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Dec 25 2023

Why Brands Should Prioritize Bottom Of Funnel Keywords In SEO (Festive Flashback)

Celebrate the Holidays with some of SEJ’s best articles of 2023.

Our Festive Flashback series runs from December 21 – January 5, featuring daily reads on significant events, fundamentals, actionable strategies, and thought leader opinions.

2023 has been quite eventful in the SEO industry and our contributors produced some outstanding articles to keep pace and reflect these changes.

Catch up on the best reads of 2023 to give you plenty to reflect on as you move into 2024.

The concept of search intent and the recommendation that marketers pay close attention to it when targeting organic keywords is well established in SEO.

But while a lot of SEO writing has described search intent (for example, these two excellent articles on SEJ on creating content that satisfies search intent and understanding how people search), most stop short of clearly prescribing how brands should prioritize keywords.

Specifically, most discussions of search intent state the fact that search queries range from informational (people looking to learn about a topic), to comparative (people comparing solutions to their problem), to transactional (people looking to buy).

This is often visualized as a marketing funnel.

But regarding recommendations on how to use search intent to your advantage in SEO, the most common advice is to ensure you have a variety of content to “cover” the full spectrum of search intent; have some informational, some mid-funnel, and some transactional content.

We disagree.

Specifically, we’ve found in working with dozens of brands over many years in creating SEO-focused content that the vast majority of companies should not create an even spread of content across the funnel, but rather prioritize bottom of funnel content and slowly work their way up.

Why?

Because SEO resources are finite and bottom of funnel content (e.g., search queries with “transactional” search intent) generates tremendously more return on investment (ROI) on SEO spend than everything else.

In this article, we’ll explain our reasoning and share data supporting this thesis.

SEO Resources Are Finite: You Can’t Target All Keywords Well

The general recommendation that you should “make sure you have content for all stages of the funnel” (aka all search intents) would be fine if companies had infinite SEO resources – meaning unlimited writers to produce content, unlimited SEO strategists to pick keywords and do SERP analysis, and unlimited budget for link building.

But no brand has this.

Even the idea of AI-assisted writing making producing massive amounts of content easier doesn’t negate this fact.

Sure, AI tools can produce thousands of pieces in a fraction of the time it would take a human, but that doesn’t mean they will all rank or be good enough to impress prospective customers and convert.

If a bunch of sites are all producing similar AI-assisted content to target the same keywords, Google will have to differentiate somehow to decide who to rank – and two safe bets in how it will make this decision are content quality and backlinks.

In terms of content quality, it’s quite likely that the best pieces for a given keyword will be the ones with the most originality and specific personal expertise, traits that Google has clearly stated it prefers and which require human input.

And backlinks have been a known ranking factor forever in SEO. In a world where many sites produce similar AI-produced pieces targeting the same keywords, it’s safe to assume it will be just as, if not more, important.

So regardless of how content is produced, SEO resources for everyone are finite. There are a finite number of employee hours, a finite number of writing budgets (regardless of if writers use AI), and a finite link building budget.

That means you have to prioritize the keywords you will target.

And the most logical way to prioritize is to focus SEO efforts on whatever will generate the most ROI (that is, leads and sales attributable to SEO).

In our experience, that is bottom of funnel, transactional, keywords.

Bottom Of Funnel Keywords Convert Significantly More Than Everything Else

To conclude, as we have, that bottom of funnel content converts significantly more than any other type of content, the first step is to actually measure and track conversions from SEO.

This sounds obvious, but the reality is that most SEO and content teams don’t do this; they just assume the more traffic, the better, and their entire strategy is focused on growing traffic.

You can measure conversion from SEO in different ways via different analytics tools, but in general, the process will require the following steps:

Define a conversion. This is typically a lead form fill or trial start for SaaS or sales-based businesses, or an actual transaction for ecommerce businesses.
Create a goal in your analytics platform to measure this conversion event.
Generate reports of which landing pages on your site resulted in how many conversions. This can be done via different attribution models like first or last click, depending on the analytics platform, but any data here is better than no data.

When you do this, you’ll inevitably find what we have found over 5+ years, dozens of brands, and hundreds of SEO pieces.

Specifically, pages on your site that rank for bottom of funnel keywords convert at multiple single digit percent (1% – 5%), whereas pages that rank for top of funnel, informational keywords typically convert at a fraction of a percent (0.01% – 0.5%).

In other words, the difference in conversion rate between bottom and top of funnel keywords is not 10%, 20%, or even 50% – it’s multiple fold.

This is exemplified in this data across 60+ content pieces for a software client of ours, where the content ranking for bottom of funnel queries converted on average at 25X higher than articles that targeted mid to top of funnel queries.

Image created by author, June 2023

Bottom of funnel posts had a 4.78% conversion rate versus 0.19% for top of funnel posts. Based on 60+ posts for a client.

Even after accounting for top of funnel pieces getting more traffic, the raw conversions from just 20 bottom of funnel pieces were 3 times more than those from 40 top of funnel pieces:

Image created by author, June 2023

20 bottom of funnel posts generated 1348 conversions while 40 top of funnel posts generated 397 conversions.

To emphasize, the 1350 conversions from BOTF content above are from only 22 pieces, whereas the 400 conversions from TOF are from 42 articles.

In addition, we should mention the articles we labeled as “top of funnel” in this study still had some buying intent. We went after them only after exhausting most bottom of funnel keywords and chose the keywords strategically to ensure they still had some chance of a conversion.

In that respect it’s fair even to call them “mid-funnel.” For many companies, the majority of their content and SEO efforts are directed exclusively at top of funnel keywords that will convert to leads or sales at or below the conversion rates above.

That’s a tragic waste of SEO efforts, in our minds.

Why Are Informational, Top Of Funnel Keywords So Low Converting?

The argument for chasing top of funnel keywords is typically that their search volumes are high.

So, the story goes, you can get your brand in front of a large number of people who, at some point in the future, are likely to need a product or service like yours.

But as the data above shows, and our collective experience confirms, it requires so many steps to get to a conversion from top of funnel traffic that the conversion rates are minuscule.

Specifically, the journey from someone Googling a top of funnel informational query to becoming a customer is:

They Google the query.
They click into your results.
They read the article.
Some fraction of these users either return to your site on pure memory or give their email to download a white paper or gated resource.
Some fraction of those users open subsequent drip emails.
Then at some point, some fraction of those users will need your product or service and reach out.

Each of these steps has a small conversion rate, so in combination, the entire journey has an absolutely minuscule conversion rate.

So much so that, as per the data above, a possibly higher search volume of these top of funnel queries compared to transactional queries does not make up for the tiny conversion rates.

There Are More Bottom Of Funnel Keywords Than You Think

So if you buy into this notion that targeting bottom of the funnel keywords is a better use of finite SEO resources than evenly spreading SEO content across the full spectrum of search intent, the next important question to tackle is: “Which keywords in my space are bottom of the funnel are high converting and how many of them are there?”

We’ve noticed that many SEO pros and marketers have a limited view of which keywords are bottom of funnel – that is, have some level of transaction or buying intent.

In our experience, there are three common buckets of bottom of funnel keywords, only the first of which is commonly considered as bottom of funnel.

1. Category Keywords

If we use a hypothetical business that we’re all familiar with, SEO software, the obvious transactional keywords are things like “SEO software” or “best SEO tools.”

Yes, those are very high-converting bottom of the funnel or transactional keywords that any SEO software brand should absolutely target.

In our framework for BOTF SEO, called Pain Point SEO, we call these “category keywords” since they involve the user literally Googling the name of the product or service category.

Most SEO and marketing teams are aware of these keywords and do target them, usually with the homepage or one or two landing pages.

But what we’ve found is that many teams consider this to be the entirety of bottom of funnel or transactional keywords. They target a few category keywords and spend the rest of their time creating blog content to rank for top of funnel search terms.

But there are actually a lot of other high-converting search terms that we notice most brands don’t think about and ignore in favor of producing content to go after extremely low converting top of funnel keywords.

2. Comparison Keywords

Specifically, another extremely high-converting category of keywords is what we call comparison keywords.

These are keywords that show the searcher is comparing multiple options, such as “salesforce vs pipedrive” or “adidas vs nike womens running shoes.”

Many discussions of search intent categorize this as a mid-funnel query because, they say, the searcher may not be ready to make a transaction but is simply doing product research.

But in our measurements of conversion rates of hundreds of pages ranking for comparison keywords, they often convert just as high as the category keywords discussed above.

As a result, in my view, companies that want to maximize ROI from SEO should aggressively target comparison keywords.

They should identify every comparison keyword stemming from their top competitors that has any semblance of search volume and ensure they have a dedicated page on their site to rank for each.

3. Jobs To Be Done Keywords

The final of our three categories of keywords that we have found can generate conversions from SEO are jobs to be done keywords.

This is the largest of these three categories of high-buying-intent keywords, meaning there are usually a lot more jobs to be done keywords than category or comparison.

This category is often ignored or not prioritized by brands as being conversion-generating, though, because these are queries where the user is not overtly looking for or comparing product options but is indicating that they have a problem that your product happens to solve.

In our SEO software example, this would include queries like “how to do competitor keyword research,” “how to know search volume of keywords,” or “how to track which keywords a site ranks for.”

If you have an SEO software product with features that lets people do those things, then, in our experience, ranking for keywords like these will generate conversions.

Typically the conversion rate of these keywords is slightly lower than category or comparison keywords.

However, they are still much better than top of funnel queries like “SEO strategy,” “best SEO tips,” or even “digital marketing strategies,” which are typical top of funnel keywords companies go after but which have very little buying intent.

More resources:

Featured Image: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 4 2023

Unlock Ecommerce Success: How You Can Get Up To 87% More Traffic [+ Report] via @sejournal, @getdotstore

Wondering how to boost your ecommerce SEO to help you rank higher on SERPs?

Do you feel like you’re getting a new competitor every day?

In the era when everyone has an ecommerce storefront, how do you make sure your store has as many advantages as possible?

Gaining traffic and visibility is listed as one of the top issues that online sellers face, especially if you’re just starting your business and the next step is to choose your URL.

So, what are some of the major issues you might face as a new ecommerce company? How can you solve them?

Let’s dive in.

How To Boost Ecommerce Performance & Decrease Customer Acquisition Costs

The game has changed and .com domains aren’t the only way to get customers to take your business seriously.

If the primary goal of your website is to sell, nothing says that better than a .Store domain extension.

It’s the perfect call to action that instantly connects with potential customers and attracts them to your site.

Some of the key advantages of using a .Store domain include:

87% more traffic.
2X visibility.
12% lower cost of conversion.

Increase Your Web Traffic by 87%

An ecommerce website on a .Store domain gets 87% more visitors than its .com counterparts.

Your domain name is basically like the virtual storefront of your business, and choosing the right one can have a significant impact on your success.

Why It Works

When users see a .Store domain, it instantly communicates that they are on an ecommerce platform where they can make purchases.

This clear and direct messaging not only attracts more visitors but also translates into increased sales, which ultimately results in more revenue for your business.

Double Your Site’s Visibility On Search Engines

An ecommerce site sporting a .Store top-level domain (TLD) gets an impressive double the amount of search visibility.

How?

Well, search engines love contextually relevant keywords, and having the word “store” in your domain name can be a powerful keyword tactic for your site’s rankings.

This added relevance doubles your visibility on search engines, ensuring that potential customers looking to make an online purchase can find your store more easily.

Check out the study.

Reduce Your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) By 12%

Marketing costs can be a major concern, especially for new and growing businesses – and this is yet another way the .Store domain can transform your SEO strategy.

When users come across ads for a product category, they are 12% more likely to make a purchase if the ad directs them to a “store” domain.

Thus, the cost to acquire your user is much lower.

Analyzing .Store Domain Performance: The Full Report

[Get the full report]

The true impact of .Store TLDs on both paid and organic traffic were examined in a groundbreaking study conducted by Contrast Digital.

This extensive report uncovers a wealth of insights that can reshape your understanding of domain performance.

According to the data, there’s a potential long-term benefit of using .Store domains from a SEO standpoint.

We’ll dive into some key facts from the study below, but you can download the full report to dig into the detailed results.

Organic Study

This extensive 12-month experiment examined the performance of two distinct websites.

The key difference between the two websites was the domain extension.

One website was on .com while the other was on a .Store; with the second-level domain being identical (think example.com vs example.store).

Both sites comprised 82 pages categorized into products, categories, blog posts, and information pages, maintaining identical layouts and product descriptions in order to control variables and conduct a fair assessment.

Googlebot’s crawl time, along with impressions, clicks, and click-through rate measured through Google Search Console, provided a detailed comparative analysis.

Significance testing using MATLAB code offered insights into potential differences between the sites’ metrics, forming a comprehensive overview of their organic performance.

Key Performance Trends:

Example.store achieved the first 100 clicks, 20,000 impressions, and 250 clicks in a 30-day window faster than example.com.
Google seemed to prefer the example.store domain over example.com, indicated by faster indexing and crawling.
Example.store had a 49.01% larger keyword footprint than example.com, correlating with larger impressions over 12 months.
In non-blog content, example.store had a 30.27% increase in visibility compared to example.com.
In blog content, example.store had a 67.02% increase compared to example.com.

Overall, the significance tests consistently show that .Store TLDs outperformed equivalent .com TLDs in clicks, impressions, and click-through rate (CTR) over the 12-month experiment.

Want to learn more? Check out the full report for additional insights.

PPC Report

This report delves into the Google paid ads segment of the experiment, evaluating the performance of example.com and example.store over 5 months.

After allowing both websites to naturally perform for three months, paid media was introduced to assess their response to targeted paid traffic, with a primary focus on understanding consumer trust around TLDs.

To ensure fairness in the paid ads environment, settings were adjusted to rotate ads indefinitely, preventing bias toward any particular ad.

Additionally, landing page destinations, ad content, keyword targeting, and max bids were standardized across both accounts, eliminating variables and placing emphasis on individual performance.

Key Performance Trends:

Example.store had a 12.12% higher conversion rate than example.com, 1.48% vs 1.32%.
Example.store managed PPC spend more consistently through daily budgets, possibly contributing to better performance.
Example.store had a statistically significant 15.37% higher CTR compared to example.com, potentially due to the recognizable association of .Store with eCommerce.
Example.store outperformed example.com in conversions (33 vs 24) and had a cheaper customer acquisition cost (£39.59 vs £44.45).
After 5 months, example.store performed the best overall in clicks, CTR, average cost per click, and cost.

Overall, the .Store domain consistently outperformed .com and emerged as the superior performer in the paid experiment.

Navigating The Customer Acquisition Challenge

We know how difficult it can be to capture the attention of your ideal audience, particularly as a new online business without an established track record.

Another key issue you might be facing is profitability.

As essential as marketing may be for your brand, it can certainly be costly to execute effectively.

So what are some ways you can get the most bang for your buck and maximize your return on investment (ROI)?

How can you add value while keeping your customer acquisition costs low?

Though there are various marketing tricks and tactics you can try, sometimes, the answer can be just as simple as picking the right domain name.

Oftentimes, the domain you choose for your business can tell consumers a lot about what you offer and what they can expect.

So if you’re looking to enhance your online retail presence and lower your cost per acquisition (CPA), it might be time to switch things up.

With a .Store domain extension, you can gain a significant performance advantage and get a leg up on your competitors.

Diversify Your Digital Identity: Embracing The Evolution Beyond .Com

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Will customers trust an address that doesn’t end in .com?

How does Google classify a website with a .Store domain and how will it impact your search rankings?

Domain names are not actually a part of your overall search engine rankings – however, that doesn’t mean you can just forget about them.

Your choice of domain name can be an important aspect of your UX and public image, and should usually be the most recognizable aspect of your business.

Till now, the domain extension decision for anyone building an ecommerce site was largely determined by conditioning, perception, and an overall lack of data.

The idea that .com domains are the only viable choice for websites is incredibly common.

However, there’s now an objective, data-backed study available which, for the first time, shows that .Store as a top-level domain (TLD) can actually benefit ecommerce sellers in a major way.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Nov 29 2023

Future-Proof SEO: Navigating 2023’s Changes & Anticipating 2024’s Trends via @sejournal, @hethr_campbell

2023 has been quite the roller coaster ride in the world of SEO, from critical ranking signal changes to Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE).

So, if you’re looking to gain a competitive advantage in 2024, now’s the time to reflect on the past year, understand its implications, and gear up for the future.

Join us on December 13, as Pat Reinhart, Conductor’s leading SEO expert, shares game-changing insights to ensure your site maintains peak performance in the upcoming year.

We’ll do a deep dive into the most crucial SEO industry updates, and examine what they mean for the future of SEO.

Here’s a glimpse at what you’ll get when you attend this engaging live session:

A roundup of the top Google algorithm updates of 2023 and how they impacted search rankings. Discover which of Google’s recent algorithm changes made the most waves this year and why. This retrospective analysis is your key to shaping your SEO strategy, moving forward.
A detailed analysis of the evolving search ranking signals and must-know SEO insights for 2024. This webinar will dissect the many ways SEO is currently evolving to help you get ahead of the curve and plan for 2024.
Actionable predictions for featured snippets, voice search, and more in the coming year. Understand how to optimize for these evolving search behaviors and position yourself at the forefront of SEO innovation.
Expert tips on how to prepare your SEO strategy for SERP changes resulting from Google’s SGE. We’ll guide you on what it takes to prepare your SEO strategy for what’s next. From staying agile to embracing AI, learn the tricks to adapting and thriving in this dynamic search landscape.

You’ll leave this webinar with the tools it takes to future-proof your SEO strategy and navigate the twists and turns of search with ease.

And if you’ve got some questions up your sleeve, be ready to fire them off during the interactive Q&A session following the presentation.

This is your opportunity to engage with our experts directly and tailor the insights to your unique challenges.

Don’t miss out!

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Nov 16 2023

Search Evolution 2024: Navigating SEO’s Future Landscape [Webinar] via @sejournal, @sejournal

We’re hosting an exclusive deep dive into the evolving world of search – and you’re invited!

On November 29, join our live, roundtable discussion on the evolution of search, and learn how to navigate the changes that will shape your SEO journey next year.

This webinar features a panel of SEJ experts, led by editor-in-chief Amanda Zantal-Wiener. You’ll get insights directly from our very own SEO content strategist, as well as our senior news writer and editor.

Our team has combed through the year’s most substantial SEO developments and they’re ready to unpack what they mean for your strategies.

From tips on integrating AI into your content marketing and SEO, to the impact of SGE on SERPs, we’ve got you covered.

Meet The Experts:

Shelley Walsh, SEO Content Strategist: Shelley is a distinguished digital consultant with over 20 years of creative, marketing, and tech experience. In addition to her work at SEJ, she’s also been published by Moz, Econsultancy, Smashing Magazine, and State of Digital.
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer: Matt oversees strategy development for SEJ’s news department. He specializes in gathering details, checking facts, and making complex subjects easy to understand.
Ben Steele, Senior Editor: Ben has over six years of experience in crafting and refining SEO content. As a pivotal member of the editorial team, he spearheads the creation and development of SEJ ebooks.
Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Editor-in-Chief: Amanda is a versatile professional with a diverse skill set in writing, editing, and marketing. Joining the SEJ team from HubSpot, she has a proven track record with bylines featured in Thrillist, EcoSalon, and Fast Company.

Key Discussion Topics:

The biggest changes to the world of search in the past year, and where they’re leading: 2023 saw some significant shifts in the search landscape. From algorithm updates to user behavior changes, understanding these changes can provide crucial insights into the future of search, helping you adapt your strategies accordingly.
The fundamentals to focus on for next year, from the impact of SGE’s evolution on SERPs to addressing challenges with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines: As search engine algorithms continue to evolve, a renewed focus on SEO fundamentals is essential for the upcoming year. Find out how updated search engine guidelines are redefining SEO success and learn how to align with these evolutions to boost your website ranking and visibility.
The leading Google ranking signals to focus on right now: In the realm of SEO, several ranking signals play a pivotal role in determining a website’s position on SERPs. Understanding the most influential Google ranking signals is key to optimizing strategies. We’ll provide valuable insights into which ranking signals and systems deserve the bulk of your attention in 2024.
How to integrate new AI technologies into content marketing and SEO (and where to avoid it): As AI continues to shape the digital landscape, it’s important to know how it can be used to your advantage. We’ll explore the practical applications of AI tools and technologies, and how they can significantly enhance content creation and optimization. We’ll also delve into the limitations and areas where AI might not be as effective.

Whether you’re a seasoned SEO pro or new to the game, this session is your gateway to understanding what it takes to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving world of search.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Nov 15 2023

How To Find The Best SEO Keywords That Win The Customer Over (& Why It’s Important) via @sejournal, @Brian_W_Gareth

Step 1. Fully Understand The User’s Search Intent

It’s easy to just take whatever keywords you like from a keyword research tool and put them onto your site. But if you suspect that that strategy is a bad idea, you are correct.

Finding the right keywords requires planning.

The key is to put some thought into your keyword research; you will have a much better shot at making your site more visible in search.

So, here’s the first step: have a full understanding of the user search intent.

What Is User Intent?

Keywords can be divided into categories based on their purpose:

Commercial Intent: when users are looking for something to buy or comparing products. Example: best types of pizza.
Transactional Intent: when they want to spend money on something specific (not to be confused with commercial!) Example: order pizza.
Informational Intent: when they want to learn something. Example: how to carve a pumpkin.
Navigational Intent: when they want to find a site or a page. Example: Nicolas Cage Twitter.
Locational Intent: when they want to find a place. Example: car wash near me.
Seasonal Intent: when they want something related to a time period. Example: Halloween decorations.

As you can see, everybody browses the Web with a different purpose in mind.

For some, it’s to have fun, to buy something, to learn something, to find directions – the list goes on.

And these purposes don’t always intersect: for example, when you just want to watch a funny video, you probably aren’t in a money-spending mood.

As you can see, knowing the difference can make or break your business.

Use the wrong keyword, and you won’t get any visitors who actually want to become customers.

Keywords have to fit your site’s niche and topics. If you want to successfully attract the kind of audience you want, your content needs to:

Match your audience’s wants and interests.
Include phrases that they often use while searching for what they want.

This is the combo you need: both content and keywords that reflect user search intent. The two can only work together.

Step 2. Find The Best Keywords

Now that you know what kind of keywords you should look for, you can proceed to the next step: finding them.

This is where SEO tools come into play.

These keyword research tools are required for measuring keywords’ effectiveness and providing helpful numbers, and here’s why.

When people Google things, they often use the same or similar search phrases. (Example: Halloween decorations and Halloween decorations DIY.)

SEO tools can count how often people use any given keyword.

They display it in a metric called search volume, and it’s usually monthly (i.e. number of searches per month). A higher number means more people using the keyword.

But there’s a catch: the most used search phrases tend to be too short and too vague, completely failing to reflect the user search intent.

It makes sense when you look at it from the users’ perspective. Have you ever Googled something without fully understanding what exactly you want? You tried a simple search query first, then a more descriptive one which narrowed the search results down a bit and gave you the right answer.

If you have experienced it, then you know firsthand that long search phrases (or long-tail keywords) work much better than short ones.

So, what’s the best practice for keywords? We have a great formula for you to follow.

What’s The Formula For The Perfect Keyword?

We recommend that your keyword phrases should:

Be descriptive (at least 3 words).
Reflect the user search intent.
Have a high monthly search volume.

Time to boot up WebCEO’s Keyword Suggestions tool and start hunting.

Enter your keyword ideas, and the tool will show the most popular search phrases related to them.

How To Find The Best SEO Keywords That Win The Customer Over (& Why It’s Important)

Screenshot from WebCEO, October 2023

Also, remember seasonal keywords? Pay attention to the Search Trends column: it shows how often a keyword is used every month.

But that’s not all. You can find even more effective keywords in the same tool.

Spy on Competitors tab: Enter your online competitor’s URL and see all of their keywords. Use it in tandem with the Competitor Rankings by Keyword report. If a competitor doesn’t rank very high for a keyword with a decent search volume, that means they don’t use that keyword much – and if YOU use it more, you can easily outrank your competitor!
Top Queries tab: It shows how effectively you use keywords on your site. If you optimize a page for a keyword, it will appear in search, and this report displays how many users have seen your site in Google and clicked on it. If a keyword gives you a lot of impressions but not many clicks, you should polish the pages that use that keyword and improve their performance.

Let’s also not forget Google’s helpful features like autocomplete and People Also Ask. These features suggest search phrases used by other people – and what’s more, those phrases are often long-tail keywords. A safe bet to use on your site! (Although it doesn’t hurt to check their search volume and seasonal relevance anyway.)

Lastly, keywords and phrases related to your main keywords can serve you just as well – even if they are low-volume.

For example, if you run a fitness blog and have an article about training your back, you definitely want to mention all the muscle groups and the different exercises that target each of them. Even though gym enthusiasts don’t usually Google “rhomboids.”

Step 3. Use Keywords On Your Site Effectively

First things first: how many keywords do you need to use on a page?

English is a rich language (as is any other), and there are multiple ways to describe pretty much anything. When millions of people are looking for the same thing, they don’t all use the same words. They use a large variety of different search queries, sometimes even at once.

This means that in order to use keywords effectively, you can’t pick just one to optimize a page. You have to use several related keywords at once to cast a wide net.

With that in mind, you can finally start putting your keywords to good use. There are two major ways to do it:

Use keywords to optimize new pages.
Use new keywords to refresh old pages.

Where Should I Put My Keywords?

Here are the places to put your keywords:

Page URL.
Page title.
Meta description.
H1-H4 headings.
Throughout the text.

If you want to do more than optimize a webpage, you can also try these more niche uses for keywords:

Image filenames and ALT texts. This causes your images to appear in Google Image Search.
Video title, description, transcript, and thumbnail’s filename. For Google Video Search, natch. Works even for YouTube videos.
Internal and external link texts. Keywords placed there affect the linked page (i.e. help it rank), not the page where they are used.

That’s a lot of places and you don’t want to miss any of them. SEO tools can help you find important spots that you forgot to fill.

Scan your site with WebCEO’s On-Page Issues tool to see if your keyword placement map is complete.

Screenshot from WebCEO, October 2023

Note the mention of Google’s video search results. They appear in search along with regular results, and you definitely want to occupy as much space on Page #1 as possible.

And there’s a third way to get there: featured snippets. The easiest route to Position 0 lies in creating an FAQ on your site and optimizing it with long-tail question keywords. Unsurprisingly, that’s how you can also end up in voice search.

Step 4. Avoid These Big Mistakes When Using Keywords

Of course, even the best keywords can be used improperly and ruin all your hard work.

What are some of the biggest don’ts when it comes to keywords?

Don’t use the same keywords for multiple pages. Doing so causes your site’s pages to compete with each other for rankings and drop together. Compete only with other sites!
Don’t put keywords where they don’t belong. Some webmasters use keywords in their texts too often in an attempt to tell Google “this is relevant” – known as keyword stuffing. But all they get is an unnaturally sounding mess of a text shunned by users and Google alike. Instead, write about your topics in-depth, and you will end up using just the right amount of keywords.
Don’t be overly stingy with keywords. The opposite extreme of keyword stuffing can cause problems, too. If you use a keyword only once or twice on the entire page, Google may not consider it relevant enough – and then the page will not show up on a SERP for said keyword.
Don’t forget about the search intent. Before using a keyword, ask yourself: “Why would someone type this in Google?” If you can put yourself in the user’s shoes and realize their thought process, you can filter away the keywords that aren’t right for your content.
Don’t forget to use keywords that convert (i.e. lead to an action). This is most important for pages with a transactional purpose where you want visitors to do something, not just admire your writing and visuals.

Step 5. Monitor Your Keywords’ Performance

Have you found and used the absolute best keywords?

Then the next step is to watch how well they perform.

Monitor the results of your work in WebCEO’s Site Rankings report.

Screenshot from WebCEO, October 2023

Here’s how to use it:

Open Settings.
In the Keywords tab, add all your keywords and check their boxes.
In the Search engines tab, add where you want to check your rankings (search engine and location).
(Optional) In the Search results tab, check all the different types of results you want to track.
Click Save.

And let the tool give you your first report.

To see how your keyword rankings change, run new scans on a regular basis. You can set the tool to do it automatically by clicking on Scan Schedule.

What’s Next?

If your keyword rankings are high, great! If they are low or start to drop, it means some other website is stealing your thunder – in that case, you may want to refine other sides of SEO.

Either way, stay tuned on the news in your niche and the topics in your expertise. Any changes and innovations may result in the emergence of new keywords that you will want to use.

Wrapping Up

It turns out keyword research is a lot more complex than one might expect. But the reward for doing it right is more than just rankings and revenue. In the process of carefully picking keywords for your site, you gain a deeper understanding of your target audience – and that certainly makes you better at gaining new customers.

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Nov 15 2023

3 New Ways To Use AI For SEO & Keyword Research [Without AI Prompts] via @sejournal, @CallRail

More specifically, advances in AI-powered speech recognition present exciting new opportunities for businesses.

For instance, with CallRail’s Conversation Intelligence, you can get the most important insights faster to proactively address your customers’ concerns and make smarter business decisions.

By turning your conversations into easy-to-act-on data, this technology takes you directly to the source for information, ensuring your audience gets exactly what they need from you.

Want to learn more about how conversation intelligence can fuel your strategy? Download CallRail’s new ebook.

In the meantime, let’s dive into three of the ways you can start using AI to your advantage.

1. Identify SEO Trends & Patterns Without Prompts

One of the key ways AI has revolutionized SEO is by improving the way businesses conduct research.

Now, with the power of AI research tools, you can process vast amounts of data and identify patterns and insights that would be impossible to uncover manually.

For instance, you can use AI monitoring and listening tools to:

Stay on top of industry trends.
Monitor your competitors.
Identify opportunities for engagement with customers.
Track customer sentiment and respond quickly to negative feedback.

Start by using conversation intelligence to analyze the language your customers and prospects use during calls to discover what they really want.

How To Do This

Set up CallRail’s Conversation Intelligence.
Determine which key terms are important to your business and set up Key Term Spotting to automatically detect how often those terms are (or arenʼt) used in conversations.
Use these insights to adapt your marketing strategies or sales talk tracks to get better results.

With tools like CallRail’s Call Tracking, you can gain even more valuable insights into your customers’ journey.

Examine your web visitor tracking data to identify which campaigns, keywords, and ads your leads interacted with along their journey, making it much easier to know what’s actually working.

Get the ebook to learn more about how calls can boost your marketing efforts.

2. Mine Data To Enhance Online Discoverability & Increase Local SEO Market Share

Another advantage of AI technology is that you can leverage the data you collect to enhance your search discoverability.

With conversation intelligence, you can automatically identify key terms spoken in phone calls and map their frequency to spot emerging trends quickly.

You can then see how the most frequently spoken terms and phrases on your calls compare to the keywords you target for your marketing campaigns and use this data to boost your SEO and keyword bidding strategies.

Compare what your customers say they want to what your business actually offers, and fill in any gaps between the words you use to market your business and the terms your customers are using.

By using AI to analyze the top trends in your customer calls, you’re able to spot new opportunities for your business and better serve the needs of your audience.

How To Do It

Review the Key Terms Spotted report in Conversation Intelligence to identify the most commonly-spoken words and phrases at a glance.
Check Call Highlights for recommendations of relevant and powerful keywords and phrases not set up in Key Terms Spotting.
Use insights from both reports to further refine your SEO and keyword bidding strategies and respond to customer sentiment appropriately.

Find out more about how to use AI to turn your calls into a competitive advantage.

3. Use Voice-Recognition AI To Create Human-First Conversational, SEO-Driven Content

Although using AI for content generation is nothing new, only recently have marketers been able to refine their use of the technology for more authentic results.

In the past, there’s been a negative stigma associated with AI writing – for one, the data that some AI models use is outdated, but also, AI tools have been known to plagiarize content from other websites.

Today, however, there are more advanced AI tools for content generation, which allow SEO professionals to create higher-quality content that ranks well in organic search.

Plus, with insights from conversation intelligence, you can ask an AI content generation tool, like ChatGPT, to generate content topics or even a rough draft based on popular keywords and phrases your customers are using.

Then, once you have something to work with, you can go in and add your human touch to make sure the content really resonates with your target audience.

Try this:

Sign up for an AI-based writing service, or use Microsoftʼs ChatGPT or Google Bard for free!
Use keyword terms and phrases surfaced from Conversation Intelligence and ask it to generate interesting topics based on those keywords.
Use your AI writing tool of choice to generate drafts, but remember to put your brand’s personal spin and the human touch on your work before you press publish.

Learn more about how to use call data to improve your content strategy in CallRail’s latest ebook.

Start Using Next Generation AI With CallRail, Now

With recent advancements in AI technology, marketers are able to make significant improvements in their strategies – from research, to search and SEO discoverability, to content creation.

Are you ready to start leveraging AI to enhance your marketing results?

Learn more in CallRail’s new ebook, Unlock your marketing potential: Use AI to turn your calls into a competitive advantage, and try these services today, 100% risk-free for 14 days!

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Nov 1 2023

How To Always Survive Algorithm Updates Using AI: The Ultimate Search Engineer’s Guide via @sejournal, @mktbrew

If you’ve ever felt like you’re on a rollercoaster ride with Google’s ever-changing algorithms, you’re not alone.

Google’s Core Algorithm Updates are known for keeping you on your toes, and it’s become increasingly challenging to keep up – not to mention get ahead.

These algorithmic shifts have the power to make or break your website’s performance, so it’s crucial that you understand the specifics of each new update, its effects, and the right course of action.

But how do you stay on top of these search engine updates and optimize your SEO strategy for success?

How do you take advantage of each algorithm change and turn it into an opportunity to rank higher?

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll show you how.

How To Understand Each New Google Core Algorithm Update

Whenever Google rolls out a new update, you no doubt ask, “So, what changed this time?”

And as an SEO professional, your entire strategy rests on the answer to this question.

The impact of an algorithm update can be unpredictable – a change that benefits one website might harm another.

Therefore, it’s important to stay fully informed and continually adapt your SEO strategies to remain competitive.

The key to surviving Google’s constant algorithm shifts is understanding:

Make sure you’re analyzing official statements from Google and only consulting reputable industry resources for insights into the latest algorithm updates.

It’s also important to stick to data-based evidence. (For instance, a report measuring an increase in ranking correlation for a particular algorithm.)

These correlations can be used to uncover patterns that reveal which strategies are effective after the update.

But of course, the buck doesn’t stop at simply understanding each Google algorithm update – there’s much more involved in keeping your website’s rankings intact amidst the changes.

Let’s break down the essential steps needed for you to start mastering Google’s Core Algorithm Updates.

Step 1: Collect & Analyze Pre-Update Data

The data-collection stage helps to form the foundation for your analysis post-update – so the more data you have, the better you’ll understand the update’s effects.

As soon as you hear that a new algorithm is going to be released, you’ll want to start gathering data on your website’s landing pages, including:

Rankings.
Organic traffic.
Backlink profiles.
On-page elements.

You’ll also want to segment the pages into relevant groups based on content, keyword focus, or user intent.

Maintain Focus On Your SERP Competitors

But don’t forget about your competitors!

While focusing on your website is important, it’s also crucial to keep an eye on how your competitors are doing.

Be sure to collect data not only on the sites that rank above you but also those below you in the SERPs, as this information will help you identify trends and changes across the landscape.

It’s best to use a tool to help automate the data collection process and provide more comprehensive results.

Pro Tip: There’s a newer SEO technology that many of the more competitive digital marketing teams are using: the search engine model.

Use Search Engine Models To Enhance Your Strategy With Data-Driven Insights & Predictions

Search engine models allow you to define, create, and deploy statistical replicas of any search engine environment.

They’re basically a map that you can use to navigate Google’s algorithms.

These models essentially work by simulating the complex algorithms and ranking factors used by search engines to predict the order in which websites appear in search engine result pages (SERPs).

As one of the leading providers of search engine modeling technology, Market Brew has the advanced tools you need to predict ranking changes with each optimization you do.

Here’s how we recommend you use this technology to collect and analyze your data:

Build 2-3 search engine models for each major area or template of your site. This will give you a representative sample of models that should give you guidance for all of the pages that use that same template. (When a company like Walmart uses Market Brew, they don’t create a million models. They focus on building guidance for each template, which means at a minimum 2-3 models for landing pages/ keywords that use that template.)
Group the models logically into teams. For instance, the models that center around landing pages that use one particular template could be placed together in the same team, to ensure recommendations within a group are consistent, and will allow you to spot patterns that are specific to issues with that part of the site.
By adding the search engine models now, your team will be tracking each competitor site’s history as well. Your team can even tap into Market Brew alerts to be notified when your competitors change their content/ link strategy. Every input and output of every modeled algorithm will be available to you now.

Get the full checklist and make sure your strategy stays on track.

Step 2: Monitor Post-Update Changes & Assess The Impact

To really know the effects of an algorithm change, you’ll need to monitor the rankings and organic traffic of your landing page groups after the update.

Don’t forget to also collect the data for each landing page that shows up in your SERPs – this way, you can sort the winners and losers when all is said and done.

If you’ve set up your search engine models, it’s important to regularly re-calibrate them (preferably every 90 days or so) to reflect the latest ranking changes.

Be sure to track and visualize the changes in weights for each modeled algorithm before and after the update.

Also look through your models to ensure that top-performing sites in these boosted algorithms continue to perform well in their respective SERPs, and sites that were doing poorly are now performing worse.

Conduct An Analysis Of How The Algorithm Update Affects Rankings

From here, you’ll want to conduct a statistical analysis:

Analyze the relationship between ranking changes and each of your SEO software’s algorithms. Create a “fitness” equation that provides a prioritization of tasks based on your team’s objectives, like sorting by task ROI.
Identify patterns and correlations that reveal which strategies are impacted by the update. Copy the winning patterns and remove or replace the losing patterns.
Understand that there could be a confluence of algorithm changes that have caused issues with your landing pages, and not just one specific algorithm change.

Keep up with your progress with this checklist to keep you on task.

Step 3: Adapt Your SEO Strategies & Priorities For Success

So you’ve collected and analyzed your data – now, it’s time to take action.

Start adjusting your SEO strategies based on your statistical analysis from step 2, making sure to emphasize factors that show strong correlations with improved rankings.

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