Atomic Media

Google and Meta are losing their edge as TikTok, Amazon, Instacart ads grow

Written on January 6, 2023 at 8:21 pm, by admin

2022 marked the first year since 2014 that Google and Meta’s advertising market share dropped below 50%, standing at 48.4%. By the end of 2023, that number is expected to drop to 44.9%.

What’s going on. Amazon, ByteDance’s TikTok and streaming services like Netflix are continuing to increase their foothold. People are spending less time online on sites like Google and Meta, so it’s no surprise that they’re facing hurdles, despite still growing (albeit slower than other digital ad platforms).

Meta and other platforms also suffered from Apple’s iOS14 update in 2021, which required apps on its devices to ask users if they wanted to be tracked. The majority of iPhone users opted not to be. Google was not affected by this update, as it relies on customer intent, revealed by a user’s search terms.

The TikTok effect. Marketers want more options, and TikTok is it. TikTok’s hold on the digital ad market more than doubled in 2022, while Amazon gained market share due to its ad business being able to target users by their purchases and browsing history. 

The Washington Post reported that “Supergut Chief Executive Marc Washington said the maker of gut-health products used to spend about 80% of its ad budget on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, with the rest going to Google. In early 2022, he noticed that the cost of bringing in new customers through advertising on Meta’s platforms was twice as high as it was before Apple’s privacy changes. Supergut shifted about half of what it spent on Meta to TikTok, a short-form video platform popular with younger audiences.”

Insider Intelligence said that TikTok’s command of the digital ad market more than doubled in 2022 and has nearly 100 million U.S. monthly active users. However, its overall share remained small, at just 2% of U.S. digital ad spending.

Amazon continues to grow. Amazon accounted for 11.7% of U.S. digital-ad spending last year and is poised to grow to 12.4% in 2023, Insider said.

“Our advertising is at the point where consumers are ready to spend,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said on the company’s October conference call.

Other retailers have followed in Amazon’s footsteps by building digital-ad businesses based on their consumer data, known as retail media networks. Combined, Walmart Inc., eBay Inc., Etsy Inc. and Instacart took in about 1.4% of digital-ad dollars spent in the U.S. last year, according to Insider.

Microsoft & Netflix. We can’t talk about Netflix without talking about Microsoft. Last year they announced a partnership to bring an ad-supported subscription plan to Netflix. Vincent Létang, executive vice president of global market research at Magna, a media- investment firm that is part of Interpublic Group of Cos.‘ Mediabrands, called Netflix and Disney’s entry into the market “a game-changing moment” for ad-supported streaming. “They bring a potentially huge number of viewers,” he said, and a wealth of premium video content.

Why we care. Advertisers should be aware of emerging platforms, just as they should be aware of those experiencing a decline. Though most tend to predict these types of trends long before the numbers get published. But reports like this help solidify what many advertisers already know; diversification is key.

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

What to do when the wrong page ranks for a keyword

Written on January 6, 2023 at 8:21 pm, by admin

We’ve all heard about search engine optimization (SEO), but what about search engine de-optimization?

In one Search Off The Record episode, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and Lizzi Sassman discussed de-optimization – the process of taking a page off SERPs. The goal of deoptimization is ranking the page that is most likely to attract qualified traffic and conversions. 

If you’ve ever ranked the “wrong” page for a keyword, this article is for you. Get ready to learn the de-optimization process so you can earn clicks from qualified traffic and increase conversions.

How can you tell if the wrong page is ranking?

The purpose of deoptimization is to remove a page driving the wrong type of traffic to your site. Sometimes you might benefit from removing a page from SERPs entirely. Other times, you might want to replace the page that ranks with a more suitable page.

In the de-SEOing episode, Sassman shares an anecdote where site visitors landing on a particular document, listed on Page 1, were not the right types of traffic.

Sassman said this became clear from feedback coming from users visiting their page. The ranking page caused some misunderstandings. Web users started to submit requests for tasks that were not relevant. As a result, users weren’t satisfied and internal teams were busier handling irrelevant support tickets they could not solve.

The page was generating traffic, but it was the wrong type of traffic. There was a mismatch between what the user was looking for and the page they were landing on.

Ranking the wrong page in SERPs is not unusual. Recognize when you’re ranking the wrong page by looking out for:

• Pages that earn traffic but not conversions.
• Queries from users that don’t make sense for the business offering.
• Pages that were commissioned to achieve a certain goal but are falling short of expectations.
• Articles ranking for conversion keywords that would be better placed on a revenue-generating page (product page, product category, or landing page).

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Which page should you rank anyway?

Before attempting to rank any page in Google’s SERPs, it’s important to understand the search intent behind a keyword. Only then can you decide if the keyword is suitable for you to try and rank for and the type of page you should be creating.

You help determine which page should rank for a keyword by understanding how Google prioritizes pages based on its search intent.

Take a look at the annotated SERP example below. A search for “red running shoes” returns ecommerce category pages and image packs. The SERP suggests that the user is looking to buy red running shoes or view images of them. It’s a product-led SERP.

If ranking for red running shoes is your goal, then you should, at minimum, be able to match the intent in the SERPs by providing page users can buy red running shoes and include images.

Based on SERP analysis, you would not expect an article titled “the best red running shoes” to have a good chance of ranking for the search term ‘red running shoes’ because Google is not prioritizing articles in the SERP. Equally, if an article did rank, you would not expect this type of page to satisfy user intent for this particular search.

If you do have a page ranking that is earning traffic but failing to convert, you might want to consider deoptimization. 

Below, we cover how to deoptimize a page in favor of a more suitable one.

Deoptimization explained

So you’ve got a page ranking that isn’t converting and you have another page on your site that would be better placed to rank for the target keyword.

How can you deoptimize a page while removing it from SERPs for the desired keyword and putting another page in place?

At this point, it’s important to note that you are at risk of losing your rank – and the traffic that comes with it – altogether. But the goal of SEO is not just to earn traffic but to earn qualified traffic that supports business goals.

If all you are losing is clicks and impressions you are not really losing anything.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to search engine deoptimization. 

Step 1: Choose your desired ranking page

Before you do anything, you need to decide which page will rank for your desired keyword and why.

Start by conducting SERP analysis. Based on the prioritized results, decide which page on your site fits among what’s already ranking.

If the SERPs are full of articles, you likely need to write an article that satisfies user intent. If the SERPs prioritize ecommerce pages then you need to have the product to sell.

Step 2: Assign keywords to pages

For the best chance of ranking any page, you need to be the most useful page on the web. 

Make sure you cover a topic in full. Look at what’s ranking and which keywords return the same type of content. You can use this data to inspire sections of content on your page.

You can find related keywords that you should cover by taking a look at what competitor sites are including in their article and ranking for.

The Organic Research report in Semrush can be a useful starting point to find related keywords.

Make sure you’re using the keywords correctly and in the right places.

The keyword you want to rank the desired page for should be used naturally throughout the article. Go back to SEO basics and check it’s used in the title tag and the URL if it makes sense to do so.

Step 3: Evaluate ranking content vs. your desired content

Compare the page you want to rank to pages that are currently ranking.

What elements do competitors include that your page does not? Make sure your page is ultimately useful and competitive. If ranking pages use high-quality images, you should also use them. If competitive pages include video, add a video to your page.

Aim to do everything competitors do, but don’t focus so hard on competitors that you forget your users and customers. 

What more can you add that is genuinely useful to your users? Find out by:

• Speaking with your marketing and sales team.
• Discovering questions customers ask so that you can answer them on your page.
• Digging into reasons for refunds or returns. (Can you be proactive and address issues on the page to save a user from making the wrong purchase or help manage expectations?)

Step 3: Remove keywords from the deoptimized page

One reason for the wrong page ranking can be keyword usage. 

Take a look at the page that you don’t want to rank and, where possible, remove keywords that might aid the rank. If you’re using the keyword in your title tag, for example, exchange it for a better keyword that suits this page so your other page can take the rank for the desired keyword.

Naturally, you don’t want to remove all keywords, especially if they’re contextually useful. Instead, remove keywords where you can and work on your internal linking strategy for those that need to stay.

Step 4: Strengthen internal linking

Internal linking is one of the most powerful tools for helping content rank.

Audit the internal links pointing to the ranking page and internal links pointing to the page you want to rank.

You should:

• Have links pointing to the desired page using one of the keywords you want it to rank for as the anchor – be natural about this.
• Link the current ranking page to the desired ranking page using the keyword. On this page, use an exact match as the anchor if you can achieve this naturally.
• Replace links to the current ranking page with links to the desired page as long as it is still contextually relevant. 

You can use tools like Screaming Frog to audit your internal linking structure or you can do it for free in Google Search Console (GSC). Head to the links report for an overview of your links, including external, internal, top-linked pages and anchor texts. Click on the pages you want to view links to and GSC will give you a list of pages linking to your page.

Finally, build links to the page you want to rank by building your content architecture.

For example, if you’re trying to rank your category page for the search term “red running shoes,” take a look at People Also Ask and see the types of content you can create and link to the category. This builds your authority on the subject and points links to the collection you most want to rank.

Step 5: Submit pages to Google Search Console

Once you’ve completed all of the above, submit your edited pages to GSC and wait for Google to do its thing. You might need to wait a couple of weeks or longer before seeing your edits take effect.

Further considerations to rank your desired page

If you completed all of the steps above, but your desired page still isn’t ranking, here are further steps that you can take.

Check the backlink profile

In a competitive space, you might need to think about increasing your backlink profile. Use SEO tools like Majestic or Ahrefs to see how your backlinks compare to competitors. Aim to close the gap by earning highly relevant backlinks from trusted sites in your niche.

Where natural, you can link directly to the page you want to rank, but if this won’t work, you can link to supporting pages within the content cluster. 

Check engagement metrics

Engagement metrics (i.e., conversions, scroll, time on page, etc.) can help you determine whether our page is really helpful to your users.

If your ranking page is long-form content and users scroll to only 25% of the page before they leave, it’s probably not compelling enough to keep the user engaged. Consider a rewrite.

Consider page speed optimizations

Page speed has become increasingly important and it’s important to stay competitive where you can. In very competitive spaces, page speed could be the difference between your site outranking a competitor.

Google PageSpeed Insights provides all the data about page speed and how to improve it.

301 redirects

If you want to remove your original ranking page in the deoptimization process you must remember to add a 301 redirect. 

In some cases, such as in the case of keyword cannibalization, you might want to take a page down to help another rank.

Add 301 redirects, and to be ultimately diligent, go through the links pointing to the old page and edit them so they point directly at the desired ranking page.

Deoptimizing for search

Taking the leap into deoptimization can feel a little scary, especially if you risk losing a lot of traffic.

The thing to remember is that clicks and impressions are meaningless if they’re from the wrong audience or fail to result in conversions.

The post What to do when the wrong page ranks for a keyword appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

This day in search marketing history: January 6

Written on January 6, 2023 at 8:21 pm, by admin

Google Webmaster Tools adds ‘unnatural links’ and ‘cloaking’ spam warnings

In 2011, Google Webmaster Tools started sending out two new types of warnings – for “unnatural links” and “cloaking.”

The messages were sent out when Google detected pages on websites that were using techniques that were outside of its quality guidelines.

At the time, Google had been talking about wanting to increase its outreach to webmasters. See this video (published Dec. 18, 2010), in which Google’s Matt Cutts (featuring Danny Sullivan) mentioned that Google wanted to make communication a priority in 2011.

Read all about it in Google Adding New Spam Warnings In Webmaster Tools.

Dig deeper: Google penalties, manual actions and notifications: A complete guide

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Also on this day 

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Google launches ‘Shops’ section in mobile search results

2022: The Shops section showed three to 10 retailers based on their organic search rankings.

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Google Ads error tells advertisers exact match keywords are saving as broad match

2022: Search marketers entering exact match keywords may have seen an alert toward the bottom of their Google Ads interface stating, “Broad match keywords are on. Keywords will be saved as broad match.”

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Search Engine Land, SMX name Carolyn Lyden content lead

2021: Lyden acted both as editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land and content lead for our SMX events series. She departed Third Door Media in November 2021.

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Standard text ads will live on a bit longer, Microsoft Advertising says

2020: Microsoft Advertising, which originally said standard text ads would no longer serve after 2019, announced it would allow existing standard text ads to continue to serve until March 31.

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Video: A.J. Ghergich on not chasing the Google algorithm and focusing on human intentions

2020: In this installment of Barry Schwartz’s vlog series, he chatted with Ghergich about how to scale your SEO agency, understanding human intent and more.

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Google to start showing local-specific phone numbers when location extensions appear in ads

2017: Google said, starting Jan. 19, it “may” show the local retail phone number when that store’s location extension showed in an ad – even if a call extension in the campaign used a different phone number – in order to increase the relevance of ads that featured specific business locations.

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“Illegitimate” SEO Sentenced To 37 Months In Federal Prison For Extortion

2016: William Stanley extorted individuals and companies by threatening to engage in illegitimate SEO work: posting “fraudulent comments and creating negative reviews online, if the victim did not pay him a certain sum of money.”

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Google Revamps The Android App-Indexing Crawl Errors Report In The Search Console

2016: Google announced they had finally upgraded the App Indexing Crawl Errors report, which had not been working for months, in the Google Search Console.

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German Publisher Group Sues Google Again Under Draconian Copyright Law

2016: Claiming to be enforcing Germany’s “Ancillary Copyright” Law, the publishers were suing to get Google to pay them for showing their content in search results.

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Bing Ads, Too, Says Goodbye To Phone Numbers In PPC Ad Copy

2015: Bing Ads told advertisers they soon would no longer be able to put a phone number in the headline, body copy, URL or extensions like Sitelinks. As with AdWords, advertisers would need to use location or call extensions for phone numbers.

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Pinterest Beefs Up Its Search Chops With VisualGraph Acquisition

2014: Pinterest said the acquisition would “help us build technology to better understand what people are Pinning. By doing so, we hope to make it easier for people to find the things they love.”

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Bing Launches Awards Site In Time For Golden Globes, Grammy’s & The Oscars

2014: The site served as an online resource for “all things awards” with background information on nominees, tips for award-themed parties, and winner predictions based on Bing search statistics.

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Bing Makes Driving Directions Twice As Fast

2012: Bing Maps pushed out a major update to their driving directions “routing engine.” The new routing engine was twice as fast as the old one and added more features, such as adding up to three routes in one request.

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Search In Pics: Google Bumper Sticker, Knitted Android Sleeve & Yahoo’s CEOs

2012: The latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

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Google Mobile Strategy Playing Out Almost Flawlessly: Ads Growing, Android Beating iPhone

2011: Google’s AdMob unit reported that it saw more than 2 billion ad requests on a daily basis. Meanwhile, comScore reported that Android passed the iPhone as the number two smartphone platform in the U.S.

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South Korea May Arrest Google Execs Over WiFi Data Collection

2011: The country’s national police agency had determined that Google acted illegally when it gathered personal data as part of its Street View mapping service.

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Covario: Consumer Electronics Marketers Take Q4 Paid Search Boom Overseas

2011: Among its tech and consumer electronics clients in the Americas, paid search spending only rose 1% in the fourth quarter of 2010, as compared to the third quarter, but that’s because growth from the second to the third quarter was 30%.

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Twitter’s New Year Tweet Record Shown In Stunning Video

2011: Twitter started 2011 with a new record: 6,939 tweets were sent at four seconds after midnight in Japan. 

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Foursquare Puts The Kibosh On Friend-Tip Spamming

2011: Foursquare started limiting the number of friends and friend requests that a user can have.

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Google AdWords Testing Lead Capture Forms: Contact Form Extensions

2010: Contact form extensions provided a contact form directly in the search ad, which a searcher can fill out and the advertiser can then use in the future to contact that lead.

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Google Loses French Lawsuit Over Google Suggest

2010: Google was ordered to remove the word arnaque, which translates roughly as “scam,” from appearing as a Google Suggest term on searches for the Centre National Privé de Formation a Distance (CNFDI). 

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Surprise: Google’s Home Page Promoting Nexus One

2010: The promotion was found under the search box and read: “Experience Nexus One, the new Android phone from Google.”

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Nexus One: What Exactly Happened Yesterday In Mountain View?

2010: Less than 24 hours after the formal unveiling of the Nexus One by Google, we had a collection of differing perceptions and accounts of what was significant (or not).

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Google Claims That Google Checkout Increases Conversion By 40% & Clicks By 10%

2009: Google added claims to its Google Checkout Merchant homepage that having Google Checkout as part of your AdWords ads would lead to higher conversions and a better click-through rate.

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Google Testing ‘Blended’ Mobile Ads

2009: As it turned out, Google wasn’t doing anything new. On the Google WAP search experience the company had always placed ads at the end of organic text results but before other types of content.

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Yahoo To Advertisers: We Can Create Ads & Edit Keywords Without Asking First

2009: Yahoo emailed their search advertisers about new terms and conditions, including a controversial provision that they are allowed to create ads, remove or add keywords to campaigns and “optimize” accounts.

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Google Finally Brings Picasa To The Mac

2009: Picasa was a management system for photo sharing and editing.

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Google Wins “Gu Ge” Lawsuit In China

2009: The Beijing Haidian District Court ruled that Beijing Guge Science and Technology had to pay Google China 100,000 yuan ($14,624). In addition, Beijing Guge is required to stop using the name.

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Google Trends Features ASCII Art Of 9/11

2009: It was suggested that the art represented an airplane crashing into New York’s former World Trade Center towers on 9/11.

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The Big List of 2009 Marketing Predictions

2009: Articles and blog posts filled with forecasts, predictions, and/or resolutions for the new year. 

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Mahalo Adds More Social Features

2008: The Mahalo Follow toolbar let you post links to Delicious, Ma.gnolia, Mahalo Social, and Twitter with the click of one button. The sidebar displayed quick tips when you were on sites like Twitter and Gmail.

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From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

• How customer reviews can improve your SEO efforts
• Search incrementality: How paid and organic work together for better performance
• SMX Overtime: Broaden your reach with YouTube campaigns

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Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. 

• 2022: Apple Maps: What a maps web snapshot can do for your online content by Joy Hawkins
• 2017: The importance of local authenticity by Brian Smith
• 2017: Choosing an attribution model: When, not which by Amy Bishop
• 2017: Brand vs. local Knowledge Graph result: Which is better? by Tony Edward
• 2016: Enhance Search Engagement With A Complementary Paid & Organic Visibility Strategy by Thomas Stern
• 2016: Six Trends Shaping Location Marketing In 2016 by Adam Dorfman
• 2015: Holiday 2014 Learnings: How Delivery Options Impact PPC & Conversions by Rebekah Schelfhout
• 2015: Tool Overview: LinkRisk — Not Just For Detoxing Anymore by Julie Joyce
• 2014: Just Say No To SEO (Sometimes) by Eric Enge
• 2012: 2012: The Year Of The Independent Search Marketer? by George Popstefanov
• 2012: How Much Is A Click Really Worth? by Benny Blum
• 2012: 10 Search & Website Usability New Year Resolutions for 2012 by Kim Krause Berg
• 2011: How (I Think) Crawl Budget Works (Sort Of) by Ian Lurie
• 2011: How To Reduce SEM Churn With Integrated Customer Intelligence by Bill Dinan
• 2010: The 4 Most Siginficant Changes To Paid Search In 2009 by Lori Weiman
• 2010: In-House SEO Reporting: Guide To Succeeding Where Others Fail by Tony Adam
• 2010 A Six-Step Content Marketing Check-Up For B2B Marketers by Galen DeYoung
• 2010: 4 Steps to Setting Better Conversion Optimization Goals by Sandra Niehaus
• 2010: Searching For PPC Success In A Down Economy by Benny Blum

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< January 5 | Search Marketing History | January 7 >

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

Webinar: How to make the most out of consumer and social media data by Cynthia Ramsaran

Written on January 5, 2023 at 4:17 pm, by admin

When analyzing consumer behavior at scale, decision-makers need to keep up – making consumer insights matter more now than ever. This means staying on your toes with actionable consumer intelligence from continuous social listening is a must.

Join this live webinar and learn how Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability created a visualization of online and social datasets to help people throughout the food system. You’ll also gain insights into how online data is used to understand human behaviors and industry trends.

Register today for “Analyze Social Media & Consumer Behavior for the Greater Good,” presented by NetBase Quid.

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Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars.

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

Google agrees to pay up in 12 year class-action lawsuit

Written on January 5, 2023 at 4:17 pm, by admin

Consumers in a 12-year-long class action lawsuit against Google say that Google shared their queries with third parties without their permission.

What happened. The lawsuit alleged that Google violated both the Stored Communications Act, a federal law that governs access to records held by internet service providers, and state laws in California.

The settlement. Details of the settlement can be found here. In addition to the $23 million payout, which still needs court approval, it also requires Google to provide added disclosures to consumers about the sharing of search terms.

Dig deeper. Read the full announcement from Bloomberg.

Why we care. We’re not sure how or if this will affect advertisers in the future. But privacy issues are still a hot topic as we move into 2023.

The post Google agrees to pay up in 12 year class-action lawsuit appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

EU rules that Meta’s ad practices are illegal

Written on January 4, 2023 at 12:10 pm, by admin

Meta has been fined 390 million euros ($414 million) after European Union (EU) regulators found it had illegally forced users to accept personalized ads.

What happened. According to the New York Times, Meta includes language in its terms of service agreement, the very lengthy statement that users must accept before accessing services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which effectively means users must allow their data to be used for personalized ads or stop using Meta’s social media services altogether. Since you need to agree to the terms before using the service, users have no choice but to allow to have their data used for ads.

What happens now. Meta has three months to outline how it will comply with the ruling. The decision does not specify what the company must do, but it could result in Meta allowing users to choose whether they want their data used for such targeted promotions.

Having a large number of users opt-out of sharing their data would put Meta’s ad revenue at risk, since the judgment puts 5-7% of it at stake.

There are no such regulations in the US.

Why we care. EU advertisers could be affected, but any changes that Meta makes as a result of the ruling could affect users in the United States; many tech companies apply E.U. rules globally because that is easier to put in effect than limiting them to Europe.

Meta advertisers should be on the lookout, regardless, for any updates and changes to their targeting.

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

Twitter is lifting its ban on political, cause-based ads

Written on January 4, 2023 at 12:10 pm, by admin

An announcement by Twitter, on Twitter, says that the company is going to relax its ban on cause-based ads (such as those for climate change or women’s rights). They also plan on lifting their own restricitions on political advertising.

Political ad bans. In 2019, Twitter banned political ads. Last year they also banned political fundraising and started requiring that accounts belonging to government departments, politicians, and political parties be verified.

Cause-based bans. Their current policy surrounding cause-based ads restricts those that educate, raise awareness, and/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes. Their help documentation states:

• Advertising should not be used to drive political, judicial, legislative, or regulatory outcomes; however, cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics.
• Advertising that uses micro-targeting presents entirely new challenges to civic discourse that are not yet fully understood.

So why the change? Unclear. It’s also unknown exactly what will change with the loosening of the policies outside of what’s mentioned in the tweet. But CEO Elon Musk is getting a reputation for shaking things up, implementing policies, then immediately removing them, and has a special penchant for getting the platform’s largest advertisers to jump ship.

Why we care. I’m not sure if lifting the bans will scare away the little remaining advertisers on the platform, bring any back, or draw in more from less-than-credible sources. But if you’re working for a cause-based organization, this can be good news for you- if you can navigate the platform, get verified, and stand out in a sea of would-be fraudsters, political opposition, and/or corrupt accounts.

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

Google’s “Remove redundant keywords” recommendations have changed

Written on January 4, 2023 at 12:10 pm, by admin

Advertisers running PPC ads on Google may have woken up to an email this morning outlining its new policy regarding redundant keywords.

What’s changed. The “Remove redundant keywords” recommendations suggest redundant keywords within the same ad groups. You may see the notification at the top right side of your ads dashboard. But starting January 19, the recommendation can include keywords across different match types. 

Now, Google will start removing redundant phrase and exact match keywords in favor of broad.

Robert Brady first noticed this and posted it on Twitter.

Why Google is making the change. In their email, Google said:

Redundant keywords are equivalent to higher-performing keywords or keywords in broader match types. Removing these redundant keywords and consolidating your keywords across match types will help you manage your account more easily. It doesn’t negatively impact your performance, and still allows your ads to appear on the same searches. 

Stop auto-apply. You can (and should, IMO) turn off auto-apply recommendations in both Editor and the Ads front end by clicking “disable” in your recommendations section.

Dig deeper. You can review Google’s recommendations guidelines here. If you haven’t received the email from Google, I’ll paste it below.

Why we care. This is another attempt by Google to shift accounts to broad-match keywords only. Advertisers and brands should only make the change if they have tested and determined if broad-match keywords work best for their accounts. If you’re unsure bout broad-match, turn off auto-apply and test.

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

A 5-step framework to scale your content operations and SEO

Written on January 4, 2023 at 12:10 pm, by admin

Don’t lie.

Show of hands. 

How many times have you uttered the following in the last year alone? 

• “I can’t find any good writers.”
• “No one can create content as well as me.”
• “Content marketing / SEO doesn’t work in our niche.”
• “That agency just doesn’t understand our unique POV.”
• “I can’t publish more than X articles/mo without quality dropping.”

Probably all of them at one point. Amiright? 

No fingers pointed. I’ve used them all, too.

But here’s the thing you need to recognize about these oft-repeated clichés: 

They’re excuses. All of them.

Excuses and lies we tell ourselves to simultaneously:

• Puff up our ego.
• Avoid doing the hard work of learning how to systemize and build processes and delegate effectively.

Here’s why you’re your own worst enemy when it comes to scaling content creation and SEO, and how to solve it so you get back on track ASAP.

You are your own worst SEO enemy – here’s why (and how to fix it)

The truth hurts sometimes.

And when it comes to content operations, the faster you recognize that you’re the problem, the quicker you’ll get to crushing your next revenue target.

Companies often fail to scale because they lack content operational systems that underpin the creativity layered on top.

Instead, too many teams still operate under this false assumption that they’ll luck out and the perfect unicorn writer or marketer or [insert rockstar role here] will fall into their laps, solving all of their problems in one fell swoop.

You know, the ones that just get “it.” 

Without ever bothering to figure out what “it” is, or how to document “it,” or how to specifically recruit and train for “it” so that “it” happens like clockwork, 24/7, 365.

Diagnosing this problem is difficult unless you’ve seen it happen before. So here are the clues to look for:

• You routinely hit self-imposed “glass ceilings.” Quality drops like a rock every time you push quantity or volume up.
• Your editors are rewriting everything your writers deliver because it “doesn’t sound right” or “isn’t as good” as they can make it.
• You have constant issues finding new writers because it takes too long for your most expensive and senior people to review writers. So, instead of hiring only the top 1% of candidates, you’re stuck hiring the top 10% and having to weed through the 9% of junk left over). 
• Your team members give contradicting feedback to new hires because each would describe subjective elements like voice and tone in completely different ways. 
• Your editors spend multiple hours editing one piece because they have to correct basic image formatting or update primary sources, which means their weekly output is only a tiny fraction of what it could or should be.

Does any of this sound familiar yet?

It should. 

And the biggest problem is that these surface-level issues sabotage your SEO success by killing output, slaughtering velocity, and maiming morale.

But don’t stress. 

After seeing these issues routinely play out over the last decade (and making the same mistakes ourselves countless times), we’ve been able to come up with a helpful framework to optimize operations.

Here’s an overview graphic, and then we’ll dig into each section in detail. 

1. Role specialization

The best writers make bad editors and terrible content managers.

Why?

Because the best writers thrive on ingenuity, saying the same thing multiple times in multiple ways. 

Editors should be the opposite, in constant pursuit of consistency and uniformity. 

Meanwhile, managers are the glue that keeps the other two’s big-picture goals and day-to-day actions aligned.

In other words, completely different skill sets that too many teams try to force into one individual.

It’s the Michael Scott problem. Great paper salesman. Funny television character. Awful regional manager.

Roll back a few centuries, and the solution comes from the unlikeliest of places: the military.

The brigade management system even influenced the organization of professional kitchens. 

It provides the flexibility and coordination to create hundreds of items, all in sync, within minutes of each other, so that all of your table’s food comes out simultaneously with different preparations.

Content teams should be organized in the same fashion.

This starts with separating your writers, editors, and managers. 

From there, as you grow in both stature and resources, you continue adding specializations to master each small piece of the much larger content operation machine – like a giant factory assembly line.

It would help if you also had a well-defined workflow where:

• The strategists work on strategy.
• The planners plan.
• The writers write.
• The editors edit.
• The producers coordinate. 

You can add designers, videos, and distribution specialists to the mix as you grow.

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2. Content quality checklists

This shouldn’t be a trick question, but it often is:

How would you define “good” content?

Everyone talks about the importance of “good” content. Yet, no one can define it the same. 

Ask 10 people in your organization, and you’ll get 10 different answers.

As you can expect, that answer is not good enough.

Sorry to be blunt. But the longer you fly without radar keeping you on track, the better your odds of a crash landing.

Documenting a specific quality checklist is the bare minimum that needs to happen right now. Not tomorrow or next week.

And in it, you should define the overall structure of most content, along with the nitty-gritty details for each sub-section – from word counts to source preferences to image criteria.

The more fleshed out this starting point, the faster you’ll:

• Train writers.
• Reduce editing time.
• Drive up ROI (better results for less investment).

The second lesson here is to show, don’t tell.

A good example is your acceptable angles. 

Be specific, laying out the ones you like or don’t like, and listing resources to show writers, editors, senior management, clients, or whoever, exactly what these things should look like.

We’re talking OCD levels of organization here because it gets everyone on the same page. 

And when everyone is on the same page, your life becomes easier. 

Hiring and firing become almost automatic. Everyone knows the expectations and is aligned. The number of dumb questions or stupid arguments evaporates into thin air.

Who knows. You might even get your weekends back to yourself!

The trickle-down effects are magical.

Our senior editors have a one-hour guideline. 

They should not spend longer than one hour editing an article. Because if so, that means the writer screwed up. So the problems should be flagged and sent back to them.

Then, we can review an editor’s time across multiple pieces (or clients or writers) and spot operational issues at a moment’s notice. 

Too little time spent editing might mean those writers are due a pay increase, while too long spent editing would signal the opposite. 

3. Standardized templates, briefs and outlines

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But no content or SEO manager can control the results you’re looking for.

Rankings, traffic, leads, and customers are all lagging indicators. They are generated months or even years after doing all the actual work.

That means we need to turn our attention to the leading indicators instead. 

Exhibit A. What should you write about? 

Well, the answer is whatever people are already looking for! 

Analyzing search intent helps you understand what people want to read or learn when they type in a specific query. The good news is that Google literally tells you these answers. 

Start with People Also Ask questions after typing in a query:

Next, look up Related Searches at the bottom of the SERP to see how the recommendations might line up together to start forming sections with the body of each piece.

You’ll start noticing patterns when you do this a lot across dozens, if not hundreds, of queries in your space.

For instance, check out the Table of Contents from these Investopedia pieces on compound interest and promissory notes.

Almost the same structure! 

Now, you have your first content template.

These are consistent article structures you can use for different queries (think: “what is…”-style queries that might apply across multiple topics or verticals). 

And it also means you can start standardizing article structures across hundreds to thousands. 

So if you had 1,000 topics to produce content on over the next year, those could probably be boiled down into 10 groups of 100. 

One template now might apply to each of those 10 groups (so 10 templates).

From there, you’ll eventually standardize content briefs, which will form the backbone of your writers’ outlines because they spoon-feed them everything from the subheads to the keywords and even word counts at each stage. 

Imagine we’re about to write an article on “content planning.” 

Your content brief would be pulled together by referencing all of these different points of information:

• People Also Ask questions.
• Related Searches.
• Reading some of the best content already ranking.
• Semantic keywords from content graders.
• And more.

Standardizing the content planning process like this will make your writers love you because they no longer have to stare at a blank white screen trying to conjure up some fluff.

Your editors will love you because they know exactly how the content should look, read, and sound.

Your SEOs or marketers will love you because you’re performing that difficult balancing act of producing interesting content that will still rank well.

And your bosses, clients or whoever is paying the bill will love you because what you initially planned in the early stages is pretty much exactly what the finished product will look like at the end of the day.

And when you do this consistently over months and years, your ultimate success will be virtually guaranteed. 

It’s just a matter of how quickly the Google gods reward your good work.

4. Guidelines and sources

Shades of gray are only for cheesy romance novels and even worse movies.

They have no business in a high-performing content machine.

Take voice and tone preferences. Once again, ask 10 people, and you’ll get ten different answers.

So here’s an easy tip. Sometimes, seeing what you don’t like makes it easier to understand what you do like.

Take the following sentence: 

It’s fine. Not great. Kinda generic and boring. But fine.

Now, rewrite that sentence like this:

“This company is just the latest in a long line to be gobbled up by the massive hosting conglomerate, Endurance International Group (EIG). Or, as it’s also known, Where Good Web Hosts Go to Die.”

Over the top? Probably. 

Some might like it, some might not. The vivid language (”gobbled up”) and power words (”Go to Die”) would be great for a conversational or satirical brand, perhaps not for a formal medical one, though.

A good example to model is Mailchimp’s extensive documentation. 

From there, you’ll also want to create guides for everything from vocabulary to terminology. 

These are the words, phrases or expressions that your brand uses, unique to your point of view on the industry, that would be different than other direct or indirect competitors. 

For instance, do you prefer:

• “Profile picture” or “avatar”?
• “Example” or “use case”?
• “Click” or “press”?

It doesn’t matter which one you select. It only matters that you pick one, are consistent, and clear up this gray area for your writing and editing teams. 

This supporting documentation should clear up all the intangible or unwritten principles your team already practices – even if they aren’t aware of it.

Last but not least, you should create a list of resources your writers can use, and a list of resources they should not reference (because they have published inaccurate, misleading, confusing, inconsistent, or otherwise untrustworthy information).

Stamp out all unwritten or intangible items, one by one, day after day, like a big game of Whack-a-Mole, and pretty soon, the only shades of grey left are the questionable kinky ones in your free time.

5. Batch and parallel processes

Let’s end at the beginning.

The brigade system helps professional kitchens deliver multiple dishes to the same table simultaneously, all cooked to perfection.

They do that by working in batch and parallel processes. 

Imagine a line cook at the grill. They might be preparing five different cuts of steak for five different tables at five different temperatures with five different cook times. 

Sounds exhausting, right?

So exhausting that they can’t also be cooking pastries or prepping salads at the same time. That’s role specialization in step one above. 

Now imagine that 10 different people in a kitchen are each doing their own version of this at the same time. 

Taking this back to content operations, it means you might have one team of people (writers, editors, SEOs, designers, etc.) working on one content project while at the same time another team of people (writers, editors, SEOs, designers, etc.) is working on another one.

As the leader of this chaos choreography, your job is to have the right teams in place with the right systems so that your output and quality stay high, even if a bunch of people are working on different things simultaneously. 

Now, instead of micromanaging or meddling or trying to control every little detail, you can step back and oversee from a high level while still making subtle tweaks along the way to key stages of the assembly line.

Scale content creation and SEO in 5 key steps

Content is subjective at the end of the day.

You might like short, snappy, snarky sentences. But your boss might prefer formal, flowery, and factual.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter.

The only thing that matters is that you – and the rest of the people you work with – are all on the same page. 

This seemingly simple yet little-practiced point often derails content projects daily and sabotages your SEO results over the long term. 

Start by optimizing your content operations with the following five steps:

• Specializing roles within your larger production workflow,
• Solidifying quality standards and examples that illustrate each point,
• Standardizing how production should flow from idea to template to brief to finished product,
• Documenting supporting guidelines and sources to clear up intangibles,
• Implementing batch and parallel processes so everyone knows what they should do at every moment.

It isn’t always easy or fun. It’ll take some getting used to. 

But it’s ultimately the only way to break through your self-imposed barriers and generate the long-term success you deserve.

The post A 5-step framework to scale your content operations and SEO appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

SEO content writing vs. content writing: The key difference

Written on January 3, 2023 at 8:10 am, by admin

SEO content writing, what exactly is it? And how does it differ from typical content writing?

Is SEO content writing better than more traditional content writing?

In this article, we’ll answer these questions and a lot more.

You’ll learn:

• The difference between content writing and SEO content writing.
• Three content tactics that can trump SEO (if deployed correctly).
• Examples of SEO content done well.
• Nine ways to make your SEO content better for humans.

The key difference between SEO content writing and content writing

The difference between SEO content writing and content writing is that SEO content writing is designed to leverage search engines to fuel the discovery of your content. In comparison, content writing is content only created for humans to read.

If you felt like the above was written by a robot, and for a robot – you’re right. It’s a classic example of a paragraph created for SEO.

I can almost hear my Google home mini spitting that out as a response to a question. It isn’t exciting, but it gets to the point.

I’ll make the rest of the article more “by a human, for humans.” But my first statement is correct.

SEO content is written to leverage the code of search engines.

But which is best?

Which is best? SEO content or regular content?

Over the years, I’ve had a fair amount of success with both forms of content.

Today, I write daily on Linkedin and have grown a decent following.

But that’s social content leveraging the platforms’ algorithms.

When I talk about regular content, I talk about blog posts with zero keyword research.

They’re written for a human reader, and if Google finds some keywords, great. But that’s accidental.

Regular content is a brave thing to create. It’s risky and a step into the unknown, and unless you have a promotion strategy, the likelihood is high that no one will ever read your post.

It might be your ideas, theories or passion.

In contrast, SEO content has a purpose – to rank.

The simple idea is that you’re writing this for search engines and humans.

You’re ranking the content so the content can be discovered via organic search.

Unless the content is written only with search engines in mind, you’ll struggle to have your content discovered. 

Does that make SEO content better? No.

As we’ll see shortly, an abundance of content sticks its fingers up at search engines and does pretty well.

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Human leverage: The focus of content

Okay, so you have two types of content. We’ve seen that one leverages search engines.

But what does the regular kind of content leverage?

Humans.

In particular, human attention and human interaction.

Content for search engines tries to do this. Arguably, that’s the fundamental skill of an SEO-focused content writer – trying to write content that is loved by both search engines and humans. And it’s a real challenge.

On the other hand, content writers are not concerned with these things.

They share ideas, news, thoughts, opinions and information of use.

Unconstrained by the needs and wants of search engines, a certain freedom allows them to focus on one thing, to change the reader’s emotional state.

That state might be that they feel that:

• Their ideal future can be realized.
• Their goals are closer.
• They aren’t failing as parents.
• Life can be better.
• Their business can succeed.

Be it entertaining or educating. Angering or mind-altering.

Great content makes emotional change happen – and it can be powerful.

But which type of writing is right for your business? 

‘Content bothism’: A secret weapon for marketing success

A good SEO once told me that one of his first SEO tasks is to kill low-traffic pages.

I get that. But low traffic doesn’t mean low use.

Before you kill content, you need to be sure that the content isn’t of use.

You might test this by promoting on social, even spending a bit of money to boost a post. That way you’ll know if the content is useful to your customers.

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be just SEO content or regular content. It should be SEO content and regular content.

“Content bothism” means using both types of content for your website. You can have the best of both worlds. And very often, that’s how you can build a powerful online presence. 

So, what types of regular content can you create for people that don’t leverage search?

3 content tactics you can use to leverage humans

Just because search is excellent, it doesn’t mean we throw regular content under the bus. 

Once you know how to leverage human readership, you can create content that drives people to your site because it’s brilliant. 

Here are three ways to leverage great content.

Variable reward content

Great blogs keep you coming back for more, as you never know what you’ll read on them. This is known as variable reward content.

Social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram leverage variable reward content, but so do great websites. 

A great example of this is Tim Ferriss. His blog keeps you coming back for more because you never know what you’ve missed.

As a business, this kind of content is excellent because people search for you, not find you serendipitously through search.

The aim is simple – to hook the reader and get them coming back to you, time and time again. 

User-generated content 

Our next tactic is to get people to create the content for you.

Starter Story has done a super job of doing this.

Through email interviews, their site has hundreds of great start-up stories.

And they haven’t had to write them. This has provided their site with over 4,000 case studies.

Even if you manage to read them all, they keep adding more each week.

None of these are written for search engines, but the volume and the nature of the content are a magnet for readers. 

Content curation (with insight)

Content curation is nothing new. Websites have been using content curation for years, and Reddit is arguably the best on the web.

But when you add your unique insight, you tend to create a new version of the content.

Marketing Examples is an excellent example of this. The best marketing examples are curated in one location, with unique views and images.

But does SEO content have to be dull and robotic? 

Not a chance.

SEOs ruined the web – and only SEOs can fix it

We’ve all heard the stories Google is losing market share to TikTok.

We all hate reading an article that is thin and only ranked because of the power of the domain behind it.

Hopefully, recent algorithm updates will change this. But if we want SEO content to be better, SEOs and their content writers need to change this.

So, what do people want from good SEO content?

Good SEO content answers the search query and adds what wasn’t there before.

It’s the proper combination of content writing and SEO content writing. You answer the search query, and then you go beyond.

Seth Godin has some excellent tips for writing blogs that work well.

“Cross out every sentence that could have been written by someone else, every box check, every predictable reference. Now, insert yourself. Your truth and your version of what happens next.”

While we don’t want to cross out every sentence, excellent SEO content must add your unique views, experience and truths.

And if you’re struggling to see examples of this in action, look no further than the Backlinko blog.

Brian Dean created a blog that didn’t just leverage search. It leveraged both humans and search engines.

Dean creates content for search engines and still adds unique angles and experiences.

It’s why content UX, content design and the insertion of unique views and experiences matter more than ever.

But others also do this well.

BuzzSumo created an awesome content piece, 18 Examples Of Awesome B2B Content Marketing.

It’s geared toward search and has had some success, but the BuzzSumo team leveraged their own data to produce a great and interesting article.

So, how could you start to make your SEO content stand out?

9 ways to create useful SEO content that humans love

Here are some ways to create helpful content for search engines and humans.

1. Add your own data

We saw how BuzzSumo added its data to create a unique content angle. 

What data do you have that you can use?

2. Add design

Brian Dean pioneered content design for SEO, but graphics can add a story to your content that you haven’t thought of.

I get a lot of feedback for my simple graphics that help to explain topics.

3. Add facts

Facts make your content legit and reaffirm what you’re trying to say. 

You can get these facts from sites such as Statista. 

4. Insert videos

Copywriter Ben Settle used to record himself talking on his phone while walking his dog. He’d then sell these insights as upsells for products.

I’m not saying you should do this, but create a short video, post it on YouTube, and embed it on your page. 

Perhaps you can explain something further or add a unique angle. Either way, you’re adding things for humans within your SEO content.

5. Add unique H2s (that don’t feature in the SERPs)

Modern web writing can be a tad regurgitated. People use tools such as Frase and Surfer to analyze the SERPs. 

To stand out, aim to add something new to the web, not just combine the best H2s and rewrite them.

What H2 can you add? What is the article missing?

To find out what’s missing, use the SEO Minion Chrome extension, and you can generate relevant People Also Ask questions for any keyword. Then add H2s not listed into your content.

6. Add quick answers

Yes, this is a search issue. We know search loves quick answers.

Today, I wanted to know some brief details about a TV I’m thinking of buying. I just wanted the information quickly. Many other buyers are like this, so try and get to the point.

Quick answers can be placed into boxes on your page to assist readers in finding key information.

The above page by What’s Best allowed me to scroll through the best TVs and quickly gain information. 

Optimize for the fast reader.

7. Add specifications, details and numbers

With AI on the rise, you must add details because that’s what AI can’t add. Ensure you’re adding relevant product and service data within the body of your content. 

This content by Quality Comix, which rates the 100 most valuable comics, provides key data that no AI program would have.

If you’re using AI to aid in content writing, you need to add more elements that it couldn’t have known or covered.

8. Commit to real answers

Experts give accurate answers to real problems. Quora was built on this.

Again, AI is vague while experts commit. If someone asks whether an air fryer is terrible for your health, answer the question firmly, not vaguely. 

Backing up your view with factual data helps, too.

9. Get quotes from business leaders

Businesses have business leaders. Get quotes from them, add them to the content and make your content pop. 

Make these quotes stand out on the page using design, and you’ll find that it helps your content to read a lot better. 

What you should do next

SEO content is restricted to answering questions your customers have.

Content answers the questions that they don’t know to ask.

Both are needed for a successful content strategy.

Remember, your content is probably not good enough for humans if you wouldn’t pay to promote the content. So go and conduct a review of your content.

Is it good enough? Could it be better? If so, go to work and add some of the elements above.

Be brave. Be bold.

That’s the future of both types of content. 

The post SEO content writing vs. content writing: The key difference appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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