Despite what some business leaders still (shockingly) think, YouTube isn’t just cat videos and fail compilations; it’s a mighty tool in your marketing arsenal. If you’re not harnessing its full potential, you’re missing out big time. Regularly performing a thorough audit is one way to ensure you’re squeezing all the value from your brand’s YouTube channel. Here’s how it’s done. Understanding YouTube metrics and analyticsViews, subscribers, likes, comments and shares give a good feel for how your video content is performing. But if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, YouTube Analytics is a gold mine. It tells you everything from watch time and traffic sources to audience demographics, with data for individual videos and the channel overall. Understanding these numbers is crucial to know what is and isn’t working. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most important metrics in YouTube analytics: Views
Subscribers
Watch time
Audience retention
Engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares)
Visibility metrics (impressions and CTR)
Traffic sources
Demographics
Top videos
Playback locations
Remember, while these metrics are all important, the ones that matter most will depend on your specific goals and strategy. Before you dive into the deep end, have clear goals in mind. Do you want to increase your subscriber base? Boost engagement? Drive traffic to your website? Align your YouTube channel goals with your overall marketing strategy and make sure they’re SMART:
5 important metrics to work on for improved YouTube ranking and visibilityIf you want to audit your YouTube channel to find opportunities to improve rankings and visibility, here are the metrics you should focus on: View duration (watch time)YouTube wants to keep viewers glued to the platform. So, the longer your videos hold viewers’ attention, the more YouTube’s algorithm will favor you. Monitor your analytics to see which videos capture attention and why.
Do more of what’s working, and cut what’s not. Audience retentionMany marketers miss or struggle to interpret this metric. Audience retention refers to the percentage of a video that viewers stick around to watch. If your 10-minute video consistently loses viewers at the 2-minute mark, you have a problem. You need to figure out what’s causing viewers to bounce and fix it. Is it a boring intro? A misleading title? Solve the issue to keep your audience around for longer. In the audience retention graph for each video, what we’re looking for is a relatively flat line or one that only gradually declines. Steep drops and dips are to be further investigated. To find the chart, go to YouTube Studio > Content > Select a video > Analytics, then scroll down to Key Moment for Audience Retention. Engagement metrics (Likes, comments, shares and subscriptions)When viewers interact with your videos – by liking, commenting, sharing, or subscribing – YouTube takes it as a sign that you’re creating valuable, engaging content. So encourage that interaction! Ask viewers to like, comment, share and subscribe. And don’t be a wallflower yourself. Respond to comments and engage with your audience. Just be sure to keep it positive and professional. Click-through rate (CTR)This measures how many people see your video thumbnail and title (impressions) and then click to watch. It’s a vital sign of how compelling your video’s ‘packaging’ is. To boost your CTR, craft irresistible titles and design eye-catching thumbnails. But remember, clickbait might earn you a click, but it’ll hurt your view duration and audience retention if your video doesn’t deliver on its promise. Traffic sourcesThis shows you where your views are coming from – whether it’s YouTube search, suggested videos, external websites, or other sources. Understanding this can help you tailor your SEO strategy. If many viewers find you through YouTube search, you’ll want to double down on keyword optimization. If external websites are driving traffic, look at which sites are linking to you or embedding your content, and why. YouTube audit essentialsNow that you understand what metrics you’re dealing with, the real work begins. To make your brand’s channel shine, you must first understand where it stands, what’s working, and what could use a little love. It’s time to roll up those sleeves and dive into a YouTube channel audit. Below are the essential steps and elements you must include in your audit. Step 1: Check out the channel aestheticsFirst impressions count. Start by looking at your channel’s logo, banner, and overall visual aesthetic. Does it scream “your brand,” or is it more of a whisper? Make sure everything aligns with your brand’s identity and vibe. Also, double-check the About section. It should tell viewers exactly what your channel is about, when to expect new videos, and how to get in touch. Think of it as your brand’s elevator pitch. Step 2: Dive into the video libraryWatch a selection of videos across the library – some old, some new, some with high views, some with low views. Take a look at the channel analytics and pay close attention to the focus metrics I mentioned above. Compare year over year, if you can. This will give you a feel for the content quality and how it has evolved over time.
If not, it’s time for a rethink. An important point to understand is that you want your channel to feel timely, topical, and relevant. So any non-evergreen content you have that is now outdated (looking at you, “2020 SEO Trends to Watch Out For”) could be bringing down performance. Sadly, YouTube doesn’t allow you to upload a new version and keep all the stats from the old one, you’ll need to start from scratch. Step 3: Thumbnails, titles and descriptionsHere’s where we get down to the nitty-gritty. Take a look at the video thumbnails, titles, and descriptions.
The combination of your thumbnail and title is like a movie poster for your video, so it needs to be compelling. And the description is your chance to reel in viewers (and search engines) with more detail. Step 4: Get engagedCheck out the engagement on your videos.
Engagement isn’t a one-way street, so be sure to take the time to interact with your audience. Step 5: Compare with competitorsTake a peek at what your competitors are up to.
Find ways to differentiate your brand and make your content stand out. Tools like TubeBuddy are great for competitor analysis, as well as optimizing your own channel. Step 6: Review your SEOIf you’re serious about success on YouTube, SEO is not optional, it’s mandatory. Optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords. And let’s not forget the thumbnails – they’re the first thing viewers see. Make them catchy. Playlists are also a fantastic way to keep viewers hooked to your channel. YouTube SEO is a discipline in itself, but an important one to get your head around if you want to make the most of your brand’s channel. Bonus: Your YouTube upload checklistSo, you’ve done your audit, the house is in order and existing videos are starting to get some traction. How do we avoid having to do all this again in six months? Presenting YouTube upload checklists! A YouTube upload checklist should cover key steps in the process of preparing, optimizing and uploading a video for maximum visibility, engagement and SEO benefit. Here's a rundown of the essentials: Pre-upload
Upload
Post-upload
Double down on metrics that matter to your brandSucceeding on YouTube and mastering its nuances might seem daunting. But once you break it down and understand the metrics that drive your channel's success, it's not as scary as it seems. Creating a successful YouTube channel involves more than just posting content. It's about knowing your audience, setting clear goals, making your content easily discoverable and engaging, and consistently evaluating and optimizing your strategy using data. From auditing your channel aesthetics to diving deep into the video library, it's a journey, not a one-off task. Plus, with the handy upload checklist, you'll set your videos up for success every time you go live. The key to brand success on YouTube lies in:
All these are essential strategies for growing your YouTube channel and enhancing your brand's visibility. The post How to audit your YouTube channel for brand success appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/JxOSf7L
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Google has a new Google Merchant Center policy on “automated content” that says reviews generated using an automated program or artificial intelligence application are considered spam and against the Google Merchant Center policies. Google posted this update here while also clarifying its existing Merchant Center policies and enforcement. Automated content policy. The new policy reads:
AI Content and Google. Generally, Google has been okay with people using AI to generate content, assuming that content is helpful and not written for search engines but rather for users. This is a bit of a deviation from the recent messaging from Google on using AI for content. But one would assume that reviews require a human to use the product to generate a review and thus AI-generated reviews would be an exception. Maybe? Other policy clarifications. Google also posted clarifications on its other Merchant Center policies. Here is what Google posted:
Enforcement clarification. Google also posted the following clarification around how Google enforces the policies listed above:
Why we care. If you are using Google Merchant Center, you should be aware of all the existing policies and how Google enforces those policies. If you post reviews to your Merchant Center feed, it sounds like you need to ensure those reviews are not generated by AI or other automated means. If they are, you need to add the is_spam attribute to those reviews. The post New Google policy says AI-generated reviews are spam and against Merchant Center policies appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/LixNDgE Google has released some really needed updates to its site names feature in Google Search. Site names are now supported on subdomains on all devices in English, French, German, and Japanese languages. Google also made other improvements and added workarounds when Google gets your site name wrong, Google announced. Site names. Site names is the title and name of the site Google shows in the search results listings. “When Google lists a page in search results, it shows the name of the site the page comes from,” Google explained. Subdomain support expanded. Google added support for site names with subdomains on mobile devices only, for English, French, German, and Japanese. Now it also works for all devices, not just subdomains. Here is an example from Google’s own site. Updated guidance. Google also updated its guidance on how to communicate your preferred site name to Google Search. Google wrote, “As a reminder, the best way to indicate a preferred site name to Google is to make use of Also, Google now encourages more use of the Workarounds for site names. Google also listed a few workarounds for when the preferred or alternative names are not selected by Google Search. Google posted new workarounds in its help documentation that lists these workarounds:
Need support. Having issues with your site name? Google posted a support thread in the Google support forums over here, including more FAQs. We saw some issues with site names, some of which Google resolved. This should resolve more of those issues. In fact, I did capture some before and after examples and posted them this morning on the Search Engine Roundtable. What it looks like. Here is where the site name shows in the search result snippet: Site names timeline. Here is the timeline Google posted of the evolution of site names since it launched in October:
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. Google has made several improvements to how it selects and shows your site name in the Google Search results. If Google is still getting it wrong and you are following the documentation, then maybe try some of those new workarounds to get your site name showing exactly how you want it in Google Search. The post Google Search rolls out site name updates and workarounds appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/2w8mhE0 If you are in marketing, especially content marketing, exploring the AI-based tools YouTube creators use is essential. They offer insight into the most effective AI video generators that could secure your job in the near future. ChatGPT and MidjourneyCheck out “Star Wars by Wes Anderson Trailer | The Galactic Menagerie.” Uploaded on April 28, this whimsical and visually stunning fan-made fake trailer now has 2.8 million views. Caleb Ward, the CEO of Curious Refuge, told Yahoo Entertainment that it only took a few days to produce thanks to ChatGPT, which wrote the script, and AI image generator Midjourney, which created all the visuals. Then, Ward edited the generated clips on his laptop to produce the final product. And this wasn’t a fluke. On May 9, artificial intelligence, Caleb Ward, Shelby Ward, and Tyler Smith created “Lord of the Rings by Wes Anderson Trailer | The Whimsical Fellowship.” This delightful fan-made trailer now has 3.8 million views. So, even if you aren’t a fan of Anderson’s signature visual style, you’ll want to learn how to use AI to create videos. The process includes learning to utilize advanced VFX techniques to push your projects further than typical AI productions, according to the AI storytellers at Curious Refuge. But they also believe AI empowers non-traditional artists to unlock their inner creativity and create compelling stories. Runway’s Stable Diffusion and Gen-2Next, watch “ANIME ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.” Uploaded on Feb. 26, this cartoon by Corridor Digital now has 4.0 million views. Corridor used the machine-learning text-to-image model Stable Diffusion to create their AI-generated anime – no animators required. The model was trained using live-action footage of actors in front of a green screen. The anime art style was trained using Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust as a reference. Is that a big deal? Well, the Corridor Crew created a companion video that asks the rhetorical question, “Did We Just Change Animation Forever?” Also uploaded on Feb. 26, this behind-the-scenes (BTS) video now has 3.0 million views. Corridor Crew says, “ANYONE can make a cartoon with this groundbreaking technique.” And Runway, which co-created Stable Diffusion, recently released Gen-2, a multi-modal AI model that allows users to generate new videos with text, images, or video clips. That’s right: Gen-2 turns text into video. Watch “How to Use Gen-2 | Runway” to get a quick tutorial. Gen-2 costs $0.05 per second of generated video. Paid plans come with an allotment of monthly credits, which can be supplemented by purchasing additional credits. Dob Studio’s artificial intelligence technologyNow, watch “러브홀릭스(Loveholics) – ‘Butterfly’ 커버 COVER [??? ??????].” Uploaded on Dec. 2, 2022, this cover song by Rui now has 1.4 million views. Why is this remarkable? Well, Rui is a virtual YouTuber, or VTuber. She is a real person with an AI-generated face. Is this a thing? Well, a global survey by Google/Ipsos in May found 52% of people had watched a VTuber over the past 12 months. Rui was made by Dob Studio, a virtual human project company based in Seoul, South Korea, which uses artificial intelligence technology to:
Since Dob Studio was established in June 2020, the IT start-up has developed Rui and several other virtual humans. These virtual humans function as corporate brand ambassadors and appear in dramatic and surprising scenes on popular South Korean TV shows. Rui has even been appointed as an ambassador for the Korea Welfare Foundation, an honorary ambassador for the Korea Tourism Organization, and a Nuri Honorary Ambassador of the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The best AI video generators for marketersMany marketers can get the upskilling or reskilling they need to learn how to use the powerful AI-based tools that YouTube creators use now. But there are situations when the best AI video generator for a content marketing campaign doesn’t need to be overpowering. Fortunately, there are options. SynthesiaSynthesia is an AI video generator that transforms text into speech in a few minutes. It includes more than 85 AI avatars that can speak your text in more than 120 languages and accents. This enables marketers to create training, how-to, and product marketing videos for global audiences. Watch “Discover Synthesia in 4 minutes | Product Tour” for an overview. Synthesia offers a free demo video to evaluate the AI generator (limited to 200 words). If you love the results, you can upgrade to the Personal pricing plan ($30/month) or contact Synthesia for a custom Corporate plan. PictoryPictory is an AI video generator that can create videos from scripts, articles, blog posts, visuals, or other videos. It uses a library with over three million video clips and images along with a 15,000-track music library. Check out “Introducing Pictory - The AI that crafts social videos from lengthy content in minutes.” Pictory automatically adds accurate captions to your videos quickly. It creates highlights from webinars and other long videos and lets users schedule automatic posting on various social channels via Hootsuite integration. Pictory offers a free trial that enables marketers to create three video projects. InVideoInVideo is another AI-powered video generator that allows marketers to create videos from text. You can use InVideo to create videos for social media ads, promos, or your YouTube channel. InVideo offers a free online video maker with limited features. You can create and render videos with a watermark at no cost. You’ll need to upgrade to one of InVideo's paid plans to remove the watermark or use features like premium stock media. Watch “Top 10 Faceless YouTube Niches To Make Money without Showing Your Face” to learn some strategic insights beyond the tactical advice that others provide. DeepBrain AIDeepBrain AI is an artificial intelligence company that provides real-time video synthesis solutions. DeepBrain AI's AI Humans can be conversational or non-conversational. Check out “[Sketch movie] Howie Mandel gets a digital twin from DeepBrain AI” to meet AI Howie. The company's AI technologies include video and speech synthesis, live chatbots, and more. DeepBrain's solutions create generative AI videos with just a script and apply to various industries, including financial services, retail and commerce, education, as well as media. DeepBrain AI has two pricing plans: Starter at $24 monthly and Pro at $180 monthly. VEED.ioVEED.io is an AI-powered video script generator. It provides compelling video scripts that you can turn into movies or short videos. Watch “How to Make 30 YouTube Shorts in 24 hours using AI” to learn how easy it is to create a month’s worth of content in a single day using ChatGPT and VEED.io. VEED.io also offers video editing tools, a video downloader, and a GIF maker and editor. VEED's video editing tools are free to use. VEED.io has two pricing plans: Basic at $12.00 per user per month and Pro at $24.00 per user per month. Other AI-based toolsMarketers at brands and agencies should spend 80% of their mythical “spare time” evaluating AI video generators and the remaining 20% evaluating other AI-based tools. Why? Two reasons. First, Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo, the heads of research and development at LinkedIn’s B2B Institute, recently shared a contrarian take on AI in MarketingWeek. “The biggest disruption won’t be creative. The biggest disruption will be diagnosis. AI has the potential to change market research forever. And for the better,” they said. Second, even YouTube has a contrarian take on AI. So, let’s look at two other AI-based tools. DAIVID DAIVID, an AI-powered creative effectiveness platform, uses a suite of advanced technologies – including facial coding, eye tracking, and computer vision – to help with campaign planning, video testing, and media planning. But it leaves creation to brands and agencies. DAIVID’s partners include ADK Marketing Solutions, Coca-Cola, DIRECTV, EssenceMediacom, and Singtel. Watch “In Conversation with Ian Forrester, CEO & Founder of DAIVID” to hear what Forrester says to Tom Saunter, EssenceMediacom's Global Head of Creative & Media Technologies, about the role of emotion in advertising and how AI can help with measuring advertising effectiveness. Area 120’s Aloud During his keynote speech at VidCon on June 22, Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s VP of Creator Products, announced that Aloud, an AI-driven dubbing product from Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator for experimental projects, is coming to YouTube. Aloud can transcribe an English-language video and then translate it. Marketers can review and edit the transcript before the video is dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese, with Hindi, Bahasa-Indonesia, and other languages coming soon. So, even though Aloud isn’t an AI video generator, you’ll want to watch “Aloud: Let's overcome the language barrier in videos together.” Take advantage of AI or get left behindNvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang gave a commencement address to 10,000 graduates in late May. He urged them to run, not walk, to seize the potential opportunities that AI presents, and embrace the inevitable failures that will occur along the way. “While some worry that AI may take their jobs, someone who’s expert with AI will,” Huang said. “In 40 years, we created the PC, internet, mobile, cloud and now the AI era. What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it like we did. Run, don’t walk… Either you are running for food, or you are running from becoming food.” So as a marketer, you should run, not walk, to evaluate the powerful AI-based tools that YouTube creators use now. The post The best AI video generators for creators and marketers appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/IjixWnq Google Analytics 4 audiences can now be used with third-party segments in Ad Manager. By accepting a third-party segment (cookies matching the demographics of your visitors bought via a third-party data provider), marketers can target line items to it, perform reports and run forecasts. Meanwhile, audiences can also be used as-is for targeting or, marketers can combine this data with other audiences to perform analyses. Why we care. This additional data provides valuable insights to marketers about their customer-base and how effective their campaigns are at reaching them. It’s vital that advertisers understand their customers the best they can so that they can make data-driven decisions to not just target the right people, but to ensure that the content they create will engage them – which is likely result in higher conversions and ROI. How it works. To access GA4 audiences in Ad Manager you need to follow these simple steps:
Deep dive. Read Google's 'Sharing Audiences in Google Analytics' guide for more information. The post GA4 audiences can now be used with third-party segments in Ad Manager appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/MPVdk8v Elon Musk has significantly discounted ad prices on X – the social networking platform previously known as Twitter. For a limited time only, select marketers in the U.S. and UK can save up to 50% off of new bookings until July 31. The platform reportedly claims it is running these promotions to boost reach for marketers during high-traffic periods, such as the Women’s World Cup, in an email seen by the Wall Street Journal. Why we care. Whether you’re a marketer that has taken a step back from X or you’ve never purchased ad space from the platform before, now may be a good time to reconsider and start making it part of your advertising strategy as the financial risk has been significantly reduced. X also still has 450 million daily active users worldwide, so reach potential is huge and could hep brands connect with previously untapped audiences, which could lead to improved ROI. How it works. The discounts are only being offered to select marketers that are running video ads alongside trending topics in X’s ‘Explore’ tab. These ads provide brands with a 24-hour placement at the top of X’s trending topics list. A spokesperson reportedly said:
The catch. In addition to offering marketers a range of ad discounts, X has warned that they will risk losing their verified status if they do not reach minimum spending thresholds. Brands are expected to spend at least:
This new rule goes into effect Aug. 7. Brands that lose their verified status are vulnerable to impersonation attacks, which can cause damage to a business’s reputation. Why now? Twitter's ad revenue has recently plummeted by 59%, following an exodus of big spending advertisers after Musk took over Twitter.
A race to the bottom? Following Twitter's rebrand to X, the company is now trying to rectify the situation by tempting advertisers back to the site via discounted rates.
Deep dive. Read Twitter's Ad Pricing policy for more information on its ad prices. The post X (Twitter) slashes video ad prices to lure back advertisers appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/hctTZHA Microsoft Ads is trialling a new dashboard for advertisers called UET Insights. The new feature, which will display data collected through its Universal Event Tracking Tag, aims to help marketers better understand their campaign’s performance in terms of engagement. The dashboard. Data will be available in near real-time and won’t be sampled on the new dashboard. It will include the following metrics:
New data signals. Additional website performance signals captured by the UET Tag will include:
Awaiting feedback. Microsoft had originally planned to automatically roll out the new dashboard to all advertisers on June 29. However, the tech giant instead decided to launch the new feature in beta on July 25 and give advertisers the choice of whether to opt in. A spokesperson said:
Why we care. Microsoft has said that it is trialling the new dashboard to give advertisers more insights into their campaign's performance. If advertisers are able to better understand what's working and what's not working in terms of engagement, then they can make better, data-led decisions to implement improvements moving forward. This could result in a better ROI and potentially generate more traffic and conversions. About UET Tags. Launched (then on Bing Ads) in 2014, a site-wide UET tag powers conversion tracking, remarketing and automated bidding strategies on Microsoft Ads. The post Microsoft Ads pilots UET Insights dashboard with new traffic data appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/PpJDtrb Google will exclude gameplay imagery from its Shocking Content policy next month. The Publisher Restrictions guidelines will be updated to include the exception on August 30, the Ads Manager team has confirmed to Search Engine Land. Why we care. It’s important for marketers to ensure they are staying compliant with Google policy changes to avoid potential penalties and exclusions. What’s new? Once the new updates are rolled out, gameplay content will only be excluded if it contains gruesome, graphic or disgusting accounts or imagery and depicts acts of:
What has Google said? Google is advising brands to review the update to check how their site or app will be impacted. If a brand would like to challenge previous content exclusions based on this update, they have the right to appeal. A spokesperson said:
Deep dive. Read Google's 'Shocking content' rules for more information on what content exclusions apply to. For more information on appealing content exclusion decisions, read Google's Policy Center guidelines. The post Google is updating its Shocking Content policy to exclude gameplay imagery appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/Mi94rwj Google reviews are easy to influence and can impact your local search rankings. They also matter significantly more than you might think. Building a strong review strategy is a crucial part of your SEO efforts that you might be overlooking. Invest time and energy in acquiring new reviews and retaining existing ones to enhance your local SEO. Maintaining a competitive number of reviews is essential in your market. The kind of Google reviews you wantAny review a business gets is beneficial, but some reviews can outweigh others for SEO purposes. You always want to make sure customers leave reviews with a lot of text where they are talking about the services they received and their experiences. They should mention specifics about their service like:
Keywords in reviews are not a ranking factor. But review justifications are eligible to show up in search results and can provide a nice trust factor when someone searches for a specific service. Reviews with photos tend to stick at the top longerIncorporating visuals like photos and videos with your Google reviews can amplify their impact significantly. Visual content adds authenticity and credibility to the reviews. We have also noticed that these reviews tend to stay at the top much longer than reviews without photos. So if you are trying to get some positive reviews to stick at the top, try getting more reviews with photos. What do we mean by “stay at the top”? When you navigate to a business’s Google Business Profile (GBP) and then click on their reviews, the default view a user will see is sorted by “Most relevant.” We have found that Google sees reviews with images as relevant and stays at the top of this view longer than other reviews. So, encourage your customers to snap a photo of the HVAC system you just fixed, the roof you just installed, or the spring on the garage door you just replaced and add that to their review. Monitor GBP reviews for strategic insightsDid you know that only businesses with a 4.0-star rating and above are eligible to show up for searches with “best” or “top” in them? Is your business above a 4.0 rating right now? If the answer is, “I don’t know!” this part is for you. Monitoring reviews quarterly lets you gain insights into various aspects of your online presence. Track fluctuations in review volume to identify trends or problems such as:
You must also ensure you are receiving a steady stream of new reviews. Keep a trend of consistent, new reviews to maintain three-pack rankings, as review recency appears to be a local ranking factor. Watch out for negative reviews showing in the top 3 on GBPSometimes, Google will highlight a negative review in the top 3 that appear prominently on GBP listings on desktop and mobile. These can harm your business's reputation and possibly deter people from calling. Want to eliminate a negative review from being highlighted on your listing? The only way I have seen this done is to bombard the listing with legitimate, lengthy, positive reviews from your customers that include photos. Hopefully, one of those will push the negative one out. This is not ideal since we have no control over what shows in this area. That said, it’s a great opportunity to respond thoughtfully to negative reviews, acknowledge customer concerns, and offer solutions publicly. Simultaneously, encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews to balance the negative feedback and hopefully push it off the listing. How to keep a steady stream of Google reviews with little effortGetting new consistent reviews is key to maintaining visibility on Google Maps and growing that visibility if there is room for improvement. As business owners, many rely on their employees to provide top-notch service that naturally generates positive reviews. In reality, people need a little nudge to leave those positive reviews. Google absolutely does not allow businesses to incentivize customers for positive reviews. It is directly against their Google review guidelines as this can be considered “deceptive content” if the customer was paid or incentivized in any way to leave the review. However, Google does allow business owners other ways to incentivize reviews. Incentivizing employeesBusiness owners can and should motivate employees to ask for reviews from satisfied customers during their interactions. They should be asking for photos along with that review as well. If an employee gets mentioned in a review by name or gets a customer to post a review with a photo, reward your employee by giving them a cash prize, a gift card to Amazon, or even a gift card to a local restaurant of their choice. If your business typically gets lots of reviews, consider doing a monthly "drawing" instead and rewarding that winner. Keep it fun and rewarding, as everyone wins here. Automated email templatesGiving customers a link to review your business on Google is super important to streamline the process for them. Getting the link is easy. It's right on the GBP dashboard under “Ask for reviews.” The trick to getting the most reviews possible with the least effort is creating an automated email template using this link to request reviews from recent customers. You can personalize these emails, but don't get carried away and lose the point of the email: getting the review. Make sure it's crystal clear how they can easily review you on Google, why it's important, and the link is easily accessible. Help, my Google reviews are missing!Many business owners had issues with missing Google reviews a few months ago. New reviews were not being posted, and in some cases, reviews that had been live for years were suddenly missing from hundreds of profiles. This problem was so widespread Google put out some support information explaining why reviews may suddenly go missing from a GBP listing. Google has since fixed the bug causing reviews to go missing, but the algorithm they employed that supposedly filters suspicious or inauthentic reviews is still in play. While the intention behind this system is to ensure review integrity, it can sometimes result in legitimate reviews being filtered out. If you suspect this is happening to you because you are monitoring your reviews (called a callback), then you have some options. The best way to restore these is to contact support and follow these steps:
They may ask for screenshots of the missing reviews, so having those handy is recommended. Fake reviews: The never-ending taleFake spam reviews can be frustrating. Is your listing being bombarded with fake, negative reviews? Google is usually good about catching these and removing them with their filter. However, sometimes fake reviews get published. In this case, Google support should be able to remove them from your listing if they are indeed fake. Sometimes businesses get fake positive reviews to game Google’s ranking algorithm. The frustrating thing is that it works most of the time. When a listing gets many fake positive reviews, they typically see improvement in rankings. Though it may be tempting to report them to Google and try to get those removed and hurt their rankings, typically, all the effort it takes to report the reviews isn’t worth it in the long run. The juice ain't worth the squeeze! That is, if you can even get the reviews removed which doesn't always happen. Google is far away from having a handle on their fake review problems, though they are trying, according to recent lawsuits being filed. Still, I always encourage business owners to focus and get more reviews on their one listing and not worry about what the competition is doing. Negative reviews: A chance to embrace the imperfections of your businessNegative reviews are a good thing. I am in the camp that perfection is not always trustworthy in the eyes of consumers. While aiming for outstanding service is crucial, an occasional less-than-perfect review online can enhance your credibility. Authenticity matters, and customers often appreciate businesses that show a human side, and to be human is to err. So when a user sees under 4.8 or 4.7 stars on Google, they tend to trust it more, according to some studies. Do not be afraid of negative reviews. Take them as a chance to show your human side. People will like it, especially if you can make it funny. The post Unleashing the potential of Google reviews for local SEO appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/JgS1Oa3 Going from an SEO professional to a manager of an SEO team, you need to shift your mindset, lean into your new role, and build trust with your team. Moving from focusing on your own output to your team’s needs can help you succeed in your new role. Transitioning from an SEO professional to managerMoving from an individual contributor to a manager is a difficult transition on your career journey. In the book “The Leadership Pipeline,” co-author Ram Charan highlights the career transition points from individual contributor to manager of a team and on to leading managers. The first change from “leading yourself” to “leading others” is a huge shift. It requires taking on a new mindset as you move from relying on yourself to relying on and coaching your team. While intimidating, moving from an individual contributor role to leadership is extremely rewarding. The role of a manager differs from your daily responsibilities as an SEO. The overall training is likely not there as you must figure things out for yourself. You were promoted to management because of your past success and expertise, which are all based on your output as an individual. The assumption is that because you succeeded as an individual, you’re set up (or will figure out how) to lead a team. The bulk of the training available for new managers is the technical HR items:
When I earned a promotion to a management position, I first contacted several managers, directors and VPs for their advice and references to management training. There was no in-house training on being a good manager, coaching and developing employees, or any behaviors that I equated to “good” management. It took some time, but I found a peer group of managers to talk to, some podcasts to listen to, and a set of resources to help along the journey to manager and leader. To be successful in this step in your career journey, you’ll need to master a new mindset, communicate clearly and enable your team to succeed. Using the principals from the Leadership Pipeline, you are making a transition from leading yourself to leading others:
Adapting your mindset from maker to managerAs an individual, you achieved success through your own expertise and exceptional performance in your role. Dig deeper: Your guide to the first 90 days as an enterprise SEO director Your measure of success shifts from your accomplishments to your team’s accomplishments. Each key point of “Leading Yourself” has a team-focused pair. Now you focus on getting your team members to work on leading themselves while you gain expertise in leading others. Moving to a management role requires that you embrace the mindset shift. You need to lead the work instead of being the best individual SEO. Instead of your own efforts, you’re judged on the efforts and outcomes of your team. These are scary for new managers. You have to rely on your team to perform. That’s scary. You also have to shift to learn new communication, management, and leadership skills. (That’s scary, too!) Because of that, managers often will fall back to their old behaviors. We like to do what we’re good at and generally avoid things that cause us stress. When you’re in the transition phase from individual to manager, you’re learning entirely new behaviors and redoing how you work. At this phase, you’ll likely be tempted to revert to your individual ways and fall into common early management traps. Common traps new managers fall into and how to avoid themTrap 1: Fixing mistakes rather than teaching how to do it right next timeWhen I first became a team manager, there was a transition period where I wanted all of the work done the way I would do it. That meant I was redoing much of my team’s work or spending time on it to get the output where I wanted it. I quickly realized that I needed to work more on helping my team get better than polishing up their work myself. Instead of working on individual outputs, I shifted to communicating expectations and feedback on the work so they could level up. How to avoid this trap Your team was hired for a reason. Your job is to coach them and help them improve. If they’re at 80% of what you could do. Your job is to coach them over time to get better. Instead of fixing the work, have one on one review sessions where you walk through their work and discuss the opportunities to improve. Ensure you are clear on expectations for your team’s output and document as much as possible into a knowledge base (wiki, checklists, procedure documents). Trap 2: Trying to do everything yourself and not letting go of the jobs you used to enjoyThis is another instance of not letting go and seeking comfort in doing what you know you’re good at. It’s a trap I still find myself stumbling into. There’s comfort in taking on a task or project and knocking it out just how you want. Getting it done – and knowing you’ve still got it – feels good. The downside is that you’ve taken away two development opportunities:
How to avoid this trap There are often times when you are a “player-coach” and have to lead projects yourself. However, you should look for opportunities to delegate as much as possible to your team. When your boss asks you to get a project done, they’re asking for the project to be completed, not for you to be the one to do it. (Your team is an extension of you in this case.) Unless you are asked to be the lead, look to delegate to your team members. Trap 3: Trying to still be ‘one of the team’ rather than leading the teamThis is especially difficult when you’re promoted from being in a team to leading a team. It’s one thing when you’re the go-to or expert on the team, it's another when you’re giving the performance reviews at the end of the year. While you don’t want to turn off all empathy and humor, you do need to shift your behaviors with the team. Your role is now that of a manager and leader, with responsibilities to hold individual team members accountable for their behavior and work. New managers are often concerned with being liked by their team rather than providing the coaching and feedback needed to help the team perform best. How to avoid this trap Ensure you’re communicating clearly and setting expectations. Based on engagement surveys, teams want leaders to communicate with them and hold individuals accountable. Strive to create a culture of accountability where everyone still feels valued. Trap 4: Not dealing with performance of behavior issues earlyOne of the unfun aspects of being a manager is dealing with performance issues. Very much like trying to “be one of the team,” managers avoid dealing with performance issues because it’s uncomfortable, and they want to be liked. If you have a behavior issue on the team, you must address it immediately. If you don’t, it will become a larger issue and will be more difficult to address in the future. How to avoid this trap Have a one-on-one conversation with the team member immediately about behavior or performance issues. While it may be uncomfortable for you, not addressing it will impact your entire team. Your high performers will resent it when you don’t address behavior issues. To them, it’s a signal that behavior doesn’t matter, and you’ll have retention issues on your hands soon. Dig deeper: The SEO career path: What it may look like and how to level up Trap 5: Not giving enough (positive) feedbackThe opposite of not dealing with performance issues, managers, in general, don’t provide enough positive feedback. This is the feeling of “no news is good news,” but that leaves your team unsure of where they stand. When left with no feedback, team members may feel the worst. What you mean to be tacit approval (i.e., “You’re doing a great job and don’t need an intervention”), your team member may feel is a criticism (i.e., “I’m doing such a bad job he doesn’t want to speak with me”). Manager Tools, a management resource I use, provides specific guidance for when and how to provide feedback. How to avoid this trap Know that your job is to build up your team and help them perform better. Feedback and coaching are essential tools to help your team members achieve more. Take notes of positive behaviors and bring those up in your one-on-ones or feedback sessions. Be on the lookout for the behaviors you want to encourage and let your team members know you saw the behavior and that it’s valued. Example:
What to do as a new managerWhat should you do now that you know about the traps to avoid as a new manager? It all starts with building relationships and earning trust. When you earn your role as manager, you should take time to go on a listening tour. Schedule one-on-ones with each team member and your key stakeholders. This is important even if you’re being promoted and you already know all of the people. The beginning of your time as a manager is the time to get out, have discussions and set up new relationships as the team manager. You’ll find that conversations with stakeholders and partners from other departments shift. You’ll be discussing not what you can do but what your team needs to deliver to be successful. Having one-on-ones with your team members is also important for establishing a new relationship. In these meetings, it’s best to ask questions about them, their goals, and their work so that you clearly understand your team. I hope you’ll embrace the journey to leadership. It’s filled with challenges but very rewarding as you can accomplish so much more through your team than you can do yourself. The post 5 leadership traps new SEO team managers should avoid appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/LVx50uc |
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