The other core function of search engines is to retain users.
Search engines retain users by ensuring their confidence and trust in the displayed results. Over time, they build expectations that using their platform is a safe, streamlined experience that quickly leads users to what they want.
SEO success depends on being found by your target audience for what they are looking for and consistently providing a satisfying user experience based on the context of the queries they type into search engines.
Search Is Built On Content
The core function of search engines is to help users find information. Search engines first discover webpages, they parse and render and they then add them to an index. When a user inputs a query, search engines retrieve relevant webpages in the index and then “rank” them.
Search engines need to know what pages are about and what they contain in order to serve them to the right users. In concept, they do this quite simply: They examine the content. The real process behind this is complicated, executed by automated algorithms and evaluated with human feedback.
This relationship between searchers, search engines, and websites, has come to define the internet experience for most users. Unless you know the exact URL of the website you intend to visit, you need must find it via a third party. That could be social media, a search engine, or even discovering the website offline and then typing it in. This is called a “referral,” and Google sends 64% of all website referrals in the U.S. Microsoft and Bing send the next largest amount of referrals, followed by YouTube.
Getting discovered by people who don’t already know you depends on search engines, and search engines depend on content.
At this point, whether this relationship is causal or correlative doesn’t matter. You must prioritize user experience and satisfaction because it’s a key indicator of SEO success.
Written language is still the primary way users interact with search engines and how algorithms understand websites. Google algorithms can interpret audio and videos, but written text is core to SEO functionality.
Enticing clicks and engaging users through content that satisfies their queries is the baseline of SEO. If your pages can’t do that, you won’t have success.
High-quality content and user experiences aren’t just important for SEO; they’re prerequisites.
This is true for all advertising and branding. Entire industries and careers are built on the skills to refine the right messaging and put it in front of the right people.
Evidence For The SEO Value Of Content
Google highlights the importance of content in its “SEO fundamentals” documentation. It advises that Google’s algorithms look for “helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people,” and provides details about how to self-assess high-quality content.
In fact, Google’s analysis of the content may determine whether a page enters the index at all to become eligible to rank. If you work hard to provide a good experience and serve the needs of your users, search engines have more reason to surface your content and may do so more often.
A 2024 study in partnership between WLDM, ClickStream, and SurferSEO suggests that the quality of your coverage on a topic is highly correlated with rankings.
Content And User Behavior
Recent developments in the SEO industry, such as the Google leak, continue to highlight the value of both content and user experience.
Google values user satisfaction to determine the effectiveness and quality of webpages and does seem to use behavioral analysis in ranking websites. It also focuses on the user intent of queries and whether a specific intent is served by a particular resource.
The satisfaction of your users is, if not directly responsible for SEO performance, highly correlated with it.
Many factors affect user experience and satisfaction. Website loading speed and other performance metrics are part of it. Intrusive elements of the page on the experience are another.
Content, however, is one of the primary determiners of a “good” or “bad” experience.
Does the user find what they’re looking for? How long does it take?
Is the content accurate and complete?
Is the content trustworthy and authoritative?
The answers to these questions reflect whether the user has a good or bad experience with your content, and this determines their behavior. Bad experiences tend to result in the user leaving without engaging with your website, while good experiences tend to result in the user spending more time on the page or taking action.
This makes content critical not only to your SEO efforts on search engines but also to your website’s performance metrics. Serving the right content to the right users in the right way impacts whether they become leads, convert, or come back later.
Leaning into quality and experience is a win all around. Good experiences lead to desirable behaviors. These behaviors are strong indications of the quality of your website and content. They lead to positive outcomes for your business and are correlated with successful SEO.
What Kinds Of Content Do You Need?
Successful content looks different for each goal you have and the different specific queries you’re targeting.
Text is still the basis of online content when it comes to search. Videos are massively popular. YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world. However, in terms of referrals, it only sends 3.5% of referral traffic to the web in the U.S. In addition, videos have titles, and these days, most have automated transcripts. These text elements are critical for discovery.
That isn’t to say videos and images aren’t popular. Video, especially “shorts” style videos, is an increasingly popular medium. Cisco reported that video made up 82% of all internet traffic in 2022. So you absolutely shoulder consider images and video as part of your content strategy to best serve your audiences and customers.
Both can enhance text-based webpages and stand on their own on social platforms.
But for SEO, it’s critical to remember that Google search sends the most referral traffic to other websites. Text content is still the core of a good SEO strategy. Multi-modal AI algorithms are getting very good at translating information between various forms of media, but text content remains critical for several reasons:
Plain text has high accessibility. Screen readers can access it, and it can be resized easily.
Text is the easiest way for both people and algorithms to analyze semantic connections between ideas and entities.
Text doesn’t depend on device performance like videos and images might.
Text hyperlinks are very powerful SEO tools because they convey direct meaning along with the link.
It’s easier to skim through text than video.
Text content is still dominant for SEO. But you should not ignore other content. Images, for example, make for strong link building assets because they’re attractive and easily sharable. Accompanying text with images and video accommodates a variety of user preferences and can help capture attention when plain text might not.
Like everything else, it’s down to what best serves users in any given situation.
SEO Content: Serving Users Since Search Was A Thing
Search engines match content to the needs of users.
Content is one-third of this relationship: user – search engine – information.
You need content to perform SEO, and any digital marketing activity successfully.
The difficulty comes from serving that perfect content for the perfect situation.
Content has many meanings. In digital marketing, it simply means the information a website displays to users.
But don’t forget: In a different context with a different emphasis on the word (content as opposed to content), content is a synonym for happy and satisfied. The meaning is different, but the letters are the same.
If you want to understand content quality online, keep these two different definitions in mind.
Every webpage has content. “High-quality” content depends on contexts like:
What the needs of your audience are.
What users expect to find.
How the content is presented and how easy it is to pull critical information out of it quickly.
How appropriate the medium of the content is for users’ needs.
What Makes Content High Quality?
This is a complex question that we hope to answer in full during this article. But let’s start with a simple statement:
High-quality content is whatever the user needs at the time they’re looking for it.
This might not be helpful in a specific sense but note this somewhere because it’s a guiding light that has far-reaching implications for your website and audience strategy.
We use this definition because the quality of your content isn’t static. Google and other search engines know this and frequently update search engine results pages (SERPs) and algorithms to adjust for changing user priorities.
You need to bake this idea into your understanding of content and audiences. You can have the most beautifully written, best-formatted content, but if your target audience doesn’t need that information in that format, it’s not “high-quality” for SEO.
If you provide a story when the user is looking for a two-sentence answer, then you’re not serving their interests.
This is especially pertinent with the introduction of generative AI features into search platforms. This is a continuation of a “zero click” phenomenon for certain types of searches and why Google doesn’t send a user to a website for these searches.
Defining & Meeting Audience Needs
SEO professionals have many different ways of conceptualizing these ideas. One of the most common is “the funnel,” which categorizes content into broad categories based on its position in a marketing journey.
The funnel is usually categorized something like this:
Top of the funnel: Informational intent and awareness-building content.
Middle of the funnel: Consideration intent and product/service-focused content.
Bottom of the funnel: Purchase intent and conversion content.
While it’s helpful to categorize types of content by their purpose in your marketing strategy, this can be an overly limiting view of user intent and encourages linear thinking when you conceptualize user journeys.
As Google gets more specific about intent, such broad categorization becomes less helpful in determining whether content meets users’ needs.
Build a list of verbs that describe the specific needs of your audience while they’re searching. Ideally, you should base this on audience research and data you have about them and their online activity.
Learn who they follow, what questions they ask, when a solution seems to satisfy them, what content they engage with, etc.
Then, create verb categories to apply to search terms during your keyword research. For example:
Purchase.
Compare.
Discover.
Learn.
Achieve.
Check.
User Intends To Purchase
If the user is looking for something to buy, then high quality probably looks like a clean landing or product page that’s easy to navigate. Be sure to include plenty of detail so search engines can match your page to specific parameters the user might enter or have in their search history.
Product photos and videos, reviews and testimonials, and Schema markup can all help these pages serve a better experience and convert. Pay particular attention to technical performance and speed.
Remember that you’re highly likely to go up against ads on the SERPs for these queries, and driving traffic to landing pages can be difficult.
User Intends To Compare
This could take a couple of different forms. Users might come to you for reviews and comparisons on other things or to compare your benefits to those of another company.
For this content to be successful, you need to be dialed into what problems a user is trying to solve, what pain points they have, and how specific differences impact their outcomes.
This is the old “features vs. benefits” marketing argument, but the answer is “both.” Users could want to see all the features listed, but don’t forget to contextualize how those features solve specific problems.
User Intends To Discover
This intent could describe a user looking for industry news, data to support their research, or new influencers to follow.
Prioritize the experience they’re seeking and ensure that the discovery happens quickly.
This could look like adding text summaries or videos to the top of posts, tables of contents to assist with navigation, or page design elements that highlight the most critical information.
User Intends To Learn
If a user intends to learn about a topic, a long, well-organized post, video, or series of either may serve them best. This content should be in-depth, well-organized, and written by genuine topic experts. You may need to demonstrate the author’s qualifications to build trust with readers.
You must consider the existing knowledge level of your target audience. Advanced content will not satisfy the needs of inexperienced users, while basic content will bore advanced users.
Don’t try to satisfy both audiences in a single experience. It’s tempting to include basic questions in this type of content to target more SEO keywords, but think about whether you’re trading keywords for user experience.
For example, if you write a post about “how to use a straight razor” and your subheadings look like the ones below, you’re probably not serving the correct intent.
What is a straight razor?
Are straight razors dangerous?
Should I use a straight razor?
The chances are high that someone landing on your page “how to use a straight razor” doesn’t need answers to these basic questions. In other words, you’re wasting their time.
User Intends To Achieve
A slightly different intent from learning. In this instance, a user has a specific goal for an action they want to perform. Like learning content, it should be written by subject matter experts.
If the person creating this content doesn’t have sufficient first-hand experience, they won’t effectively guide users and predict their real-world needs. This results in unsatisfying content and a failure point of many SEO content strategies.
“One trend I would get ahead of that aligns with Google’s focus on expertise and experience is what I’m coining “situational content.” Situational content attempts to predict the various outcomes of any advice or the like offered within the content to present the next logical steps. If, for example, a piece of content provides advice about how to get a baby to sleep through the night, it would then offer the next steps if that advice didn’t work.
This is “situational” – if X doesn’t work, you might want to try Y. Situational content creates a compelling form of content I see more frequently. It does a few things for the reader:
It addresses them and their needs directly.
It’s more conversational than standard content (an emerging content trend itself).
To predict various outcomes and situations, you have to actually know what you’re talking about.
That latter point directly addresses E-E-A-T. You can only predict and address secondary situations with expertise and experience. Most of all, situational content indicates to the user that a real person, not a large language model (LLM), wrote it.”
The difference between “learn” and “achieve” intents can be difficult to see. Sometimes, you might need to satisfy both. Pay careful attention to these types of content.
User Intends To Check
Misunderstanding when a user just wants to “check” something can cause you to waste resources on content doomed not to perform, and another failure point of SEO strategies. If what a user needs can be solved in a few sentences, you’re in zero-click territory.
For example, ‘How to tie a bowtie’.
That is, Google will serve users an answer on the SERP, and they may not click a link at all. You may want to target these types of queries as part of longform content for other search intents using good content organization and Schema markup.
That way, you can give your authoritative and in-depth content opportunities to show up in rich results on SERPs, and users might click through if they see more information available or have follow-up questions.
You should consider these intents part of your SEO strategy, but think of them as awareness and branding tactics. AI features such as AI Overviews in Google seek to surface quick answers to queries. It will be much harder to acquire clicks on SERPs where features like this are activated.
If you struggle to understand why well-written content is losing traffic, you should assess whether you wrote hundreds of words to answer a query that only needed 30.
More intents exist, and to complicate matters further, they are not exclusive to each other in a single piece of content. Comparison and discovery intents, for example, often combine in listicles, product comparisons, and titles like “X alternatives to X.”
More reading about user intent:
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Content Quality Signifiers
While there’s no quantifiable answer to what good content means, there are many ways to evaluate it to ensure it contains key signs of quality.
Google’s content guidelines provide some questions you can ask yourself to objectively assess your content’s quality.
Google uses many signals to approximate these concepts and apply these signals to ranking algorithms. To be clear, E-E-A-T are not ranking factors themselves. But they are the concepts that ranking systems attempt to emulate via other signals.
These concepts apply to individual pages and to websites as a whole.
Experience: Are the people creating content directly knowledgeable about the subject matter, and do you demonstrate credible experience?
Expertise: Does your content demonstrate genuine expertise through depth, accuracy, and relevance?
Authoritativeness: Is your website an authoritative source about the topic?
Trust: Is your website trustworthy, considering the information or purposes at hand?
In its content guidelines, Google says this about E-E-A-T:
“Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.”
Understanding these concepts is critical for building a content strategy because publishing content with poor E-E-A-T signals could impact your website as a whole. Google’s language downplays this potential impact, but it’s critical to know that it’s possible. It’s tempting to assume that because a website has high “authority” in a general sense or in one particular area, anything it publishes is considered authoritative. This may not be true.
If you chase traffic by creating content outside your core areas of authority and expertise, that content may perform poorly and drag the rest of your site down.
More reading about E-E-A-T:
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Creating Effective SEO Content
This article focuses on written content, but don’t neglect multimedia in your content strategy.
The thought process behind content should go a little bit like this:
Create: What does exceptional user experience look like?
Keyword Research For Content
Keyword research is a massive topic on its own, so here are some key pieces of advice and a few additional resources:
Look at the SERPs for the keywords you target to understand what Google prioritizes, what your competitors are doing, what success looks like, and whether there are gaps you can fill.
Cluster related keywords together and develop a content strategy that covers multiple branching areas of a topic deeply.
High search volume often means high competition. Allocate your resources carefully between acquiring lower competition positions and fighting for a slice of competitive traffic.
Building a robust catalog of content focused on long-tail keywords can help you acquire the authority to compete in more competitive SERPs for related topics.
More reading about keyword research:
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Briefing SEO Content
Once you have performed your research and identified the intents you must target, it’s time to plan the content.
SEO professionals may not have the required knowledge to create content that demonstrates experience and expertise – unless they’re writing about SEO.
They’re SEO specialists, so if your website is about finance or razor blades, someone else will need to provide the knowledge.
Briefing is critical because it allows the SEO team to communicate all that hard work and research to the person or team creating the content. A successful brief should inform the content creators:
The target keyword strategy, with suggestions or a template for the title and subheadings.
The purpose of the content for the user: What the user should learn or be able to accomplish.
The purpose of the content for the business: Where it falls into the marketing strategy and relevant KPIs.
Details such as length, style guide or voice notes, and key pieces of information to be included.
Creating SEO Content
Your research should guide the format of your writing.
Remember, intent impacts the usability of different types of content. Prioritize the information most likely to solve the user’s intent.
You can do this by providing summaries, tables of contents, videos, pictures, skip links, and, most importantly, headings.
Use The Title & Headings To Target Keywords & Organize Information
The title of a page is your primary keyword opportunity. It’s also the first thing users will see on a SERP, which impacts CTR. Match the title to your target query and think about effectively describing the content to entice a click. But don’t misrepresent your page for clicks.
Your primary responsibility in SEO content is to set expectations and then deliver on them. Don’t set if you can’t deliver.
HTML heading formats help users navigate the page by breaking up blocks of text and indicating where certain topics are covered. They’re critical to your on-page SEO, so use your keywords.
Expectations are as true for headings as for titles. Headings should be descriptive and useful. Prioritize setting an expectation for what the user will find on that part of the page and then delivering on that expectation.
More reading about headings:
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Get To The Point
Whether content should be long or short is subjective to its purpose. All SEO content should be as short as possible while achieving its goals. “As short as possible” could mean 4,000 words.
If you need 4,000 words to achieve your goal, then use them. But don’t add any more than you need.
This is a call to avoid rambling, especially in introductions. Do you really need to cite the projected growth of an industry just to prove it’s worth talking about?
Not unless you’re writing a news story about that growth. Cut that sentence and the link to Statista from your introduction. (No shade, Statista, you rock.)
Features like skip links can also help with this. Give users the option to skim and skip directly to what they need.
Use Internal Links To Connect Your Pages Together & Provide Further Reading
Internal links are the bedrock of SEO content strategies. They are how you organize related pages and guide users around your website. They also spread the SEO value of your pages to the pages they’re connected to.
In the keyword research section, we suggested that you create clusters of keywords and topics to write about – this is why. You build authority by covering a topic in-depth and creating multiple pages exploring it and all its subtopics.
You should link between pages related to one another at contextually important points in the content. You can use this tactic to direct the SEO power of multiple pages to one important page for your strategy or your business.
Contextually relevant links that properly set expectations for what the user will find also contribute to a good site experience.
More reading about internal linking:
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Use Personal Experiences And Unique Expertise To Stand Out
AI presents numerous challenges for SEOs. Anyone can quickly create content at scale using generative AI tools.
The tools can replicate competitors, synthesize content together from myriad sources, and enable breakneck publishing paces. This poses two core problems:
How do you stand out with so much AI content out there?
How do you build trust in audiences looking for legitimate experts?
For now, the best answer is to lean into the E-E-A-T principles that Google prioritizes.
Tell human stories with your content that demonstrate your experience and expertise.
Use Oberstein’s “situational content” principle, mentioned earlier in this article, to connect with your audience’s experiences and needs.
Ensure that content is created by verifiable experts, especially if that content involves topics that can impact the audience’s well-being (YMYL.)
SEO Content Is Both A Strategy & An Individual Interaction
It’s easy to focus on what you need from users: what keyword you want to rank for, what you want users to click, and what actions you want them to take.
But all of that falls apart if you don’t honor the individual interaction between your website and a user who needs something.
Audience-first content is SEO content. Content is a core function of SEO because it’s the basis of how humans and algorithms understand your website.
Early SEO milestones might be easy, but scaling the results needs an upgraded approach.
What could that look like?
Like startups that come up with a solid niche idea and compete significantly with larger companies, we SEO pros and content strategists need to work harder to develop unique, fresh, niche strategies.
However, whenever we think of creating strategies, we start looking at what competitors are doing. We start feeling that we can win this game by outperforming our competitors.
Remember: we win when our focus is on winning the game and not on how to make our competitors lose.
So, here comes an upgraded approach to our SEO strategy – going beyond competitor analysis.
However, since our SEO strategies heavily rely on content, we’ll discuss content research beyond competitor analysis in this blog.
Now, What Is Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis?
Most of us analyze our competitors to develop content ideas. It’s easy and quick.
But…
What if your competitors are ranking in the top positions but are not serving users’ intent?
What if your competitors might not be yielding enough traffic despite better rankings?
What if your competitors are driving massive organic traffic but not enough conversions?
Also, there may be some competitors that are doing extremely well regarding content KPIs serving SEO growth.
You may feel that if the competitors can achieve such results in one year, you can achieve them in six months by copying their strategies.
But that’s where you limit yourself in growth. Your competitors’ SEO and content teams might also be struggling; who knows?
This is why your content research must go beyond competitor analysis.
In this approach, we don’t look at what content competitors have written.
We don’t want to copy them or repeat their mistakes. We want to work in ways that truly resonate with our target audiences, geographies, business models, and industries.
So, the “content research beyond competitor analysis” approach helps us bring unique and fresh perspectives to our content research, creating incredible value for our audience and clients and scaling our SEO results extensively.
11 Ways Of Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis To Scale SEO ROI
We have 11 ways to use this approach. Let’s uncover them one by one with step-by-step processes and examples.
1. Use Semrush
This is our basic step of content research since most of our initial goal is driving organic traffic.
And because Semrush is handy for most of our team members at Missive Digital, we log in immediately to start our content research instead of looking at competitors.
We put seed, actual, long-tail, and more keywords to do our content research, depending on the search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent.
For example, we have put “diamond jewelry” into Semrush and will add the filters according to our SEO strategy.
Screenshot from Semrush, August 2024
Another content research feature of Semrush that we use extensively is Topic Research. We choose the content topics based on which ones relate directly or indirectly to our website.
Screenshot from Semrush, August 2024
2. Use Ahrefs
To do the content research on Ahrefs, we follow the same steps as Semrush, but here, we also use Content Explorer.
We filter based on the Page Traffic and reference domains to identify queries that can bring us traffic and conversions.
Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024
Then, we also examine the frequency of republishing, which gives our team an idea of when to schedule it next for content optimization, considering the performance.
Screenshot from Ahrefs, August 2024
3. Use Google News
While auditing the content, if we realize that the client is already writing a lot of content, we try researching content ideas through Google News.
Also, for some D2C industries like jewelry, the trend also comes from celebrities wearing them – so we keep a close eye on Google News.
Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024
Sometimes, we prefer covering the news depending on the topics, while other times, we’ll check if these topics have any search volume and can be evergreen to continue driving us some value throughout.
For example, the screenshot below shows a ‘B’ necklace worn by Selena Gomez in reference to her boyfriend.
Screenshot from search for [diamond necklace], Google, August 2024
We immediately check if there’s any search volume for “b necklace” on an SEO tool and see the screenshot below:
Screenshot by author, August 2024
Bingo! Now, we have to discuss with the client’s team for our next content piece.
4. Use People Also Ask, AlsoAsked
Since most B2B IT and SaaS clients are highly technical, we sometimes struggle to understand the topic and create a content strategy.
Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024
The only limitation we have with People Also Ask is that it provides a few Q&As for a topic until you click on one, while AlsoAsked provides an entire list in one go, which saves you time.
Screenshot from search for [kubernetes architecture], Google, August 2024
We now have too much to learn about a topic and create content on, right?
5. Check Google Trends
No matter what industry you are in, you’ve got something or the other trending.
In our SEO industry, SearchGPT is trending.
Screenshot from Google Trends, August 2024
So it’s worth writing about it to take the early advantage and grab the traffic share.
See, a lot of people are writing about it:
Screenshot from search for [searchgpt], Google, August 2024
So, it’s worth constantly watching what’s trending via Google Trends.
6. Hop On ChatGPT Or Gemini
Remember, we are here to do content research on ChatGPT or Gemini, not to choose the titles they suggest.
Here is a sample content research prompt that we have put for a contact center software company on ChatGPT:
Screenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024
And here are the responses below:
Screenshot from ChatGPT, August 2024
Since the topics are not up to the mark considering the audience (“BPO” in this case), based on the above content ideas, we’ll pick up the seed keywords or topics such as:
Lessons from a Legacy Contact Center Software Company.
The Contact Center Software Market In The BPO Segment.
Optimizing Your Contact Center Operations.
How to Drive Innovation in Your Customer Support Department?
And more.
7. Monitor Social Media
Yes, we are all active on social media, so we can use it for our content research. Still, we are not considering competitors on social media at the moment.
These are examples of self-created social media content that can be turned into blogs.
However, you can keep monitoring the types of content that get the most visibility and engagement on social media – be it LinkedIn, Instagram, X, or any other platform.
Turn them into your blogs or webinars, but don’t forget to mention them since it’s their original content idea.
8. Dive Into Industry-specific Research Studies
The most unique way to research content ideas is to read your industry-specific research studies extensively. And there’s no one way to do it.
For example, for one of the ecommerce consulting companies, we can get various content ideas from HBR’s eCommerce pricing test:
Why Should Ecommerce Brands Stop Offering Free Shipping?
X Benefits of No Free Shipping or Conditional Shipping.
Free Shipping vs. Conditional Shipping.
Image from HBR, August 2024
In the below study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, the below can become the topic clusters, and each can have its own spoke-like content topics.
Image from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024
For example, if we take Unleashing Artificial Intelligence, we can pick up so many topics out of just one graphic:
Image from study by Broadridge on Digital Transformation, August 2024
9. Check Industry-Specific Forums/Communities
Most of our clientele includes IT companies, and we have used IT forums and communities like StackOverflow for content research.
For example, we can come up with the below topic clusters when covering Flutter for the non-technical and technical target audiences:
Flutter animation widgets.
Flutter dependency management.
Why add Firebase to your Flutter app?
And more.
Screenshot from Stack Overflow, August 2024
Similarly, there will be many such forums or communities of your client or employers available to peek into for such content ideas, except for competitive analysis.
10. Google site:reddit.com “my topic”
One such unique idea by Kunjal Chawhan is to Google site:reddit.com “my topic,” and let’s see what content ideas look like for a couple of topics:
Looking at the above screenshot, below are the topics that we can definitely create:
X Most Popular Social Media Platforms for Ecommerce.
How to Use Video Podcasts to Drive Ecommerce Sales?
How to Boost Ecommerce Sales When Digital Marketing Seems Expensive?
And more.
So yes, Kunjal’s way of content research is amazing, and from that, you can similarly Google:
site:“your industry’s leading site” “topic”
For example:
site:searchenginejournal.com “ai content”
site:quora.com “ai content”
site:practicalecommerce.com “sales”
Let’s move on to the last but not the least method of content research, except for looking at competitors.
11. See What Competing Sites Have NOT Covered
Now you might wonder, “Weren’t the above content research ways except for competitors analysis?”
Yes, they are the ways to research content ideas except for what competitors have written.
But here, I’m trying to make a point where you have to see exactly what indirect competing sites are NOT writing about despite targeting the same industry, keyword clusters, and audience.
What is an indirect competing site?
An indirect competing site is a website that ranks for the industry and search queries of your target audience but is not exactly your product/service competitor. This can be a marketplace, publishing site, or product review site.
Let’s take a website, “leadsquared.com,” for indirect competitive analysis and pick the queries that rank after 50th positions and have a keyword difficulty of less than 29.
Screenshot by author, August 2024
Pick those queries and search on Google: site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs sales pipeline”.
Screenshot from search for [site:leadsquared.com “sales funnel vs”, August 2024
Now, you’ll see that the website has no content on that topic; you can create that if that falls under your product/service offering and can target your audience and industry.
In short, you can cover the below topics:
Sales funnel vs. sales pipeline.
Sales funnel vs. marketing funnel.
Sales funnel vs. flywheel.
And more.
Just ensure these content topics align with your offerings to bring maximum ROI.
How Will Content Research Beyond Competitor Analysis Contribute To SEO Efforts?
When you go beyond competitor analysis for content research, you discover a few benefits:
You innovate – With innovative content ideas, you can experiment and build better strategies that can bring unbelievable results. Also, with AI taking the space predominantly, businesses are looking for innovation in their business and marketing. So when you innovate, you may get better attention and even resources.
You get niche opportunities – Instead of just focusing on what competitors are doing, you go deeper into understanding your target audience and explore new content ideas that your competitors might have missed. In such scenarios, you get better results since competition is reduced.
You create unique, audience-specific content – My LinkedIn post saw great engagement because it resonated with its audience. This opened us to something unique and specific to the pain point of SEOs and content strategists: content ideation to scale SEO results with a not-so-usual approach. Such content helps us build authority in the market, which is essential today to becoming market leaders.
You capitalize on emerging trends – Being an early adopter of something has huge potential for success. When you create your content strategy focused on what’s new or trending in your industry before it becomes mainstream, you get the most eyes right from the beginning and even repeat eyes going forward.
You build better engagement and loyalty – You can extend beyond blogs, a traditional way of driving SEO results. Videos, whitepapers, case studies, user-generated content, and many more content formats can take the lead in building user engagement and brand loyalty through SEO.
You earn backlinks – Yes, such unique content may require less effort to build backlinks since it can earn them.
Stop looking at competitors for content research; try using these fresh and unique ways to drive better content ROI.
Just remember two things: Competitors are not always right, and you are not necessarily required to look upon them when developing your SEO content strategies.
You can copy and paste your competitors’ strategies to achieve certain SEO milestones, but creating history requires an upgraded approach. What say?
In the enterprise ecommerce space, staying ahead of the competition on Google can be challenging. With so much at stake, it’s key to ensure that your site is performing at its best and capturing as much market share as possible. But how can you make sure your ecommerce platform is fully optimized to reach its potential in organic search?
On August 21st, we invite you to join us for an in-depth webinar where we’ll explore the strategies that can help you make the most of your existing site. Whether you’re looking to resolve technical challenges or implement scalable solutions that are proven to drive results, this session will provide the practical insights you need.
Why Attend This Webinar?
Wayland Myers, with his 18 years of experience working with major brands like Expedia and Staples, will lead the discussion. Save your spot to learn the common issues that often prevent large ecommerce sites from reaching their full potential in organic search and he’ll explain that, if left unaddressed, can significantly limit your site’s ability to attract and convert visitors.
Wayland will dive into actionable solutions that can help overcome these challenges. You’ll learn about proven strategies that can be applied at scale, ensuring that your site is not only optimized for performance but also prepared to handle the complexities of enterprise-level ecommerce.
What Will You Learn?
From technical fixes to advanced tactics like AI-enhanced programmatic content creation and internal linking, this session will cover the approaches that have been proven to work in real-world scenarios.
This webinar will also highlight the importance of careful implementation. Making changes to an enterprise ecommerce site requires a thoughtful approach to avoid potential pitfalls. Wayland will share his insights on what to watch out for during the process, ensuring that your efforts lead to positive outcomes without unintended consequences.
Key Takeaways:
Identifying and resolving issues that hinder your site’s organic growth.
Implementing solutions that enhance search performance at scale.
Learning from successful strategies used by industry leaders.
Live Q&A: Get Your Questions Answered
After the presentation, there will be a LIVE Q&A session where you can bring your specific questions. Whether you’re dealing with technical challenges or looking to fine-tune your current strategy, this is your chance to get expert advice tailored to your needs.
If you’re focused on improving your ecommerce site’s performance and capturing a larger share of the market on Google, this webinar is an opportunity you won’t want to miss.
Can’t make it to the live session? No worries. By registering, you’ll receive a recording of the webinar to watch at your convenience.
How do you know if your website is doing as well as your competitors in search results?
Join us on August 14 for a webinar that will reveal the latest organic search traffic benchmarks, trends, and insights for 2024.
This session, brought to you by Conductor, is designed to help you fine-tune your SEO and content strategies for maximum impact.
Why Attend This Webinar?
Knowing how well your website does in regular search results compared to others in your field is really important. It helps you:
Make sense of how many people have found your site through search so far this year.
Gain better visibility for your website in search results and hone what kind of content you create.
Set better goals for your website’s performance.
Shannon Vize, Senior Content Marketing Manager, and Ryan Maloney, who leads the Customer Success Team, will give you practical advice on improving your website’s search performance.
Key Takeaways
In this information-packed session, you’ll learn:
2024 organic search traffic benchmarks across major industries and their subsectors.
Industry-specific comparisons of branded vs. non-branded organic search traffic.
The most common rich result types and top content sources.
Practical SEO tactics you can apply to your own strategy.
How to set more accurate KPIs to evaluate and improve organic search performance.
Who Should Attend?
This webinar is perfect for:
SEO pros who want to measure their performance against others.
Digital marketers looking to sharpen their organic search tactics.
Content creators aiming to boost their search visibility.
Bring your burning questions! After the presentation, Shannon and Ryan will be available for a live Q&A session to address your specific concerns.
Can’t Make It?
No worries! Register anyway, and we’ll send you a recording of the webinar after the event.
Join us on August 14th at 2 PM ET to gain valuable insights to help you outperform your competition in organic search. Register today and take the first step toward elevating your SEO strategy!
If you’ve been paying attention to the chatter in the SEO space recently, you might have noticed that “brand marketing” has become cool again.
Due to the Google “leaks,” many SEO pros have come to the conclusion that building a strong digital presence will yield SEO results.
Also, water … is wet.
Leaks, floods, and drips aside, there are better reasons why you should be focused on brand marketing right now.
Allow me to explain. [Warning: This post contains excessive amounts of snark.]
Building The Case For Brand Marketing
I’m not going to do the whole “5 reasons why you should focus on brand in 2024.” It would be off-brand for me.
What I would like to do, if you’ll indulge me, is first build up the case by looking at where the ecosystem we call the web is currently at.
I’m less focused on “the benefits” of the brand and more concerned about why the ecosystem itself demands a focus on this type of marketing.
It’s less a matter of “you’ll get X, Y, and Z” by focusing on the brand and more a matter of why you’ll be out of sync with your potential audience as a whole.
The Web Is Moving To Be More Conversational
The internet has become more conversational, and it’s only going to get more conversational.
One of my soapbox points is that content is one of the most quickly changing things on the planet. What we consume, how we consume it, and what we expect out of it are rapidly and constantly changing, and the consequences are often underappreciated.
My classic example of this was the first televised US presidential debate, which took place in 1960 and pitted John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon.
If you listened to the debate on the radio, you tended to think Nixon won. Those who watched on TV tended to think JFK won.
Why? Well, Richard Nixon comes off as Richard Nixon, and JFK, well looks like JFK. I’m being a bit facetious, but it is true. Nixon famously looked pale, had a five o’clock shadow, and didn’t look directly at the camera.
The evolution of content has extremely understated consequences.
Like in 1960, we are at one of those pivotal moments in the history of content.
Think of the internet like TV commercials. Over time, what once resonated becomes campy and sem, if not downright, spammy.
Could you imagine Coca-Cola running and trying to sell its product using its 1980s Max Headroom “Catch the Wave” commercial?
Try selling my kids a sugar-infused breakfast cereal using a TV commercial from the 1950s. Good luck.
It’s not because those commercials are “bad.” It’s because the language and tone that resonates changes over time.
It’s a simple enough point … unless we’re talking about web content. For some reason, we feel web content and its consumption trends should eternally stay the same.
We write the same kind of content in pretty much the same way and balk at any changes.
But that doesn’t change the reality.
The content we create doesn’t speak to users. It’s not positioned correctly. The tone is off. The goals that support the creation of content, to begin with, are distorted. And more. There are a lot of problems – and to me, they all begin with content not being conversational.
In fact, I will go so far as to say Google should stop saying, “Write for your users,” and should start saying, “Have conversations with your users.”
We all think we’re “writing for our users” – I mean, who else are we trying to lure and convert?
It’s very easy to fool yourself into thinking you are “writing for your users.” It’s harder to convince yourself you are having some sort of dialogue with your users – which is what I think Google really means anyway.
All this said, what do I mean by content not being conversational and how do I know it’s even a problem?
What I Mean By Content Not Being Conversational
It’s not hard to see that we are not engaging our users in a conversation or dialogue.
All you need to do is head over to your nearest landing page and have a look at the language.
How much of it is just the company throwing out jargon or borderline nonsense?
Here’s what I came across in literally less than five minutes of digging around:
Screenshot from author, July 2024
Is it really without limits? Can I literally do whatever I want without any limitations whatsoever? I don’t get it – are we talking about God or graphic design software?
Is the below really a new way to run high-velocity sales? Does it literally refine the entire process like no one else is doing or has done before? Or is the company just saying this and spitting out whatever they think will drive conversions?
Screenshot from author, July 2024
You see this all the time in PPC ads:
Screenshot from search for [buy accounting software], Google, July 2024
No nuance. It is the best accounting software, and I should trust that it is without any form of qualification.
This kind of copy, while it may have worked in the past, doesn’t (and if it does now, it won’t in the relatively near future).
This kind doesn’t actually talk to users in a real way. It actually treats the user like an idiot.
The average web user is far more savvy than they once were, far more mature, and far more skeptical.
Not taking a more genuine approach is starting to catch up with brands.
How Do I Know Not Being Conversational Is Even A Problem?
Greenwashing.
It’s when a company claims to be more environmentally conscious than it is. It’s spin and PR nonsense.
Companies thought they could pull a fast one on unsuspecting users. However, folks are now savvier and are catching on to brands positioning themselves as being “green” when, in reality, they might not be (or at least to the extent advertised).
You cannot get away with it anymore (and you never should have tried). The only thing that works is being genuine.
If your product is not actually “the best,” then don’t say it is – or, in fact, realize there is no “best” or “ultimate” or “fastest” or whatever. There is only what meets the needs of users in what way. That’s fancy talk for “pain points.”
Being genuine means talking to your audience and not at your audience. It’s having a dialogue with them.
Going the “traditional” route with your language is the equivalent of marketing language greenwashing … and it applies to your informational content, too.
Perhaps nothing epitomizes this more than the falling stock of influencer marketing. Study after study shows that younger users are far less likely to purchase something because an influencer is associated with it.
Influencer marketing, as we mostly know it, is a facade pretending it’s not a facade. Do you think Patrick Mahomes really eats Chicken McNuggets or has a strong preference to use State Farm for his insurance needs?
All influencer marketing is just a digital marketing version of a celebrity in a TV commercial.
Do you think whatever TikTok influencer really prefers Capital One or even knows that it’s not a geographical reference?
While the idea of “influencers” seemed like a viable idea at the onset it’s fundamentally not sustainable because it’s fundamentally fraudulent. (For the record, “community” marketing is something else entirely. While it might rely on “influencers” within a community, it is far more genuine.)
It seems that folks have caught on to the idea that maybe this influencer being paid to say or do whatever is not actually an accurate reflection of reality (much like social media influencers themselves, to be honest).
A 2023 Drum article quotes one study as saying upwards of 80% of users say a brand’s use of influencers does not impact them one way or the other.
For the record, there are other studies that indicate that influencer marketing is a viable option. I agree, but I think it needs to be qualified. Just paying an influencer to say good things about your brand is not authentic.
There are authentic ways to work with communities and influential folks within them. That tends to happen more with micro or nano influencers.
Again, it’s rocket science. Everyone knows the influencer is only saying the things they are saying because they’re being paid to. It’s relatively meaningless in a vast majority of cases.
It shows how much savvier the current web user is relative to the past, and it’s supported by where folks are heading and what they are trusting … themselves (DTA, am I right?).
A seemingly endless number of studies show users looking toward user-generated content. CNBC was quoted as saying, “61% of Gen Z prefer user-generated content.”
Image from CNBC, July 2024
Which brings me to my next point.
Informational Content Is Just As Bad & Reddit On The SERP Proves It
Up until this point, I’ve been focused on the nature of commercial content and the demand for conversational content.
The same concept applies to informational content, just for a slightly different reason.
Informational content on the web might not be as opaque as commercial content, but it is entirely sterile and stoic.
By sterile and stoic I mean content that doesn’t actually speak to the user. It takes a topic, breaks the topic down into various subtopics, and simply presents the information, and does so without ever discussing the context of the readers themselves.
No one has more data on emerging content consumption trends than Google and its ability to analyze user behavior in a variety of ways. And what has Google done for informational and commercial queries alike? Plastered the search engine results page with user-generated content.
The proliferation of Reddit on the SERP should tell you everything you need to know about the state of informational content and beyond.
All you need to do is head to the Google SERP and take a look at all of the Reddit results strewn all over the place, from different SERP features to the organic results themselves.
And while SEO pros may be upset about the abundance of Reddit (and rightfully so in my opinion), we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Do you really think Google wants to rank Reddit here, there, and everywhere? I personally don’t. I think Google would much rather have a diverse set of experience-based content to rank.
Regardless of your feelings about Reddit on the SERP, users’ inclination to prefer content created by other users tells you one thing: People are looking to move past all the facades and want something transparent that speaks to them—not at them.
Think about content like dress codes in the office. In the 1950s (at least in the US), it would be unheard of to show up to the office with anything but a suit and tie or a dress.
Just like professional dress codes have become less formal, so has content become “less formal” too.
And it’s a relatively recent development on both fronts. In fact, I would actually argue that office dress codes are a good representation of “where we are at” in terms of how and what we consume in terms of content via-a-vis formality.
While more traditional marketing language might have been acceptable and effective just a few years ago – it’s not any longer (at least not to the extent). We are less formal as a people, which means speaking to each other is also less formal. That has to spill over to web content at some point, and it has.
The AI Of It All
The rise of AI-written content accentuates all of this. When everything starts to sound the same having an actual voice comes more into focus. As AI conversion evolves, users are going to want to know that what they are consuming is “real.”
Much like a paid influencer, AI-written content doesn’t offer an authentic experience. And if we can see one theme in what users are looking for, it is an authentic experience.
I know someone is reading and thinking, “But AI is conversational!”
I would not confuse the fact that AI can reply back to you in an informal way as being an actual conversation or dialogue with another actual lifeform.
I have many relatives who will chew my ear off for hours on end as I nod away – that is not (much to their surprise) a conversation. Inputting prompts in reply back to an LLM and then having that LLM respond is not a conversation. (I feel like it’s insane that I have to say that.)
A real dialogue has to be based on empathy and the coming together of two distinct entities. This is what I mean by conversational. The dialogue has to be based on understanding the user’s pain points and meeting them.
AI not only doesn’t do that – but it dilutes that very concept. AI is content creation inherently devoid of understanding the “other.”
AI-generated content is the exact opposite of empathetic content. It is no wonder that it will drive a greater demand for something that is more connective (i.e., conversational content).
The rise of AI-generated content will inevitably lead to a greater demand for more conversational content simply because it is human nature to yearn for connection and existentially disdain void.
When you couple together the growing impatience with stale and stoic content aligned with the facade of much of the web’s commercial content with the rise of AI, it’s the perfect storm for a shirt in user demand.
A More Conversational Internet Is More Autonomous Internet
What’s this got to do with brand marketing? We’re getting there. One more step.
Users looking for more authentic web experiences point to people not wanting to be sold to. Skepticism and distrust are triggered by being urged to make a purchase.
Rather than being induced to click by some clever headline or urged to make a purchase by some influencer, people want to make their own decisions.
They’re looking for real advice. They’re looking for real information to have real needs met. And then they’re looking to be left alone to use that information to their liking.
It’s not an accident that Google added an “E” to E-E-A-T for “experience.” It wants quality raters to evaluate a page from an experience perspective because it has determined this is what users are looking for.
When your entire modus operandi is to seek out authentic information and experiences, the last thing you’re looking for is to be coerced. The last thing you want is to feel pushed into something.
The quest for authenticity in experience-based information is entirely about being able to make a well-informed, autonomous decision.
Urging users to click and convert with all sorts of marketing language and over-emphasis is antithetical to this mindset. Using language that feels slightly manipulative is antithetical to this mindset.
Trying to create spin and putting up a marketing facade (such as with classic influencer marketing) is antithetical to this mindset.
You can’t have Michael Jordan jumping over Spike Lee in a commercial to sell shoes anymore. It’s not real, and it’s not authentic. It’s fantastical. It’s fake.
You also can’t “drive” conversions by telling users you’ve developed a “new,” “revolutionary,” or “ultimate” solution for them. It’s not real, and it’s not authentic. It’s fantastical. It’s fake.
You have to create an environment where the user feels empowered and uncoerced.
How do you then go about targeting growth and revenue, all while allowing the user to feel autonomous and unsolicited?
Brand marketing.
Brand Is Your Best Friend In An Autonomous Web Scenario
I know there is going to be a tremendous amount of resistance to what I am about to say.
In fact, most companies will balk at my conception of things. For SaaS, it’s probably borderline heretical (I think startup SaaS brands often lag behind consumer trends more than anyone).
If user autonomy is the fundamental brick on the house the ecosystem is built on, then being top of mind is the cement that holds your marketing efficacy together.
What’s the opposite of pushing for clicks and conversions? Allowing the user to come to you at their own time and at their own speed.
Being top of mind is more important than it ever was because it aligns with the underlying psychological profile driving web experiences.
There is a direct equation between the consumer demand for autonomy in the buying journey and brand marketing. Creating the right associations and developing the right positioning with genuine differentiation is of the utmost importance if you want to align with how users think – and, more importantly, feel about the web.
If I had to put in a more “performance-focused” mindset, direct traffic is the future of the web. Get them to come to you on their own terms.
It works for both parties. You’re less susceptible to relying on whatever platform’s funky algorithm (whether it be social or search, it all kind of feels like a mess right now). At the same time, your users don’t feel like you’re overselling, pushing clicks, and otherwise nudging them to convert.
They’re coming to you because they found out about you, liked what they saw or heard, and decided to pursue the possibility of buying from you at their own pace.
Moreover, the brand allows you to connect. Again, in an AI world, the drive for connection will only increase. Brand is the intersection of your identity and your audience’s.
It is an associative connection, and it allows your audience to understand that there is a “you” behind the product or service you are offering.
This is the power of branding in the modern web.
What Kind Of Brand Marketing?
What kind of branding creates autonomy? Education-focused brand marketing.
Brand marketing can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. Often, on the digital stage, it means pushing the value of your product across the web.
I am not saying that this doesn’t have value or that it shouldn’t be done, etc. I am saying this is product marketing disguised as brand marketing.
90% of your brand marketing should hardly (if at all) push your product (beyond maybe a mention or something subtle of that ilk).
Brand marketing is about fostering an identity (either of a product, service, or the company as a whole) and using that identity to create messaging that positions the said product, service, or company in a certain way, thereby establishing a connection with your target audience.
The associations you build and the sentiment towards your brand that you establish should, hopefully, result in your audience seeing you as a relevant solution. But this is associative, and that’s important to remember.
The kind of branding I am talking about is focused on adding value to your audience’s life. Note that I didn’t say offering value via your product or service to their lives. First comes the value, and then comes the value from your product.
You can’t push the product in what might be called “branding” without first establishing a brand that showcases concern for the user and their life context independent of any “ask” (such as making a purchase).
You wouldn’t ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar before saying, “Hi, good morning. How are you?”
You shouldn’t ask your consumers to open their wallets and fork over money before establishing a real connection.
Yet, this is pretty much the internet as we know it.
A Note On Performance Marketing
I am not advocating you should not use performance-based marketing tactics to increase your reach and sales and whatnot. Performance-based marketing can be a powerful force for growth and revenue expansion.
What I am advocating for is performance sitting within a broader branding context. There has to be a balance between the two (and I don’t think it is an even balance).
With that cliffhanger, perhaps I’ll explore the balance between brand and performance at another time.
Now, what about the content of the actual calls? Well, you can use that, too.
Let dive into how you can use call analysis to further inform your strategy.
How To Analyze Your Call Data
The insights you collect from customer phone interactions can have a game-changing impact on your business.
But you want to make sure the effort required to dig into those calls is worth it for your team.
This is where AI and machine learning technology can be utilized effectively to streamline your process and save time.
For example, Conversation Intelligence is an AI-powered tool by CallRail that constantly records, transcribes, and analyzes each inbound and outbound call.
With transcriptions that have near-human level accuracy, Conversation Intelligence goes a step further by spotting keywords, tagging calls automatically, and qualifying leads with powerful automation rules.
Plus, with multi-conversation insights, you can easily transform countless conversations into actionable insights at scale.
Not only does this analysis unlock deeper insights to help you catch customer trends and spot long-term shifts, but it also tells you what you should focus on in your content.
2. Website Form Submissions
Another effective way to gather essential audience insights is through website form tracking.
When this data is paired with deeper analytics, you can gain a clear understanding of what drives the most qualified leads for your business.
With Form Tracking, you can find out exactly which ad or keyword made someone click “submit” on your form.
Launched last year by CallRail, this tool allows you to build custom forms or integrate existing ones, pairing the data with inbound call conversions for a holistic view of your marketing efforts.
Combining Call Tracking And Form Tracking
Leads often connect with businesses through multiple channels, so focusing on just one source isn’t really enough.
By using Call Tracking and Form Tracking together, you get a comprehensive overview of your leads’ entire customer journey.
Both of these tools essentially work by installing a single line of JavaScript code on your site, which captures and relays information about each of your leads back to CallRail.
You can easily evaluate the various campaigns that you’re running, like paid ads, social media posts, email nurture campaigns, etc. – all of which could be opportunities to incorporate tracking numbers and links to your forms.
Using both a tracking number and a form tracking link gives your leads the option to choose how they prefer to contact your business.
And as they reach out, you’ll be able to measure which campaigns and which conversion type – calls or forms – is getting the best results.
3. Customer Feedback & Surveys
If you really want a deep dive into the minds of your customers, surveys are an incredibly effective way to get feedback directly from the source.
Surveys allow you to ask your users targeted questions and receive precise answers about their preferences, pain points, and expectations.
You can then leverage this comprehensive data to guide your marketing strategy and fill any content gaps you may have.
Discover the type of content your customers prefer, the topics they are most interested in, and how they like to consume information.
Once they point out areas where they feel your content is lacking or what they would like to see more of, you can then fill the gaps in your strategy to give them what they want.
Integrating Customer Feedback Into Your Content
Understanding your audience can help you tailor your content to better meet their needs and preferences.
Here are some tips for how you can effectively integrate customer feedback into your content creation process:
Create a Feedback Loop: Ask your audience to rate the usefulness, quality, and relevance of your content to gain a clear picture of where you can improve. Then establish a system where their feedback continuously informs your content. Regularly conduct surveys and update your strategy based on the latest insights.
Prioritize High-Impact Content: Identify the topics and formats that resonate most with your audience and prioritize them in your content calendar. For example, if customers indicate a preference for video tutorials over written guides, focus more on creating video content. This ensures that you’re always aligned with what your audience finds most valuable.
Test and Iterate: After publishing content based on customer feedback, monitor its performance to see if it meets the intended goals. Use analytics to track engagement, shares, and other metrics. Be prepared to refine your content based on ongoing feedback and performance data.
Communicate Changes: Let your audience know that their feedback has been heard and implemented. This not only builds trust but also encourages more customers to participate in future surveys.
Unlock Higher Search Rankings With CallRail’s Data Solutions
Google is constantly changing its algorithms to produce higher quality search results for users, which presents numerous challenges for marketers and website owners.
Between the upcoming phase-out of third-party cookies and the recent core update, the search engine is cracking down heavily on content it deems as unhelpful.
That’s why it’s time to take a user-first approach to your content strategy.
By leveraging first- and zero-party data through methods like call tracking, form submissions, and customer surveys, you can create high-quality, relevant content that meets your audience’s needs and boosts your Google rankings.
CallRail’s suite of tools makes it easier to gather and analyze this data, helping you refine your marketing strategy and drive sustainable growth.
Ready to see the impact for yourself?
Try CallRail free for 14 days and start transforming your data into actionable strategies for higher ranking content.
This post was sponsored by SOCi. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
As a marketer, you may feel like the ground is shifting under your feet with so many changes in the world of search. From Google’s recent announcement to release AI Overviews to all U.S. users to OpenAI revealing GPT-4o, there’s a lot to keep up with.
How will these changes impact your search efforts? Do you need to shift your search strategy?
We have the answers for you and more!
In this blog, we’ll explain how search marketing has changed, what this means for your brand, and share tactics to improve your online visibility. At the end, we’ll also introduce our new game-changer for local search management.
Let’s get into it!
The Evolution Of Search Marketing
As search evolves, many marketers are worried about their brand remaining visible online. While AI-generated search experiences are so new, we do know that now isn’t the time to make any drastic changes to your search marketing strategies.
You can test how your brand appears in generative AI (genAI) results (what we’ve dubbed GAIRs), but there’s no reason to sound an alarm — at least not yet.
Today, nearly three-quarters of consumers conduct local searches at least once a week. Similarly, in the U.S., over 800 million monthly searches contain some variation of “near me,” and more than 5 million keywords are related to “near me.”
Focusing on conventional local SEO efforts is the best way for your brand to ensure its visibility in traditional and GAIRs.
Local SEO for businesses with multiple locations involves incorporating a local SEO strategy for each business location. A multi-location SEO strategy, when done correctly, will boost your local search rankings, help you gain local customers, and improve brand awareness.
If your business doesn’t have multiple locations, you can still follow the tactics below to ensure your business is visible to your target audience in your specific area.
5 Ways To Improve Your Online Visibility
Now that you understand how search has evolved and the importance of local SEO, let’s dive into five local SEO tactics your brand can leverage to boost online visibility.
1. Claim & Optimize Local Listings
Local listings are online profiles of local businesses. They appear on search engines, local directories, and platforms like Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, Bing, and Facebook.
To increase your visibility on Google and beyond, your brand must claim local listings across all major local directories and remove duplicate listings.
Additionally, you need consistent and accurate information across all listings. At a minimum, your local listings should include the following information:
Name, address, and phone number (NAP) citations.
Business categories. (Example: Sushi restaurant)
Business hours, especially during holidays and major events
Products and services your business offers.
Links to your website and social media profiles.
Attributes. (Example: Curbside pickup or wheelchair-accessible seating)
A local page, sometimes called a local landing page, is a web page you create for an individual store location or franchisee. It’s similar to local listings but lives on your site rather than an external directory like Yelp or Google.
Your multi-location business might have dozens or hundreds of local pages, each containing specific information about that store and the surrounding area.
Local pages should contain most of the business information found on your local listings. However, they’re also high-conversion pages. Therefore, they should also contain calls to action (CTAs) such as “order now” buttons or promotional sales and discounts.
Well-designed and optimized local pages can help your business appear high in local organic search results. As mentioned, these higher rankings often lead to more conversions and business for your stores!
3. Leverage A Store Locator
Store locators are similar to local pages. A store locator is a web page that lists all of your local stores or third-party dealers that sell your products.
Store locators help move website visitors through the customer journey by displaying valuable location information and unique details about each store. They make it easier for customers to purchase online and to contact or visit local stores.
Well-optimized and compatible store locators and local pages will help improve:
Local search rankings.
Website traffic and online conversions.
Analytics, such as where visitors are searching and coming from.
4. Implement An Online Reputation Management Strategy
While reputation management might not be something you’d consider when you think of improving your online visibility, you’d be surprised. According to local SEO experts, high numerical Google ratings are the sixth highest ranking factor in Google’s local pack and finder. At the same time, the quantity of native Google reviews (with text) is the eighth ranking factor.
A high quantity and quality of reviews don’t just affect local search rankings — they also impact conversion rates. According to our State of Google Reviews research report, an increase in one full star on a Google Business Profile (GBP) corresponds with a 44% increase in conversions.
To improve your reputation management strategy and gain more reviews:
Respond to existing reviews in a personalized manner to show customers you value their feedback.
Utilize social media to encourage customer feedback, ratings, and reviews.
Make leaving a review accessible! Include links to your GBP on your website and in emails.
Monitor the feedback that your business receives from reviews and make adjustments accordingly.
5. Create Unique Content
Generating localized content for your local pages, website, and listings is also essential. You want to ensure that your localized content optimizes and targets specific areas.
For instance, if you’re targeting the keyword “sporting goods store Seattle,” you want to update your URL, title tag, meta description, and headings with locally relevant keywords.
You should also leverage local images, including photos of your stores and products. Remember to include geo-targeted meta descriptions, alternative text, and descriptions within your images.
Types of local content your brand can create include but are not limited to:
Now that you understand what goes into creating a solid local search strategy, it’s time to boost your brand’s visibility. As marketers, you get how crucial search marketing is, but let’s be real, coming up with a plan to roll it out on a big scale is easier said than done.
That’s where SOCi comes in! We’ve built SOCi for more than a decade to ensure multi-location businesses rank well on local search and social media platforms, can create engaging content, and have the ability to manage each location’s online reputation.
We’ve enhanced our CoMarketing Cloud with SOCi Genius, an AI automation layer to help automate all of your daily localized marketing tasks. As part of SOCi Genius, we recently released Genius Search, a game-changer in search marketing!
As the newest innovation within the CoMarketing Cloud, Genius Search transcends traditional listings management by offering a dynamic, data-driven local search strategy that aligns with evolving consumer behaviors and market trends.
Genius Search uses the top data signals, such as reviews, search keywords and volume, weather, holidays, and others to deliver monthly AI-powered recommendations that can be accepted with the click of a button. Once accepted, these optimizations instantly improve your business listings’ rankings to directly relate to each location’s community.
It’s time to level up your local search strategy, and SOCi is here to help. Request a personalized demo today for more insight on Genius Search and our other Genius products!
Ready to start optimizing your website? Sign up for SOCi and get the data you need to deliver great user experiences.
This post was sponsored by Stay22. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
The latest Google update hit our partners – travel bloggers – hard. Despite the challenges presented by this update, we are amazed by their resilience.
Although we cannot influence Google, we can definitely take charge of the things within our reach.
Here are five travel blogger-tested ways to increase website traffic after the latest Google update.
Pinterest’s tools make it a fantastic way to get visitors to your website.
How To Get Started With Pinterest
Create a new business account or link/convert a personal account to gain access to business tools like Pinterest Business Hub and Pinterest Analytics, which allow you to monitor searches and keywords.
Write a catchy bio for your profile. If you have niche keywords you use on your website, include them here.
Claim your website, allowing you to track whenever someone shares your website content on Pinterest. Additionally, it will automatically include your Pinterest profile and a follow button so you can attract more visitors.
How To Use Pinterest Like A Pro
Pinterest is built around pictures, so having great visuals is critical. You want to make yours stand out on the page.
When you travel, snap many pictures and pick the best ones later.
Use design tools like Canva to add text, create interesting layouts, and add branding elements.
Create boards to organize your content into categories, such as by destination or blog post type.
Just like any other search engine, keyword research is necessary on Pinterest. Use business tools like Pinterest Trends, which lets you see keyword search volume and which pins are most popular for them.
Use your selected keywords everywhere possible, including pin titles, pin descriptions, and board descriptions.
Email marketing is important because you own it. Instagram could ban your account, Google can derank you, but your email list is always yours.
Use this strategy to build less volatile, consistent traffic instead of new traffic.
How To Get Started With Email Marketing
Select an email marketing provider. Travel bloggers love MailerLite and MailChimp because they are low-cost and simple.
Start collecting email addresses. Create a mailing list signup form with your website host and insert it at the end of posts to collect your readers’ information.
How To Use Email Marketing Like A Pro
Create a lead magnet that entices readers to share their information in exchange for it. Popular lead magnets in the travel blogging community are travel guides, ebooks, and itineraries.
The goal of email is to get your reader onto your site. Keep your emails short and include impressive pictures and a clear link to your website. Leave them wanting more so that they click through.
“While SEO is often touted as the king of traffic, good email marketing is the absolute queen. We regularly see spikes in our web analytics when we email our audience, but those spikes aren’t just temporary. They help our users build habits. We simply wouldn’t have nearly the business we have today without activating our email list.”
3. Add Your Content To Flipboard To Grab More Website Visits
Flipboard is an article curation website that lets users flip through articles from different publications, like magazines.
How To Get Started With Flipboard
Download the Flipboard app on mobile and create an account and profile.
Create Flipboard magazines. These are topic categories that group your content (much like Pinterest boards).
Add your blog posts to them from the magazine page on Flipboard or the Flipit Chrome bookmark.
Screenshot taken from Flipboard, June 2024
How To Use Flipboard Like A Pro
Add your fresh blog posts to Flipboard right after publishing.
Add relevant content to your magazines that isn’t your own. Engaging with other bloggers’ content and maintaining new content in your magazines helps your reach.
Include your target keywords in your magazine descriptions, post captions, and profile.
“Flipboard has become a major traffic source for all 3 of my websites. They have fantastic tools for creators, like storyboards, scheduling, and RSS feeds for magazines, making creating and sharing compelling content easy.”
4. Get Discovered With Short-Form Videos On Social Media
Did you know 77% of travelers use social media when planning their trips? Get their eyes on your content with short-form videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube shorts.
These platforms have algorithms to serve your content to people who don’t follow you, making them ideal for readers to discover you.
How To Get Started Making Videos
Create your accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Download Capcut, a free mobile app for video editing. It’s better than the in-app editing functionality, with pre-installed templates and effects.
Create a Linktree account or an alternative. All three platforms make it difficult for users to leave and visit your site, so a place where users can go for all your links is necessary.
“PLACES ON EARTH WITH THE BLUEST WATER” by @thetravelshack, June 2024
How To Make Short Video Content Like A Pro
While traveling, keep video creation in the back of your mind. When you see eye-catching scenery or an interesting environment, be ready to capture it in video. Your video’s “wow” factor differentiates between a mediocre and a fantastic video.
On Instagram, write detailed captions. On YouTube and TikTok, keep captions as brief as possible.
Voice-over, on-screen text, and music are crucial to your engagement rate. You can add these with Capcut or in-app.
Pick your video thumbnails carefully. Make sure they stand out in a grid of other videos.
Finally, keep your short video short. The ideal length for a Reel is seven to eleven seconds, a TikTok 21 to 34 seconds, and a YouTube Short 25 to 35 seconds.
“TikTok helped us to get our second blog on Mediavine. We shared detailed videos about “how to do something” and always included a call to action, directing viewers to our blog for more information. In recent years, we’ve had videos go viral while encouraging followers to visit the link in our bio. This has resulted in thousands of clicks to our websites.”
5. Expose Yourself To New Audiences With Guest Posting
Having your writing published on another website gives you access to a whole new audience, making it an excellent strategy for attracting new readers.
How To Start Guest Posting
Find places that accept guest posts. Many publications have open submissions that you can submit to.
If you see a site that has guest posts but no open submissions, find their contact information and send an inquiry email.
Create a pitch by explaining your travel expertise and provide writing samples.
How To Guest Post Like A Pro
When creating your pitch, understand the site’s needs. What content gaps do they have? Focus your pitch there.
Organic guest posting opportunities arise if you take the time to network. Meeting and developing friendships with travel bloggers is a great way to share audiences. You can network on social media, as well as in-person events like TBEX, TravelCon, and Traverse.
Create a clear link back to your blog and include a catchy description so readers will be enticed to read more of your content.
Strategize by monitoring the traffic of potential sites with tools like SEMRush and pick the best option.
Screenshot from japan.travel, June 2024
“Creating content for another publication to share as a standalone article allows you to share new expertise about a certain area. Whether through the article itself or subsequent social shares, a new audience gets exposure to you as a writer.”
See how William Tang made travel blogging his full-time job with the help of Stay22’s revenue-boosting tools. Read the case study.
Compensate For Traffic Dips By Maximizing Your Revenue.
Maximize your conversions with strategic CTA placement and Stay22’s cutting-edge AI-powered affiliate tools! Skyrocket your affiliate sales with these proven tips:
2. AI Can Help You Save Time On Manually Reviewing Calls
Listening to and analyzing phone calls manually can be time-consuming and inefficient for agencies.
However, it’s an important part of understanding the customer experience and sales team performance.
With AI-powered call analysis tools, you get quality, keyword-tagged transcriptions with near-human-level accuracy.
Not only can this technology help you save over 50% of the time spent listening to phone calls, but it can also help you deliver actionable recommendations to clients and drive better results.
Conversation Intelligence, for instance, is trained on over 1.1M hours of voice data and enables real-time analysis for instantaneous results.
This advanced tool provides opportunities for you to improve your strategy through the following granular insights:
Spotting disparities in the industry-specific lingo your sales team uses, compared to the lingo your prospects are using to describe their business challenges and goals.
Identifying trends or gaps in your service offerings based on what your prospects are asking for.
Identifying frequently asked questions and other important topics to address through content marketing.
Setting goals for lead qualification — not just the quantity of leads generated for your business.
Conversational AI is perfectly suited to summarize the content of long conversations – however, the call summaries still require a human to read them and determine the main takeaways.
But if you work in a bustling small business, it’s unlikely you’d have the bandwidth for tasks such as call transcription, summaries, keyword spotting, or trend analysis.
Rather than displacing human labor, conversational AI is assisting businesses in taking on tasks that may have been overlooked and leveraging data that would otherwise remain untapped.
3. AI Can Help You Lower Cost Per Lead / Save Money On Tools & Ad Spend
Ever wonder why certain campaigns take off while others fall flat? It’s all in the data!
Even failed campaigns can offer invaluable insights into your client’s audience and messaging.
But if you can’t spot the underperformers quickly enough, you risk wasting your ad budget on ineffective tactics.
The quicker you can identify what’s working and what’s not, the quicker you can pivot and adjust your marketing strategy.
Make a bigger impact in less time: AI-powered technology creates a force multiplier within your agency, allowing you to make more of an impact with the same level of inputs you’re already using.
Unlock actionable insights from call data: AI is revolutionizing the way companies leverage call data by enabling them to gain insights at scale. As a result, businesses can increase their ROI and deliver greater value to their clients by analyzing hundreds of calls efficiently.
Foster alignment with data-driven strategies: By analyzing customer conversations with AI, businesses can align their marketing strategy with data-driven recommendations, enhancing overall coherence. Additionally, the ability to create triggers based on specific phrases enables automated analysis and reporting, further streamlining the alignment process.
Drive effectiveness with rapid insights: Leveraging Conversation Intelligence enables agencies to deliver better insights faster, increase conversion rates, refine keyword strategies, and develop robust reporting capabilities.
4. AI Can Help You Improve Overall Agency Efficiency
Are you spending too much valuable time on tasks that produce minimal results?
Many agencies find themselves bogged down by routine, administrative tasks that don’t contribute much to their bottom line.
But with AI automation, agencies can streamline their operations and redirect their energy towards more strategic endeavors.
From email scheduling and social media posting to data entry and report generation, AI can handle a wide array of tasks with precision and efficiency – giving you time to focus on high-impact activities that drive growth and deliver tangible results.
Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Automation
Automatically transcribe your calls to boost close rates: See how your team is handling difficult objections and ensure that they’re delivering your businessʼ value proposition in an effective manner.
Score calls based on quality and opportunity: Take the time-consuming work out of scoring your calls and determine which campaigns drive the best calls to your business.
Classify calls by your set criteria: Qualify, score, tag, or assign a value to the leads that meet your criteria, automatically.
Automatically redact sensitive information: Protect your customers by removing billing or personal information. Keep your data safe and secure through complete HIPAA compliance.
Monitor your teamsʼ performance: Use Conversation Intelligence as a valuable sales training tool to ensure your team doesn’t miss any key messaging marks.
Know your customersʼ needs: Identify conversation trends in your phone calls and stay privy to evolving customer needs.
Improve your digital marketing strategy: Use AI-powered insights to inform your digital marketing strategy and boost your online presence.
By automating mundane tasks, agencies can optimize workflows, increase productivity, and improve efficiency across the board.
Looking for 5 – 7? Download The Full Guide
Rather than fearing AI, the future belongs to those who embrace it.
By strategically combining human creativity with artificial intelligence, you can unlock capabilities that transcend what either could achieve alone.
Want to discover even more ways to level up your agency with AI?
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