The March 2024 core update has been a volatile, mammoth update. It’s been a long and turbulent road for some. It can be overwhelming when you hear that an update has finished rolling out. With so many moving parts, pinpointing results and actions for your website can seem like an impossible task after a Google algorithm update finishes rolling out. Follow the following steps for a methodical and strategic way forward. 1. Assess the impact on your siteThe first step is determining how the latest update has affected your site. This isn’t always clear-cut, and it’s important to carry out in-depth analysis and review things critically. Here are some of the best places to start your investigation. Get a visibility overviewThe best starting point is to look at search visibility often using tools like Semrush, Ahrefs or Sistrix. You’ll quickly see if there has been an obvious change in visibility around the time of an algorithm update. This will give you an overview, but it’s only part of the picture. You might see a huge surge or drop, but it’s more likely that you’ll see a smaller fluctuation. While this is a good indication of how a core update has impacted your site’s visibility in the SERPs, you’ll need to dig deeper to really understand the update’s effects. Your site could have lost or gained in areas that aren’t crucial to your strategy or been picked up for broad terms that don’t convert well. So, while this is a great place to start to get a feel for what’s been going on, it’s important to go further. Monitor traffic and rankingsOnce you’ve assessed visibility changes, take a more in-depth view of rankings and traffic. This will give you a better view of how any changes are actually affecting your results. You can monitor any changes using Google Analytics, Search Console and other third-party tools. Look for marked changes in traffic, clicks, impressions, conversions and rankings. Analyze Google Search Console dataGoogle Search Console is where you’ll be notified if your site has been issued with a manual action. If you’ve seen a large drop, check for messages. Examine your performance reports, looking for changes in impressions, clicks or average position compared to the previous period. Use the filter functionality to isolate positive or negative changes. 2. Evaluate the market and gain industry insightOnce you’ve analyzed your site, assess the bigger picture. What else has happened around you and what has been prioritized in the SERPs? Review changes in SERPsIf you want to improve your understanding, manually check the SERPs for your key terms. Look out for new competitors entering the SERPs, changes in featured snippets or other SERP features. It’s important to gain this awareness and use it alongside your data. It’s always possible that changes in the wider search landscape have caused the impact you’re seeing. When one site goes up, another is always displaced. If fluctuations aren’t very pronounced, you may be seeing changes due to these factors more than what you have or haven’t done on your own site. New or different SERP features could impact user interactions. Even if your rankings haven’t dropped or risen, you could still feel an impact in your results. Monitor competitorsAssessing what you can about the competition can help you spot what’s working for them that you might not have considered. While there’s only so much you can dig into, taking stock of how your closest competition has lost or gained after an update can help you to understand the movements in your industry. Remember, they may not have changed anything drastic. Perhaps something they’ve already been doing now holds more value. So try not to focus only on recent changes, but review any plus points that could be missing from your strategy. Stay informedFollow reputable SEO blogs, forums and industry news sources to stay updated on Google algorithm update findings and best practices. Agencies and experts who work across a whole host of sites can have a better view of common patterns and trends that have emerged after a core update, so keep an eye on their blogs and social media or attend local events to discuss with peers. Sistrix releases blog posts on winners and losers that can help shed some light on what is working and what’s causing issues for other websites. These are well worth a read to improve your understanding of what’s changed.
3. Isolate the bad and the goodIf you’ve seen an overall uplift or a downturn, the next step is to determine which areas of your website it has affected. Segment dataTry to determine any trends in the increases or decreases you’re seeing. You could segment your data by device, location, user behavior, content type and content quality. This will give you a more in-depth understanding of the factors that may or may not be helping your performance. You can also compare similar content pieces or groups with competitors to assess your performance relative to theirs. Check URL directoriesAssessing visibility trends by URL directory structure can show whether certain areas are gaining, maintaining or losing ground. This provides a useful overview to help you narrow down what’s working for you and what isn’t. Often, pages in a specific directory (e.g., /blog vs. /product) are structured in a certain way or share many factors in common. This quick analysis might give you immediate insight into what’s working well on your site and what needs work. Compare and contrastPerhaps you can’t see a clear trend in specific URL paths on your site. In this case, you can compile a spreadsheet of your biggest winning and losing pages. Review the similarities and differences between these pages to see if you can determine any common factors. The worst-case scenario is an overall downturn with very few positives in any area of your site. This is likely to indicate a widespread problem with your website or SEO strategy as a whole. The chances are, you’ll already know if you’ve been taking risks or trying to push the boundaries for quick wins. But if a downturn like this blindsides you, you’ll need to conduct a thorough review. 4. Review areas for improvementMost SEO professionals are very close to the websites they work with, so the above analysis will indicate what’s working on your site and in your industry after the algorithm update has finished rolling out. However, it’s important not to jump to conclusions or make assumptions. The next step is to do a thorough review of the areas that need improvement. If you work from the agency side, you might have landed new clients who have suffered during an update and need help. You may not be familiar with their websites, content and performance. This makes it easier to review unbiasedly and let your analysis lead. Evaluate content qualityReview Google’s guidelines for content and quality and use them to assess the quality of your content. You might want to do this specifically on the pages that have lost traffic or rankings. However, you could also take a more holistic view and conduct a content audit. After all, you may have content that wasn’t performing well before or after a core update that could get missed with the former approach. You’ll easily spot thin or duplicate content, but keep an eye out for outdated information, too. Focus on factors like E-E-A-T, satisfying user intent and filling any content gaps that can improve your page. Dig deeper: Writing people-first content: A process and template Check technical SEO elementsIf you’ve experienced a downturn across your site, a technical SEO issue could hold you back. Audit your site, considering site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability and indexability.
Assess user experience (UX)Check metrics such as engagement rate, average session duration and pages per session in Google Analytics to gauge user engagement. Usability issues could also be prevalent across many pages on your site, so if you’ve seen a widespread downturn, it’s worth assessing. If you suspect you have usability issues, you could conduct user testing or track visits with a tool like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity to gain insight into user behavior. Use this information to plan any changes you’ll make to improve usability. 5. Review your strategy and planOnce you have a clear picture of what’s working and what isn’t, it’s sensible to look at this alongside your strategy and determine whether you need to shift your focus. After all, we can’t plan ahead for core updates so it’s important to be flexible and work with the changes rather than remaining blinkered. Target problem areasIf you’ve seen certain key pages or sections of your site suffer after an update, make sure you have a plan in place to improve them. You might schedule a more thorough review, assess user intent, carry out a content gap analysis and detail the work needed to give them a boost. Perhaps you were already aware that these areas needed work, but this dip in performance is your reminder to prioritize them. Adjust your strategy to reflect the importance of making improvements in these areas. You might need to allocate extra resources or simply re-prioritize. Embrace the winsIf you’ve noticed one area of your site is gaining while others aren’t, assess what you might be doing differently. Can you apply it to the other sections that have stayed fairly static or declined? It’s easy to feel that glow when your hard work has paid off and you’ve made some positive gains after a core update. But there’s likely to be even more you can do. Consider how you can work with this to keep momentum going, setting your website up for future success rather than just sitting back and reveling in your win! Plan for recoveryIf you suffer negative effects from a core update, you can feel overwhelmed, paralyzed and panicked. The best thing to do is to try to stay calm and methodical. Create an achievable action plan you can start on as soon as possible. Plenty of useful resources exist, so if you’re at a loss, do some reading to help you on your path. You’re already reading this, so you’re halfway there. Check the Google algorithm updates list with recovery tips from Marie Haynes to set your plan off in the right direction. Stick with itIf you’ve suffered after a core update, seeing improvements can take some time. But if you’ve done all the above analysis and are genuinely working toward improving your website, content and user experience, don’t get disheartened. It takes consistent, long-term work to get results. The site below suffered at marker A, the June 2021 core update. While other issues were present following this time, with consistent work since the beginning of 2023, progress is clearly being made as more recent updates take effect. 6. Communicate with stakeholdersThe final piece of the puzzle is communication. Ensuring that key stakeholders know about the algorithm update and are well informed about its impact and your actions will help keep everyone working towards the same goals.
Dig deeper: How to communicate Google core updates to executives Prepare a summary reportSummarize the key points from the analysis you have carried out and create a concise report.
Circulate the report to all necessary parties. Explain plans and strategiesPerhaps you have put plans in place to mitigate negative results, or maybe you have a strategy to push great results even further. Either way, communicating these and why you plan to tackle them after an update is important for keeping invested parties in the loop. Perhaps other departments can add value or help with certain tasks to get things back on track. Encourage collaboration to improve your resources and strategies. Address concerns and set expectationsAfter thoroughly investigating the data described above, you will be well prepared for any questions about the update. Make sure you’re available, responsive and confident when responding to any concerns. It’s also wise to manage expectations around your planned actions. Make sure stakeholders understand the long-term nature of SEO work and set realistic timescales. Update on progressFinally, keep other stakeholders updated on your progress, any completed tasks and any changes in performance. Continue to monitor and analyze data to track improvements over time. Keep calm, stay methodical and communicate wellIt’s easy to let Google’s algorithm updates send you into a spin. They’re always shrouded in a certain amount of mystery and potential feelings of doom! The reality is that most professionals genuinely striving to create better websites are unlikely to drop off the face of Google at the hands of an update. Once the update has finished, keep your cool. Spend time digging into the data and learning about what has changed. When you’ve got a better picture of your performance, create an action plan and communicate with others. Keep working through your actions and monitoring the effects of your changes – until the next one! Dig deeper: How to survive a Google core update and come out on top via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/eWLrwqZ
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Today’s SEO landscape is fraught with uncertainty, marked by:
Keeping your website strategy tied to traditional notions like keyword research based on search volume is a recipe for a slow but certain death. But what are your options? One possible escape route is product-led SEO, which focuses your strategy on your customers’ needs, pains and desires. This article will help you transition from a keyword-focused to a customer-centric SEO strategy, offering practical tips for integrating both approaches effectively. 5 steps to kickstart your product-led SEO strategy1. Identify your customerOne fundamental mistake many SEO experts make is focusing on the website and forgetting about the customers. Remember, keywords don’t make purchases; people do (or at least for now). This is why focusing solely on keyword research or technical audit won’t do the job. You need to know who is your ideal customer persona. If you know a colleague from another department who would likely use your product, spend a day shadowing them or conducting an in-depth interview. Discover where they go online for information and learning, what factors they consider when making decisions and their biggest daily challenges. You can also visit the GA4 Demographics report for information about age, country and interests. Take the last with a grain of salt as your website might have attracted the wrong users. Lastly, create a profile of your ideal customer. You can easily start with HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool. Dig deeper: Do personas REALLY matter in content marketing? 2. Dive into your dataSEO often overlooks the valuable data gathered by customer-facing departments like sales and support. Platforms such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics offer rich insights into customer needs and behaviors, making them essential tools for SEO. Access to these platforms and their reports can significantly enhance SEO strategies. The challenge with these tools is that navigation through the data directly in them could be a real pain. So, the easiest way to start is to create a report with the important information within the tool and then export it in CSV format. Many organizations face restrictions on exporting CRM data due to privacy concerns. Always verify that your reports exclude personal identification information, such as emails, phone numbers, names and company details. Your goal is the information put in by your sales team, like a summary of the conversation or a description of the lead’s situation. After exporting, you have a few options depending on the size:
As you look for repeating patterns in how your customers speak, you can also use simple tools like TagCrowd and then search for the words that are repeated the most in your initial report. The end result of this exercise should be a document with three columns:
Or if we need to translate these three into a more SEO-friendly language:
Unfortunately, the data in your CRM platforms can often be insufficient. In these cases, you need to expand your research beyond your company. One way to do this is through review platforms. Dig deeper: An SEO guide to audience research and content analysis 3. Read customer reviewsIf someone spent 30 minutes of their lives writing a review of your product, they either love it or hate it a lot. In either case, these users have given you valuable information. While you can’t do much for those who hate some of the features and functionalities, you can analyze the rest for reasons to believe in your product and the pains you have resolved in their lives. Most platforms provide ways to export your reviews in CSV format. The analysis process afterward could be similar to the one for the data in your CRM. You can even ask ChatGPT to make a SWOT analysis for your product and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Review platforms offer more than just access to customer feedback. They provide valuable insights and real-life examples for content creation. Additionally, they grant access to competitor reviews, enhancing competitive analysis. Collecting initial data for your competitors might require more in-depth knowledge of Python, an extra budget for a third-party tool, a browser extension or a lot of manual work. Regardless of the method, the outcome will provide valuable insights into how customers perceive your competitors. Extract the use cases and real-life situations from these reviews, and if your product covers them, make sure that you show them in your content. Remember to uphold ethical standards and avoid making claims without verifiable evidence. 4. Expand your knowledge with forumsSEO professionals recently expressed frustration about Google’s preference for websites such as Reddit and Quora. These platforms thrive on content generated by real users, making them valuable for Google’s algorithms. Utilize this content to benefit your SEO strategy. One way to start analyzing them is to use traditional keyword research tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, etc. You just need to check the domain and all the keywords it ranks for, then look for keywords related to your content. With this approach, you will end up with a list of pages ranking for relevant keywords. Some might be concrete conversations, others communities. You can then easily expand them manually. Once you are ready with your list, you need to extract the information. You can do this with:
The analysis can be done again with the help of AI or Python, or you can go through it manually. This time, you will receive one extra level of information – potential titles for your future content. Merge insights from customer conversations, your own data and reviews to discover alignments with your ideal customer persona. This integration forms the backbone of your tailored SEO strategy, and the result will be your product-led content calendar and SEO plan. Dig deeper: Advanced tactics to maximize the SEO value of user-generated content 5. Create content that answers your customer’s questionsTo make this content work, you must answer your customers’ questions and give them solutions to their challenges while showing how your product/service fits into the picture. Your blog should not become a duplicated version of your documentation; rather, it should present the features and capabilities of your product in a more storytelling manner. Turn the customer examples you collected into compelling stories. Ideally, include quotes from real customers. If quotes are unavailable, use supporting statistics. Companies like PWC, EY, Deloitte, Accenture and McKinsey publish tons of research that you can use for inspiration. Dig deeper: What is helpful content, according to Google Aligning SEO with your product’s value propositionStarting your product-led SEO journey is not difficult, and it could be eye-opening to learn why customers choose your product. Your strategy shouldn’t be static. Once you establish the basics, it should evolve with your audience’s changing needs. Only by always learning and changing can you ensure that you build lasting engagement and drive growth. Your customers are leading the way, but you must be dedicated to following them. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/1pFbSNU Blogging is still one of the best opportunities to make money online as you can build an engaged audience and... The post 11 Blogging Tips For Beginners To Succeed In 2024 appeared first on Copyblogger. via Copyblogger https://ift.tt/5GXFocP Google will stop allowing publishers to add publications to the Google Publisher Center manually. Instead, Google will automatically add eligible publications pages later this year. This change will likely lead to even more confusion around Google News inclusion, which we have had for years since Google changed the inclusion process back in 2019. What Google said. Google wrote:
Google added that previously this feature allowed publishers to manually create a source page for users to follow. But going forward, “publishers with manually created publication pages will continue to have access to customization features until later this year, when pages will shift to being automatically created. Users will continue to be able to follow their favorite publications.” “Content from publishers that adheres to our content policies is automatically eligible for consideration in Google News and across News surfaces,” Google added. What it looked like. Here is a screenshot within Google Publisher Center of how to add a publication – note this is going away: Why we care. I expect this change to cause more frustration and confusion amongst publishers. As you know, the whole Google News inclusion process, which was once a clear and straight forward process, is not automated and very unclear and completely not transparent. This will only make things even more confusing for publishers. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/Z3bnkj2 Meta’s ad revenue increased 27% in Q1 2024, a significant improvement over the 4% growth it saw in the same quarter a year ago. Advertising revenue was $35.6 billion in Q1 2024 compared to $28.1 billion in Q1 2023. This success helped drive total Meta revenue to grow 27% year-on-year from $28.6 billion in Q1 2023 to $46.4.1 billion in Q1 2024.
By the numbers. Across Meta’s “family of apps” (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp), year-over-year:
Meta search advertising. Could Meta AI bring in search advertising dollars at some point in the future? Zuckerberg was asked this question during the earnings call, given Meta AI assistant now includes search results from Google and Microsoft Bing:
AI investments. Meta is accelerating AI investments, with plans to spend between $35 million and $40 billion this year. Also:
Threads. With 150 million monthly active users, Threads now has more users than X. This is likely why Meta is reportedly looking to launch ads in Threads later this year. Why we care. Meta had strong advertising growth, perhaps a good sign for the industry. We’ll know more as Google and Microsoft are set to report earnings today. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/MgOqP5N
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The rise of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) has opened the possibility of disrupting Google’s long-standing dominance in the search engine market. One such challenger is Perplexity, an AI-powered search platform that aims to provide users with summarized answers and cited sources instead of the traditional list of web page links. While still dwarfed by Google’s massive search volume, Perplexity’s approach offers a glimpse into how AI could reshape the search experience and the multibillion-dollar search advertising industry. What is Perplexity AI?Perplexity describes itself as “your AI-powered Swiss Army Knife for information discovery and curiosity.” It sits on top of ChatGPT 3.5 and its own model. The premium version also includes access to GPT-4, Claude 3, Mistral Large and an Experimental Perplexity Model. While it’s already seeing significant traction, responding to over 2 million queries per day, it has a long way to go to make a dent in Google, which gets that many searches in 20 seconds. However, consumers are starting to find value in the summary of data and information. Getting to a summarized “answer” more quickly can be valuable. How to approach AI-powered search platforms like PerplexitySo, how should brands and search engine marketers think about a platform like Perplexity? There are three things to consider: 1. Do your researchYou must be using these tools. I’m not suggesting that you have to use them exclusively, but you simply can’t take for granted that you will get to it later. These tools are here and are evolving rapidly. Do some research, run some queries, then refine them with different criteria. See what the responses are.
Below are two simple examples of searches: “best car insurance” and “car wash near me.” Comparing the two results from Google and Perplexity, I first notice the lack of ads in the car insurance example. Allstate takes up pretty much the whole page with their search ad. Perplexity gives the user more of an answer with citations. The information the user may find helpful and dive deeper, but getting to a specific website is harder. In some cases, this may improve the user’s experience by removing the click and summarizing the most “helpful” (as deemed by the model) information. The map details in the car wash search are similar, but Google Maps provides the ability to link to or call the business directly from search results. This requires a click away from the Perplexity results to get there. 2. Sources = rankingsIn Perplexity, one of the key differences is the citations or sources. This is critical for two big reasons:
Dig deeper: LLM optimization: Can you influence generative AI outputs? 3. Conversations vs. searchesPerplexity follows a similar approach to other LLMs, allowing you to carry on a “conversation.” That means you can ask one question, and the next one carries the prior question’s context. For example, when I asked, “I’m a 45-year-old male who runs about 20 miles per week. What are the best running shoes for me?” Then, I followed that response by simply saying, “What if I up my mileage should my options change?” The model kept the knowledge that I am 45 and am looking for shoe recommendations. I didn’t need to resubmit that context. It also suggested some related queries relevant to the conversation and took me deeper into my research with simple answers. What’s next for Perplexity?Perplexity has developed a robust model and user interface, making it easy for users to learn and utilize. But what’s next? They need to determine their revenue model. In the example about running shoes, you might have noticed what didn’t occur. Perplexity didn’t offer a direct link to purchase the shoes, even when asked about buying a specific type. Despite the request to buy that brand, it couldn’t provide a direct link to Asics. Even the sources didn’t link directly to the Asics site. Commerce and conversions aren’t at the forefront of these models right now. The revenue model for Perplexity is the same as that of OpenAI and others. They offer a freemium model, with the ability to upgrade for additional features for $20 per month. As they earn some revenue with this model, I expect things to come that drive more commerce transactions. They may move to an affiliate or PPC model for these queries where Asics can buy access to this “answer” with a direct link to Asics.com. Don’t think for a second that the $110 billion dollars search market is going to go to zero. If anything, the speed and rate at which these tools can provide answers should generate more search volume and transactions and not less. The bigger question isn’t what it does to search volume but rather what it does to the revenue model. For now, we have to wait and see what happens. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/Hbli8cY For a long time, optimizing webpages to rank for a single targeted keyword was a common SEO tactic. Marketers would carefully select a high-value keyword and optimize content and on-page elements to rank well for that term. However, this hyper-focused keyword approach is now considered outdated in many cases. Today, searcher behavior, query intent and the buyer’s journey are more important than targeting individual keywords. Queries have become more conversational, and users want relevant content that matches their true needs – not just pages stuffed with certain words. Ranking for a single popular keyword is also difficult and may attract the wrong audience. That said, optimizing for specific keywords or niche topics isn’t always outdated. In some situations, concentrating on a focused area and proving topical expertise can still be an effective strategy. Understanding when a narrow vs. broad approach aligns with your goals and audience is key. This article will cover scenarios where single keyword optimization is likely an outdated practice to avoid, as well as cases where a niche keyword focus remains valuable. When is specific keyword optimization considered outdated?When it is literally about a ‘single’ keyword or phraseI occasionally still have conversations with brands and people who are fixated on just one specific keyword or phrase. They see it as the key to success, believing that if they can just rank high for that term, they’ll get lots of relevant website visitors. But sometimes, this focus on one phrase is more about perception than actual results. If you’re a local car dealership in a small town, ranking number one for the generic term “cars” is not very likely to happen for you on a broad scale. Plus, it isn’t very helpful if 99.9999% of the people searching that term (if not more) are not your target audience in your market, who are seeking what you have to sell. If you could get exponentially more ROI by targeting multiple keywords relevant to your core service offering, geolocated to where you are, then you’re going to have more realistic opportunities and results. In some cases, ego played into the reason for the single-term focus. Before I was a “CEO” myself, I used to call these “CEO keywords.” I guess I still do, but then and now, it was never with the intent to offend, just with the understanding that sometimes there’s a brand reason behind it, a highly competitive motivation, or possibly the lack of research and understanding of what it takes to land a top spot for a single phrase. If your goal keyword doesn’t match search intentContext matters. It matters to the search engines trying to determine what subject matter you are relevant to and authoritative on – that’s step 1. However, step 2 is to convince your target audience and those who come through the SERPs to your site that you’re the answer they are looking for. Context is critical to understand if you focus too narrowly on a literal single keyword phrase or one looser term and variations. I had a client who was a high-end continuing care retirement community (CCRC). Like many, this client didn’t want the word “facility” associated with its brand or on its website. The same goes for “nursing home.” However, the data showed that most people searched with those words in their queries. We navigated around that by building a robust strategy that included enough context that even without those words appearing in the page copy or HTML, we were able to rank at the top of Google for them anyway. This is the power of understanding and getting the right context and caring more about it than keywords themselves. Finding the balance between what searchers want, what Google understands and how to be relevant is a big first step. Dig deeper: There are more than 4 types of search intent If you’re leaving qualified traffic on the tableIf you’re focused super narrow, you might not be considering all the ways someone might search for your content. I love the bottom of the funnel traffic (which is converting) as much as anyone. But, with the range of ways that people search (e.g., queries formatted like questions that are popular through voice search) and the variance of behavior ranging from researching to buy now, you could miss out. You might also be losing some brand awareness and the chance to educate and convert earlier in the customer journey – or to gain those early impressions in technical areas and those with longer sales cycles. Considering quality and quantity is key to a long-term and sustainable SEO strategy. If the long-tail terms are highly qualified, convert much better and add up to a decent volume compared to a single high-volume term, you need to consider where you want to invest. We want all the terms and traffic. But, if you care more about quality and conversions than impressions, you likely want to shape your content and investment to a broader set of terms and a more diversified strategy. When you’re expecting to do a limited set of activities for quick resultsI’m not saying that quick wins don’t happen in SEO. I’ve been doing it for nearly two decades and have seen some awesome things happen in short timeframes. On the flip side, though, I have also unfortunately seen a lot of situations with mismatched expectations versus what has played out. If you’re aiming for a quick win by targeting a single term and speeding up the process, it’s not impossible. However, it’s crucial to question whether your strategy and tactics align with your desired results. Simply throwing together a landing page, stuffing it with keywords, directing links to it and hoping for rapid or sustainable ranking can often lead to disappointment. Yes, you can see things work in niche areas and with the right mix of strategy and tactics in short order. However, if you’re taking shortcuts and get to the top of the SERPs, you’re possibly in a longer-term risky position. When does specific keyword optimization work?OK, let’s look at the other side of the argument. Let me be the first to share openly that my agency is a specialist, and last year, we went through the process of narrowing and niching down. So, on the “not outdated” side of this argument, I can attest to ways it can go well if you know what you’re getting into. When it is about a niche or single topic, not just a literal queryThis is on the flip side of what I talked about earlier. If you’re in full agreement and understanding that context matters more than literal words, then you can specialize and focus on a specific “keyword.” I’m loosely talking about a “keyword” and expanding that to a topic. Having specific subject matter, expertise and depth can work really well to beat out broader competitors and those that are more full-service. The more quality content you have, the better you can focus on, show your relevance for the subject matter and attract links and signals to validate authority. Additionally, you have the opportunity to fully map out your content to match search intent at each step of a customer journey and cover a range of ways that someone might find your content, want to engage with it. When you have a broader marketing and SEO viewThere are times to get granular with topics and subject matter. That could include when you want to launch a new product or service and be the expert in it. If you have a comprehensive SEO and marketing strategy and understand the depth of your focus on a specific topic, you’ll grasp how that attention contributes to your overall efforts. Knowing the trade-offs of going super deep and isolating the data and variables can be an awesome place to test, move fast and support a broader strategy overall. When you know your marketIf you’re well-versed in your market, including prospects, competitors and even in SERP features, then you can tailor your laser-focused strategy and have confidence in how it will return for you. You don’t have to test as much and waste sprints and cycles trying to learn as you go. Leveraging your industry knowledge and expertise, you can spin up content, build out a niche platform and optimize it well in ways that more bloated and slower competitors can’t. You can also cut through the waste of trying to answer questions that Google may be directly answering (not sending you traffic) and trying to validate ideas and content. As long as you’re fully in command of the customer journey, funnels, or however you look at the complete picture of how you engage your audience, the length of sales and consideration cycles and are monetizing as much of that journey as you can, you can leverage narrow focus in a way that doesn’t leave potential ROI on the table. When the reward is worth itI normally talk about goals at the top of articles. However, I wanted to dive quickly into this topic. You can definitely see success with a specific keyword or very narrow focus if you have done your research and know that the opportunity is great enough to reward you for the effort. Maybe you just need that one click to convert, which gives you 1,000 times ROI. Or, maybe your ROI is in being ranked number 1 for that key “CEO keyword.” I won’t judge either way. Just know what you’re investing in and why you’re doing it. Have a full view of potential and go after it if it fits your goals. Rethinking single keyword optimization in SEOOptimizing for specific keywords or very narrow topics isn’t always an outdated practice. Concentrating your SEO efforts on niche areas and proving expertise can be a winning strategy in certain situations. The key is understanding when a focused vs. broad keyword approach aligns with your business goals, industry, audience demands and ability to comprehensively meet search intent. Dig deeper: How to target highly competitive organic keywords: An advanced approach via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/zijdXQR President Joe Biden today signed a bill into law that forces TikTok to either divest from Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a full ban in the U.S. What it means. ByteDance must sell TikTok in nine months. That deadline can be extended by 90 days if needed to complete a sale.
What TikTok is saying. CEO Chew Shou Zi posted a video response, promising to challenge this ban (which he said is unconstitutional) in court, adding, “We aren’t going anywhere.”
Why we care. TikTok said it has 170 million U.S. users. Brands and businesses will be impacted because they will be unable to reach those people anymore should this TikTok ban go through in 2025. Any TikTok marketing investments would likely need to be redirected to YouTube or Meta properties. Search and advertising impact. TikTok has increasingly become the starting point for search and discovery among younger users, like Gen Z. TikTok introduced Search Ads in August and added Search Insights in March. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/uytJbgS Prabhakar Raghavan, the head of Google Search, expects his team to move more quickly and in different directions as part of a new “cost” and “operating reality.” That’s according to audio of Raghavan speaking during a Google all-hands meeting, obtained and reported on first by CNBC. A new reality. Google has been cutting costs and staff over the past year. Raghavan painted a fairly bleak outlook of Google – essentially saying that the “good old days” are long gone:
Challenges. Google is under attack on many fronts. Some of those Raghavan highlighted:
Go faster. Raghavan told his team to “meet this moment” and “act with urgency,” adding:
Twitch, or twitchiness, refers to an athlete’s ability to quickly or explosively move their body in different directions during high-intensity or physical sports. Why we care. Google Search has received much criticism in recent years – with a great deal of it coming under Raghavan’s leadership. Many believe we are seeing the inevitable enshittification of Google, where Google puts profit above everything, including its users. Fittingly, Raghavan referred to Google’s advertising business as “the envy of the world.” Velocity and focus. In response to the leaked audio of the all-hands meeting, a Google spokesperson told CNBC:
About Raghavan. He is a senior vice president at Google, responsible for Google Search, Ads and many other Google products. Raghavan was promoted to his position in June 2020. Prior to joining Google, he was at Yahoo from 2005 to 2012, a period during which Google ascended and Yahoo declined rapidly.
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