With the prevalence of social media and online review platforms, what people say about you online can make or break your personal brand or small business. This article covers best practices for managing your online reputation so you can set your brand up for success both online and in the real world. Why does my online reputation matter?Online reputation consists of the overall perception of a brand based on the information available to your audience. A positive online reputation can help attract business partners and customers, build trust, and improve the overall public perception of your brand. Your online reputation consists of brand-related information, including:
Your reputation can make or break your brand, and managing it appropriately is imperative. Set SMART goalsBefore anything else, establish what you’re working toward. What are your goals for your online presence? How can they help contribute to your brand’s success? Set SMART goals, ensuring they’re specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. The clearer and more well-defined, the better. Setting one or two overall brand goals in addition to more granular goals for specific campaigns allows you to focus on long and short-term goals simultaneously. Brand goals should not be altered often unless your business model changes. Campaign goals, however, can rotate more frequently depending on your brand’s needs. Identify your strengths and weaknessesWhere do you excel? Where are you weakest? There’s a reason interviewers ask these questions. Knowing your weaknesses helps you work to strengthen them and keeps you from being blindsided by an attack. Strong leaders understand that weaknesses can be exploited or used for growth and turned into strengths. Highlight your superpowersWhere do you have an edge over the competition? What can you do better than anyone else? Let’s say you provide excellent customer service in an industry known for being unreliable. Use that to show your potential customers how much better their experience can be if they choose you. Address your roadblocksDo you have a small budget? Fear of negative reviews? Lack of buy-in from leadership? Is a disgruntled former employee or customer trying to take you down? Identifying your setbacks is the first step in conquering them. Typically, small businesses report time and budget as their biggest roadblocks. Know your audienceA deep understanding of your customers, peers, and competition is key to reputation success. You need to have your finger on the pulse of what is happening in your industry. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, how will you know how to speak to them? Successful brands understand precisely what feelings and perceptions their logos and communication evoke with their audience and what their customers expect of them. Remember, not everyone is your target audience. If you try to reach everyone, you will not connect with anyone. Find your voice on social media and create content that connectsSocial media is a great place to develop your brand voice. This is not the place to start pushing hard selling. Earn the trust of your audience by getting to know them without asking anything in return. Transparency is critical, with consumers regularly reporting that honesty, friendliness, and helpfulness are top behaviors consumers want to see from brands on social media. Do you know what never makes the list? Sales pushes. Be careful not to turn your audience against you by misusing your platforms. Earning your audience’s trust must come before overly promotional posts, especially if you want them to become strong brand advocates. Pro tip: Be particularly careful about edgy humor and snarkiness on social. Brands often miss the mark or end up offending users. Content strategyOnce you’ve determined your goals, you can map your content strategy. Don’t skip this step, you won’t get far without a plan. One of the easiest ways to do this is to create a site plan. For existing content, keep a sheet with current pages and posts on your site and the targeted keywords for each page. Create another sheet with a prioritized list of content that you need to create. This will keep you on track and ensure you’re setting yourself up to rank for keywords and topics relevant to your brand’s success. Not sure where to start? Take a look at your competition. You want to show up everywhere they are and anywhere they’re not. Providing valuable information on your site helps with optimization efforts. It also builds trust with your audience as they learn you provide helpful, valuable, and reliable information. Own your namePrevention is worth an ounce of cure. Claim your username across all channels. You’ll be much more able to weather an attack if you’ve built a strong foundation to stand on. One bad review in a list of hundreds is far less believable than one bad review out of two or three. When creating content, utilize third-person and descriptive language to assist in SEO efforts. Use consistent, descriptive handles and names on social sites, blog posts, and earned media. See what ranks for your name, and make sure you have a positive presence there. SEOLeverage owned content to control the information about your brand online. One of the most effective and reliable ways to do this is via search engine optimization (SEO). Optimizing your website and other online profiles to rank higher in search engine results lets your customers find information about your brand online and insulate you against a reputation attack. If you can own all of the results on the first page of the SERP for your brand name, it is much harder for someone to get negative information to rank for your name in an attempt at a reputation attack. Keep up with SEO best practices to ensure your site ranks well for your key brand terms. CongruenceYour online reputation is closely tied to your personal or professional brand. Whether you're a freelancer, entrepreneur, or small business owner, it's essential to establish a consistent brand image across all online platforms. Congruence across familiarity in tone, voice, look, and feel of what you share across different channels is essential. Of course, you'll need to customize based on limitations and audiences of individual channels, but give the same customer experience at all touchpoints. If you look at a major brand's social profiles, you'll notice that they typically have consistency from site to site, both with visuals and written content. You want your customers to feel comfortable if they jump from your website to your Facebook page and then to Twitter. If they have to stop and think about if they’re still with the same brand as they move from channel to channel, you have a larger chance of losing them in the journey. Set clear expectationsThe perceived success or failure of a project or experience depends greatly on that project's expectations. You expect a different level of service when you enter a five-star resort than you do from a roadside motel. What do you want your customers to expect from you? Decide, and then deliver. Be authentic, and be helpful wherever you can. Being helpful and meeting expectations will increase customer satisfaction, resulting in more positive reviews and social media engagement, which will improve your overall reputation and revenue. Use reviews to build your brandLet reviews help you get better. Positive reviews are great to have, but the bad ones are what assist you in improving. Respond to every review you get. Saying “thank you” when someone leaves a positive comment or review is an easy win. Every brand should do this, but many don't. More importantly, own your mistakes. If someone leaves a negative review, address the problem. Monitor what is being said about you onlineMonitoring your reputation will allow you to know your audience's perception of your brand and alert you to potential problems before they get out of hand. Track news and earned media mentions, social media platforms, online reviews, forums, and any other platforms where your brand's audience may be active. This way, you can uncover potential opportunities for building your brand. Be consistentManaging your online reputation is a continual process that requires time, strategy, and consistent attention. A good reputation indicates trustworthiness and reliability to potential customers and business partners. Knowing your audience – and ensuring they know you – will help you build a positive reputation and guarantee your customers and colleagues are loyal advocates of your brand. The post A quick guide to managing your online reputation appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/aZblUdK
0 Comments
The “year of efficiency” for Meta is starting out relatively decent in terms of revenue, with a 3% increase overall. And despite their plan to cut an additional 10,000 jobs this quarter, things seem to be looking up. At least for now, anyways. Meta shows growth for advertising and its Family of Apps but a decline in revenue for its other major business segment, Reality Labs. Let’s dive in. Revenue. Ad revenue increased by about 4.3% in Q1 2023.
Sure, here is the table with an additional column for the percent difference:
Daily active users. Meta’s Q1 2023 performance also showed impressive growth in user engagement.
Good to know. For the full year, analysts are estimating total expenses of $86B-$90B, which includes $3B-$5B of restructuring costs, and expects Reality Labs operating losses to increase this year. Dig deeper. You can review the full earnings report here. Why we care. Meta’s financial performance and growth provides important insights into the current state of the technology industry and the advertising market. The earnings report can give advertisers a sense of the overall demand for technology products and services, such as the company’s two main business segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs, which can help advertisers understand the trends and opportunities in these areas. The post Meta’s ad revenue is up 4.3% in Q1 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/8uO4PVk How are you identifying where you can reduce your marketing costs and increase profitability, without hurting revenue? If you’re a PPC advertiser, chances are you are throwing money away on brand terms. “Lone Rangers” are your brand terms that rank #1 in both paid and organic search but have no other Adthena’s research shows brands can save up to 20% of their PPC budgets annually by eliminating spend on these Lone Rangers. Don’t let your budget go to waste! Download How to Get 1 in 5 Dollars Back on Brand Search to learn everything you need to know to reduce brand search costs and reinvest in higher-performing search terms. The post Stop wasting your search budget appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/lMwFrk1 TikTok sellers are being invited to be the first to sign up and try out TikTok Shop before its public release. Now open in Beta. I received the email below this afternoon. Though I’m not a seller, nor do I manage any TikTok ecommerce accounts. What is TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop is an ecommerce solution designed to boost sales and brand growth on TikTok. It allows users to discover and purchase products from their favorite creators and brands in a single, smooth experience. Those who join as beta sellers will gain exclusive access to TikTok Shop and have the opportunity to provide valuable feedback for product improvement. Moreover, for a limited time, they will be able to take advantage of an exclusive promo offering 0% Referral Fees for the next 90 days. Sign up. To participate in TikTok Shop, sellers need only click the link in your email invitation. But if you didn’t receive an invitation, then you can access the Beta signup here. The post TikTok Shop launches in Beta appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/klXmC6v With changes happening to measurement and attribution, many advertisers are examining the effectiveness of their ad placements and casting a critical eye on the reliability of the systems they have in place to properly measure their marketing efforts. Join industry experts Bhanu Bhardwaj, media and data science leader at Meta, Bryan Karas, CEO of Playbook Media and Yehonathan Barnea, VP of customer success at Pecan AI, as they discuss how AI unlocks customer potential and campaign performance. Register today for From “Clicks to Conversions: Drive Performance with Marketing AI,” presented by Pecan. Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars. The post From clicks to conversions: Drive performance with marketing AI appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/QpeNHbA No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. This isn’t Twitter. It’s Google and they’re testing a new gold verification badge. The badge was noticed by Alex Kubica who posted about it on Twitter. Why we care. These verification badges signal that an advertiser has been vetted and approved by Google, which can lead to increased click-through rates and overall ad performance. In a competitive digital advertising landscape, leveraging the added trust provided by these labels can help advertisers stand out from the crowd and improve their ROI. The post Google Ads is testing a gold verification badge appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/C8dcahQ Up to 98% of people used the internet to find information about a local business in 2022, according to BrightLocal research. And 87% of consumers used Google to evaluate a local business. For local businesses with limited time, money and resources, it can be hard to know where to focus marketing efforts. One thing is for sure: The ability for people to find local businesses online is critical. And SEO is one of the most effective marketing activities for a local business to show up online, as it offers some of the best returns on investment in the long term. Given that local businesses may have a limited budget, which SEO factors should they focus on? Here, I’ll outline six areas that small businesses can reasonably do on their own (or spend a little money on outside help for the techie stuff) and, at the very least, get the SEO foundations in place. What are those foundations? For local businesses to rank in the search results, they need to consider the following areas:
6 SEO tactics that every local business should do at minimumLocal businesses need to focus on optimizing two areas of the search results:
When ranking local businesses in the local pack, Google takes into account relevance, distance and prominence. And there is another set of countless signals it uses for the organic listings, including the “blue links.” While the following is not an exhaustive list, it has some essential SEO tactics to do at a bare minimum for helping local business rank. For local pack rankings1. Google Business ProfileCreating, verifying and optimizing a Google Business Profile is one of the most critical tactics for ranking local businesses in the Local Pack. Here are three of the most impactful optimization techniques for a Business Profile:
2. Ratings and reviewsA local business’s ratings and reviews can impact how well it ranks, including how many reviews (text-based and numerical star ratings) and the actual scores. This is straight from Google’s mouth. So take reviews and ratings seriously. Here are some tips:
For organic rankings3. Quality contentQuality content is probably one of – if not the most important – on-page ranking factor in most cases. There are a lot of ways to define quality, but here are some ways to ensure it on a site:
And remember, if you are using AI content for a website, you must have a system in place to have it reviewed and edited by a human to ensure quality. For more, see my article on Search Engine Land: ChatGPT and SEO content: Where do we go from here? 4. Internal linkingHaving a good volume of helpful content throughout the site that is organized well helps make a website more relevant for a search. SEO siloing is a technique I invented more than 20 years ago. It structures a website's content by grouping related webpages in hierarchical categories through its directory and links. In other words, how you set up directories and navigation on a website matters. Siloing streamlines the internal linking system to connect like-pages and helps the search engines discover more related content to better understand what the site is about. It also helps users navigate with ease to find the information they need. Remember that sometimes Google takes into account the whole website and not just a single webpage when determining which sites to rank:
Practically, for a local business's website, the site would most likely be organized by things like:
For example: When a business has more than one location, create one or more pages dedicated to each location the business is in. An example would be the siloing strategy for a keyword like “engineering firm.” You'd create a section for locations by having a landing page for that term linked to from the top navigation. Then you'd add subpages underneath it that detail each location and the services it provides. This would apply to every location of a business. Avoid duplicate content issues by making each location section unique. 5. Webpage and website optimizationThere are countless ways to optimize a site, but for local businesses that are just getting started, here are a handful of things they can and should do to boost SEO:
The last two bullets may be areas where a local business spends a little money for expert help. 6. LinksLocal businesses must have quality, local links to show they are a trusted local business. Here are some ideas for earning links:
Focus on what mattersCountless SEO tactics can help local websites rank in the search results. However, there are a handful of methods where local businesses can get the most bang for their buck, whether implementing them on their own or spending some marketing budget to hire outside expertise. Focus on the local SEO hierarchy of needs, and get the right SEO foundations in place for a chance to compete. The post The SEO hierarchy of needs for local businesses on a budget appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/RsxWBPO Google has pushed out a fix to resolve some of the inappropriate or unexpected site names selections displayed in the Google Search results. This comes days after Google posted a web form asking for user feedback about site names that were inaccurate, inappropriate, or wrong, as we reported earlier this week. As a reminder, Google added site names months ago on desktop and last year on mobile search. The issue. Google can sometimes disregard the specified site name and replace it what it thinks the site name should be. For example, when it came to searching for [salesforce], Google was showing a space between “sales” and “force,” and the CMO of Salesforce called it “extremely damaging to our brand.” The fix. Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, posted an update in the Google support forms saying a fix was pushed out that resolves some of the issues. He wrote, “We recently rolled out a change that seems to be helping with some of the cases reported here and through our form (and likely some others that weren’t reported).” “This change may take time to populate so that internal pages also reflect updated sitenames,” Sullivan added. It resolved the issue for Salesforce, as you can see from this screenshot below: Not fixed for all. However, this did not resolve all the issues reported by all users. Glenn Gabe shared some examples of site names not resolved by this fix on Twitter. “Here are 3 examples of site name problems that were not fixed with the changes rolled out by Google yesterday. The worst is DNN Software that says “Weight Loss Forum”. The others are just wrong & one is causing legal issues,” he wrote: Controlling site names. Google back in October explained that Google Search uses a number of ways to identify the site name for the search result. But if you want, you can use structured data on your home page to communicate to Google what the site name should be for your site. Google has specific documentation on this new Site name structured data available over here. Upgrading the favicon. Google also recommended revisiting the documentation for favicons for the latest best practices. Google is now also suggesting you provide an icon that’s at least 48 pixels and follows the existing favicon guidelines. Ads. This is also rolled out to the Google search ads on desktop, so the size of the site name, favicons, and also the ad label will be more prominent in mobile search. In fact, Google rolled out the “Sponsored” label in mobile search last October and today on desktop, officially replacing the “Ads” label from January 2020. Why we care. When Google gets your site name, it can not only be upsetting and unprofessional, but it can also cause confusion and legal issues for some businesses. It is good that Google is collecting feedback about the issues and working to address most, if not, all the reported issues. The post Google updates site names in search results after numerous complaints appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/bcyjuqx Google expanded displaying shipping and return information in its search results last week and added new return policy documentation in the product structured data help section specific for merchant listings. Today, Google has expanded the number of countries that can use applicableCountry required property from 25 countries to a total of 50 countries. What changed. Google updated the return section of this structured data help document to write, “You can specify up to 50 countries.” Previously it said, “up to 25 countries.” Here are before and after screenshots: More shipping and return snippets. Some are now noticing more search result snippets in Google Search showing the shipping and return snippets. Here is one example: Why we care. If you are using this markup and your country is supported, you may soon start to see the shipping and return information show up within your search result snippets in Google Search. Check out the new markup and make sure to validate the markup in Search Console to ensure it will work as expected. These small snippet changes can potentially have a large impact on your click-through rate from Google Search to your web site. The post Google now supports 25 more countries with new return policy structured data appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/fBq36WE At some point, your PPC performance will take a nose-dive. Once you’ve managed PPC campaigns long enough, you will likely navigate numerous crises. Pinpointing the source of a specific issue can be challenging. Here’s how PPC managers can embrace root cause analysis to mitigate performance issues and get things back on track. Root cause analysis for PPC accountsRoot cause analysis is necessary to identify the underlying factors impacting PPC account performance. The process involves a systematic approach to identifying the problem, collecting data, analyzing the data, and determining the root cause of the issue. For reference, here is a quick list of the steps you should follow to conduct root cause analysis within your PPC account: Define the problemClearly state the problem and its impact on your PPC campaigns. Make sure everyone involved understands the issue. Gather dataCollect relevant data about the problem, such as when it started, how often it occurs, and what factors are involved. Identify potential causesBrainstorm all possible causes of the problem. Use fishbone diagrams or the “Five Whys” technique to identify the root cause. Test the causeAnalyze the data to see which potential reason is most likely to be the root cause. Test your hypothesis by implementing a solution and measuring its effectiveness. Implement a solutionDevelop and implement a solution that addresses the root cause. Monitor the results in your PPC account and adjust the solution as needed. Finally, document the process so you can learn from it and prevent similar issues in the future. This process can be applied to almost any business challenge. However, this process is highly relevant when diagnosing a PPC account. Getting to the core issue of your PPC accountThe third step in our root cause analysis process mentioned the "Five Whys Technique," a tool used to identify the underlying cause of a problem. It's a general principle that is relevant to our PPC analysis process. The technique involves asking "why" five times to drill down to the root cause of the issue, based on the idea that there is always a deeper cause to every problem. For example, here is a thought exercise when analyzing a PPC account:
Of course, diagnosing a PPC account can take many different routes. But you can see how this process pushes account managers to continue digging for the right solution. Isolating the impacted timeframeThe first step in identifying and analyzing an issue within a PPC account is isolating the timeframe where a change occurred. This makes it easier to pinpoint the root cause of the problem and develop an effective strategy to address it. Account managers can thoroughly analyze the data by narrowing down the period, including the keywords, landing pages and ad copy, to identify the factors contributing to the decline. This analysis can help account managers develop a tailored strategy to improve performance and prevent future declines. Additionally, isolating the timeframe allows search marketers to measure the effectiveness of any implemented solutions and ensure performance remains stable and positive going forward. Determining macro and micro issuesWhen analyzing account performance, it is crucial to differentiate between macro and micro issues. Macro issues affect the entire account and can result from external factors such as changes in search algorithms or the introduction of new competitors. Examples of macro issues include:
Resolving macro issues can lead to significant improvements in account performance. External factors such as changing search algorithms, user behavior, or seasonal changes can also affect account performance. Therefore, teams should consider these factors to develop an effective root cause analysis process to determine potential issues within a PPC account. On the other hand, micro issues are specific to individual campaigns and require a different level of attention. Examples of micro issues include:
Nevertheless, identifying and addressing micro matters can significantly improve campaign performance. Tools for PPC root cause analysisRoot cause analysis is an excellent framework for diagnosing your PPC campaigns. However, you will need tools to help activate this process. Below are a few tools that can help you analyze issues as they arise within PPC. Account change historyA performance change in your PPC account can often be traced back to a specific campaign change. The account change history log is the first place you conduct your analysis within Google and Bing. Account reportingAs mentioned in our five-step process, isolate the timeframe and affected campaigns. Your Google and Bing advertising accounts contain the data and the reports you need to get you started (and perhaps finished) with your root cause analysis. Pair your account report to isolate the time and campaigns with your change history log to understand if a specific change is the cause of your issue. Google AnalyticsAs part of your root cause analysis, you should also look at how all digital channels are trending. Google Analytics helps analyze traffic sources, including paid, organic, social, and referral. If you need to diagnose a performance issue, you first isolate the impacted timeframe and then review Google Analytics to understand if multiple channels have been affected. Google TrendsWe have discussed macro-trends influencing account performance. Google Trends helps understand high-level trends within your industry/vertical. This tool varies in its usefulness. Google Trends is the highest level of data you can review and the least personalized to your specific account. Still, it can provide industry trends as you conduct your analysis. A systematic approach to analyzing PPC issuesA robust root cause analysis process is critical to identifying the underlying factors affecting PPC account performance. By following a systematic approach to identifying the problem, gathering relevant data, analyzing it, and determining the root cause of the issue, PPC marketers can develop a tailored strategy to improve performance and prevent future declines. When performance fluctuations arise (and they will), remember not to panic and take a methodical approach to solve the problem. The post How to uncover the root cause of PPC performance changes appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/afOSHo9 |
Archives
April 2024
Categories |