My Blog

Category: Blog

  • What type of content will work in 2023

    It’s difficult to predict with certainty what types of content will be popular in 2023, as trends and tastes can change quickly. However, some types of content that have been consistently popular in recent years and are likely to continue to be popular in the future include:

    • High-quality, informative, and well-researched articles and blog posts
    • Video content, such as vlogs, live streams, and short-form videos on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
    • Influencer content, such as sponsored posts and collaborations with popular social media personalities.
    • Interactive content, such as polls, quizzes, and gamification.
    • Authentic and relatable social media posts, particularly those that promote positivity and community engagement
    • Personalized content, such as personalized emails and customized recommendations.
    • User-generated content, such as reviews and comments.

    Additionally, as technology continues to advance, new forms of content and new platforms for distribution are likely to emerge. For example, the advent of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology are already starting to see usage in media and entertainment, It will be important to stay aware of these developments and be open to experimenting with new formats.

    It’s also worth noting that providing value and solving a specific problem or need will continue to be important. Tailoring your content to the needs of your target audience, and providing valuable information and solutions, is a good way to increase engagement. Additionally, there may be new trends and technologies that emerge in 2023, which could create new opportunities for content creators.

  • Story telling with Power BI

    Power BI is a powerful data visualization and reporting tool that allows you to create interactive dashboards, reports, and charts using a wide range of data sources. One way to use Power BI to tell a story is to create a dashboard or report that visually presents the key points of your story using data-driven charts and graphs.

    Here are some steps you can follow to create a story using Power BI:

    1. Identify the key points of your story: What is the main message or idea you want to convey? Make a list of the key points you want to include in your story.
    2. Gather and organize your data: You’ll need to have access to the data that supports your key points. This could include data from a variety of sources, such as Excel spreadsheets, databases, or even web services.
    3. Choose the appropriate visualizations: Different types of data are best represented using different types of charts and graphs. Choose the visualizations that best suit your data and the key points you want to convey.
    4. Arrange your visualizations in a logical order: Organize your visualizations in a way that helps to tell your story. This could involve using chronological order, grouping related visualizations together, or using layout options like grids and pages.
    5. Interactivity: Power BI allows you to create interactive reports and dashboards that allow your audience to explore the data and discover insights on their own.
    6. Add context and annotations: Use text boxes, images, and other elements to provide context and explanation for your visualizations. You can also use annotations to highlight specific points or trends in your data.
    7. Test and refine your story: Preview your dashboard or report and make any necessary adjustments. You may need to adjust the layout, add or remove visualizations, or change the way your data is displayed in order to effectively communicate your story.

    To create a story with Power BI, you can start by identifying the key message or insight you want to convey with your data. Then, you can select the appropriate visualizations and customize them to highlight the relevant information. Finally, you can add narrative text and other interactive elements to help guide your audience through the story.

  • AI in Digital Marketing 2023

    It is difficult to predict exactly how AI will be used in digital marketing in 2023; as the field is constantly evolving and new technologies and applications are being developed. However; it is likely that AI will continue to play a significant role in various aspects of digital marketing, including the following:

    1. Personalization: AI can be used to personalize marketing messages and campaigns based on a customer’s past behavior, preferences, and demographics. This can lead to more effective and targeted marketing efforts.
    2. Predictive analytics: AI can analyze large amounts of data to identify patterns and make predictions about future customer behavior. This can be used to optimize marketing campaigns and improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
    3. Customer service: AI chatbots and virtual assistants can be used to provide personalized customer service and support; helping companies to improve the customer experience.
    4. Content creation: AI can be used to generate personalized and relevant content for customers; such as product recommendations or personalized email campaigns.
    5. Programmatic Advertising: AI can be used to optimize advertising campaigns by identifying the most effective targeting, ad placements, and messaging.
    6. Analyzing and predicting customer behavior: AI can analyze customer data to identify patterns and predict future behavior; which can inform marketing strategy and tactics.

    Overall, it is likely that AI will continue to be a key tool for digital marketers as they seek to better understand and engage with their customers.

  • 3 RSA experiments to optimize your PPC campaigns

    Testing for responsive search advertising (RSA) may be challenging yet beneficial.

    Many advertisers and marketers were dismayed when Google decided to relegate the extended text ad (ETA) to dinosaur extinction.

    But there are many chances available to individuals who are willing to test RSAs, particularly when combined with the broad match intelligence.

    It might be challenging to know what to do if you haven’t been closely monitoring these developments or if managing Google Ads campaigns is simply one of your duties at work.

    In order to help you execute three RSA tests the next time you design a search campaign, I’ll guide you through them today.

    However, let’s first make sure you have the necessary background for RSA testing.

    Information You Should Know About Responsive Search Ads Testing.

    Testing using ETAs was not too difficult.

    Running two (or more) advertisements with identical headlines and descriptions would allow you to compare their click-through rates (CTRs) and perhaps keep an eye on landing page conversion rates.

    This strategy worked since ETAs typically:

    • showed up consistently in the same manner for every user.
    • served the same purposes as one another.
    • In the tests, impressions weren’t as important.

    An RSA receives 4X more impressions than an ETA when all other factors are held constant.

    This necessitates the use of a statistic called conversions per impression, which you can get by dividing the CTR by the conversion rate of an advertisement.

    With those words:

    • Due to greater Ad Rank, RSAs answer a lot more questions.
    • A common result of the increase in impressions & dip in conversion rate
    • A rise in overall conversions results from that same increase as well.
    • Marketers should keep an eye out for conversions per impression (manual bidding) or conversions that fall within a desired cost per acquisition (CPA)/return on ad spend (ROAS) range (ROAS).

    Experiment 1

    Pinning vs. Mix-and-Match Background

    Background

    Examining the impact of pinning on your campaigns should be the first test you think of conducting.

    RSAs evaluate many combinations of headlines and descriptions to see which ones get the best response from readers.

    By pinning, you may instruct Google to display the title and description precisely where you’ve placed them.

    The Experiment

    Make two RSAs that are the same. The 15 headlines and four descriptions are yours to fill up as many times you’d like, as long as they match up in each adverts.

    After that, modify only a handful of one ad’s headlines and descriptions while keeping the other one unaltered.

    What You’ll Discover

    According to studies, RSAs with all parts pinned can still get excellent CTR and conversion rates, but when you don’t pin, these rates increase (or pin sparingly).

    If all other factors are equal, running identical ads with one having pinned components is an excellent approach to determine how large of a gap Google will make between the two.

    Experiment 2

    Message Background Segmentation

    The following is likely the most crucial component of RSA testing, as well as my personal favourite as a copywriter.

    Messaging is more crucial now than it has been in a while because ad platforms are handling more campaign management through their automation.

    The Experiment

    For this experiment, you might wish to max out on the three RSAs you can establish per ad group.

    Each ad group should use wide match and have a unique theme built on a set of keywords. You might speak to various characters, problems, or even suggestions for themes.

    What You’ll Discover

    You should learn from this trial what subjects and inquiries generate responses.

    Understanding what your clients are seeking for and want to hear is crucial.

    And it’s one of the ways you may level the playing field to gain a competitive edge in Google when everyone is utilising the same fundamental automations.

    Experiment 3

    Pseudo-ETAs With A Control RSA

    Although it may be argued that using pinning to recreate ETAs negates the point of RSAs, some marketers still want for (or require) such control.

    The Experiment

    Pinning two descriptions and three headlines will result in two pseudo-ETAs (no other copy).

    The third advertisement is a real RSA in which you leave nothing pinned and use the available space to experiment with fresh messaging.

    What You’ll Discover

    You may use this experiment to compare the effectiveness of pseudo-ETAs, particularly in terms of CTR.

    This can be useful for advertising that must constantly show certain information, such those who work in regulated sectors.

    Read More PPC Blogs CLICK HERE

    When used properly, RSAs provide opportunity.

    Sadly, Google still won’t tell you which advertisement appeared for a certain search phrase (the report limits
    this connection to the ad group level).

    Additionally, it does not display performance depending on titles and descriptions.

    Determining RSA performance involves some guessing, but you can still organise your ads using the information Google does provide.

    Additionally, bear the following in mind as you test your subsequent RSA campaign:

    • One method Google gives feedback to marketers regarding the calibre of their advertising is through ad strength. Don’t feel pressured to adjust your advertising in accordance with Google’s suggestions in order to increase your ad strength score, however you shouldn’t ignore it out of hand either.
    • You can fit up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions in an RSA. While it may be tempting to stuff your advertisement and wait for the results, keep in mind that more components entail greater guessing.
    • Half of your outcomes are explained by the format and messaging of your RSAs. Prepare ahead of time, don’t neglect the essentials (such as positioning and a positive user experience on your website), and collaborate with your clients and stakeholders to establish realistic expectations.

    RSAs are among the greatest illustrations of Google’s automated adjustments, which call for a mental adjustment.

    Use some care and optimise your campaigns’ edges—their structure, creativity, and data.

    There is opportunity for bright, imaginative advertising to succeed greatly.

  • Six data-driven SEO strategies that optimize conversion rates

    Studies show that companies using data driven strategies experience five to eight times higher ROI. Rate of conversion optimization is a process that largely depends upon data. The main focus of most CRO strategies is to utilize consumer data to make their client journey smoother and experience better. With search engines also increasing focus on the user experience; we find a point where Search engine optimization strategies begin to complement CRO strategies. But your Search engine optimization tactics can really boost your CRO efforts when driven by data.

    In this article, I share six data driven Search engine optimization strategies to supplement your CRO efforts. From content audit to website personalization; read till the end to find out how you can increase your internet search engine rankings and conversions altogether! Data driven Search engine optimization strategies to supplement CRO. Data driven strategies are on-line marketing tactics based on consumer data. Unlike traditional marketing strategies, data driven strategies are based on data backed hypotheses as opposed to assumptions. This reliance on solid data makes such strategies the star of the modern marketing world.

    Here are six data driven Search engine optimization strategies to make your CRO efforts more promising:

    Website analysis and optimization

    Website analysis is a process by which you test different elements of your site. It analyzes the overall performance of your website and highlights regions of improvement. The elements that web analysis takes into account include the website’s on page optimization and technical Search engine optimization; finding out about the keywords it ranks for, and what rank it’s for different keywords. Using various web analytics tools, this process also uncovers the sources where your website receives traffic from; highlights the flaws in your website’s usability and UX; and provides the basis for the website’s load speed optimization.

    Through any of those elements, it helps in enhancing your website’s overall user experience and contributes towards rate of conversion optimization. In addition, it also offers your web traffic’s demographics and interest data; enabling you to optimize the website for a more relevant user experience. Google Analytics is the most complete and reliable tool to support your website analysis and optimization efforts. It integrates with your website and tracks all the data you need to optimize your website for enhanced user experience. A leading marketing automation software company experienced 10x higher conversion rates when they integrated their native real time personalization tool with Google Analytics to use the personalization data.

    This has been paired with the Google Analytics info to serve personalized remarketing advertisements through AdWords. Not only did they experience higher conversion rates, but also with the effective use of web analytics data, such as demographics and behaviour info, they also experienced a 107 percent YoY increase in qualified leads.

    Content Analysis and Optimization

    Content analysis is comparable to website analysis, but instead of testing your website’s technical elements, it analyzes your website’s content and overall content strategy to uncover regions of improvement. Rate of conversions are almost six times higher for companies that invest in content marketing. But results like this manifest only when your website brims with optimised content.

    The purpose of your content is to compel users to take the desired action, or simply put, convert.

    Content analysis finds out how well it serves this purpose.

    You can uncover various metrics with content analysis, like which content type is the most famous among your audience, which content is bringing you closer to your marketing objectives, and which needs more work.

    For instance, a marketing optimization software company can have blogs and case studies in its content strategy. Their web analytics might uncover that case studies drive more conversions while blogs get the most social shares.

    With its content advertising objective being increased conversions, content analysis will assist them concentrate more on publishing more case studies.

    A highly effective content analysis will also uncover whether your content matches the search intent of your target search queries. And for that reason, whether or not you need to find new Search engine optimization keywords and re-optimize. In case your content doesn’t match the search intent perfectly, even when it gets traffic, those users won’t convert.

    Therefore, in essence, content analysis will assist increase conversions by helping you create content that’s proven to drive results. It’ll also help save time and resources from being spent on less-profitable strategies.

    Here’s a case study discussing how changing content on your website may reflect a spike in revenue.

    Brookdaleliving.com, an internet site offering community living solutions for older people, had a unsatisfactory website rate of conversion. But then, their website had nothing that would drive conversions.

    The digital online marketing experts they hired revamped their website and tested two different content types on their landing web page – an image and a testimonial video – to see which one performs better.

    Ironically, the webpage with an image drove 3.92 percent higher conversions than the original page. This might seem like a small increment, however it resulted in additional revenue of $106,000.

    Website Design Optimization

    Tests like usability testing and A/B testing provide the data that drives website design optimization to improve an internet site’s design and enhance its user experience.

    The purpose of CRO is to make the user journey smoother and experience better.

    Website design optimization supports CRO by removing frictions in the buyer’s journey and making it simpler for them to accomplish their goals.

    But there are a number of best practices the website design must comply with to ensure that it really contributes to your CRO efforts.

    The design should be simple and somewhat comparable to what the users are accustomed to.

    The navigation bar should be designed intuitively with the user’s search intent in mind; so that they can rapidly find what they came looking for

    The content arrangement should follow proven design techniques that enhance content readability and value delivery.

    To your website design to truly serve your company, you’ll have to continue to test various combinations of website elements, their placements, and designs.

    Irrespective of how you go about your website design, making the target audience’s journey easier should be at the heart of all of your efforts. Trucker Reports, the trucker community that can help truck drivers find jobs, have struggled with low conversion. The CRO experts they hired performed a website design audit and found many opportunities. Based on these opportunities, they tested different hypotheses. They tested 3 different designs against the original ones in their final test and found that the final design had 79.3 percent higher conversions.

    Do you know why?

    Since this last design had the least friction and made it simpler for the users to convert.

    Audience analysis

    Audience analysis, commonly known as audience research, is the process by which you dig up details about your prospects so that you can develop targeted marketing campaigns. Since user experience is an enormous part of Search engine optimization and CROs alike; audience analysis holds an essential place as a data driven Search engine optimization strategy for rate of conversion optimization. This process uncovers a broad range of data from core demographics info such as age, gender, marital status, income, education, etc. to online behaviour, external and internal challenges, and more.

    Audience analysis makes it possible to develop a buyer persona, which then becomes the basis of an extremely targeted advertising campaign. Audience analysis is a core element of a successful CRO campaign because it can make your website relevant to the users. You find out about their pain points and struggles and are better equipped to address them through your content. This demonstrates that you care about your clients and unavoidably build trust between your brand and its prospects. Given that the modern client prioritize their connection with the brand when making a purchase decision, this bond of trust and credibility results in higher conversions.

    Data backed audience analysis also allows you to segment your audience based on their demographics info and interest. With this level of segmentation, you spend your efforts and resources on individuals you know important for your company. This is why research indicates a 56% reduction in marketing costs for companies which use audience analysis as the basis for all of their marketing efforts.

    Testing and optimization

    Testing is the life of rate of conversion optimization. You put samples of your content and design arrangements to test to see which one performs better and optimize utilizing the results of those tests.

    These tests are all data driven, that’s, they’re based on assumptions generated from existing data and provides insight into how valid the hypothesis is. For instance, data might show a higher rate of conversion on websites with explainer videos. This forms the hypothesis of your test. Therefore, you develop two different squeeze pages, one with a video and another with an image; to see which performs better. In case the videos result in higher conversions, you know exactly what to continue optimizing with! You can perform different types of tests when optimizing websites for conversions. Two of the popular ones include usability testing and A/B or split testing.

    Search engines also recommend A/B and multivariate testing for SEO as it improves user experience, which search engines pursue in the websites they index. NatureAir performed A/B testing on their landing page to increase conversions. Among the samples had CTA on the side, whilst the other had a CTA visibly placed in the content area. After the test results were in, they found that placing a CTA in the content area increases conversions by 591 percent! That’s how potent A\B tests can be!

    Website personalization

    According to Google, 90% of marketers believe that personalization results in business profitability.

    And why should not it? In an era with so many comparable websites, a webpage which offers a customized experience deserves to make better revenue. Website personalization is a relatively complex process by which you can serve a unique experience to each visitor. These experiences are designed based on consumer data, including their demographics data, interests, search history, and online behavior.

    75 % of consumers prefer that on-line sellers use personal info to enhance shopping experiences. People want you to make shopping easier for them; adding personalized product recommendation on your website will assist improve your user experience and could increase sales.

    They do not want to go out and look for what they want. They want you to know exactly what they really need and bring it to them. And that is what website personalization empowers you to make. It improves overall website experience, lowers bounce rates, boosts Search engine optimization, and of course, increase conversions. Serving dynamic content makes the customer experience more intuitive and relevant. It allows you to extract the content that interests them the most and therefore, contributes to better revenue.

    Conclusion

    The goal of a Search engine optimization and a CRO campaign became somewhat comparable ever since search engines have started giving value to user experience. There are various Search engine optimization strategies focused on improving UX. And these strategies, when backed by data, might leads to increased conversion rate.

    Consequently, I’ve discussed a few of the most promising data driven Search engine optimization strategies that may drive conversions in this article. However the real results of a strategy depend on how well you implement it.

    Therefore, ramp up your data analysis game, derive insights, implement them, and optimize your strategies for much better results.

  • Google Ads Announces Top 3 Priorities for 2022

    Google Ads sheds light on their top 3 priorities for 2022: automation, measurement, and privacy. Learn how they’re tackling these topics.

    As buyer behaviour carries on to shift through the pandemic; Google Ads has committed to a better experience for its users.

    Google Ads announced its top 3 priorities for 2022: automation, measurement, and privacy.

    Now, these aren’t new priorities, per say; but more so shifting how they’re focusing on every one. Let’s take a further look.

    New Opportunities With Automation

    Vice President and GM of Google Ads, Jerry Dischler, mentioned how shifts in consumer behaviour present both challenges and opportunities.

    His conversations with brands have focused on the need for readiness, speed, and agility in order to drive growth. He later states:

    “Over 80% of Google advertisers are now using automated bidding to free up time and improve ad performance.”

    Under the Automation pillar; Google is emphasizing the use of Performance Max and Discovery campaign types.

    Both campaign types focus on reaching users at scale from a single campaign. Google touts the benefits of these campaigns to include:

    • More simplicity in management (less campaigns)
    • Multi-channel reach
    • Greater ad inventory
    • Incremental conversions

    For single channel campaign types like Search, Display, and YouTube, Google recommends leaning into automation with Smart Bidding, responsive search advertisements, and broad match keywords.

    The Future Of Measurement

    It’s no secret that measurement was a challenging topic for most advertisers. With the iOS 14 update, the future removal of third-party cookies, and more – new approaches to measurement will be critical for success.

    Without meaningful results and data to back up your marketing efforts. It’s going to be harder to prove the value of marketing.

    Google is rolling out new solutions to privacy and measurement including:

    • Enhanced conversions
    • Consent mode
    • Conversion modeling
    • Data-driven attribution

    The solutions put in place will rely on your first-party data and privacy-safe APIs.

    These efforts put the user first by respecting their privacy; but additionally listening to the needs of advertisers to track campaign efforts.

    Delivering Expectations For Digital Privacy with Google Ads

    It’s difficult nowadays to go without hearing of some kind of privacy breach. Google understands the increasing need for user privacy and controls.

    While you need to build and cultivate relationships with your clients, they need to know that their data is safe and maintaining some level of anonymity.

    Google has updated their privacy playbook to capture these needs both from the advertiser and user viewpoint. The 3 main highlights of this playbook include:

    • Building direct relationships with clients
    • Ensuring measurement remains accurate and actionable
    • Keep your advertisements relevant

    In building direct relationships with clients, you’re able to capture first party data for more 1:1 direct communication, like e-mail marketing or in-application messaging.

    What does this mean for advertisers?

    While we’re all used to relying upon paid media to drive the final sale and showing direct Return on investment; the role of paid media (Google Ads) might need to change. This obviously is dependent on your overall strategy.
    For instance, the goal of some of your non-branded or consciousness efforts should shift to capturing first-party data, in place of the final sale.

    If you’re able to capture that first-party data on the first touch; you’d be capable to attribute a final sale back to that original touchpoint. Just remember to shift your attribution modelling to reflect changes in strategy.

    Source: Google Ads & Commerce Blog

  • Google: No SEO Bonus For Keyword-Based Domains

    John Mueller says keyword-based domains are limiting and provide no SEO bonus. He then offered ideas for the best domains

    Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Reddit about ranking advantages of utilizing the keywords in the domain name. Mueller confirmed that there is no Search engine optimization bonus for keywords in the field and numerous reasons why not to use keyword based domains.

    Mueller lists numerous reasons why keywords in domains do not offer a ranking bonus and why choosing those kinds of domains can backfire. Nevertheless, there are still numerous reasons why keywords in domains might still be a valid choice. Keywords in Domain Name. There are various reasons why some SEOs recommend utilizing a keyword in the domain.

    Keywords in Domain Name

    Some say that whenever someone links to you with only simple URL, the keyword will act like an anchor text and influence Google’s rankings. But John Mueller has already explained that Google knows the distinction between bare URL and anchor text and that Google won’t use the keywords in bare URL. Others say that keywords in the domain helps Search engine optimization because keywords help Google understand what your site is about. But his latest answer on Reddit discredits that idea. There was a time when Google ranked exactly matching domains, including parked domains. But that exact match domain effect was dampened several years ago to reduce the impact. However there might be some valid non numerous reasons why keyword based domain could be desirable.

    How Would Google Rank Keyword-Based Domains?

    The person on Reddit asked how Google would rank various keyword-based domains.

    “How would Google rank the following domains: web-design.com, web.design, web-design.net?”

    Google’s John Mueller offered his insight into how Google handles keywords in domains.

    Mueller answered:

    “No difference. Also no difference if you used sabertoothed-hedgehog.com. “

    Choose a Domain Name For the Long Term

    Mueller next suggested that it might make sense to pick up a domain that could outlast a change in focus. An example of this is Amazon. Amazon started as an on-line book seller and was able to transition to selling almost everything because its domain name was non specific to books. A lot of the first Search engine optimization agencies started as web site design companies. When they eventually transitioned away from web site design toward Search engine optimization they also had to change their domain name like well. Another example is how trends change so what sounds fashionable at the time, like adding the word media, to the end of a SEO company name, can sound tired or cliched a few years later. John Mueller advised to choose a website domain name that may survive a modification in the company model and trends.

    He continues to answer

    “Pick a domain name you can build on for the long run.

    Maybe you’re doing web-design now, but what will you do in 5, 10 years?

    Pick something that lets you grow, or go with a domain name that’s more like a brand which you can build out & which people can find you with directly (that would be my recommendation).”

    Could a Keyword Domain Be Worthwhile?

    We know that the keywords in a website domain name may limit the scope of a domain in the future and locks that business into focusing on one topic. However in my experience, having a keyword in the domain could help conversions and that’s something that can be tested using A\/B tests and PPC to identify which domain name performs best.

    A general keyword might be useful as well. A keyword in the domain can signal to a potential visitor that your site has what they are looking for. Not one of the above numerous reasons are directly related to Search engine optimization currently. But they’re numerous reasons why one might consider a keyword based domain.

    John Mueller emphasized the following points:

    • No ranking bonus for keywords in domains
    • Keyword-based domains can limit your business growth
    • Pivoting to a new domain is a huge hassle
    • Choose a domain that has the potential to grow

    Citation:

    How would Google rank the following domains: web-design.com, web.design, web-design.net? Assume people google “web design”.

    Read John Mueller’s Answer

  • Which Schema Types Are Used Most by Industry [Research]

    Find out which schema types are most prominent across industries including travel, education, home improvement, health care, and finance.

    With so much content to process, search engines prefer data on a website to be structured in a way that helps easily identify and understand your content.

    With schema markup, marketers have hundreds of item properties to base their optimizations on.

    So which ones are used the most?

    Enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge did some research by looking at the highest ranking pages in these industries:

    • Education
    • Travel
    • Finance
    • Home Improvement
    • Healthcare
    Read More Blogs on SEO

    As it turns out, the most popular schema type varies by platform. Yet another case of “it depends” in SEO.

    For example, BrightEdge found that, in education, FAQPage was most prevalent.

    But in Travel and Finance, BreadcrumbList was the most prevalent schema type.

    Meanwhile, Article was the most used schema type in Home Improvement.

    And in Healthcare, Organization schema was the most prevalent.

    Schema
    Image via BrightEdge SearchIQ Smart Schema, August 2021

    Schema, Google & Rankings

    Google has said that structured data has no impact on ranking. Repeatedly

    However, Google’s John Mueller has also said that schema helps Google better understand entities on a page, as a way to understand whether a page is relevant result for a search query.

    So, in that way, schema usage may not directly help you rank higher, but it has indirect benefits.

    Many of the highest ranking pages in these sectors use schema. But that doesn’t mean schema is the reason they are ranking on Page 1.

    Mistaking correlation for causation in SEO happens – a lot. So always be wary of falling into that trap whenever you read about correlation.

    Regardless, it is always interesting to analyze what top ranking pages are doing – as the information may lead you to discover big opportunities for greater visibility and success.

    Schema Pointers

    Following on their research, BrightEdge provided Search Engine Journal with three tips for how to use schema properly if you want to get the most benefit for your brand:

    • Be deliberate. Sometimes it’s important not to mark every single thing up. Success lies in identifying what schema-types really matters for your market and emphasize those, so you don’t confuse crawlers on the intentionality of the site
    • While more and more schema types get released, there are a handful of must-haves such as breadcrumb lists, organization, and article mark-ups that are actually widely used.
    • Always be on the look for new types as Google will make changes and continually look at new ways to get context and entities on a page.

    Note: The data for this research was provided exclusively to Search Engine Journal by BrightEdge, which also looked at some ranking correlations. You can read more about those here.

  • The Marketing Metamorphosis

    In today’s world, every one of us is bombarded with marketing messages in any moment, any place, and on any device. This poses a big question to entrepreneurs: “How do we make our campaign stick out from the masses? ” Here are the definitive top 5 tendencies all CMOs must know before changing their marketing and trade.

    Individualization

    As consumers and businesses are subjected to so much advertising on a regular basisthey no longer connect with conventional messaging. Today, it is not enough to simply segment the market based on age and sex; success depends upon targeting an audience of one. In reality, a latest research study showed that only around a 3rd of consumers believe that firms consistently offer you personalized experiences across multiple stations.

    To attain personalized marketing, enterprises will need to consolidate all customer data from multiple sources and systems. This creates a single source of truth and the basis for a reliable, 360-degree view of the consumer.

    Mobile

    Mobile trade now accounts for around 30 percent of all ecommerce sales in the United States, and this figure carries on to rise. From mobile phones to tablets, businesses will need to be where their existing and prospective customers are. And as mobile marketing is often where the consumer’s journey begins, it is particularly important to direct the consumer to the upcoming phases! From surfing on a smartphone to receiving personalized email supplies to checkout and purchase.

    Social

    People today spend a large portion of their time on-line using social network! Around 1.3 times per day, according to global studies. But social network is not just relevant for Business-to-consumer marketing; it may additionally be a fantastic spot to target decision makers. In reality, 57 percent of Business-to-business info technology buyers use social networks as part of their purchasing decision.

    Additionally, individuals use these programs to share their opinions on businesses, products, and solutions. Social network is therefore home to a wealth of data. With the proper tools, such as social analytics or listening, enterprises can glean valuable insights into the personal personal preferences, desires, and behaviour of consumers, allowing them to deliver exceptionally personalized contextual marketing.

    Contextualization

    Successful marketing means attaining your customers wherever they’re. However in addition, it needs the right timing. By assessing where, when, and how a person engages with a brand, enterprises can provide their customers exactly what they want. That is a extremely efficient means to make a product or brand discovered.

    Consistency

    With numerous distinct stations, it may be hard to figure out how customers are engaging with a brand. This is why it’s significant to make a smooth experience across all touchpoints. On one hand, customers benefit from consistency and familiarity. And on the other, enterprises have relevant info through the sales process–whether it is by telephone, mobile phone, or in person.

    By adopting an omnichannel marketing plan, enterprises can leverage these tendencies. Cloud software, such as SAP Hybris solutions or SAP Cloud for Earnings, provides the key. It helps businesses to Create leads, gain a complete view of customers, offer the right products and services at the right time, and increase customer retention.

  • Largest Contentful Paint: An Easy Explanation

    Largest Contentful Paint is a brand new Google user experience metric and soon to be a ranking factor. Learn what’s and how to optimize for it.

    Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a Google user experience metric. It’s set becoming a ranking factor in 2021. This guide explains what LCP is and how to attain the best scores.

    Definition of Largest Contentful Paint

    Largest Contentful Paint is a measurement of how long it can take for the main content of a page to download and be ready to be interacted with.

    what’s measured is the largest image or block of context inside the user viewport. Anything that extends beyond the screen isn’t used to calculate the score.

    Typical elements which are measured are images, iframes, video poster images, background images, and block-level text elements like paragraph tags.

    Why is Largest Contentful Paint Measured?

    LCP was chosen as a key metric for the Web Vitals score because it accurately measures how fast a webpage may be used. In addition it’s simple to measure and also to optimize for.

    Block-level Elements Used to Calculate the LCP Score

    Block-level elements used for calculating the Largest Contentful Paint score can be the and elements; and also the heading, div, form elements.

    Fundamentally any block-level HTML element that contains text elements may be used, so long as it’s the largest one.

    Not all elements are used. For instance, the SVG and VIDEO elements aren’t currently used for calculating the Largest Contentful Paint.

    LCP is an easy metric to understand because all you need to do is take a take a take a look at your webpage and determine; what the largest text block or image is and after that optimize it by making it smaller or removing anything that would prevent it from downloading rapidly.

    Since Google includes most sites in the mobile first index, it’s best to optimize for the mobile viewport first; then the desktop.

    Delaying Large Elements Might Not Help

    Occasionally a webpage will render in parts. A large featured image might take more time to download than the largest text block-level element.

    What happens in this case is that a Performance Entry is logged for the largest text block-level element. But when the featured image on top of the screen loads, if that element takes up more of the users screen (their viewport); then another Performance Entry object will be reported for that image.

    Images Can Be Tricky for LCP Scores

    Web publishers commonly upload images at their original size and after that use HTML or CSS to resize the image to display at a smaller size.

    The original size is what Google refers to as the “intrinsic” size of the image.

    If a publisher uploads an image that’s 2048 pixels wide and 1152 pixels in height, that 2048 x 1152 height and width are considered the “intrinsic” size.

    Now, if the publisher resizes the 2048 x 1152 pixel image to 640 x 360 pixels; the 640×360 size image is called the visible size.

    For the purposes of calculating the image size, Google uses whichever size is smaller between the intrinsic and visible size images.

    Image Sizes and Largest Contentful Paint

    It’s possible to achieve a high Largest Contentful Paint score with a big intrinsic size image that’s resized with HTML or CSS to be smaller.

    However it’s a best practice to make the intrinsic size of the image match the visible size.

    The image will download faster and your Largest Contentful Paint score will go up.

    How LCP Handles Images Served from Another Domain

    Images served from another domain, like from a CDN, are usually not counted in the Largest Contentful Paint calculation. Publishers who want to have those resources be a part of the calculation need to set what’s called a Timing-Allow-Origin header.

    Adding this header to your site might be tricky because if you use a wildcard (*) in the configuration then it could open your site up to hacking events.

    In order to do it properly you’d have to add a domain that’s specific to Google’s crawler in order to whitelist it in order that it may see the timing info from your CDN.

    So at this point, resources (like images) which are loaded from another domain (like from a CDN) won’t be counted as part of the LCP calculation.

    Scoring you have to Be Aware Of

    All elements which are in the users screen (the viewport) are utilized to calculate LCP. That implies that images which are rendered off-screen and after that shift into the layout once they’re rendered might not count as part of the Largest Contentful Paint score.

    On the opposite end, elements that start out in the user viewport and after that get pushed off-screen can be counted as part of the LCP calculation.

    The way to Get the LCP Score

    There are two kinds of scoring tools. The first one is called Field Tools and the second one is called Lab Tools.

    Field tools are actual measurements of a site. Lab tools give a virtual score based on a simulated crawl using algorithms that approximate Internet conditions that a typical user on a cell phone might encounter.

    The way to Optimize for Largest Contentful Paint

    There are 3 main areas to optimize (plus one more for JavaScript Frameworks):

    • Slow servers
    • Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS
    • Slow resource load times

    A slow server might be an issue with DDOS levels of hacking and scraper traffic on a shared or VPS host. You might find relief by installing a WordPress plug-in like WordFence to find out if you’re experiencing an enormous onslaught and after that block it.

    Other issues might be misconfiguration of a dedicated hosting service or VPS. A typical issue might be the amount of memory allotted to PHP.

    Other issues might be out-of-date software like an old PHP version or Content management system software that’s out-of-date.

    At worst scenario is a shared server with multiple users which are slowing down down your box. In that case moving to a better host is the answer.

    Google has a neat tip for dealing with CSS that’s not essential for rendering what the user sees:

    “Remove any unused CSS entirely or move it to another stylesheet if used on a separate page of your site.

    For any CSS not needed for initial rendering, use loadCSS to load files asynchronously, which leverages rel=”preload”and onload.

    <link rel=”preload” href=”stylesheet.css” as=”style” onload=”this.rel=’stylesheet’”>”

    Field Tools for LCP Score
    Google lists three field tools:

    PageSpeed Insights
    Search Console (Core Web Vitals report)
    Chrome User Experience Report

    The last one, Chrome User Experience Report, requires a Google account and a Google Cloud Project. The first two are more straightforward.

    Citations

    How to Optimize for LCP

    What is LCP?

    Timing Attacks and the Timing-Allow-Origin Header