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Showing posts from May, 2019

Image optimization for SEO: Everything you need to know for success

As of January 2019, there are more than 1.94 billion websites. That’s a lot of competition. What’s one great way to stand out? Great images. In fact, vision dominates all other senses when it comes to interacting with and absorbing information. Here are three quick facts to help you understand how critical images are for people (and for SEO): 90% of all the data the brain transmits is visual. The human brain processes one image in the same amount of time it would take to read 1000 words. (Yes, turns out the old adage is indeed rooted in scientific fact.) The recall value of visual content even after three days is 65%, whereas the recall value for written text is merely 10%. With the majority of search volume coming from phones — and coupled with the fact that people’s attention spans have reduced to eight seconds — it’s essential for websites to be able to deliver a quick, frictionless, and delightful user experience. Image optimization serves as a major part of this puz...
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A guide to implementing Google’s “How-to” schema

Google is always looking for the best ways to provide the most useful results to users. It’s what has allowed Google to dominate the search engine market for so long and, it has kept the SEO industry evolving. In the beginning, there were quick answer boxes (remember those?) and, most recently, the introduction of “How-to” snippets . “How-to” snippets aim to provide step-by-step instructions directly in the SERPs for instruction-based queries. There are two types of “How-to” snippets that you can find in the wild. A standard, accordion list view of instructions. A carousel of images showing each individual step. This type of schema is mobile specific. And that’s important because it means absorbing huge amounts of SERP real estate. It has also been confirmed by Glenn Gabe, that you can capture both a featured snippet and the “How-to” carousel/list view. This left very little space for your competitors but also, forced websites to now think more logically about how they structur...
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The fall of ad copy, long live ad copy

As digital advertisers, driving strong performance is at the heart of what we do. But, what is the true goal of paid search ad copy? If clicks, conversions, and demand generation are what is most imperative to client success and satisfaction, do you really need fresh ad copy to accomplish these goals? At first glance, you might think, yes. Forbes estimated that in 2017, Americans were exposed to 4,000 different forms of ads and brand messaging each day. With ads packed on top of each other, it can sometimes be difficult to fully capture user attention and interest. This idea leads some people to believe that they have to consistently develop and redevelop novel ad copy that breaks through the clutter. While it isn’t wrong to try and separate yourself from competitors within the marketplace, you don’t have to spend too much time creating niche variances in your copy. Do users actually care about ad copy? In this highly saturated ecommerce landscape, people aren’t going to spend tim...
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Goodbye to average position on Google SERPs

Just when you thought Google was done shaking things up within their Google Ads platform, they did it again with their announcement that the “Average Position” metric would be sunset later this year. Come September, we’ll have to start relying on the existing metrics “Top Impression Share” and “Absolute Top Impression Share” instead. The change at first glance It seems to simply and unnecessarily turn one metric into several, adding more complexity to the already vast data pool. However, the change is actually a chance to more accurately gauge the true page position of your text ads. The Average position has long been one of the most misunderstood metrics in the Google Ads ecosystem and can be a common source of confusion between client, agency, and Google teams. Average position is going down Average position is often interpreted as a metric that directly denotes the actual position your ad occupied on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), but that was never actually the case. In...
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Your new secret weapon for better and robust analytics

Having data is no longer a problem these days. There are myriad tools that measure countless metrics out there. According to Copyblogger , Google Analytics alone has over 150 default metrics, which can be explored with over 100 dimensions. And that’s excluding advanced functions. If we are being honest, that’s overkill for most people. What on earth can you do with all those stats? Truth be told, all they give you is a migraine because they’re complicated to track, let alone analyze. Here’s the thing. Marketers are choking under an avalanche of data. The real challenge today is sifting through the bazillion metrics and boiling them down to essential ROI-based numbers. What if I told you there’s a tool that cuts through all the data noise, ignores vanity metrics, and focuses on numbers that matter? Enter Finteza, an exciting new tool in the martech space. Finteza is an advanced comprehensive analytics tool that tracks and analyzes traffic, funnels, conversions, landing pages, and ...
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The middle ground for single keyword ad groups (SKAGs)

Aside from perhaps the most unfortunate acronym in the industry, do single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) have a role in modern paid search? For many years, single keyword ad groups were the hallmark of good PPC strategy. And aside from a slight feeling of unease when saying the word, SKAGs appeared to offer much. In simple words, this was the practice of placing single keywords in an ad group, instead of a small group of closely themed keywords. This provided the advertiser with increased control, the ad copy could contain the exact keyword, maximizing relevance and the quality score. Match types and negative keywords could be used to ensure queries were matched to your keyword exactly, providing precise control over visibility. And finally, you could easily understand the true performance of an individual keyword. Complexity at scale Arguably, however, the benefits of this approach were incremental when implemented in an otherwise well organized and maintained PPC account structure. I...
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Don’t let unwanted automated ad extensions keep you up

It’s three a.m. You’re uneasy, but you don’t really know why. You’ve recently audited  your accounts, you’re on top of your routine maintenance, and you’re actively testing ways to increase efficiency and grow your account. You’ve done your due diligence, so why the nagging feeling that something’s wrong? Since you can’t sleep, you decide to check up on your ads in the wild and run a live search to put yourself at ease. That’s when it hits you. Your ads are showing with extensions you didn’t specify. Even worse, some of them don’t even really make sense. What are these, and where did they come from? By default, campaigns on Google and Bing are automatically eligible to show dynamic extensions, ranging from site links, callouts, structured snippets, call extensions, and app extensions. Additionally, Bing offers “Dynamic Ad Enhancements” which are anything from dynamically generated ad description texts to badges highlighting promos and deals. The content of these extensions is b...
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Nine types of meta descriptions that win more clicks

Are you putting enough thought into your meta description tags? If not, you’re missing out. Yes, your meta description tag should describe your post but many companies and websites will go well beyond that to carefully craft descriptions that can massively increase their click-through rate from search engines . You can do the same. We’re going to take a look at nine types of meta descriptions that can help you get more clicks. For each, I’ll walk you through an example, showing you what’s working well with that meta description tag and what it could potentially be doing better. You don’t have to pick just one of these methods to use. You might want to focus on a particular angle, like writing a meta description tag that’s “call-to-action” focused but add in something else too like power words or a USP. Here are nine different ways you can approach meta description tags: 1. Clarity focused Meta description tags should be clear, letting the searcher know what they’re going to get. ...
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