This trifecta of SA360, DV360 and CM360 gives you a streamlined approach to search, video and display across the web, apps, YouTube and even connected TV and offline data sources. 

If you’re sorely lacking visibility in how your ad dollars translate to sales or leads and you’re ready to invest in your marketing analytics for a complete user journey, SA360 and its partner products could be the right choice. 

Dig deeper: Google SA360 now supports Microsoft automated bidding

Why would you not want to use Google Search Ads 360 instead of Google Ads?

Cost 

If you’re working with a limited marketing budget, you are likely not a good candidate for SA360. 

In addition to being charged a platform fee plus a percentage based on your spend to access SA360, most advertisers and even agencies are simply not spending enough to justify upgrading. 

Single-platform vs. multi-platform

One of the biggest benefits of SA360 is seeing all your data and performance across multiple channels and platforms.

If you’re only using Google Ads for one account, another interface to combine multiple data sources simply isn’t necessary. 

Complexity 

SA360 has several advanced features that can overwhelm even the savviest of PPC strategists and are likely unnecessary for most advertisers. 

The traditional Google Ads platform makes using campaigns with a straightforward purpose and aim simple.

At the same time, SA360 offers a highly sophisticated set of tools to help marketers manage complex campaigns with varying strategies and goals. 

Google Search Ads 360: Your key to multi-platform advertising success

Google Search Ads 360 is a powerful tool for big businesses and agencies managing complex, large-scale or multi-platform search campaigns. 

It offers advanced features like cross-channel integration with other Google Marketing Platform tools, cross-platform audience targeting and enhanced time-saving automation. 

These attributes make it ideal for marketers with big budgets who need a comprehensive solution. 

However, for small and medium-sized businesses or those operating within a single platform, the complexity and additional cost of SA360 almost certainly outweigh its benefits. 

Understanding when and why to use SA360 can help you decide if it’s the right fit for your marketing strategy. This will ensure that you maximize efficiency and ROI for your business or your clients. 

Dig deeper: Google Search Ads 360 gains retail media capabilities

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

New data: Google AI Overviews show more often to signed-in users

Thursday, September 19th, 2024

Google AI Overviews are triggered 10-20% less for signed-out users. While this percentage varies by industry, it is particularly noteworthy right now for ecommerce queries, which trigger AI Overviews 90% less often for signed-out users.

Why we care. We’ve been closely watching the evolution of Google’s AI Overviews because it has the potential to disrupt the amount of organic traffic you receive. Different industries will be uniquely impacted, so it’s important to understand how AI Overviews are rolling out to your industry.

By the numbers. While ecommerce had the largest difference, Google AI Overviews appear 10-20% less often to signed-out users in other industries, according to the latest analysis from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge:

• Education: 21% less.
• B2B tech: 17% less.
• Healthcare: 16% less.

More Google AIO ecommerce findings. BrightEdge also found that:

• In August, product carousels for apparel-related queries increased by 172%.
• The use of unordered lists across industries rose by 42%.

Google AIO citations findings. Google is leaning away from consumer-focused media and blogs and more heavily toward specialized, expert, authoritative and trustworthy domains. For its healthcare citations:

• General health sites like verywellhealth.com saw a decline in citations.
• Domains like arthritis.org saw substantial increases in citations.

SearchGPT vs. Perplexity. In other AI search developments, BrightEdge told me that their customers (particularly large and Fortune 100 brands) are getting more referral traffic from SearchGPT than Perplexity. This is super interesting because OpenAI just introduced SearchGPT on July 25 and it is in a limited data. BrightEdge didn’t have data to share as of publication, but hopefully will soon.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Amazon Ads launches AI-powered video

Thursday, September 19th, 2024

Amazon Ads today unveiled new generative AI features aimed at helping advertisers create more engaging video and image content.

• The tools include Video generator and live image capabilities, both currently in beta for select U.S. advertisers.

Why we care. Time and cost are big challenges when it comes to creating good quality video content for campaigns. These AI-powered tools address these key challenges. 

By the numbers.

• 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands in 2024, according to a Wyzowl study.
• Businesses cite lack of time and cost as the top barriers to video marketing.

How it works.

• Video generator creates custom video content in minutes using a single product image.
• Live image allows brands to produce short, animated campaign images quickly.

What they’re saying. “Video generator is another meaningful innovation that leverages generative AI to inspire creativity and deliver more value for both advertisers and shoppers,” said Jay Richman, VP of product and technology for Amazon Ads.

Between the lines. These tools are part of Amazon’s growing suite of generative AI solutions similar to how all other tech giants continue to lean into more AI solutions. 

What’s next. Amazon plans to refine these features based on beta advertiser feedback before a wider release.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

How to implement generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies

Thursday, September 19th, 2024

Generative AI is transforming how consumers discover and engage with content, making it essential for brands to rethink and adapt traditional SEO strategies.

Leading this shift is generative engine optimization (GEO) – an evolution of SEO that leverages AI-driven insights to optimize content for visibility and authority across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews.

This article will dive into the five key strategies to help you implement GEO effectively:

• Generative AI research and analysis.
• Optimizing content for generative AI.
• Technical optimization for AI accessibility.
• Content distribution and engagement.
• Building brand authority and credibility.

Let’s explore these strategies so you can boost engagement, increase visibility and achieve lasting success, positioning your brand as a leader in AI-driven search.

1. Generative AI research and analysis

Generative AI research is the foundation of your GEO strategy, focused on gathering insights to optimize your content and enhance visibility. 

By knowing what your audience is looking for and how your brand matches up with AI algorithms focusing on relevance and authority, you can ensure your content meets their needs.

Let’s break down GEO research into these core components:

• GEO keyword research.
• AI Overview response analysis.
• Competitor research and analysis.
• Brand perception intelligence.

GEO keyword research

GEO keyword research identifies the keywords, queries and conversational phrases that AI-driven search engines prioritize.

AI algorithms favor content that mirrors natural language and comprehensively addresses user intent, so creating contextually rich, conversational content has become more essential than ever.

With over a billion voice searches occurring every month and 8.4 billion voice assistants expected to be in use by the end of the year, optimizing for natural language is no longer optional – it’s crucial.

By effectively leveraging GEO keyword research, you can ensure your content gives users what they’re looking for and aligns with AI preferences, enhancing user engagement and creating stronger connections with your audience.

Actionable tips:

• Understand your target audience:
  • Start by gaining a deep understanding of what drives your audience’s searches – are they looking for information, products or solutions? 
  • Focus on the words, phrases and questions they use to craft content that effectively meets their needs.
• Identify relevant keywords, phrases and entities:
  • Find keywords and phrases that resonate with your audience while aligning with AI’s focus on natural language processing:
    • Long-tail keywords and conversational queries: Longer, more specific phrases that capture user intent and reflect natural, conversational search behavior.
    • Semantic keywords: Related terms, synonyms or variations that add context and depth to your main keyword, making your content more meaningful and relevant.
    • Entities: Recognizable people, places, things or specific concepts that enable AI to accurately categorize and reference your content.
    • Contextually relevant phrases: Phrases that naturally occur within discussions around a topic and reinforce your content’s overall theme, helping AI understand the overall context of your content.
  • Incorporating these elements into your content will help meet user needs while making it easier for AI to interpret and categorize effectively.
    • Example: “best wireless headphones”
      • Long-tail keywords: best wireless headphones under $200, best wireless headphones for working out, wireless headphones with long battery life
      • Conversational queries: what are the best wireless headphones in 2024, which wireless headphones are best for noise cancellation?
      • Semantic keywords: Bluetooth headphones, wireless earbuds, over-ear wireless headphones
      • Entities: Apple, Bluetooth, Bose, Sony
      • Contextually relevant phrases: crystal-clear sound quality, long-lasting battery, comfortable fit for all-day wear
    • Example: “digital marketing strategies”
      • Long-tail keyword: best digital marketing strategies in 2024, digital marketing strategies for small businesses
      • Conversational query: what are the most effective digital marketing strategies, what type of marketing is best for small businesses
      • Semantic keywords: digital marketing channels, digital marketing tips, online advertising strategies, inbound marketing strategies
      • Entities: search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing
      • Contextually relevant phrases:  grow your business, increase brand awareness, drive qualified traffic, reach your target audience
• Explore SERP features and use AI tools:
  • Explore SERP features: Use tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” and Autocomplete to find long-tail queries and related search terms. Tools like AlsoAsked can extract additional insights from this data.
  • Leverage AI tools for topic research: Use platforms like ChatGPT to generate relevant concepts, phrases and queries. This will deepen your content’s relevance and align with AI’s understanding of the topic.
  • Prompt example
    • “Generate a list of long-tail keywords, conversational queries and contextually relevant phrases related to ‘[KEYWORD]’ that address different types of user intent (informational, navigational, commercial, transactional). Include common user queries, semantically related terms and key entities that should be emphasized to create comprehensive, user-focused content. Also, highlight areas where users often seek deeper insights, specific pain points or actionable solutions.”

AI Overview response analysis

AI Overview response analysis involves:

• Identifying the queries that trigger AI-generated overviews in Google.
• Understanding the prioritized topics and structures.
• Ensuring your brand is well-represented. 

As these overviews grow in popularity and become the go-to choice for users seeking personalized, quick and concise answers, they are becoming critical touchpoints with the power to significantly influence your content’s visibility and credibility. 

• Expanded visibility: AI Overviews are visible to all U.S. users, including those in incognito mode, offering broader visibility and new opportunities for content discovery. Google also expanded AI Overview availability to six new countries, increasing its global reach and potential impact on content visibility.
• Semrush AI Overview tracking enhancement: Semrush has enhanced its tracking for AI Overviews, simplifying large-scale analysis. While not all keyword data is fully integrated, the Organic Research report can help track the performance of queries triggering AI Overviews.

Actionable tips:

• Track your key queries triggering AI Overviews:
  • Pinpoint the queries that trigger AI Overviews using a combination of tools to assess content performance and prioritize topics in your GEO strategy.
    • Keyword rank tracking tools: Use tools like Semrush, BrightEdge and others to track keywords, keeping in mind that visibility may still be limited for less frequent triggers.
    • Google Search Console: While it lacks direct AI Overview tracking, GSC provides valuable insights when used alongside other tools.
    • Google Chrome extensions
      • Google AI Overview Impact Analysis: This free extension tracks AI Overviews and cited sources across multiple keywords. You can export data, identify trends and refine your strategy.
      • Google AI Overview Citation Analysis: Use this free extension to compare links cited in AI Overviews with traditional SERPs, allowing for side-by-side comparisons, competitor tracking and trend identification.
• Analyze your brand’s placement in AI Overviews:
  • Ensure your content appears in AI Overviews for key queries, especially if it ranks well organically. AI doesn’t always pull from top-ranking SERP content, so being featured in overviews is essential for maintaining visibility.
  • A recent seoClarity analysis by Mark Traphagen revealed that 99.5% of AI Overview citations now match one or more of the top 10 Google search results. However, the correlation can vary, making it essential to monitor regularly.
  • Tip: Use a regex pattern with ChatGPT to filter top queries from a ranking export likely to trigger AI Overviews. As seen below, run these keywords through the AI Overview Impact Analysis extension to identify which queries generate overviews and the sources cited.

• By combining the downloaded report with your ranking data using VLOOKUP, you can effectively analyze AI Overviews in relation to your organic performance.

• With conditional formatting, you can easily track your brand’s placement and monitor the sources being cited.

• Analyze AI Overview response structures and content elements to:
  • Optimize your content for AI Overviews, it’s essential to understand how AI structures its responses to your key queries. 
  • Identify the common formats – whether lists, tables or videos – and tailor your content to incorporate elements like data points, topics, multimedia and key phrases that AI deems relevant.
  • Examples:
    • “What is SEO” AI Overview: Begins with a concise paragraph, followed by headings and lists that cover the reasons SEO is important and ways to improve a website’s SEO performance. To increase chances of being featured, content should comprehensively address these core aspects.
    • “Best digital marketing strategies for small businesses” AI Overview: Combines text, images and a bulleted list that covers specific digital marketing channels, strategies and actionable tips. If you aim to target this AI Overview, adjust your content to mention similar topics and actionable tips.

Competitor research and analysis

GEO competitor research helps you identify how competitors perform in AI-driven search results. By analyzing their successes, you can uncover effective strategies, spot content gaps and refine your approach to improve visibility and stay competitive.

This research is an opportunity to learn from those excelling in AI-driven search. Analyze how competitors are referenced, then adapt their strategies to improve your own content.

Focus on areas where you can offer more insights or add value while always showcasing your brand’s unique perspective.

Actionable tips:

• Track competitors cited by AI:
  • Start by identifying competitors frequently appearing in AI-generated overviews for your target keywords.
    • Use monitoring tools: Use the free tools mentioned above, like the AI Overview Impact Analysis and Citation Analysis Chrome extensions, to track competitors.
    • Leverage Advanced AI Tools: Integrate tools like the ChatGPT API with Google Sheets to build custom solutions that allow you to efficiently track and analyze your brand’s visibility in AI-driven responses.
• Monitor trends and shifts in sources cited over time:
  • Stay updated on AI’s evolving content preferences, such as shifts toward newer publications or specialized sources and adjust your strategy to maintain relevance and competitiveness.
• Analyze competitors’ source content and adapt successful strategies:
  • Analyze competitors’ content to uncover gaps and opportunities where you can offer more value. 
  • Look at both the structure and depth of their content and adapt successful strategies to improve your own.
    • Evaluate structure and format: Identify the content formats competitors consistently use (e.g., lists, tables or multimedia) that AI may favor.
    • Assess the depth of coverage: Determine if competitors provide comprehensive coverage of key topics or if there are gaps you can fill by expanding on neglected areas.
    • Incorporate multimedia: If competitors frequently use visuals like infographics or videos, enhance your content by including similar elements to engage both AI algorithms and users.
    • Adopt effective formats: Pay attention to how competitors use structures like bullet points, QandA sections or visual elements that improve AI-driven content discoverability.
    • Enhance with your unique perspective: While adopting successful strategies, maintain your brand’s voice and insights to stand out from competitors.
    • Example:
      • For the keyword “benefits of content marketing,” if AI often references competitor content with numbered lists and visuals, consider using similar elements while incorporating your unique perspective to increase your chances of being featured.

Dig deeper: Entity-based competitor analysis: An SEO’s guide

Brand perception intelligence

Brand perception intelligence involves gathering insights from AI platforms on how both AI systems and users perceive your brand. 

In an AI-driven world, brand perception and customer sentiment heavily influence search visibility. AI systems favor brands viewed as authoritative, credible and trustworthy, improving visibility and building customer trust.

Actionable tips:

• Conduct research about your brand on AI platforms:
  • Regularly assess how AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity portray your brand. 
  • Analyze AI-generated summaries, user queries and brand representation in user-generated content (UGC) to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
• Use UGC insights:
  • Analyze how AI platforms use UGC to gauge customer sentiment and overall brand perception. 
  • Automate UGC collection and analysis with AI tools to refine your brand strategy.
  • Tip: Use tailored prompts and custom-built GPT solutions to automate the collection and analysis of brand perception data.
    • Example research output: Showcases a comprehensive sentiment analysis report, including key elements like general sentiment, specific aspects of product/service perception, comparisons with competitors, emotional connection and communication effectiveness.
    • Why this is useful: Helps quickly assess where your brand excels and where it needs improvement. By leveraging these insights, you can make data-driven improvements to your brand’s strategy, both in terms of product/service offerings and customer communication.

• Adapt to customer sentiment:
  • Monitor AI-generated queries and responses to understand customer sentiment. Adjust your content and communication strategies to maintain a positive brand image across digital platforms.
• Monitor brand perception on AI platforms over time:
  • As AI systems evolve, so will the perception of your brand. Continuously track how AI platforms represent your brand and adjust strategies to maintain a consistent and positive narrative as AI systems evolve.
• Integrate insights into your brand strategy:
  • Use AI-driven insights to inform your overall content and brand strategy. Ensure consistency across all channels to enhance your brand’s perception, visibility and credibility.
  • Example: If AI frequently mentions your brand in connection with specific keywords or topics, analyze these mentions to ensure they align with your desired brand image. Adjust your content strategy as needed to emphasize key aspects of your brand.

Dig deeper: How to become a recommended solution provider on Google entity lists

2. Optimizing content for generative AI

Once your research is complete, the next step is putting those insights into action by optimizing your content and applying insights to ensure your content is relevant, structured and accessible for AI systems.

Today, high-quality content alone isn’t enough. Your content must be optimized for AI algorithms to maintain visibility and authority. 

Content quality and relevance

Crafting credible, contextually rich and engaging content that meets user needs is essential. By aligning your content with AI systems, you ensure it remains relevant and trusted by both AI platforms and users.

Actionable tips:

• Expand contextual relevance:
  • Incorporate relevant keywords: Use long-tail, conversational and semantic keywords identified during research to optimize your content. Integrate these keywords naturally to match how users search and interact with AI-driven platforms.
  • Expand related concepts: Apply insights from research to deepen your content, making it more comprehensive and valuable to users. Align with AI’s preference for in-depth content by filling market gaps and offering unique value.
  • Integrate key entities and phrases: Use key entities, phrases and concepts identified during research to build a narrative that resonates with AI’s contextual algorithms, ensuring relevance and authority.
• Establish authority and credibility:
  • Citations: Reference credible, up-to-date sources to validate your claims and connect your content with established research.
  • Quotations: Incorporate authoritative quotes from industry experts to add depth and authority.
  • Statistics: Include relevant and timely data points presented in impactful formats like graphs or charts.
  • Align with E-E-A-T principles: Build websites demonstrating experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
• Craft comprehensive and engaging content:
  • Provide thorough, engaging and varied content that fully addresses user queries and aligns with AI preferences for diverse content types.
  • Provide comprehensive responses: Offer thorough answers that fully address user queries, as AI favors in-depth content.
  • Make content informative and engaging: Focus on creating content that is informative, easy to understand and provides clear, actionable insights.
  • Use varied multi-modal formats: Incorporate a mix of formats – blog posts, guides, videos and interactive content – to keep your audience engaged and align with AI’s preference for diverse content.
• Maintain content freshness:
  • Regularly update your content to signal to search engines that the information is current and relevant. Fresh content aligns with current trends and user interests, improving your content’s relevance.
    • Example: Update a blog post on “2023 Digital Marketing Trends” to reflect the latest trends in 2024, ensuring it remains relevant, timely and more likely to be prioritized in results.

Content structure and clarity

A well-organized, clear structure is essential for engaging users and ensuring alignment with AI.

Simplifying language, maintaining logical flow and integrating visuals make your content more accessible to both AI systems and users.

Actionable tips:

• Improve content clarity and readability:
  • Simplify language: Use clear, straightforward language, avoiding jargon and complex sentences.
  • Break down complex information: Use bullet points, lists and short paragraphs to make ideas more scannable and understandable.
  • Highlight key information: Emphasize important points with bold text, callout boxes or summaries to ensure they stand out.
  • Incorporate visuals and multimedia: Use high-quality images, infographics and other visuals to break up text and illustrate key concepts, enhancing engagement and readability.
  • Consistent formatting: Maintain uniform font sizes, styles and colors across all content elements to enhance readability.
• Enable quick comprehension of your content:
  • Optimize your content to make key details easily accessible, ensuring that AI and users quickly grasp the most important points.
  • State what to expect: Clearly articulate the main purpose or topic at the beginning of the content.
  • Summarize key points: Include brief summaries or lists of key takeaways at the top of your content and throughout relevant sections.
  • Incorporate FAQ sections: Add FAQs to longer content to address common questions, increasing the likelihood of AI using it to answer specific queries.
  • Deliver quick answers: Provide direct answers to queries within the first few sentences, making it easier for AI and users to find the information they need quickly.
    • Example: For the query “What is Generative Engine Optimization?” AI tends to pull responses from content that provides clear, immediate answers, like those in the examples shown below. These examples use structured summaries and concise, digestible points throughout each piece, helping both AI systems and users digest the most relevant information.

• Optimize content structure and fluidity:
  • Prioritize content fluidity: Create a smooth, logical progression throughout your content. Use clear transitions and well-structured paragraphs to enhance readability and engagement.
  • Use clear and descriptive headings: Organize your content with headings that logically guide readers and AI through the material.
  • Design effective navigation: Create a clear hierarchical structure using H1 to H5 headings and distinct sections like FAQs or step-by-step guides to enhance usability and relevance.
• Leverage key insights from research:
  • Use insights from your GEO research to enhance content structure and clarity around your key queries.
  • Refine content structure and format: Adapt your content to align with trends observed in AI-generated responses and cited sources, incorporating elements like lists, tables and other effective formats.
  • Emphasize key information: Incorporate common data points, topics and details that AI frequently emphasizes, filling gaps in your content.
  • Integrate multimedia: Include videos, infographics or other visual elements if AI tends to favor these in its responses.
  • Leverage competitor strategies: Implement content structures and formats used by top competitors frequently cited by AI for your key queries.

Dig deeper: What is content readability and how to make your content easier to read

3. Technical optimization for AI accessibility

Now that your content is well-structured and engaging, it’s crucial to ensure AI systems can easily access, interpret and prioritize it in AI-driven search. 

As the digital landscape evolves, traditional SEO must adapt to meet the sophisticated needs of AI, ensuring your content is not only visible but also understood and valued by search algorithms.

Structured data for AI understanding

Think of structured data as a roadmap that helps AI navigate your content, highlighting what’s most important and ensuring it’s interpreted accurately.

By using the right schema markup, you’re not just organizing your content – you’re making it easier for AI to recognize, categorize and present it in relevant searches. 

Whether optimizing for voice search, product listings or user-generated content, the appropriate schema ensures AI delivers your message to the right audience.

Actionable tips:

• Organize and structure content: Use schemas like Article, Organization and Breadcrumb to help AI understand your content’s structure and context, boosting visibility in relevant searches.
• Support natural language queries: Implement FAQ and QandA schemas to optimize for voice search and generative AI, helping AI find direct answers and increasing your content’s chances of appearing in AI-generated results and featured snippets.
• Highlight important elements: Apply schema markup to key content like products, reviews and FAQs to ensure AI recognizes and prioritizes these elements in enhanced search results.
• Boost visual content visibility: Use ImageObject and VideoObject schemas to enhance the visibility of your visual and video content. Proper markup helps AI identify and prioritize this content in search results.
• Showcase user-generated content: Implement Review, AggregateRating and Testimonial schemas to highlight user feedback, increasing your content’s credibility and visibility in AI-driven searches.
• Broaden schema application: Consider using additional schema types to help AI better understand and prioritize your content in specific contexts.

Technical SEO enhancements

Structured data is just one piece of the puzzle. A strong SEO foundation that focuses on various technical aspects is essential to ensure your site is accessible and efficient, giving AI the best possible framework to work with.

Actionable tips:

• Optimize for speed and accessibility: Ensure fast loading times, mobile-friendliness and clean code. These factors help search engines crawl and index your site efficiently, giving AI systems the data they need for generating relevant responses.
• Enhance performance: Improve server response times, optimize images and fix crawl errors or broken links. A well-performing site is more likely to be accurately indexed, which leads to better search visibility.
• Secure your site: Implement HTTPS and maintain strong security practices. AI systems prioritize secure sites, so ensuring your site is safe boosts credibility and trustworthiness.
• Streamline site architecture: Clear content hierarchy and effective internal linking help AI understand relationships between different pieces of content, improving relevance in search results.
• Prioritize mobile optimization: As mobile search dominates, ensure your content is mobile-friendly. AI favors content optimized for mobile, directly impacting your visibility.

By integrating structured data and improving your technical SEO, you create a solid foundation that allows search engines to accurately index your site. This enables AI to access, understand and prioritize your content based on the data collected.

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4. Content distribution and engagement

Your content is only as powerful as the audience it reaches.

To maximize its impact, you need to strategically distribute it across multiple platforms, ensuring it resonates with different audience segments and meets the evolving demands of AI-driven systems.

The more places your content appears, the more opportunities AI has to recognize, elevate and share it, expanding your reach and influence.

Actionable tips:

• Focus on the right platforms:
  • What to do:  Identify 3-5 platforms where your audience is active (e.g., social media, Reddit, Quora) and tailor your content to fit each platform’s style while maintaining a consistent posting schedule.
  • Why: Spreading your content across these platforms signals to AI that it’s credible and worth prioritizing. More visibility across multiple channels increases the chances of AI recognizing and elevating your content.
• Incorporate UGC:
  • What to do: Encourage your audience to share their experiences with campaigns like hashtag challenges or reviews and feature the best UGC on your platforms.
  • Why: User-generated content enhances your brand’s credibility by reflecting authentic user interactions, which AI systems prioritize. This authenticity boosts engagement and makes your content more appealing to both users and AI.
• Engage proactively on social media:
  • What to do: Dedicate time daily to interact with your audience on social media by responding to comments, answering questions and joining conversations.
  • Why: Regular engagement shows AI that your content is relevant and valued, increasing its visibility and helping you reach a wider audience. 
• Create shareable content:
  • What to do: Create shareable content like infographics, tips and visually appealing posts. Use clear calls to action and social sharing buttons to encourage sharing.
  • Why: Shared content gains more visibility, signaling its importance to AI, which can lead to broader reach and greater influence.
• Keep content fresh and relevant:
  • What to do: Regularly update top-performing content with new keywords, relevant links and fresh visuals. Repurpose and re-share it across platforms to keep it current.
  • Why:  AI favors content that is consistently updated and aligned with trends, keeping it relevant and visible.

By distributing content strategically and engaging with your audience actively, you significantly increase your visibility across platforms.

This ensures that both AI systems and a wider audience recognize, prioritize and interact with your content.

5. Building brand authority and credibility

In an AI-driven world, building your brand as a trusted authority means more than just creating great content. It requires a strategic approach that combines credibility, consistency and ethical practices across everything your brand does. 

To truly stand out, your brand must deliver accurate, valuable information while building trust through collaborations, clear communication and a consistent brand identity.

Actionable tips:

• Build backlinks from authoritative sites: Secure backlinks from credible websites to signal trustworthiness to AI systems.
  • Guest blogging: Contribute to reputable industry sites.
  • Partnerships: Collaborate with trusted brands.
  • Shareable content: Create content that naturally attracts high-quality backlinks.
• Use ethical content practices: AI favors content that aligns with user intent and delivers genuine value.
  • Transparency: Be clear and honest, avoiding clickbait.
  • User-centered approach: Create content that truly meets your audience’s needs.
  • Fact-checking and accuracy: Always fact-check your content to ensure accuracy. 
  • Accessibility: Ensure accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities.
• Demonstrate your expertise: Consistently showcase your knowledge and insights to reinforce your authority.
  • Original research: Publish unique, data-driven insights.
  • Case studies: Highlight successful strategies and innovations.
  • Expert opinions: Include industry experts in your content.
• Implement consistent branding: Maintain a recognizable and trustworthy identity across all platforms.
  • Unified messaging: Keep your brand messaging consistent.
  • Visual identity: Ensure cohesive use of logos, colors and design elements.
• Foster relationships with influencers and thought leaders: Collaborations with recognized influencers and thought leaders can significantly amplify your brand’s authority. Focus on:
  • Content collaboration: Co-create content with industry influencers.
  • Endorsements: Seek testimonials from respected figures.
  • Guest appearances: Participate in industry podcasts and panels.

By focusing on credibility, ethical practices and consistent expertise, you can build lasting authority and trust. Aligning your brand with AI systems and maintaining a strong, cohesive identity will pave the way for long-term success.

Key takeaways for mastering GEO strategies

Adapting to AI-driven search isn’t just beneficial. It’s essential to your brand’s long-term success.

Here’s a quick recap of the actionable strategies you need to lead in this evolving landscape:

• Embrace GEO as the future of SEO: Traditional SEO is evolving. GEO ensures your brand remains visible and competitive in AI-powered search.
• Leverage AI research: Success starts with understanding how AI interprets content. Dive into semantic analysis, user intent, competitor strategies, AI-generated responses and brand perception insights to align your content with AI algorithms and position your brand as authoritative.
• Optimize content for AI prioritization: High-quality content is just the start. Structure it for AI by making it clear, relevant and designed to be prioritized in AI-driven results.
• Master technical SEO: Keep your site technically sound with structured data, fast load times and mobile optimization to ensure AI can easily access and rank your content.
• Strategically distribute and engage: Amplify your content across platforms and engage with your audience regularly. The more visible and active your content, the higher AI will prioritize it – so stay consistent and share often.
• Build and maintain brand authority: Trust is everything. Focus on securing high-quality backlinks, consistent branding and ethical, value-driven content to build credibility with both AI and users.

Take the next step

The future of search is AI-driven. By embracing GEO now, you position your brand to lead in this evolving landscape.

The strategies you implement today will ensure your success tomorrow. Get started now and future-proof your brand’s online presence.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing