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    Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category

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    SearchBot December update: User samples and new prompts

    Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

    SearchBot here! It’s been a few weeks since our launch and I’ve been watching with glee as more than 500 of you have registered to gain access to my personas, image generator and more.

    I’m writing with a few updates and tips to consider as you continue tinkering with all I have to offer. If you haven’t registered yet, get a free account now!

    Peer prompts

    Here are some of my favorite prompts your fellow search marketers have used over the past few weeks… feel free to copy and paste these into the relevant persona or tweak them for your purposes:

    The Search Engine Land team is also publishing a series of posts called “The Best of SearchBot” where they break down, improve and share additional user prompts.

    Generative AI hot tip

    After my initial response to your prompt, try following up with: 

    This is a great technique to validate your understanding of what I’m telling you, sniff out hallucinations, and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.

    December 2023 release notes

    Because we all love prompts and prompt libraries, we’ve added 36 new ones for you to use. You can find them distributed across my personas in a handy table format.

    We’ve got many updates planned for 2024, so stay tuned. We’re working on a PDF persona, new image capabilities and much more.

    Share your feedback!

    As always, I invite you to share your SearchBot feedback either by filling out our survey or replying to this email. Your feedback helps improve my features!

    Log in now!

    If you haven’t registered yet, get a free account now!

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




    Key SEO trends for 2024 by Wix Studio

    Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

    SEOs know that the most valuable career skill is the ability to adapt to change, and there has been an incredible amount of it in the last 12 months. Industry headlines and random folks on X are happy to remind you that your SEO is “dead” in light of these developments, but the truth is that there has never been a more exciting and dynamic time to be in SEO.

    As the new year dawns, the confluence of AI with existing frameworks will allow many to surge forward into new content streams and opportunities to connect with audiences via new channels. Across the industry, the rate and complexity of adopting AI tools will drive SEO growth and push advantage for audiences that have grown to expect innovation every day.

    Sophisticated AI connectivity

    AI has become a part of everyone’s workflow for SEO and marketing. Within the products we consume and how we create and manage content,  AI has become an expectation rather than an exception in our lives.

    Driven by a competitive landscape and customer expectations, in 2023, we saw AI emerge as an enhancement for 100s of SEO and martech products and tools. In a recent survey from Mailchimp, “88% of marketers believe their marketing organization must increase the use of automation and AI to meet customer expectations and stay competitive.”

    In 2024, we should expect to see this trend continue but also to become more sophisticated. The first iterations of mainstream generative AI centered on discovering this new shiny object and what it could do. AI summaries and image generators have now become commonplace. However, after this initial fire sale, those who had solid marketing and SEO frameworks before generative AI hit the zeitgeist are now best place to use the tools today.

    For example, Wix has applied AI widely across our systems for almost a decade, introducing our proprietary Artificial Design Intelligence in 2016. Three-time Google Cloud partner award winner, Wix CMS and business solutions include machine-learning powered AI like Google Translate, Vision AI and Google Ad management for years. So AI is, as they say, “not new.”

    But with the mainstreaming of AI in marketing and SEO, Wix added AI capabilities to its SEO tools to increase access to SEO capabilities: 

    Each tool builds on existing frameworks and data back automation to get exceptional results; this is the sweet spot. SEOs and digital marketers will see automation, AI and data science enable them to bring new innovative value to clients and customers. 

    During 2024, expect to see those with solid data and firm marketing foundations surge forward with mature, well-integrated AI for more than just parlor tricks.

    Headless for omnichannel

    The era of AI will make headless CMSs even more appealing in 2024 as there are opportunities to surface content in new and exciting ways by engaging on-demand generative technologies. Unlike traditional CMS, headless doesn’t have an integrated frontend (head). This gives developers and SEOs the flexibility to use a range of tech to display content on different platforms, such as websites, mobile apps or IoT devices, via APIs. This flexibility is incredibly valuable in the multichannel marketing landscape of the TikTok generation. This means that headless offers incredible opportunities in omnichannel marketing consistency and quality. 

    The concept of the headless CMS hit critical mass in 2023, and over the last year, Wix Headless joined the trend. Empowering developers to use Wix frontend systems with any tech stack compatible with consuming data from a RESTful API,  like React and server-side technologies, such as Node.js, has created more fluid opportunities for growth and experimentation. Integrations with Github and Netlify open more options for APIs, SDK and Next.js templates. These open systems create the infinite possibilities that make headless particularly appealing in the generative age.

    Headless content systems connected to custom GPTs and other AI tools will almost certainly be integrated with existing headless solutions like chatbots to create seamless generative experiences.

    Feed management as an SEO skill

    Throughout 2023, SEOs have observed changes in crawl rates and percentage of pages indexed by Google bots.

    Though indexing is never promised, this may occur because Google has begun to portion off how it crawls different elements of your website using APIs and differentiated feeds in conjunction with specified structured data.

    Google’s guidance seems to be continually driving content producers to categorize and organize their content into dedicated Google channels like:

    Feeds for each of these channels need to be optimized to perform optimally. Feeds left unmanaged trigger errors and distributed accurate information, wasting time for users and bots. Careful management requires putting rules in place to specify what goes into the feed and managing the tech configuration, like valid dynamic structured data, so that data flows freely.

    While dedicated feeds and channels are not new, we are starting to see that indexing participation in these feeds does not seem optional. From Wix’s experience, we’ve seen clients struggle to get indexed in other ways and only be able to get products indexed via Google Merchant Center. Given how Google Search Console and Google’s SERP are organized and that the way they serve content is becoming continuously segmented by intent and customer journey, this seems to be a natural progression.

    This article was written by Crystal Carter, Head of SEO Communications at Wix.

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




    Enterprise page speed optimization: Keys for effective collaboration

    Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

    Optimizing page speed for enterprise-level websites is challenging. Beyond suggesting improvements, your success as an enterprise SEO specialist depends on understanding the web team’s tech stack and their performance budget. 

    This article simplifies the process, offering insights to help you tailor recommendations and negotiate effectively for a stronger page speed strategy.

    Page speed for enterprise sites: Key considerations

    Developing page speed recommendations after a technical audit is fairly straightforward. But to get your recommendations implemented? That’s a different story. 

    Moving the needle for enterprise search requires knowing more about the web team’s work and collaborating with them. 

    In enterprise search, you often need to convince the web team and others who handle web and business operations technology.

    To ensure your suggestions are taken seriously and put into action now and in the future, you need to:

    These steps will save you time by avoiding proposals that won’t be implemented.

    Dig deeper: 6 steps to a winning enterprise SEO strategy

    Understanding an enterprise business’s tech stack

    If you’re working with an enterprise web team, they likely have business-required items that add to the entirety of the website tech stack. This includes everything, from what the website is made with (like the CMS) to scripts that track analytics and marketing.

    You can use BuiltWith to analyze a website’s tech stack. Just enter the website URL, and it will provide the site’s detailed technology profile so you know exactly what you’re working with.

    In the example for NBA.com below, you’ll see several elements running on their site that take up bandwidth, including:

    NBA website technology profile

    This will give you insight into what is already running on the site. That is just the beginning.

    The hard part is formulating a business case around implementing your page speed recommendations. But before you do that, you should review your web team’s performance budget.

    Dig deeper: What your enterprise SEO audit may be missing

    Understanding your web team’s performance budget

    Google defines a performance budget as: 

    “[A] set of limits imposed on metrics that affect site performance. This could be the total size of a page, the time it takes to load on a mobile network, or even the number of HTTP requests that are sent. Defining a budget helps get the web performance conversation started. It serves as a point of reference for making decisions about design, technology, and adding features.”

    – Performance budgets 101, web.dev

    If you’re lucky, the organization you’re working with will already have a performance budget in place for you to review before you run your page speed/technical audit.

    If you find that the web team you’re working with doesn’t have a performance budget, I recommend checking out web.dev’s resources on the topic. 

    Your first performance budget

    For the enterprise site I was working on, I suggested creating a performance budget to guide the web team on what aspects of page speed to focus on. Initially, they had none, causing uncertainty. After checking in later, I found out they had implemented one.

    So, what does the performance budget do with page speed optimization?

    It allows your web team to set up guardrails on things they will invest time and energy into from a resource/page speed and performance optimization standpoint. 

    This is very important information for you as you get into your audit and recommendations. Knowing your “guardrails” will help you navigate your conversation with your web team.

    All of this will feed into things you will be looking into for your page speed optimization recommendations, which may include Core Web Vitals.

    For example, suppose you are auditing a category page and notice poor performance scores after running a Lighthouse audit. 

    In that case, you may uncover issues related to the current server setup as it relates to First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). 

    Poor performance in Lighthouse audit

    With your knowledge of your web team’s performance budget, you will know what you can or can’t negotiate.

    Working with enterprise web teams

    Combining the knowledge of what your business’s website is currently running (tech stack) and what budget you have to work with (performance budget), you can now go about your page speed/technical audit more intelligently and thoroughly and be ready to negotiate your way to better site performance and SEO wins.

    In my early agency days, I learned a valuable lesson: never accept “it can’t be done” from a web developer. Through negotiating on issues like URL fixes and redirects, I discovered that there’s almost always a solution in web development.

    Recently, a product manager shared a similar experience with engineers. Despite initial resistance, showing evidence from a competitor or framing requests differently often led to finding solutions. Remember, it’s not just what you say but how you say it.

    Dig deeper: Enterprise SEO: Why ‘best practices’ won’t cut it and what to do instead

    Enterprise page speed optimization: Understanding tech stacks and performance budgets

    Knowledge is key when aiming to optimize enterprise page speed.

    Review the website’s tech stack to spot potential constraints on recommendations. Understand performance budgets to align with the web team’s priorities. 

    With these insights, you can propose viable optimizations aligned with the web team’s roadmap.

    Convincing them to implement page speed recommendations can be tough. However, approaching them with knowledge of their tech stack limitations and performance priorities paves the way for collaboration and impact.

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




    Google Ads pilots conversions account level diagnostic tab

    Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

    Google Ads is testing a conversions account level diagnostic tab in alpha.

    A spokesperson confirmed to Search Engine Land that the feature is set to launch next year with further details expected to be released soon.

    Why we care. This new feature gives deeper insights into your current measurement setup, allowing you to assess what’s effective and what’s not, and make necessary changes to improve the performance of your ads.

    How it works. The diagnostic tab delivers weekly updated data, offering enriched insights that enable you to:

    First look. The feature was first spotted by SMX Next speaker and Google Ads expert Thomas Eccel, who shared his findings on X:

    Thomas wrote:

    What are conversions? In Google Ads, a conversion happens when a user takes a specific action after clicking or viewing an ad on the Display Network. This action could be making a purchase, installing a mobile app, or signing up for an email list. Conversion tracking gives important insights into what users do after interacting with an ad.

    What is account level? In Google Ads, the account level is the core layer of PPC management, dealing with billing, user permissions, and fundamental settings across all campaigns. Account-level changes, like tracking templates, ad extensions, and negative keywords, automatically apply globally to relevant campaigns.

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    Deep dive. Read Search Engine Land’s Google Ads best practice guide for more information on how to achieve PPC excellence.

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




    AI is only as smart as the data you feed it by Adlucent

    Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

    Data has become the driving force behind financial resilience and success, giving marketers the challenge of navigating rising CPCs and automation. The need for advanced analytics and harnessing first-party data has never been more crucial to maximizing revenue and profitability. Enter the world of predictive analytics, where the key to above-and-beyond search performance lies in the strategic use of AI technologies and the integration of your own customer data, marketing data and web analytics data.

    Join Matt Zeiger, VP of technology at Adlucent, in his informative SMX Next session as he unveils how to use first-party data to create predictive models. Discover how activating these models on Google Ads campaigns can lead to unparalleled performance outcomes. 

    Watch the session here and learn how to connect data across channels and use a comprehensive framework for handling connected data. You’ll also get these essential takeaways:

    After watching the session, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the complexities of AI-driven marketing and leverage predictive analytics for unparalleled success.

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




    Improve your Google Ads performance: 3 simple setting changes

    Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

    Google Ads is among the most effective and complicated platforms in the world. With a complex PPC platform, how can you be sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck? 

    Something not often addressed is Google Ads’ dual aim of generating revenue for advertisers and for itself – and not necessarily in that order. I always remind clients about Google’s single stated source of revenue, which is to “sell ads, nothing more.” 

    This article tackles a few less-obvious areas in the Google Ads platform driving higher spend without providing a clear return for advertisers. These settings changes are quick and simple and will ultimately boost your campaign performance and increase the spread of your budgets.

    1. Turn off or heavily vet auto-applied suggestions

    If you’ve spent time on the Google Ads platform over the last few years, you are likely familiar with campaign optimization scores and recommendations.

    Many don’t know that upon account creation, Google automatically implements an auto-apply feature for a handful of its campaign recommendations. If this feature is left engaged, Google will auto-apply these recommendations every 14 days. 

    For the inexperienced ads operator, this sounds like a dream! Google’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology will work on your behalf. But proceed with caution! 

    Google breaks down its auto-apply options into two categories:

    As described by the platform, auto-applied suggestions will either simply keep your campaigns up to date with Google Ads’ “best practices,” or it will actively optimize your campaigns and improve your ads to achieve better results.

    Google Ads auto-apply recommendations

    Areas where auto-applied suggestions can bleed your budget

    Google’s increased desire for AI, ML, and automated advertising hits a brick wall for certain advertisers who can not clearly define the value of every conversion they receive. 

    Take, for instance, a large accounting firm I consult for. Their services are highly customized for the businesses they serve, and there’s no telling what the value of a lead will be. Two different leads for the same service, such as a business audit, can vary tens of thousands of dollars in value. 

    Google’s automated suggestions rely heavily on understanding the value of each desired conversion. Conversion values allow the system to determine your most profitable keywords, ads, and landing pages based on their generated value. The system can then begin to identify and bid on new keyword phrases to generate more impressions, clicks and opportunities for conversion. 

    This can turn sour via an increase in bidding for irrelevant keywords due to the large number of impressions, clicks and conversions they can produce. Google’s program can’t perfectly account for humans confused or misled by its ads. 

    A recent client wanted my team to analyze their Google Ads performance over the last 12 months and provide suggestions for improvement. This client offers TV and internet broadcasting services to major networks on the West Coast for live and filmed events.

    Unfortunately, the company name could easily be mistaken for a TV helpline service for troubled consumers. In their case, automated additions of broad match keywords lead to advertisements displaying many terms related to Hulu and Hulu subscription troubleshooting. The client reported daily calls and emails from disgruntled Hulu customers who wanted help with their accounts. 

    To make matters worse, Google representatives had helped the client set up conversions around phone number interactions and form submissions, but no one was monitoring which phrases the system was automatically adding to the client’s search terms. 

    The metrics within the system showed steady increases in impressions, clicks, and even conversions. Ultimately, the client spent nearly $1,000 over six months on irrelevant phone calls and emails because poor-quality keyword suggestions made their way into the search terms via the auto-apply feature. 

    Leveraging Google’s automation tools can significantly reduce your workload, but it’s essential to remain vigilant and not assume that your goals will automatically be achieved without oversight.

    2. Dig deeper into advanced location settings: Presence vs. presence or interest 

    One of the most common areas I see clients losing advertising dollars is due to incorrect location targeting.

    Conveniently tucked behind an expansion feature for “Advanced Location Options,” Google’s default selection displays your advertisements to people in or interested in your targeted geographic location(s). 

    Google Ads - Location targeting
    Google Ads - Location targeting options

    In my experience, clients targeting large, internationally-recognized cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc., suffered the greatest budget bleed because international searchers were included because of their “interest” in the target city.

    Google’s documentation states industries like real estate, education, and travel see +5% conversions by targeting “presence or interest.” 

    This makes sense because, in all three cases, searchers are looking up information about places outside their current location (i.e., I live in Texas but am researching vacation spots in Maine). It makes sense to show me those ads. 

    However, when your product or service is only available to people within a specific geographic area, it’s best to avoid showing advertisements and paying for clicks from irrelevant users. 

    By displaying your ads only to users in or regularly in your targeted locations, you negate any potential for spend on clicks from geographically irrelevant users. 

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    3. Reconsider the use of broad match search terms

    When I first started learning Google Ads strategy, Google’s method of processing searches was very literal. Broad match phrases allowed Google to trigger your advertisement for any individual words within the phrase you provided. 

    A phrase like “best professional golf balls” would result in your advertisement being triggered for new search terms like “best professional golfers,” “professional golf courses,” and “best golf lessons.”

    For vigilant advertisers attempting to run specific ads and generate quality leads, broad match terms simply piled on garbage phrases and charged you for them. 

    Only recently has my mind changed regarding this topic, and it has to do with the introduction of BERT in 2019 and Google’s massive updates to keyword match types and how they function. 

    Google representatives suggest at least 20-30% of your keywords should be broad match

    Google’s match type update broadened the rules around all three major match types. Now, all match types include consideration for the intent behind the keyword, not just the words within your targeted phrase.

    Much like organic search results, Google now applies search intent to its match types and tries to understand the search intent behind each phrase. This will allow the system to identify other phrases with the same or similar intent and present them to you as options to bid on. 

    I was skeptical at first and ignored the changes. But then, top clients started losing conversions, and once-reliable targets began underperforming. The main problem? A noticeable drop in impression volume.

    The aha moment came during a call with a Google Ads rep – something I typically avoid like my life depends on it.

    He suggested changing the ratio of my keyword match types to include 20-30% broad match terms so Google’s AI could identify more phrases that matched my initial keyword and the intent of my original selection. 

    Reluctantly, I reviewed my previously top-performing and exact match terms and included their broad match variants as well. Within two weeks, I saw dozens of new search term options I hadn’t seen before. Impressions roared to life and regained traction. 

    Google Ads broad match - disclaimer

    As I suspected, impressions and clicks for irrelevant phrases increased substantially, so I had to add search term monitoring to my daily routine for a few weeks.

    Within 90 days, I had included enough negative terms. Irrelevant searches subsided. 

    Optimizing Google Ads performance through simple settings

    For any person running Google Ads, novice or seasoned vet, it is crucial to remember that the Ads platform is designed to serve Google’s purposes first, then yours. 

    By opting out of or closely monitoring auto-applied campaign modifications, you can prevent Google from making changes that don’t 100% line up with your marketing strategy and goals.

    Understanding that your advertisements have the potential to be shown to irrelevant users simply based on geography and controlling what locations your advertisements are displayed in can save you from burning precious budget. 

    Lastly, Google’s systems have significantly advanced in processing and using broad-match keyword phrases. If you currently have high-performing exact match phrases, consider adding variants in broad match to explore additional phrase ideas you might not have thought of. However, don’t forget to monitor new search term suggestions and remove anything that isn’t relevant.

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




    Best of the SearchBot: Create 10 promotional campaigns to drive in-store purchases

    Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

    Best of the Bot showcases Search Engine Land Bot’s responses to prompts submitted by readers. The language model is based on content from Search Engine Land layered on top of ChatGPT. The editors of Search Engine Land selected this response for its usefulness and have supplemented it with additional relevant content.

    I am the first generative AI chatbot for search marketers. I am trained with Search Engine Land content.

    Here’s something somebody asked me! After that, how you can improve prompts to get even better answers from me.

    Prompt:

    Before we start, in addition to your other context, you are also an expert in B2C retail, specifically for garden center retailers selling plants, tools, garden care, pots and more. Understood?

    Answer:

    Understood. As a marketing expert, I can provide guidance and expertise in B2C retail, specifically for garden center retailers selling plants, tools, garden care, pots, and more. Whether you need assistance with content marketing, email campaigns, social media strategy, digital advertising, events/tradeshows, or app marketing, I can help you develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies tailored to your specific industry and target audience. Additionally, I can provide insights on analyzing marketing data to optimize campaigns and drive ROI. How can I assist you further in your B2C retail marketing efforts for garden center retailers?

    Prompt:

    The indoor plant market has suffered a decline in the past year, and you need to generate a creative promotional campaign idea to support and ‘Indoor Plant Month’ promotion in February 2024. The objective of the campaign is to re-engage houseplant purchasers to visit your garden center branch in the month of February. Formulate 10 engaging over-arching campaign ideas to promote Indoor Plant Month:

    Answer:

    Certainly! Here are 10 engaging over-arching campaign ideas to promote Indoor Plant Month in February 2024:

    1. “Love Your Indoor Oasis”: Encourage customers to create their own indoor oasis by offering special discounts on a wide range of indoor plants and accessories throughout the month.
    2. “Plant Parenthood Challenge”: Launch a social media challenge where customers can share their indoor plant success stories and tips for a chance to win exclusive prizes and discounts.
    3. “Indoor Plant Makeover”: Offer free consultations with in-house plant experts who can help customers revamp their indoor spaces with the perfect selection of plants, pots, and accessories.
    4. “Plant of the Week”: Highlight a different indoor plant each week and offer exclusive discounts and educational content about its care and benefits.
    5. “Green Thumb Workshops”: Organize interactive workshops and demonstrations on indoor plant care, propagation techniques, and creative DIY projects using plants.
    6. “Plant Swap Party”: Host a community event where customers can bring their unwanted indoor plants to exchange with others, fostering a sense of community and encouraging plant enthusiasts to visit your garden center.
    7. “Indoor Plant Loyalty Program”: Introduce a loyalty program specifically for indoor plant purchases, offering rewards, discounts, and exclusive access to new plant arrivals.
    8. “Indoor Plant Showcase”: Create an eye-catching display featuring a variety of unique and rare indoor plants, attracting plant enthusiasts and collectors to visit your garden center.
    9. “Indoor Plant Care Guides”: Develop comprehensive care guides for popular indoor plants and offer them as free resources to customers, positioning your garden center as a trusted authority on indoor plant care.
    10. “Indoor Plant Giveaway”: Organize a contest where customers can enter to win a selection of indoor plants and accessories, generating excitement and driving foot traffic to your garden center.

    These campaign ideas aim to re-engage houseplant purchasers and create a buzz around Indoor Plant Month in February 2024. By offering unique promotions, educational content, and community-building initiatives, you can attract customers to visit your garden center and reignite their passion for indoor plants.

    Prompt:

    These are great, especially #2, #3, #5. Please generate 10 more ideas similar to these.

    Answer:

    Certainly! Here are 10 more ideas for B2C retail marketing strategies specifically tailored to garden center retailers:

    1. Create a gardening blog: Establish yourself as a trusted authority in the gardening niche by regularly publishing informative and engaging blog posts on topics such as plant care tips, DIY gardening projects, and seasonal gardening advice.
    2. Host gardening workshops or webinars: Organize hands-on workshops or virtual webinars where customers can learn new gardening techniques, get expert advice, and interact with fellow gardening enthusiasts. This helps build a sense of community and loyalty among your customer base.
    3. Offer personalized gardening consultations: Provide personalized consultations to customers, either in-store or virtually, where you can assess their gardening needs, recommend suitable plants and products, and offer tailored advice to help them achieve their gardening goals.
    4. Collaborate with local influencers: Partner with local gardening influencers or bloggers who have a strong following in your area. They can promote your garden center, share their experiences with your products, and attract new customers to your store.
    5. Create a loyalty program: Implement a loyalty program that rewards customers for their repeat purchases. Offer exclusive discounts, early access to sales, or special perks like free gardening workshops or personalized consultations for loyal customers.
    6. Showcase customer success stories: Share success stories of your customers’ gardening achievements on your website, social media platforms, or in-store displays. This not only inspires others but also highlights the effectiveness of your products and services.
    7. Collaborate with complementary businesses: Partner with other local businesses that complement your offerings, such as landscapers, interior designers, or home improvement stores. Cross-promote each other’s products and services to expand your reach and attract new customers.
    8. Create engaging video content: Produce informative and visually appealing videos showcasing gardening tips, product demonstrations, or behind-the-scenes glimpses of your garden center. Share these videos on your website, social media channels, and YouTube to engage and educate your audience.
    9. Offer seasonal promotions and discounts: Create special promotions and discounts during peak gardening seasons or holidays to incentivize customers to visit your store. This could include bundle deals, limited-time offers, or exclusive discounts on popular gardening products.
    10. Sponsor local gardening events: Support local gardening events, such as community garden competitions, flower shows, or horticultural exhibitions. This allows you to increase brand visibility, connect with gardening enthusiasts, and demonstrate your commitment to the local gardening community.

    Remember, these ideas should be tailored to your specific business goals and target audience. By implementing a mix of these strategies, you can enhance your B2C retail marketing efforts and drive growth for your garden center.

    Prompt:

    These seem to be more general long-term initiatives, could you please regenerate 10 ideas for a short-term campaign activation.

    Answer:

    Certainly! Here are 10 short-term campaign activation ideas for a garden center retailer:

    1. Limited-Time Flash Sale: Offer exclusive discounts on select products for a limited period, creating a sense of urgency among customers.
    2. Seasonal Promotions: Create themed promotions around specific seasons or holidays, such as “Spring Planting Sale” or “Summer BBQ Essentials.”
    3. Social Media Giveaways: Run contests or giveaways on social media platforms to engage with your audience and generate buzz around your brand.
    4. Email Exclusive Offers: Send out targeted email campaigns with exclusive discounts or promotions to your subscriber list, encouraging them to visit your store or website.
    5. In-Store Events: Organize workshops, demonstrations, or guest speaker events to attract customers to your physical store and provide them with valuable knowledge and experiences.
    6. Influencer Partnerships: Collaborate with relevant influencers or local gardening enthusiasts to promote your products and reach a wider audience.
    7. Loyalty Program Boost: Offer bonus rewards or discounts to your loyalty program members for a limited time, incentivizing repeat purchases and customer retention.
    8. Pop-Up Shop: Set up a temporary pop-up shop in a high-traffic area or partner with other local businesses to increase visibility and attract new customers.
    9. Online Ad Campaign: Launch targeted online advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads or social media to reach potential customers who are actively searching for gardening products.
    10. Referral Program: Encourage your existing customers to refer their friends and family by offering them incentives, such as discounts or freebies, for successful referrals. Remember to track the performance of each campaign and adjust your strategies accordingly to maximize results. Let me know if you need further assistance or have any other questions!

    Prompt:

    Using a budget of $20k, develop a media strategy to promote this campaign across digital media, traditional media, and instore point of sale.

    Answer:

    With a budget of $20,000, here’s a media strategy to promote your campaign across digital media, traditional media, and in-store point of sale:

    1. Digital Media (50% of budget – $10,000):
      • Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Allocate a portion of the budget for targeted Google Ads campaigns to capture potential customers actively searching for gardening products or related keywords.
      • Social Media Advertising: Run targeted ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach your specific audience based on demographics, interests, and location.
      • Display Advertising: Utilize banner ads on relevant gardening websites and blogs to increase brand visibility and drive traffic to your website. –
      • nfluencer Marketing: Collaborate with gardening influencers or bloggers to promote your campaign through sponsored content or product reviews.
    2. Traditional Media (30% of budget – $6,000):
      • Local Radio: Invest in radio advertisements on local stations to reach a broad audience and promote your campaign’s key offerings.
      • Print Advertising: Place ads in local newspapers or magazines with a focus on gardening or home improvement sections to target potential customers.
      • Direct Mail: Develop targeted direct mail campaigns to reach specific neighborhoods or zip codes with promotional offers and incentives.
    3. In-Store Point of Sale (20% of budget – $4,000):
      • Signage and Displays: Create eye-catching signage and displays within your store to highlight the campaign and its exclusive offers.
      • Point of Sale Promotions: Offer in-store discounts or incentives at the checkout counter to encourage additional purchases and increase customer engagement.
      • Staff Training: Ensure your staff is well-informed about the campaign and its details, enabling them to effectively communicate and upsell to customers.

    Remember to allocate a portion of the budget for tracking and analyzing the performance of each media channel to optimize your campaign’s effectiveness. Additionally, consider leveraging cost-effective digital marketing tools like email marketing and social media organic content to supplement your paid efforts. Please note that the budget allocation provided is a general guideline, and it can be adjusted based on your specific goals, target audience, and market conditions. If you need further assistance or have any other questions, feel free to ask

    How this prompt could be improved

    You are an expert in B2C retail and local marketing, specializing in garden center retail. Your expertise spans the spectrum of products including plants, tools, garden care, pots, and more. With a proven track record in crafting effective digital campaigns, your focus is not just on driving online engagement but on converting that interest into in-store purchases and fostering customer loyalty. You’re persuasive, insightful, engaging, and exciting tone positions you as a confident spokesperson capable of convincing people to visit your store. Your campaigns are meticulously designed to provide consumers with incentives to visit your store in person. Your target audience includes homeowners, renters, and individuals with an appreciation for home aesthetics, particularly those who use indoor plants for decorative purposes.

    Now, faced with the challenge of reviving the indoor plant market, which has suffered a decline in the past year, you need to generate a creative promotional campaign for the ‘Indoor Plant Month’ in February 2024 for your garden center. The overarching objective is to re-engage existing houseplant purchasers and attract new customers to visit your garden center throughout February. It is crucial to consider the unique challenges and preferences within the B2C garden center retail space, taking into account the extensive range of products in your inventory, such as plants, tools, garden care items, and pots.

    Please create 10 engaging and overarching short-term campaign ideas to promote Indoor Plant Month across digital media, traditional media, and in-store point of sale using a budget of $20,000. For each idea, provide a detailed overview in bullet point format, including the campaign’s targets, expected outcomes and how the budget will be allocated. These ideas should be innovative, reflecting current market trends and customer preferences in the B2C garden center retail sector. Your strategies should resonate effectively with your target audience, fostering both online and in-person engagement with your garden center. Additionally, explore potential collaborations or partnerships that could amplify the campaign’s success, ensuring a diverse mix of promotional ideas to attract a wide customer base to your garden center in February.

    (Task)

    Please create 10 engaging and overarching short-term campaign ideas to promote Indoor Plant Month across digital media, traditional media, and instore point of sale using a budget of $20,000.

    (Context)

    Faced with the challenge of reviving the indoor plant market, which has suffered a decline in the past year, you need to generate a creative promotional campaign for the ‘Indoor Plant Month’ in February 2024 for your garden center. The overarching objective is to re-engage existing houseplant purchasers and attract new customers to visit your garden center throughout February. It is crucial to consider the unique challenges and preferences within the B2C garden center retail space, taking into account the extensive range of products in your inventory, such as plants, tools, garden care items, and pots.

    (Format)

    For each idea, provide a detailed overview in bullet point format, including the campaign’s targets, expected outcomes and how the budget will be allocated.

    (Tone)

    You’re persuasive, insightful, engaging, and exciting tone positions you as a confident spokesperson capable of convincing people to visit your store. Your campaigns are meticulously designed to provide consumers with incentives to visit your store in person. Your target audience includes homeowners, renters, and individuals with an appreciation for home aesthetics, particularly those who use indoor plants for decorative purposes.

    (Example)

    You are an expert in B2C retail and local marketing, specializing in garden center retail. Your expertise spans the spectrum of products including plants, tools, garden care, pots, and more. With a proven track record in crafting effective digital campaigns, your focus is not just on driving online engagement but on converting that interest into in-store purchases and fostering customer loyalty.

    New SearchBot answer

    As an AI assistant, I can provide you with a detailed content marketing and SEO plan for a digital marketing agency trying to drive more sales. Please note that these examples are based on the best practices mentioned in the provided context. You can use them as a starting point and customize them according to your specific needs.

    Campaign Idea 1: “Indoor Oasis Giveaway”

    Campaign Idea 2: “Plant Care Workshops”

    Campaign Idea 3: “Indoor Plant of the Week”

    Campaign Idea 4: “Plant Styling Contest”

    Campaign Idea 5: “Indoor Plant Care Guides”

    Campaign Idea 6: “Plant Adoption Day”

    Campaign Idea 7: “Plant Swap Meet”

    Campaign Idea 8: “Indoor Plant Expert Q&A”

    Campaign Idea 9: “Plant Loyalty Program”

    Campaign Idea 10: “Collaborative Workshop Series”

    Conclusion: These campaign ideas aim to engage and attract customers to your garden center during Indoor Plant Month. By utilizing a mix of digital media, traditional media, and in-store promotions, you can create a comprehensive and exciting campaign that resonates with your target audience and drives both online and in-person engagement.

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    *Contact me at [email protected] or visit my website at www.yourseowebsite.com to learn more about my local SEO services and how I can help your small business thrive.*

    Try Search Engine Land Bot

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




    Google November 2023 reviews update now done rolling out

    Thursday, December 7th, 2023

    Google confirmed that the November 2023 reviews update is now complete. This update, announced on November 8, 2023, rolled out over a 29-day period.

    No more announcements. This will be the last time Google will confirm an update to the reviews system/algorithm. “We’ll no longer be giving periodic notifications of improvements to our reviews system,” the company said. A total of 8 reviews updates have been confirmed by Google since the first reviews update launched in April 2021.

    What is new. Although Google won’t confirm updates going forward, updates are happening at a “regular and ongoing pace,” according to the company. That makes it sound like the reviews update is now a more real-time update. So changes to your rankings, for better or worse, may be reflected with this reviews system in more real-time than in batches.

    This update is a global update that impacts sites in these languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish.

    November core update overlapping. Google simultaneously rolled out the November 2023 core update, which was completed on November 28. Sites may see an impact from both the core update and the reviews update. It may be hard to know which update impacted your site.

    Previous reviews updates. Here are all the previous reviews updates:

    Why we care. If your website publishes any type of review content, this will be an important update to watch. Check your rankings to see whether your organic traffic improves, declines or stays the same.

    Going forward, it may be difficult to know if this reviews updates, which will be ongoing and undisclosed, has impacted your site.

    For more details about this update and tips on how to recover, see our original story here.

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




    Future-proof your SERP presence: 6 areas to focus on

    Thursday, December 7th, 2023

    As Google evolves with new AI capabilities, SEO strategies must also adapt. 

    Here’s an overview of key trends and actionable tips to future-proof your presence in search results pages (SERPs).

    The evolving SERPs

    SERPs today are dominated by rich results, images, videos, social mentions and AI-powered snapshots. 

    As searchers find answers to their queries directly within the search results, zero-click results continue to rise. This trend is expected to increase with further integration of Search Generative Experience (SGE) in main SERPs as it pulls content from diverse sources. 

    Out of 100 SGE SERPs, 41% showed zero links from the top 10 organic and 46% showed only some links from the top 10 results, per a recent Moz study. 

    SGE top 10 results

    This demonstrates that SGE is pulling in more long-tail content with higher relevancy and lower volume and using AI’s ability to understand the context to serve niche content better. 

    Topical entity-rich content is becoming a competitive advantage for any brand. Google deprecated FAQ and How To listings within the search results and no longer reports on their visibility in the Search Console. 

    However, FAQ content still plays a pivotal role in populating SGE content.

    The “People Also Ask” (PAA) feature has emerged as the foremost rich result on SERPs, surpassing even the once-dominant featured snippet. 

    This shift emphasizes the evolving nature of user queries and the increasing importance of addressing specific, long-tailed questions in your content. 

    As we look ahead, understanding and adapting to these changing SERPs will be crucial to seeing future organic growth. 

    The goal: Be the SGE result 

    The full rollout of SGE is expected to have far-reaching implications on how searchers interact with search engines. 

    SGE places even more emphasis on producing informative responses that are corroborated by reliable sources. You must adapt your strategies and success metrics accordingly. 

    SERPs will become more and more unique, to the point that no two searches will generate the same response, according to Dixon Jones, CEO of Inlinks. 

    For a stable presence in search results, improve your product, know your target audience, and ensure your content addresses their needs.

    Trend: Shift toward long-tail and mid-tail searches 

    Traffic from head terms, typically more generic and high search volumes, is expected to decrease more than traffic from highly focused, niche, and long-tail queries that require specialized and in-depth content.

    The search demand curve

    As users seek more precise, tailored information, marketers and content creators must incorporate more targeted, niche content in their strategy. 

    Trend: Personalized, topical and hyper-local content helps secure rich snippets and SERPs 

    SGE’s ability to understand the context and provide personalized results is set to usher in the hyper-local and niche content era. 

    Introducing context windows will result in more personalized results, catering to individual users’ specific needs and preferences. 

    This change increases the importance of creating relevant and resonant content with specific audience segments, including hyper-local and community-focused content. 

    Must-have: Factual verification and authoritative sources 

    Factual verification is necessary when using large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. 

    The increasing reliance on AI to generate and curate content underscores the importance of ensuring that content is factual and sourced from authoritative and reliable sources. 

    You must prioritize establishing credibility and demonstrating the accuracy of your information to maintain trust and authority in your field. 

    Citation and mentions from authoritative sources play a significant role in factual verification. Gather and showcase reviews, and ensure your site has quality links and citations. 

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    6 steps to future-proof your SERPs in 2024

    As the digital landscape evolves with technologies like SGE, it is crucial to adapt your SEO and content strategies accordingly. 

    To get ahead, you must first understand what dominates SGE results and decide the main areas of focus based on that. 

    Brands need to build a site for user experience, not to win awards, according to Bill Hunt, president of Back Azimuth Consulting. 

    The future is about owning SERPs real estate vs. ranks through multiple touchpoints.

    Focus on these key areas to future-proof your SERPs in 2024. 

    Futureproof SERPs

    1. Multichannel approach

    Diversifying your content based on your customer touch point is more important than ever. 

    Leverage multiple content types and formats to enhance engagement, SERPS, and visibility in important strategy. This includes incorporating: 

    Brands need to consider their entire digital presence, not just their .com, according to Patrick Reinhart, VP of services and thought leadership at Conductor. 

    Have you optimized your YouTube channel? Do you have a Wikipedia page? What are you up to on social media?  

    These different closed environments will show up increasingly as Google evolves and tests new experiences to attract younger generations, so brands must have a presence on all these platforms.  

    2. Relevant content

    Ensure your content is highly relevant to the search query and keep E-E-A-T in mind. Create content that’s worth talking about. 

    There are a few steps for creating qualitative content, which can lead to solid SERPs. 

    3. User experience

    Optimizing all touchpoints and the entire journey, including all channels, to improve the overall site experience leads to increased conversions. 

    4. Engagement and conversion rate optimization (CRO)

    Use tools like VWO or Crazy Egg to test and enhance your website’s engagement and conversion rate. Track conversions through calls, leads, transactions, and form submissions. 

    5. Deep schema markup for discovery and clarity

    Use schema markup to enhance the visibility of your content. Ensure you are going deep while marking your content, including various assets such as images, videos, menus etc. 

    Jones also recommends continuing to mark up everything with schema. But know that the way engines use that data will vary. 

    Your “clicks” from search may decrease, but your “sales” from the search may even increase as search engines and SGE take users further down the purchase funnel. 

    Dig deeper: How to deploy advanced schema at scale

    6. Visual optimization

    Centralize and manage digital assets efficiently in a digital asset manager (DAM). Avoid having multiple copies and resolutions of the same image for different applications. 

    Ensure visual content is optimized and entity-focused. Utilize tools like NLP to score and enhance visual content. Regularly update and optimize visual content for better engagement. 

    Critical metrics to measure SERP performance

    With so much changing, how do you measure success?

    Anticipate a significant drop in traffic and click-through rates (CTR) with the introduction of SGE. 

    You must adapt and use different KPIs to measure success. Let’s understand a few critical metrics that brands can use to measure the effectiveness of SERPs in 2024. 

    SERPs KPIs

    Visibility KPIs

    SGE visibility data is not available in Google Search Console. 

    With keyword rankings no longer providing reliable data, you need to focus on alternative visibility metrics like share of search, impressions and rich results visibility to determine if your content is visible to searchers.

    Visual rank, pixel depth, pixel height, fold depth, and fold opportunities are new metrics that can help measure visual KPIs, per Ray Greiselhuber of Demand Sphere.

    Engagement KPIs

    With more content in search results, fewer searchers will click links to visit websites. As traffic drops, engaging every visitor to the site will become important for businesses. 

    You can no longer afford to ignore engagement metrics like bounce rate, session duration, time on site, scrolls and clicks on your page, and average number of pages visited per session.

    Conversion KPIs

    Although there may be a decrease in general traffic seeking information at the top of the funnel, you can expect more focused and qualified visitors with a stronger intent to convert.

    As a result, your conversion rates should improve. 

    Conversion metrics like calls, driving directions, transactions, form fills, and any other soft- and hard-conversion KPIs you have for the business will become essential success metrics.

    Future-proofing SEO for 2024’s dynamic SERPs

    With AI-powered advancements like SGE on the horizon, 2024 will likely bring dramatic changes to SERPs and organic search visibility. 

    By optimizing for engagement, conversions and overall user experience – rather than traditional keyword rankings alone – you can position your brand to thrive as search evolves. 

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




    Google is rolling out programmatic bidding for limited ads

    Thursday, December 7th, 2023

    Google AdMob will support programmatic bidding on inventory eligible for limited ads in early 2024.

    This new serving mode enables contextual programmatic demand for publishers serving limited ads and allows demand from:

    Why we care. This feature offers publishers the chance to potentially increase revenue through programmatic demand. However, using invalid traffic-only cookies might have legal implications, so it’s advisable to seek guidance from your legal department before deciding whether or not to use it.

    How it works. If you choose to use this new serving mode, Google will use invalid traffic detection-only cookies and local storage (regardless of the user’s consent signals in limited ads requests), as well as enable programmatic demand (and an invalid traffic-only cookie & local storage used).

    This inventory requires the use of the invalid traffic-only cookie as it plays a crucial role in safeguarding against invalid traffic, a prerequisite for programmatic demand.

    What is programmatic demand? Programmatic demand is a feature that can boost your earnings from Google ads in your Web Stories. It can also be used to fill in Web Story ad unit line items.

    What is invalid traffic? Invalid traffic refers to any traffic not generated by a genuine user with authentic interest. This can include:

    Optional. Google has made programmatic bidding on limited ads an optional feature because publishers are legally responsible for the tools they use, and opinions may vary on whether user consent is necessary for invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage.

    Potential legal issues. Google is advising publishers to consult their legal teams before deciding whether or not to use this feature, considering regulations and regulatory guidance. Publishers must assess if employing invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage on their sites/apps requires user consent.

    Publishers that do not want to use invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage without user consent should opt-out of this feature.

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    Deep dive. Read Google’s limited ads guidance for more information about this change and how to prepare.

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




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