Jun 25 2024
Data-Driven Content Strategy: Boost Google Rankings With Real Audience Insights via @sejournal, @CallRail

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.

Online forms allow you to collect valuable data directly from users, such as their contact information, preferences, and interests.

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.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 21 2024
Alt Text: What It Is & How To Write It via @sejournal, @olgazarr

In this guide, you will learn about alternative text (known as alt text): what it is, why it is important for on-page SEO, how to use it correctly, and more.

It’s often overlooked, but every image on your website should have alt text. More information is better, and translating visual information into text is important for search engine bots attempting to understand your website and users with screen readers.

Alt text is one more source of information that relates ideas and content together on your website.

This practical and to-the-point guide contains tips and advice you can immediately use to improve your website’s image SEO and accessibility.

What Is Alt Text?

Alternative text (or alt text) – also known as the alt attribute or the alt tag (which is not technically correct because it is not a tag) – is simply a piece of text that describes the image in the HTML code.

What Are The Uses Of Alt Text?

The original function of alt text was simply to describe an image that could not be loaded.

Many years ago, when the internet was much slower, alt text would help you know the content of an image that was too heavy to be loaded in your browser.

Today, images rarely fail to load – but if they do, then it is the alt text you will see in place of an image.

Screenshot from Search Engine Journal Screenshot from Search Engine Journal, May 2024

Alt text also helps search engine bots understand the image’s content and context.

More importantly, alt text is critical for accessibility and for people using screen readers:

  • Alt text helps people with disabilities (for example, using screen readers) learn about the image’s content.

Of course, like every element of SEO, it is often misused or, in some cases, even abused.

Let’s now take a closer look at why alt text is important.

Why Alt Text Is Important

The web and websites are a very visual experience. It is hard to find a website without images or graphic elements.

That’s why alt text is very important.

Alt text helps translate the image’s content into words, thus making the image accessible to a wider audience, including people with disabilities and search engine bots that are not clever enough yet to fully understand every image, its context, and its meaning.

Why Alt Text Is Important For SEO

Alt text is an important element of on-page SEO optimization.

Proper alt text optimization makes your website stand a better chance of ranking in Google image searches.

Yes, alt text is a ranking factor for Google image search.

Depending on your website’s niche and specificity, Google image search traffic may play a huge role in your website’s overall success.

For example, in the case of ecommerce websites, users very often start their search for products with a Google image search instead of typing the product name into the standard Google search.

Screenshot from search for [Garmin forerunner]Screenshot from search for [Garmin forerunner], May 2024

Google and other search engines may display fewer product images (or not display them at all) if you fail to take care of their alt text optimization.

Without proper image optimization, you may lose a lot of potential traffic and customers.

Why Alt Text Is Important For Accessibility

Visibility in Google image search is very important, but there is an even more important consideration: Accessibility.

Fortunately, in recent years, more focus has been placed on accessibility (i.e., making the web accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities and/or using screen readers).

Suppose the alt text of your images actually describes their content instead of, for example, stuffing keywords. In that case, you are helping people who cannot see this image better understand it and the content of the entire web page.

Let’s say one of your web pages is an SEO audit guide that contains screenshots from various crawling tools.

Would it not be better to describe the content of each screenshot instead of placing the same alt text of “SEO audit” into every image?

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Alt Text Examples

Finding many good and bad examples of alt text is not difficult. Let me show you a few, sticking to the above example with an SEO audit guide.

Good Alt Text Examples

So, our example SEO guide contains screenshots from tools such as Google Search Console and Screaming Frog.

Some good examples of alt text may include:

e
e
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g

Tip: It is also a good idea to take care of the name of your file. Using descriptive file names is not a ranking factor, but I recommend this as a good SEO practice.

Bad And/Or Spammy Alt Text Examples

I’ve also seen many examples of bad alt text use, including keyword stuffing or spamming.

Here is how you can turn the above good examples into bad examples:


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As you can see, the above examples do not provide any information on what these images actually show.

You can also find examples and even more image SEO tips on Google Search Central.

Common Alt Text Mistakes

Stuffing keywords in the alt text is not the only mistake you can make.

Here are a few examples of common alt text mistakes:

  • Failure to use the alt text or using empty alt text.
  • Using the same alt text for different images.
  • Using very general alt text that does not actually describe the image. For example, using the alt text of “dog” on the photo of a dog instead of describing the dog in more detail, its color, what it is doing, what breed it is, etc.
  • Automatically using the name of the file as the alt text – which may lead to very unfriendly alt text, such as “googlesearchconsole,” “google-search-console,” or “photo2323,” depending on the name of the file.

Alt Text Writing Tips

And finally, here are the tips on how to write correct alt text so that it actually fulfills its purpose:

  • Do not stuff keywords into the alt text. Doing so will not help your web page rank for these keywords.
  • Describe the image in detail, but still keep it relatively short. Avoid adding multiple sentences to the alt text.
  • Use your target keywords, but in a natural way, as part of the image’s description. If your target keyword does not fit into the image’s description, don’t use it.
  • Don’t use text on images. All text should be added in the form of HTML code.
  • Don’t write, “this is an image of.” Google and users know that this is an image. Just describe its content.
  • Make sure you can visualize the image’s content by just reading its alt text. That is the best exercise to make sure your alt text is OK.

How To Troubleshoot Image Alt Text

Now you know all the best practices and common mistakes of alt text. But how do you check what’s in the alt text of the images of a website?

You can analyze the alt text in the following ways:

Inspecting an element (right-click and select Inspect when hovering over an image) is a good way to check if a given image has alt text.

However, if you want to check that in bulk, I recommend one of the below two methods.

Install Web Developer Chrome extension.

Screenshot of Web Developer Extension in Chrome by authorScreenshot from Web Developer Extension, Chrome by author, May 2024

Next, open the page whose images you want to audit.

Click on Web Developer and navigate to Images > Display Alt Attributes. This way, you can see the content of the alt text of all images on a given web page.

The alt text of images is shown on the page.Screenshot from Web Developer Extension, Chrome by author, May 2024

How To Find And Fix Missing Alt Text

To check the alt text of the images of the entire website, use a crawler like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb.

Crawl the site, navigate to the image report, and review the alt text of all website images, as shown in the video guide below.

You can also export only images that have missing alt text and start fixing those issues.

Alt Text May Not Seem Like A Priority, But It’s Important

Every source of information about your content has value. Whether it’s for vision-impaired users or bots, alt text helps contextualize the images on your website.

While it’s only a ranking factor for image search, everything you do to help search engines understand your website can potentially help deliver more accurate results. Demonstrating a commitment to accessibility is also a critical component of modern digital marketing.

FAQ

What is the purpose of alt text in HTML?

Alternative text, or alt text, serves two main purposes in HTML. Its primary function is to provide a textual description of an image if it cannot be displayed. This text can help users understand the image content when technical issues prevent it from loading or if they use a screen reader due to visual impairments. Additionally, alt text aids search engine bots in understanding the image’s subject matter, which is critical for SEO, as indexing images correctly can enhance a website’s visibility in search results.

Can alt text improve website accessibility?

Yes, alt text is vital for website accessibility. It translates visual information into descriptive text that can be read by screen readers used by users with visual impairments. By accurately describing images, alt text ensures that all users, regardless of disability, can understand the content of a web page, making the web more inclusive and accessible to everyone.

More resources: 

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 5 2024
Your Guide To Dominating Local Search Marketing via @sejournal, @meetsoci

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)
  • High-quality photos and videos.

After optimizing your local listings, you can focus on your local pages.

2. Create Local Pages For Each Location

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:

  1. Respond to existing reviews in a personalized manner to show customers you value their feedback.
  2. Utilize social media to encourage customer feedback, ratings, and reviews.
  3. Make leaving a review accessible! Include links to your GBP on your website and in emails.
  4. 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:

  • Blogs.
  • Surveys.
  • Infographics.
  • Whitepapers.
  • Social media content.
  • Neighborhood guides.
  • User-generated content. (UGC)

For a more in-depth look at what it takes to improve your brand’s local SEO strategy, download our Top 10 Things You Should Be Doing in Local SEO Now guide!

How SOCi Can Help

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.

Try SOCi For Free

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by SOCi. Used with permission.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 4 2024
How To Increase Website Traffic After The Google Update: 5 Blogger-Tested Tips via @sejournal, @getStay22

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.

Get the most out of each visitor. Check out our guide, Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

1. Use Pinterest As An Additional Search Engine

Many people think of Pinterest as a social media platform, but it functions much more as a search engine.

Pinterest’s tools make it a fantastic way to get visitors to your website.

How To Get Started With Pinterest

  1. 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.
  2. Write a catchy bio for your profile. If you have niche keywords you use on your website, include them here.
  3. 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.

  1. When you travel, snap many pictures and pick the best ones later.
  2. Use design tools like Canva to add text, create interesting layouts, and add branding elements.
  3. Create boards to organize your content into categories, such as by destination or blog post type.
  4. 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.
  5. Use your selected keywords everywhere possible, including pin titles, pin descriptions, and board descriptions.
Screenshot from Pinterest Trends, June 2024

Before you start pinning, optimize your blog posts to maximize revenue to ensure every visitor counts. See how to do that in our guide Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

2. Keep Visitors Engaged With Email Marketing

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

  1. Select an email marketing provider. Travel bloggers love MailerLite and MailChimp because they are low-cost and simple.
  2. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Before sending an email directing traffic to one of your pages, ensure the page is set up to maximize revenue. See how in our guide, Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

“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.”

Beth Stanos, Wanderful CEO & Founder

    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

    1. Download the Flipboard app on mobile and create an account and profile.
    2. Create Flipboard magazines. These are topic categories that group your content (much like Pinterest boards).
    3. 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

    1. Add your fresh blog posts to Flipboard right after publishing.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.”

    Amanda O’Brien, theboutiqueadventurer.com Founder

    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

    1. Create your accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
    2. Download Capcut, a free mobile app for video editing. It’s better than the in-app editing functionality, with pre-installed templates and effects.
    3. 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

    1. 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.
    2. On Instagram, write detailed captions. On YouTube and TikTok, keep captions as brief as possible.
    3. Voice-over, on-screen text, and music are crucial to your engagement rate. You can add these with Capcut or in-app.
    4. Pick your video thumbnails carefully. Make sure they stand out in a grid of other videos.
    5. 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.”

    Natasha Alden, theworldpursuit.com Co-Founder

    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

    1. Find places that accept guest posts. Many publications have open submissions that you can submit to.
    2. If you see a site that has guest posts but no open submissions, find their contact information and send an inquiry email.
    3. Create a pitch by explaining your travel expertise and provide writing samples.

    How To Guest Post Like A Pro

    1. When creating your pitch, understand the site’s needs. What content gaps do they have? Focus your pitch there.
    2. 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.
    3. Create a clear link back to your blog and include a catchy description so readers will be enticed to read more of your content.
    4. 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.”

    William Tang, goingawesomeplaces.com Founder

    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:

    DOWNLOAD OUR GUIDE: Ten Tips for Maximizing Revenue for Travel Bloggers.

    DOWNLOAD GUIDE

    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Shutterstock. Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 30 2024
    How To Find Competitors’ Keywords: Tips & Tools

    This post was sponsored by SE Ranking. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

    Wondering why your competitors rank higher than you?

    The secret to your competitors’ SEO success might be as simple as targeting the appropriate keywords.

    Since these keywords are successful for your competitors, there’s a good chance they could be valuable for you as well.

    In this article, we’ll explore the most effective yet simple ways to find competitors’ keywords so that you can guide your own SEO strategy and potentially outperform your competitors in SERPs.

    Benefits Of Competitor Keyword Analysis

    Competitor keywords are the search terms your competitors target within their content to rank high in SERPs, either organically or through paid ads.

    Collecting search terms that your competitors rely on can help you:

    1. Identify & Close Keyword Gaps.

    The list of high-ranking keywords driving traffic to your competitors may include valuable search terms you’re currently missing out on.

    To close these keyword gaps, you can either optimize your existing content with these keywords or use them as inspiration for creating new content with high traffic potential.

    2. Adapt To Market Trends & Customer Needs.

    You may notice a shift in the keywords your competitors optimize content for. This could be a sign that market trends or customer expectations are changing.

    Keep track of these keywords to jump on emerging trends and align your content strategy accordingly.

    3. Enhance Visibility & Rankings.

    Analyzing your competitors’ high-ranking keywords and pages can help you identify their winning patterns (e.g., content format, user intent focus, update frequency, etc).

    Study what works for your rivals (and why) to learn how to adapt these tactics to your website and achieve higher SERP positions.

    How To Identify Your Competitors’ Keywords

    There are many ways to find keywords used by competitors within their content. Let’s weigh the pros and cons of the most popular options.

    Use SE Ranking

    SE Ranking is a complete toolkit that delivers unique data insights. These insights help SEO pros build and maintain successful SEO campaigns.

    Here’s the list of pros that the platform offers for agency and in-house SEO professionals:

    1. Huge databases. SE Ranking has one of the web’s largest keyword databases. It features over 5 billion keywords across 188 regions. Also, the number of keywords in their database is constantly growing, with a 30% increase in 2024 compared to the previous year.
    2. Reliable data. SE Ranking collects keyword data, analyzes it, and computes core SEO metrics directly from its proprietary algorithm. The platform also relies on AI-powered traffic estimations that have up to a 100% match with GSC data.

    Thanks to SE Ranking’s recent major data quality update, the platform boasts even fresher and more accurate information on backlinks and referring domains (both new and lost).

    As a result, by considering the website’s backlink profile, authority, and SERP competitiveness, SE Ranking now makes highly accurate calculations of keyword difficulty. This makes it easy to see how likely your own website or page is to rank at the top of the SERPs for a particular query.

    1. Broad feature set. Beyond conducting competitive (& keyword) research, you can also use this tool to track keyword rankings, perform website audits, handle all aspects of on-page optimization, manage local SEO campaigns, optimize your content for search, and much more.
    2. Great value for money. The tool offers premium features with generous data limits at a fair price. This eliminates the need to choose between functionality and affordability.

    Let’s now review how to use SE Ranking to discover the keywords your competitors are targeting for both organic search and paid advertising.

    First, open the Competitive Research Tool and input your competitor’s domain name into the search bar. Select a region and click Analyze to initiate analysis of this website.

    Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

    Depending on your goal, go either to the Organic Traffic Research or Paid Traffic Research tab on the left-hand navigation menu.

    Here, you’ll be able to see data on estimated organic clicks, total number of keywords, traffic cost, and backlinks.

    Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

    Upon scrolling this page down, you’ll see a table with all the keywords the website ranks for, along with data on search volume, keyword difficulty, user intent, SERP features triggered by keywords, ranking position, URLs ranking for the analyzed keyword, and more.

    Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

    What’s more, the tool allows you to find keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t.

    To do this, head to the Competitor Comparison tab and add up to two websites for comparison.

    Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

    Within the Missing tab, you’ll be able to see existing keyword gaps.

    Image created by SE Ranking, May 2024

    While the platform offers many benefits, there are also some downsides to be aware of, such as:

    1. Higher-priced plans are required for some features. For instance, historical data on keywords is only available to Pro and Business plan users.
    2. Data is limited to Google only. SE Ranking’s Competitor Research Tool only provides data for Google.

    Use Google Keyword Planner

    Google Keyword Planner is a free Google service, which you can use to find competitors’ paid keywords.

    Here’s the list of benefits this tool offers in terms of competitive keyword analysis:

    1. Free access. Keyword Planner is completely free to use, which makes it a great option for SEO newbies and businesses with limited budgets.
    2. Core keyword data. The tool shows core SEO metrics like search volume, competition, and suggested bid prices for each identified keyword.
    3. Keyword categorization. Keyword Planner allows you to organize keywords into different groups, which may be helpful for creating targeted ad campaigns.
    4. Historical data. The tool has four years of historical data available.

    Once you log into your  Google Ads account, navigate to the Tools section and select Keyword Planner.

    Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

    Now, click on the Discover new keywords option.

    Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

    Choose Start with a website option, enter your competitor’s website domain, region, and language, then choose to analyze the whole site (recommended for deeper insights) or a specific URL.

    Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

    And there you have it — a table with all keywords that your analyzed website uses in its Google Ads campaigns.

    Screenshot from Google Ads, May 2024

    Although Keyword Planner can be helpful, it’s not the most effective and data-rich tool for finding competitors’ keywords. Its main drawbacks are the following:

    1. No organic data. The tool offers data on paid keywords, which is mainly suitable for advertising campaigns.
    2. Broad search volume data. Since it’s displayed in ranges rather than exact numbers, it might be difficult to precisely assess the demand for identified keywords.
    3. No keyword gap feature. Using this tool, you cannot compare your and your competitors’ keywords side-by-side and, therefore, find missing keyword options.

    So, if you want to access more reliable and in-depth data on competitors’ keywords, you’ll most likely need to consider other dedicated SEO tools.

    Use SpyFu

    SpyFu is a comprehensive SEO and PPC analysis tool created with the idea of “spying” on competitors.

    Its main pros in terms of competitor keyword analysis are the following:

    1. Database with 10+ years of historical data. Although available only in a Professional plan, SpyFu offers long-term insights to monitor industry trends and adapt accordingly.
    2. Keyword gap analysis. Using this tool, you can easily compare your keywords to those of your competitors using metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, organic clicks, etc.
    3. Affordability. It’s suitable for businesses on a tight budget.

    To explore competitor data, simply visit their website and enter your competitor’s domain in the search bar.

    You’ll be presented with valuable insights into their SEO performance, from estimated traffic to the list of their top-performing pages and keywords. Navigate to the Top Keywords section and click the View All Organic Keywords button to see the search terms they rank for.

    Screenshot of SpyFu, May 2024

    Yet, this free version provides an overview of just the top 5 keywords for a domain along with metrics like search volume, rank change, SEO clicks, and so on. To perform a more comprehensive analysis, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

    When it comes to the tool’s cons, it would be worth mentioning:

    1. Keyword data may be outdated. On average, SpyFu updates data on keyword rankings once a month.
    2. Limited number of target regions. Keyword data is available for just 14 countries.

    Wrapping Up

    There’s no doubt that finding competitors’ keywords is a great way to optimize your own content strategy and outperform your rivals in SERPs.

    By following the step-by-step instructions described in this article, we’re sure you’ll be able to find high-value keywords you haven’t considered before.

    Ready to start optimizing your website? Sign up for SE Ranking and get the data you need to deliver great user experiences.

    Try SE Ranking For Free

    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by SE Ranking. Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    May 6 2024
    Google Core Update: How To Write High-Ranking, High-Quality Content in 2024 via @sejournal, @fiverr

    This post was sponsored by Fiverr Pro. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

    Were you impacted by Google’s recent core update?

    Have your search visibility and rankings begun to drop?

    Even in the era of automation, quality still wins over quantity when it comes to search rankings.

    With the recent surge of generative AI, the demand for human-created, high-quality content is greater than ever.

    Google’s latest update aimed to improve search result quality by reducing unhelpful, unoriginal content by 40%.

    So, what kind of content does Google deem high quality these days?

    How can you ensure your content performs well on search engines in 2024?

    The simple answer is to focus on user experience rather than the search engine itself – in other words: make human connection the priority.

    While many businesses are taking advantage of AI tools to populate their sites, those who still see the value in human-created, user-centric content will ultimately win out.

    In this guide, we’ll break down the key steps to creating high-quality content that ranks on Google in 2024.

    Step 1: Align Your Content Strategy With Campaign & User Journey Goals

    Delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time is crucial for SEO success.

    And with Google’s latest core update, it’s more important than ever to provide a seamless and personalized experience for your audience throughout their user journey.

    Here’s how you can use audience research and user insights to create content that drives results:

    • Identify Your Target Personas: Start by defining your ideal audience personas. Understand their demographics, preferences, pain points, and behaviors.
    • Map Out Your User Journey: Visualize the various stages your customers go through, and identify the touchpoints where they interact with your brand.
    • Tailor Your Content To Each Stage: Meet your audience at each stage of the user journey, and address their specific needs with content that’s relevant, targeted, and effective.

    Pro Tip: Don’t have the time or bandwidth to tackle these tasks? You can still move your business forward by hiring a professional SEO strategist to help plan your campaigns and keep you on track.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Step 2: Analyze Real User Data & Identify Content Gaps

    As you’re building your content strategy, you’ll need insights into your audience’s behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns.

    Utilize analytics tools to gather valuable user data and track key metrics such as website traffic, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

    With this information, you can conduct a thorough audit of your existing content and identify gaps and areas for improvement.

    Here’s how you can adjust your strategy to a more user-centric approach:

    • Build credibility by honing in on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
    • Try leveraging real experts as content creators, elevating their first-hand experience to create truly helpful content from a trustworthy source. (This is particularly helpful for subjects such as finance or medicine.)
    • Be sure to display the writer as an experienced, authoritative figure in your post, with a link to an author archive page.
    • Maintain relevance by keeping your content up to date and checking frequently for possible revamps.

    Get started by outsourcing your audience research and content auditing needs to a Fiverr Pro freelancer.

    Step 3: Plan Content That Matches User Intent

    Once you gain a deeper understanding of your customer touchpoints, it’s time to plan your content accordingly.

    Start by developing detailed outlines for each piece of content that match user intent and meet their needs and expectations.

    “Understanding and aligning content with user intent is crucial for SEO success. With Google’s algorithm updates, it’s essential to create content that is not only helpful but also answers specific questions your target audience has. Focus on crafting content that resonates with your audience, addresses their needs, and communicates your message clearly, while ensuring it’s relevant, engaging, and directly addresses the concerns and interests of your readers.”

    – Alan Redondo, SEO and PPC Expert

    It’s also important to establish your own unique voice, as authentic and original content tends to rank higher on SERPS.

    And make sure to avoid fluff and keep your content to the point – searchers want to see their questions answered and needs addressed with as little fuss as possible.

    If content is not exactly your specialty but you’re ready to start laying out the process, try Fiverr Pro’s professional services to get the help you need.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Step 4: Write Content With Proactive Engagement In Mind

    When you create content, the goal is to encourage interaction, discussion, and sharing among users, which boosts your brand awareness organically.

    One effective strategy is to craft compelling headlines, introductions, and calls-to-action that prompt users to engage with your content.

    You can also use interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, and surveys to encourage participation and feedback.

    If you’re looking to maximize user engagement, a multichannel approach is key.

    Choose the most appropriate content formats and channels for each stage of the user journey, and consider using blog posts, social media, email campaigns, etc. based on where your audience is most active.

    Pro Tip: User Generated Content (UGC) can be beneficial for your overall search strategy. With Google favoring human insights, comment sections and other forms of human interactions are helpful for discoverability.

    Ready to start getting the most out of your content and utilizing the multitude of channels available?

    Whether you need a social media manager or an email marketer, Fiverr Pro has you covered.

    Step 5: Analyze Performance & Pivot

    Once you’ve implemented your content strategy, it’s essential to regularly monitor its performance and be prepared to make adjustments as needed.

    Keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the effectiveness of your content, and pay attention to user feedback and comments to understand how your audience is responding.

    Are they finding it helpful and engaging, or are there areas where you could improve?

    Take note of any trends or patterns that emerge and use this information to inform future content decisions.

    Image created by Fiverr Pro, April 2024

    Embracing Human Talent In The AI Era

    The human touch is essential to SEO success in today’s landscape, and Google’s latest update supports that.

    As it stands, content that’s created for and by humans will outperform generic, AI-generated content every time.

    So if you’re looking to set your website apart, it’s best to pivot away from sheer search volume and more towards what will resonate deeply with your target audience.

    After all, the more value you provide to users, the more likely you are to beat the algorithm and boost your rankings.

    But let’s say you’re a small business owner with a small team and limited hiring capacity.

    How do you compete with organizations that have the in-house expertise necessary to implement this kind of content strategy?

    How can you access the human talent needed to form genuine connections with your audience?

    Whether you’re seeking an SEO professional to help you target your users, or a writer/artist to help you create content, it might help to start bringing on freelancers to fill in any talent gaps.

    Fiverr Pro, for example, is a great solution for matching and collaborating with top-tier, pre-vetted freelance talent.

    You can use it to find people with the right set of skills to help you execute your projects and add that much-needed human touch to your content.

    In the meantime, use these tips to build out your content strategy, so that as you begin to expand your team, you’ll know which tasks to prioritize, moving forward.

    Elevate Your Content Strategy With Fiverr Pro

    With Google’s updates constantly shaking things up, the key to staying ahead is staying true to your audience and their needs.

    While AI may be able to churn out content at lightning speed, it’s the authentic, user-centric content that truly stands out these days.

    By creating content that connects with real people on a human level, you can ensure sustained SEO success in 2024 and beyond.

    So if you’re looking for the right talent to bring that human touch to your content, Fiverr Pro is the ultimate solution.

    Whether you’re a small business owner or a seasoned marketer, this subscription-free service offers a wealth of talented, pre-vetted professionals ready to elevate your content strategy.

    Get started with Fiverr Pro today and let their experts find talent, plan, and manage projects for you.

    Plus, you can hire with confidence, knowing that you’ll get a full refund if you’re not satisfied with the results.

    SIGN UP NOW!

    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Fiverr Pro Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    Apr 17 2024
    ChatGPT vs. Gemini for SEO Tasks

    I quickly discovered last year how ChatGPT can improve search engine optimization. Google now claims Gemini, its own AI tool, is more powerful.

    So I tested Google’s claim, prompting Gemini for the same SEO tasks. I used the latest iteration of each platform: ChatGPT4 and Gemini Advanced.

    Here are my findings.

    On-page Optimization

    My initial prompt:

    My target keyword is “audio textbooks.” This is my article [URL]. Is it well-optimized for that keyword?

    ChatGPT listed what it considered:

    I’ll check:

    • The presence and usage of “audio textbooks” in critical areas (title, headers, etc.).
    • Overall content structure and readability.
    • Relevant linking practices.
    • Technical aspects like mobile responsiveness and loading speed.

    It then produced generic recommendations, indicating it didn’t analyze the page. Here’s what it offered for internal links (I’ve bolded the text):

    Ensure some internal links to other relevant content on your site are included if not already.

    Gemini was even less helpful, stating,

    I wasn’t able to determine from the article itself whether it is optimized for the keyword. However, I can search on the web and see if there are any SEO best practices that you can follow to improve your article.

    I then pasted the entire article into the Gemini prompt. It made no difference. Gemini failed to analyze the content and instead provided routine SEO tips.

    Content Helpfulness Analysis

    My next prompt:

    Is my article helpful for someone searching for audio textbooks? How can I make it more helpful?

    Both responses were worthwhile. ChatGPT provided ideas missing from my article, especially “Accessibility Features.”

    • Expand Content: Include detailed reviews of various platforms offering audio textbooks, comparing features like user experience, availability of titles, and subscription costs, if any.
    • User Guides: Provide step-by-step guides on how to access or download these audiobooks from mentioned sites.
    • Accessibility Features: Discuss accessibility options available for visually impaired or dyslexic users.

    Gemini offered its own good idea:

    The article could be more helpful by including a table that compares the different options, such as cost, selection of textbooks, and ease of use.

    Interestingly, this time Gemini accessed my page. Although I’m now wondering if Gemini is blocked from performing direct SEO.

    Gemini appeared to access the page when analyzing the content.

    Keyword Research

    My next prompt:

    Which additional keywords should I optimize this article for? List related keywords, synonyms, close concepts, etc. Explain why each keyword is a good idea for that context. Make it a table.

    Both platforms provided useful keywords and listed “free audiobooks” as the top suggestion. I’ve replicated both tables for this article.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    Apr 16 2024
    24 Effective Link Building Tactics That Work In 2024 via @sejournal, @Brian_W_Gareth

    1. Check Your Direct Competitors’ Backlinks

    Since link building helps your site rank higher, we can assume that the highest-ranking sites on SERPs have lots of good backlinks.

    The same is true for your competitors who rank higher than you.

    And if there are a lot of authoritative sites linking to them, wouldn’t it be nice if they linked to you too?

    Of course it would.

    Find those sites, and you can start building links there too, right?

    Not so fast.

    Step 1: Uncover Your True Competitors

    First, you need to know which sites are your online competitors. You don’t want to waste your time trying to outrank sites that are not even stealing your customers, after all.

    Here’s how to identify a direct competitor:

    • Their site serves the same purpose as yours and targets the same audience.
    • It ranks for the same keywords you want to rank for.
    • Their business operates in the same area as yours.
    • They rank higher than you.

    To start looking for your competitors, open WebCEO’s Dangerous Competitors tool.

    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    Click on the Settings button and visit these tabs:

    • Keywords: enter your ranking keywords there.
    • Competitors: if you already know some of your competitors, add their URLs there.
    • Search engines: add the search engines where you want to rank. Local business owners will also want to select locations to narrow down the results.

    Click on Save, and the tool will generate a table of sites belonging to your potential competitors. Visit those sites to make sure they are indeed your competitors.

    Step 2: Check Their Backlinks

    Time for the next step: checking their backlinks in Competitor Backlink Spy.

    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024
    1. Open Settings and enter your competitors’ URLs in the Competitors tab.
    2. Press Save, and the tool will list all of your competitors’ backlinks – specifically, the pages which link to your competitors.

    And now all you need to do is find promising domains among those linking pages. Visit those sites and look for the ones who are likely to give your site a backlink, too – after you’ve created link-worthy content and presented your case to those sites.

    By the way, your competitors can also be your backlink donors. Feel free to build links on their sites too!

    2. Must-Do Websites For Link Building

    Before other sites start linking to yours, you can create a few powerful backlinks yourself. There are websites for that exact purpose:

    Carefully pick sites that are relevant to your niche and create listings for your business there. Now you have several authoritative sites in your backlink profile.

    What’s more, other websites’ owners can find you there, too. Exposure to others is the first step towards gaining even more backlinks down the line.

    And if your site is already well-known enough, you can try creating a Wikipedia page about it. Even though links from Wikipedia are nofollow, the website itself possesses significant authority and can share some of it with you.

    3. Run A Blog & Write Articles About Relevant Topics

    In order to gain backlinks, you want to have linkworthy content on your website – the more, the better. Write about many different, but related topics about your niche and your business. For example:

    • Your products.
    • News in the industry.
    • Interesting case studies.
    • Recent going-ons in your company.
    • Interviews with clients and partners.

    The options are limitless. And the more you know about your work, the more you can share with your visitors. Curious writers attract curious readers. Go wild with your pen!

    And when you create your content, there are a few more things you can do to help it get more backlinks:

    1. Optimize it for keywords. The higher your content appears in search, the more likely users are to find it – and link to it in their own content if they need to. Use WebCEO’s Keyword Research tool to find search queries your target audience uses the most often.
    2. List your sources – with links. If you refer to other sources in your content, then listing them will make you appear more credible, especially if those sources are also good. And users love linking to credible sites.
    3. Link to other pages on your site. Help your visitors find all the content they may need. Navigation and footer bars are a must since they have links to your homepage, FAQ, contact info pages, and more. However, blog articles on related topics should also link to each other, in case your users need more details.
    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    4. Write Guest Articles

    Good old guest blogging! The tried and tested method of building links. Write an article for another site and include a link to yours – what could be easier?

    Of course, there’s a catch. There are two important steps to take first:

    1. Find relevant sites whose backlinks would be a boon for you;
    2. Convince them to accept a guest post from you.

    You already know how to find backlink donors: with Competitor Backlink Spy. Local bloggers, newspapers, and magazines won’t be able to hide from you.

    What about the second step? Your best bet here is email outreach.

    Pick a promising site whose contact information is available and send them an email like this:

    Hi Susan!

    I’m John Doe, and I write for {Example Blog}. Nice to e-meet you! I’ve been following your blog for a while, and I’ve found your recent post series about networking very helpful.

    Anyway, I’m writing to you because I’m quite familiar with your blog’s topics and I would love to contribute if you’re open to new guest authors. I’ve been brainstorming some topic ideas that I think would be a good match for your blog:

      • {Topic idea #1}
      • {Topic idea #2}
      • {Topic idea #3}

    If you have different topics in mind, I will be glad to write about them as well. I appreciate your time and really look forward to working together.

    Cheers!

    John Doe

    If you don’t get a reply, it’s okay to try again – with a different text indicating that it’s not your first try.

    Be polite and remember that it’s meant to benefit you both. Good luck!

    5. Turn Unlinked Mentions Into Links

    If you’ve been around and doing business for a while, people are bound to talk about you. On their sites too.

    This is the easiest way to make backlinks. Somebody has already mentioned your business on their site – that’s already most of the work done! All that’s left is to add a link.

    Simply contact the person who can edit the page (via email or social media) and ask them to insert your site’s URL into the mention. Done and done.

    Finding unlinked mentions is even easier: just use a tool like WebCEO’s Web Buzz Monitoring.

    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    Just add your brand’s name in the Settings, and the tool will find pages with its unlinked mentions.

    6. Provide An Excellent User Experience

    Who will want to link to a page that’s barely working? Not the people who give out backlinks, that’s for sure. Even ordinary users will run if a page refuses to work – or even simply offends their eyes.

    On the other hand, there are only positives to pages providing good UX:

    • User activity leading to conversions (potentially spreading across the entire site).
    • Positive customer reviews.
    • Increasing Google rankings.
    • And new backlinks, of course.

    Imagine a perfect web page from your dreams, or just remember the best website you’ve ever visited some time before. Then make the same thing on your own site (or even better, if you can).

    What’s the recipe for the best user experience?

    • Helpful, high-quality content. Being helpful is more important than ever due to Google’s Helpful Content update. Your page can be informative and optimized with the best keywords, but if it doesn’t actually help your visitors, then it’s a huge problem.
    • High-quality visuals. Users love eye-catching images and videos, especially when they not only inform but also entertain. Make sure your images load correctly! If any of them don’t, find them with WebCEO’s Technical Audit tool and replace them.
    • No site errors. Broken images are but one possible issue that may ruin your site. Scan it for all types of errors with the same Technical Audit tool and fix them ASAP.
    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024
    • Fast loading speed. A slow-loading page is a useless page: if visitors leave, nothing happens there. Test your site pages with WebCEO’s Speed Optimization tool and follow its tips for making them load faster.
    • Mobile friendliness. Smartphones drive as much traffic as PC, so your site must be optimized for screens of all sizes. Scan your site with the Mobile Optimization tool and follow its recommendations for becoming more mobile-friendly.
    • User accessibility. Make sure your site can be easily used by everybody regardless of their physical ability. Test your site with a tool like EquallyAI’s ARIA to see where you can make improvements.

    7. Get Rid Of Harmful Backlinks

    Next, make sure your backlink profile isn’t hurting your site. What kind of backlinks can do that?

    • Bought backlinks.
    • Spammy backlinks.
    • Links from irrelevant sites.
    • Links from non-authoritative sites.

    If Google detects too many backlinks like that in your profile, it may deem your site untrustworthy and lower its search rankings. It may even incur a manual action.

    You can’t let harmful backlinks pile up and bring you down.

    Scan your backlink profile with WebCEO’s Toxic Pages tool.

    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    By default, it looks for linking pages that are obviously spammy: those with tons of outbound links and a low trust level. If you want to, tweak the tool’s search criteria to your liking in the Settings. You can even exclude specific domains from the tool’s search if you trust them.

    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    Once you have your list of toxic backlinks, start getting rid of them. Your options are:

    • Delete the backlinks from those pages yourself.
    • Ask somebody who can edit those pages to do it.
    • Generate a disavow list in Toxic Pages and submit it to Google Disavow.
    Screenshot from WebCEO, March 2024

    Want To See points 8-24?

    The full guide is exclusively available to WebCEO users. Sign up for free now and get your link building guide with 24 different tactics that will get you through 2024 and well beyond!

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    Mar 27 2024
    Here’s What SEO Experts Have To Say About Leveraging SGE In 2024 via @sejournal, @fiverr

    Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) has come a long way since its experimental launch in May 2023.

    Starting out by simply generating paraphrased snippets for search engine queries, SGE now offers more comprehensive summaries and source links.

    Essentially, Google’s SGE is an interactive generative AI-powered feature that uses existing results to answer search queries.

    Think of it as a chatbot — but Google’s organic search results power it.

    Every indexed webpage that crosses a search engine results page (SERP) helps teach SGE what it knows.

    As exciting (and partly terrifying) as the feature is, you may be trying to understand its true potential to leverage it for your businesses.

    How Does Google SGE Work?

    SGE offers comprehensive answers to search queries, just like Open AI’s ChatGPT, but SGE cites sources.

    To see SGE in action:

    1. Navigate to Google to begin a search.
    2. Enter a search query or question into the search bar.
    3. Watch as multiple search results are written as a conversational response to your question.

    Context and more information are added to your result through SGE, especially when compared to the old featured snippets, which only displayed a snippet or sentence without its full context.

    Screenshot from Google for [conversational analytics] using normal search and SGE, February 2024

    As you can see, pre-SGE days allowed you to sift through multiple websites, giving each result traffic to their respective webpages.

    Now, SGE takes up the space where direct webpage results used to display, meaning that many websites may no longer get the traffic they used to get.

    How Will SGE Change How Google Search Works?

    As you can imagine, many SEO experts believe SGE will eat into organic traffic from top-of-funnel queries.

    There are three key reasons for a potential drop in organic traffic from SERPs:

    • Featured snippets only offer one clickable source, while SGE offers many. If you owned the top position, you may now be sharing clicks with multiple sources.
    • SGE takes up too much space on the SERPs, pushing the traditional SERP below the fold, resulting in fewer clicks.
    • You can ask follow-up questions right, which keeps searchers on the SERP instead of traveling to a site for more information.

    That said, there is still potential for pages to get traffic as long as the content answers the query.

    SGE Sites Pages That Are Not In The Top 10

    There have been many instances where SGE cites pages that don’t rank in the top 10 results — indicating that the data is pooled from a larger sample.

    However, you should adapt your strategy as SGE emerges from its experimental phase.

    A recent study found that 49% of consumers are interested in AI-powered searches, indicating that AI-generated SERPs are perceived positively.

    If Google wants to stay competitive, especially with Bing Search’s hard comeback last year, SGE will eventually be a permanent part of the SERPs.

    What SEO Experts Have To Say About SGE’s Impact On Digital Marketing

    Many businesses, like yours, rely on Google for their revenue. Whether that’s in the form of ads or organic results, SGE is set to disrupt both of these formats.

    How SGE Impacts Organic Traffic

    On the organic side, achieving the top 3 positions could lead to lackluster results.

    How SGE Impacts PPC

    On the advertising end, you might be safe, as Sponsored results appear above SGE.

    However, that only pushes organic results even further down.

    Screenshot from Google for [monday competitors], February 2024

    Some experts believe SGE to be like Featured Snippets but on steroids. Ihor Rudnyk, CEO of Collaborator, explains:

    We saw sites that gave simple and fast answers lost some of their traffic. That’s because users receive these answers directly in the SERPs. For example, weather prediction, currency rates, short facts, etc.

    Businesses focused on short, easy answers and fast information are in the worst position. I don’t see how you can change it without creating additional value for users. However, it’s easy to predict that the importance of brand awareness and direct traffic will continue to grow.

    Additionally, there will be a larger focus on creating pages with depth. It could be in the form of original data, a differentiated view or commentary on trends.

    SEO professionals will start to become more quality-focused, and quality will be defined as bringing something new, original or interesting to the debate in contrast to what it is defined as now — being ‘comprehensive’ (code for boringly covering the same stuff the next guy does).

    — Patrick Herbert, Director at Singularity Digital

    What Can You Do To Leverage SGE For Your Business?

    So, how can you prepare to stay relevant on the SERPs as SGE will soon dominate?

    Here are a few tips to get you started:

    1. Move From Informational To Transactional Content

    SGE is the biggest threat to informational content — especially concise content.

    Businesses that create thin content optimized for search will suffer. Creating more transactional pages could help you avoid this issue.

    Transactional content is more nuanced and requires extensive research, so users will be more likely to dig deeper into product/service websites.

    Not only that, but it also allows you to appear in SGE for high-intent search terms, which is the goal for businesses.

    Screenshot from Google for [best accounting software], February 2024

    2. Monitor Changes In Search Intent Over A Period

    Many marketers will soon shift their reliance on traditional keyword metrics like keyword density (KD) and search volume to search intent.

    Even with high KD and search volume, ranking for these keywords can be difficult. So, with SGE, it doesn’t make sense to go after such queries unless you’re prepared to write ultimate in-depth guides.

    This is why you need to look at search intent first.

    Ask yourself:

    • Does the topic make sense?
    • Can I realistically rank for this topic or at least get credited by SGE?
    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
    Mar 20 2024
    2024 SEO Tools & Tactics To Refresh Your Strategy & Boost Performance via @sejournal, @ahrefs

    This post was sponsored by Ahrefs. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

    With AI taking the digital world over, constant Google algorithm changes, and growing competition, how can you shift your strategy to keep up?

    Constant changes mean SEO professionals need to find new ways to reach SEO success in 2024.

    If you’re looking to not simply survive but thrive amidst these seismic changes, it’s important to keep up with the latest trends and look for new ways to work on SEO.

    In this guide, we’ll uncover strategies to help you increase search discoverability, and we’ll introduce the tools you’ll need to implement them effectively.

    Some of the most significant improvements you can start making in 2024 include:

    • Knowing how to optimize processes with AI.
    • Mastering technical SEO and website optimization.
    • Executing and measuring your SEO more efficiently.

    How AI Capabilities Can Be Applied To SEO

    Everyone’s talking about how to best harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2024.


    But if there’s one thing you should take away from the AI conversation, it’s this: AI can’t replace humans.

    Utilizing AI in 2024 is about striking the perfect balance and finding the synergy between human ingenuity and AI advancements.

    Rather than relying solely on AI technology, find ways to use it to enhance your results.

    For instance, if you’re a content marketer looking to streamline your process, AI could assist by offering insights, recommendations, and data-driven strategies to elevate the quality and relevance of your content.

    How Ahrefs Integrates AI in SEO & Content Marketing Tools

    With modern tools, keyword research became a simple and streamlined task. Except for finding good seed keywords to start with.

    If you’re familiar with Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer tool, you’ll be pleased to know that it was improved with a new AI assistant that effortlessly generates keyword suggestions.

    You can get AI keyword suggestions directly within the platform, without needing to go back and forth with ChatGPT when doing your keyword research.

    And when it comes to content marketing applications for AI, Ahrefs released a number of free AI-powered writing tools. With these tools you can:

    • Input your rough ideas and get an organized, well-structured outline in minutes.
    • Improve the quality, clarity, and readability of a sentence or paragraph with an instant content refresh.
    • Generate optimized meta titles for better search engine visibility.
    • Craft informative, SEO-friendly meta descriptions for your articles quickly and easily.
    • Simplify and summarize your content with precision.
    • Brainstorm variations of ready-to-use, SEO-friendly blog post ideas to drive more traffic to your blog.
    • Generate descriptive alt text for your images to improve accessibility and SEO without a hassle.
    • Get inspiration for your next piece of content by generating a variety of creative ideas.
    • And more!

    Stay ahead of the curve and start leveraging AI to your advantage with Ahrefs.

    How To Master Website Optimization & Technical SEO

    A well-optimized and technically sound website acts as a sturdy foundation, insulating you from the impact of ruthless core updates that search engines may roll out.


    With search algorithms becoming increasingly sophisticated, seamless user experience, fast loading times, and adherence to Core Web Vitals have become critical factors in SEO success.

    By mastering technical SEO and keeping your site in top-notch condition, you’re not just offering a seamless user experience but also signaling to search engines that your content is reliable and trustworthy. 

    This proactive approach helps to ensure your site remains visible and valuable amidst ever-evolving ranking criteria.

    With Ahrefs Site Audit tool, you can run a thorough SEO audit to uncover your website’s technical and on-page SEO issues, and find out exactly what’s holding your website back.

    Plus, the platform recently added some exciting new features to enhance your analysis efforts.

    Here are some key updates you should know about:

    • Core Web Vital (CWV) metrics: Filter your pages by various CWV data points during website recrawls. Visualize CrUX and Lighthouse scores, historical changes, and individual metric performance in the Performance report.
    • Google Data Studio integration: Build personalized reports by blending data from different sources and visualizing everything in the form of reports and dashboards.
    • Search by HTML code and page text: Easily search for specific elements extracted during a crawl, such as Google Analytics IDs or “out of stock” labels.
    • List of issues for a particular URL: Addressing an issue on a specific URL is streamlined with a dedicated tab showcasing all related issues, allowing comprehensive fixes.
    • Links Report in Site Audit Issues: Navigate issues more effectively with an additional links report tab, facilitating in-depth analysis at the links level. For instance, browse and export links related to 404 pages for a thorough understanding.

    Easy Way: Use An SEO Plugin To Help Optimize Your Content

    Ahrefs also launched a WordPress SEO plugin to further assist in your optimization efforts.

    With this new plugin, you can automate content audits and see how each article performs for a chosen target keyword.

    The tool also provides recommendations on how you can improve the article for better results.

    Here are a few key capabilities:

    Ready to get your site in tip-top shape for the year ahead? Check out Ahrefs’ latest offerings today.

    How To Execute & Measure Your SEO KPIs More Efficiently

    Keeping your website up-to-date with SEO trends is important – but the buck doesn’t stop there.


    Staying competitive requires you to keep a vigilant eye on your rival sites as well, dissecting their strategies, and adapting your own accordingly.

    Success in SEO isn’t just about visibility; it’s about outperforming your peers.

    With Ahrefs, you can use the Site structure report in Site Explorer to quickly see how a competing website is structured, and which parts generate the most organic traffic.

    Reassessing the competitive landscape and recalibrating your strategy based on real-time insights are the secrets to staying ahead of the curve.

    Site structure is not the only noticeable update to Ahrefs Site Explorer tool. Its overview report has also been updated and is worth exploring.

    Not only does it load noticeably faster than the previous version, but you get access to the following new features:

    • New history chart.
    • Comparison mode.
    • Paid traffic data.
    • Year-over-year mode.
    • Google algorithm updates.
    • Calendar report.
    • Site structure report.

    Start Ranking Higher & Maximizing Opportunities With Ahrefs Now

    In the rapidly evolving SEO landscape, Ahrefs emerges as a strategic ally, providing the tools you need to not only stay afloat but rise to new heights.

    From leveraging AI tools intelligently to mastering technical SEO and executing with precision, we’ve dissected the key strategies that will redefine your SEO in 2024 and beyond.

    It’s time to embrace change and elevate your search performance.

    Start your journey to sustained SEO success with Ahrefs’ vast array of tools and exciting new features.

    With their updated usage-based pricing model, you can access the features you need most. Try it today!

    TRY IT NOW

    Image Credits

    Featured Image: Image by Ahrefs. Used with permission.

    Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments