5 Changes to Make to Your Google My Business Profile Before 2019
There was never a dull moment in local SEO this year, with new updates to coming to Google My Business at a rapid-fire pace throughout 2018. Now’s the time to log in and make sure your Google My Business page is current and ready for the new year.
Let’s get straight to it. The biggest updates to Google My Business in 2018 were:
- New dashboard for businesses with multiple locations
- Separate fields for Service Area and Business Address (and removing the ability to set a distance-based service area around the business address)
- Service menu for service-based businesses and product menu for retailers
- Letting businesses set ‘factual’ attributes in addition to the crowdsourced ‘subjective’ attributes (including the veteran-led and women-led attributes)
- Videos on the photo dashboard
These changes affected some types of businesses more than others (some local service-based companies will have a lot of catching up to do) but all of them matter when it comes to understanding how to optimize Google My Business for a stronger local presence.
Here’s how to ensure you’re up-to-date with Google My Business in 2019.
1. Scrutinize Your Suggested Changes
In March of 2018, Google rolled out a new Google My Business dashboard for business owners with two or more listings or locations. It’s much faster and easier to navigate than the old one.
The downside? The new dashboard makes it more difficult to track and respond to Suggested Changes in a timely manner.
A Suggested Change is an addition or change to your listing that either comes from:
- A user manually editing your listing information; or
- Google’s algorithm finding information about your listing (often from third-party directory sites).
Here’s the trouble: the name ‘Suggested Changes’ is a bit misleading, since the changes don’t always require your approval before they go live.
As the listing owner, you should receive an email from Google whenever there’s a ‘suggestion’; however, those notifications don’t always make it through to your inbox.
Because of this, it’s important that you log in to check your Suggested Changes periodically, especially since the new dashboard makes it harder to notice them.
To see Suggested Changes for a Google My Business listing in the new dashboard:
- Log in to Google My Business.
- Click Back to GMB Classic in the left-hand menu.
- Click Google Updates in the centre column.
- Make sure the box next to ‘Google updates’ is set to display All.
- Click Resolve updates in the rightmost column to see the Suggested Changes and other updates to a listing.
2. Specify Your Ever-Growing Service Area
Before the update, local businesses could define only their service area as a kilometer/mile radius around their business address. Google realized this was a shortcoming (who actually has a perfectly circular service area?) and turned it around late in 2018.
Now, Google My Business lets you edit your business address and service area separately. Businesses can specify their service area by region, city, or ZIP/Postal Code.
If you haven’t gotten around to updating your service area, here’s how to do it:
- Log in to Google My Business.
- Click the location you’d like to edit.
- Click Info in the left-hand menu.
- Click Edit in the Service Area section.
- Click the X next to a service area to delete it.
3. Promote Your Outstanding Services
Early in 2018, Google began to allow businesses in select industries to list their services in detail right on the page. Later, they expanded the feature to almost all service businesses, including creative industries and the trades.
The service menu is simple, consisting of just a name, description, and optionally a price for each item. It’s a vast improvement over the previous version of Google My Business’s services, which was limited to keywords like ‘repair services’ and ‘installation services.’
Adding services to your Google My Business page is quick and easy. All you need to do is:
- Log in to Google My Business.
- Click Info in the left-hand menu.
- Click Edit in the Services section.
Recently, Google has begun testing a product menu feature for Google My Business as well. Chances are this will expand to more companies next year, so keep an eye out!
4. Add Appealing Factual Attributes
Attributes are Google’s name for small bits of descriptive information about a business. They include things like:
- Service offerings (pick-up or drive-thru)
- Atmosphere (casual, noisy, family-friendly, private)
- Customer/clientele demographic (popular among students, business travellers, tourists)
Originally, the algorithm compiled a business’s attributes based solely on user reviews and feedback via the GMB Q&A feature – businesses couldn’t edit them.
In 2018, Google refined the attributes system by splitting them into factual and subjective attributes. Now, businesses can directly edit certain attributes. The attributes available (which include acceptable payment types, accessibility options, and whether the business is LGBTQ-friendly) vary depending on the business’s category.
Even if you’re not a GMB geek, you might have heard about the release of the women-led and veteran-led attributes – two socially-conscious tags designed to help customers support local vets, businesswomen, and even businesswoman vets.
There’s also a lesser-known family-led attribute, which could help win the favour of locavores in search of a good old-fashioned family business.
In any case, it pays to take a moment to set up factual attributes that will help customers get to know you. It doesn’t take long:
- Log in to Google My Business.
- Click Info in the left-hand menu.
- Click Edit in the Attributes section.
5. Upload an Excellent Video
Video is one of the most powerful mediums available to us as marketers and you as a business owner.
Online video consistently grabs more views and engagement than still images, and 90% of customers now say that video influences their buying decisions.
The addition of 30-second videos to Google My Business shows Google is serious about getting customers to convert (whether it’s making a purchase or booking an appointment) directly on the GMB platform. For businesses, it’s an opportunity to make a huge visual impact just around the corner from the search engine results page.
What’s Next for Google My Business?
Make no mistake: Google My Business will continue to extend its influence in local SEO in the year to come.
Don’t let the imminent demise of Google+ fool you into thinking GMB is on its way out. In fact, part of the reason Google is sunsetting G+ is because GMB has effectively taken over its function as a hub for customer-brand interactions.
So, what does the future have in store? Based on this year’s developments, you can expect to see even greater emphasis on conversions directly from the Google My Business platform in 2019. Additionally, you ought to pay close attention to your business’s attributes – chances are, they’ll fuel increasingly precise local search results based on ‘intangibles’ like a business’s character and atmosphere.
It’s cool stuff.
Quora for SEO: Is it Worth Your Time?
300 million active monthly users. Engagement with the world’s top thought leaders. Growth that could surpass Twitter and Reddit. Those are the claims Quora put forth to advertisers when it launched new targeting options earlier this year. If they’re right, then Quora must be fertile ground for SEO activity – right?
In reality, the intersection of Quora and SEO is a complex (and often controversial) topic.
Let’s investigate.
What is Quora, and Why Is It So Popular?
Quora isn’t the first question-and-answer site out there, but it might just be the last.
That is to say that Quora has so far managed to succeed in areas where similar sites have failed.
Yahoo Answers, one of the first major Q&A sites, was massively popular but poorly-moderated in terms of questions and answers alike. It never came close to a reputable source of information and was often the subject of ridicule.
Google Answers surpassed Yahoo Answers in the quality of its content, but it failed to strike a chord with internet users at large; and like many Google products (see: Google+), Google Answers was closed due to ailing popularity.
The respective downfalls of Yahoo Answers and Google Answers illustrate the challenge of managing an informational site built on user-submitted content. To grow, the site must continuously attract more users who are willing to submit questions and answers; however, there’s a delicate balance between encouraging user participation and maintaining quality standards.
Set the bar for quality too high and few people will participate; set it too low and the site will attract poor-quality content, spam and trolls.
To date, Quora has managed to strike this balance through a combination of a quality-ranking algorithm and human moderators who monitor the feeds. Quora was originally moderated by volunteers from its user community, but the company has since switched to paid moderators and content reviewers who remove questions and answers as needed.
It’s easy to contribute to, but it’s not a free-for-all, either. This balance has been vital to the site’s popularity so far. Quora has even garnered attention from world leaders like Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama.
What is the Value of Quora for SEO?
Another key to Quora’s success is its powerful presence on Google’s search engine results page.
Google’s RankBrain algorithm strives to deliver the highest-quality answers relevant to searchers’ queries. Quora’s upvote-driven Q&A format, which favours the most precise and comprehensive answers to specific questions, is practically tailor-made for it.
These days, whenever you make a search query in the form of a question, there’s a high likelihood of finding Quora on the first page of the results.
This trend has motivated people, brands and SEOs to try and leverage Quora to drive site traffic.
But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Using Quora for SEO is not as simple as plopping links into questions and answers – and in fact, that’s a good way to get banned from Quora for life.
Ways to Use Quora for SEO
Here’s the truth: Quora’s prominence on page 1 of Google’s search engine results has made it a magnet for SEO-related spam.
By that we mean users posting low-quality answers solely for the purpose of driving traffic to their (or their client’s) site.
Spammers aside, there are legitimately useful and effective ways to leverage Quora’s popularity and SERP presence to your advantage.
1. Answer Questions to Drive Qualified Traffic to Your Site
All external links placed by Quora users are no-follow links. This means that if you post a link to your website on Quora, it doesn’t pass any authority onto your site.
In other words, Quora isn’t useful for backlinking.
However, when done properly, posting links to Quora can be a way to drive good, qualified traffic to your site. That’s because the questions people pose to Quora tend to be specific, with clear intent on the part of the questioner.
For example, the person asking “What are the best tennis shoes?” is likely to be interested in buying a pair of tennis shoes. The same goes for anyone who comes across the question in a Google search. If you happen to sell tennis shoes, these are exactly the people you want visiting your website – so it would be great if you could get a link on that page.
However, Quora is picky about how and when a question or answer can include external links.
According to Quora’s rules on questions and answers containing external links:
- Helpful answers are clear and credible, and sincerely address the question asked. External links to sources can help demonstrate credibility when the answer depends on third-party facts and analysis rather than the poster’s personal experience.
- Answers containing external links must answer the question and summarize how the reference answers the question. They cannot just point users to the link for answers.
- Answers that drive traffic to external sites for promotional or commercial purposes and do not sufficiently answer the question are considered spam.
In sum, if a page on your site is a good source of information for a user’s question, it can be helpful and appropriate to include a link to that page in an answer. When the question is one that your ideal visitors are asking, it can be well worth your time to answer it.
2. Answer Questions to Build Credibility and Authority in Your Industry
One of the reasons why Quora has been popular among tech influencers is how it readily showcases users’ qualifications and achievements.
Right below each user’s name and portrait is their Quora credentials, intended as a way to show the world why your post is worth reading (and an implicit answer to the question, “Says who?”). It can include your education, location, life experience and other personal information. Well-known figures can even earn a verification checkmark next to their name.
This system makes Quora an excellent platform for personal and brand authority-building. It’s a fast and completely free way to publicly demonstrate expertise in your industry.
3. Use Quora to Optimize Your Site Content
Popular answers on Quora can tell you a lot about how to write great content.
The answers that rank best among users tend to be those that provide comprehensive, useful information in a way that’s easy to read and understand. When the question relates to your industry, it can give valuable clues about the information your customers are looking for and how they prefer to receive it.
Think about a question your customers or clients regularly ask. Has anyone asked and answered the question on Quora?
Does your website provide all the information contained in the top answer?
If not, that could indicate an area of your site that needs improvement.
4. Use Quora for Keyword Research
If someone is asking a question about your industry on Quora, chances are some of your customers are searching the same thing.
Quora is an excellent place to explore how people discuss your business in everyday, unfiltered language.
Questions and answers can reveal keywords and phrasing you might not have thought of yet. Plus, with a free Quora Ads account, you can see exactly how many views a question receives each week, which can help you decide if a particular keyword is worth pursuing.
5. Use Quora to Brainstorm Blog Topics
Not sure what to write about? Find an unanswered (or inadequately-answered) question that relates to your business and answer it in a comprehensive blog post.
Freshly-posted questions can be a goldmine for novel blog content ideas. The same goes for a new FAQ page, a customer knowledge base, or a glossary of industry terms.
Better yet, there are several ways find these topics without any work on your part. Add a subject or keyword to your Quora feed to have new questions delivered as they’re published. Or, follow another user who answers questions in your industry to get notified when they post – then, add your two cents.
Quora has been around for almost ten years, but it’s still fertile ground when it comes to growing your online reach and driving traffic to your website. There’s plenty of room for experimentation.
What is Thin Content and How Do I Go About Fixing It?
Has someone warned you that your website has thin content? Worried it’s holding you back?
When people talk about thin content, they’re usually thinking of its effect on search engine ranking – but you should also be mindful of how it impacts your clients or customers.
What is Thin Content?
Think of it like this.
You set out to the store, shopping list in hand, to get what you need for your upcoming house party. And you’ve got to do it fast, because the party’s tonight.
As luck would have it, you find everything on your list at the first store you try. You’re satisfied, and you’ll definitely return to that store the next time you’re planning a party.
But what if you struck out? What if you had to make one stop for drinks, another for cake, and a third across town for cups and plates?
Not only are you annoyed, but you probably won’t visit those stores for party supplies again – their selection is just too thin.
That’s also how people use Google’s search engine results page.
When someone makes a search query, they don’t want to have to tap in and out of three different webpages or open three browser tabs to find the answers they’re looking for. They want instant, accurate information the first time.
And since Google and other search engines want to make users happy (more users mean more advertising revenue), search engine algorithms work hard to deliver the most accurate, relevant search results that matches a user’s query.
To that end, a webpage that succeeds in the delivering relevant, quality information people want will be land a higher position in the search engine results; a page that delivers sparse, low-quality, irrelevant, unoriginal content will drop in ranking.
Thin content is content that provides little to no value to the people who find it. If search engine algorithms judge a page as having thin content (based both on the substance of the page itself and the way users interact with it) its ranking can plummet as a result.
Some people think the way to fix thin content is to add more words to a page; this can help in some cases, but there’s almost always more to it than that. The length of the copy on a page is only one of the factors that go into deciding whether a page is worth someone’s time. A pamphlet can be thin, but so can a novel.
Signs and Examples of Thin Content
So, how do you know if your content is thin?
If a domain contains numerous thin pages across the site, you might log into Google’s Search Console one day and find a manual penalty for thin content. That means your site has been judged as one that, “appears to contain a significant percentage of low-quality or shallow pages which do not provide users with much added value.”
Another thin content warning sign is a page that fails to get good user engagement. Once you’ve ruled out other factors that could turn people away – annoying pop-ups, slow page speed, outdated or plain bad site design – it’s time to point the finger at content.
Google also provides concrete examples of pages that often qualify as being thin content: affiliate pages, automatically-generated content, doorway pages, and unoriginal content. These aren’t prima facie thin content, but they can be.
- Affiliate pages are designed for the sole or primary purpose of getting people to visit (and purchase products/services from) another site, which earns kickbacks for the owner of the affiliate page. A common example is a list-style blog post that includes multiple links to product pages on Amazon. An affiliate page that offers little in the way of added value or information can be thin content.
- Auto-generated content is text churned out by an automated tool. When it’s only there to influence search rankings, this type of content falls under the definition of ‘thin’ regardless of length.
- Doorway pages exist mainly as a gateway to another page, providing minimal value and serving as an unnecessary threshold people must step over to find the information they’re looking for. These pages are often a relic of outdated SEO tactics, like the creation of numerous similar location-based pages that provide no unique insight or information.
- Unoriginal content is a wide category that encompasses all sorts of lazy tactics: pasting articles from other pages, pulling product descriptions from a manufacturer’s site, multiple pages with all or most of the same copy (like a fill-in-the-blanks) or borrowing images and infographics from other content creators. Unoriginal content isn’t always synonymous with plagiarism – a newly-written page that reiterates existing information without adding new or interesting insight can also fit the label.
Finally, a page can qualify as thin simply for lacking in content. Conventionally, any page containing fewer than 300 words runs the risk of being thin content, but that’s more a guideline than a golden rule (some pages, like a Contact Us page, have no reason to be wordy).
The bottom line is this: if the page is lacking in value, it could be thin content regardless of length. Short pages are often thin, but thin pages are not always short.
How to Fix Thin Content
Fixing thin content is not only about adding more words. It’s about improving your content to provide the value your users are looking for.
It does often require you to put more words on the page – after all, a lengthier page has more room to explore a topic in enough depth. But the substance of your content matters more than its length. Since the Panda update in 2011, Google’s search engine algorithm has become increasingly savvy about distinguishing valuable content from thin content, regardless of length.
As Neil Patel puts it, “creating long form content does not mean cranking out irrelevant and repetitive words. Rather it’s all about Providing Value.”
The key to avoiding and fixing thin content is to understand what your audience wants, what search engine algorithms like to see, and how to cater to both in a way that contributes to achieving your goals.
How Brands Use Feelings to Get People to Buy
Often defined as a complex state of feeling, emotions result in both physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behaviour. They’re associated with temperament, personality, mood, and motivation.
Emotions also constitute the foundation on which decisions are made.
How Emotions Influence What We Buy
Emotions greatly influence and can even determine our buying decisions.
When confronted with a choice, emotions from previous life events create preferences and patterns that lead to our decision. fMRI imaging has shown that when evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions rather than information like brand attributes, features, and facts to make their final decision.
Emotion is one of the reasons why most people prefer brand-name products. Big brands with large advertising budgets that market on a large scale can create an emotional connection with the consumer. Therefore, rich, emotional content results in a loyal user.
How Emotion is Used in Marketing
Human emotion is based on four overarching emotions: happy, sad, afraid/upset, and angry/disgusted.
Positivity has been shown to increase sharing and engagement. Brands have also recognized that sad or inspiring ads are hugely successful.
Fear, on the other hand, is an instinct that helps us to react to threats. Advertisers have found that ‘scare-vertising’ is one way to leverage this. Surprise is a more positive form of fear and can be seen in ads such as this one.
Finally, there’s anger. We often think it’s best to avoid anger, but in some cases, it can wake people up and spur action and change. While negative images are less common in advertising than positive ones, viral success occurs when negative images have an element of anticipation and surprise.
So, how are feelings actually used in marketing? The most shared ads of 2018 relied heavily on emotional content such as friendship, inspiration, warmth and happiness. Although this style of advertising wasn’t always the case: in the 1990s and 2000s, advertisers focused on humour and sarcasm.
The Future of Emotional Marketing
Today, many brands are going beyond simply telling emotionally-driven stories, targeting different ads to specific moods for maximum impact.
In 2016, the USA Today Network began categorizing its content by topic and tone and scored it based on the emotions it was thought to evoke. They then started selling advertising based on that knowledge. This concept represents targeting an audience based on psychographic characteristics rather than demographics.
Recently, the New York Times also rolled out a project called Project Feels that lets advertisers target ads to content based on predicted emotional responses. ESPN has also pitched a tool that would target sports fans on its digital platforms based on their changing emotional state during a game.
Tapping into feelings and emotion is a powerful way for marketers to formulate potent advertising. When used properly, feelings help facilitate consumers’ understanding of an advertising message and motivate them to buy.
The Smart Way to Deal With Fake Negative Reviews on Google, Yelp and Other Sites
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in damage control-mode. Your business has been hit with a fake negative review on Google, Yelp, or another online platform, and you want to deal with it ASAP. Preferably by wiping it off the face of the Internet.
Fake negative reviews are all too common. It’s trivially easy to create an account on these sites and write feedback for all the world to see. For business owners who’ve worked hard to build their reputation, these types of reviews are exasperating.
It is possible to get fake reviews removed in some cases. But that’s not always the case. Dealing with fake negative reviews is a delicate process, and it’s one you should prepare for before it becomes necessary.
We’ve laid out a step-by-step process for how to deal with fake negative reviews of a business, including how to report fake reviews and what to do when removal isn’t possible.
How to Deal with Fake Negative Reviews, Step-By-Step
Dealing with fake negative reviews is easier when you have a plan of action. The process will differ between businesses, but the basic steps are as follows:
- Verify that the review is fake.
- Determine if the review violates the rules.
- Report the fake review through the official channels.
- If the review stays up, decide on the best course of action.
1. Are You Sure the Review is a Fake One?
When we say ‘fake negative reviews’, we’re talking about reviews that are either:
- Written by someone who was never a customer, client, or associate of the business; or
- Making claims about the business that aren’t true.
It does a business no good to conflate bad reviews with fake ones. Do your research before alleging a review isn’t genuine.
If you have a very small customer or client base, it’s easier to tell if a review is coming from someone the business has never dealt with. Otherwise, some tell-tale signs of a fake review include:
- Review was authored by a brand-new profile with no other reviews and a sparse profile
- Tone is overly aggressive or threatening and clearly meant to provoke
- Language includes industry jargon that actual customers or clients rarely use
2. Does the Review Break the Rules?
Suppose the review comes from someone you know has never dealt with the business. What next?
You can tell that to Google or Yelp. Trouble is, they don’t know who your customers are. Should they take your word for it?
People don’t even need to be customers to leave a valid review; they just need a customer experience. That can mean reaching out to the business by phone or email, or dropping by the premises.
It’s seldom possible to get a fake review removed simply because the reviewer wasn’t a customer. The most promising route to taking down fake reviews is to report them for violating the site’s terms of use.
Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other sites each have their own separate community guidelines. In general, the following behaviour is usually grounds to report a review:
- Demonstrably false information
- Current or former employees reviewing their employer
- Business owners or their employees reviewing a competitor to manipulate rankings
- People posting the same content repeatedly, or reviewing the same business from multiple accounts
- People claiming to represent an individual, company or organization without permission
- Obscene or offensive language that goes beyond ‘colourful’
- Threats, harassment, bullying, or discrimination
If you believe the review in question violates the site’s rules, proceed to step 3; otherwise, skip to step 4.
3. Will Google/Yelp/Facebook Remove the Review?
Don’t call out the reviewer as a phony in public. Go through the website’s official reporting channels. While awaiting a verdict, decide how to proceed if the review stays up.
To report a review on Yelp:
- Locate the review in the Reviews section of your Yelp for Business Owners account.
- Click the button with the three dots, then click Report Review.
- Submit your report.
To report a review on Facebook:
- Locate the review in the Reviews section of your Page.
- Click the button with the three dots, then click Report Post.
- Submit your report.
To report a Google review:
- Locate the review on your Google My Business page.
- Move your cursor over the review and click the flag icon that appears.
- Submit your review.
4. Should You Respond to a Fake Review?
It’s never a good idea to ignore fake negative reviews.
51% of customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within seven days. Posting a response gives you an opportunity to demonstrate you’re responsive to customers, even if they have nothing nice to say.
How best to respond to negative fake reviews can be tricky. It’s not smart to accuse the person outright, because it makes the business owner look petty and defensive.
A better tactic? Take the high ground. Write a courteous, professional response. The most important thing is for customers to see that the business is willing to acknowledge negativity and do something about it.
If there’s a clear sign the review is fake (talking about products or services you don’t have, or an experience that couldn’t have happened), there are subtle ways to address the discrepancy.
Don’t say, “We don’t sell ice cream, liar.” Say, “We’re sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but you may be confusing us with another restaurant, as we don’t have ice cream on our menu.”
Don’t say, “You never once used our service and we know it.” Say, “We’d like to investigate, but have no record of a client with your name. Please provide more information about your experience.”
Bad reviews hurt; fake reviews can hurt even more. But don’t give into frustration. The worst thing you can do is fight fire with fire, responding inappropriately or threateningly to someone who’s trying to bring you down.
Dealing with Fake Reviews
We’ve helped various clients navigate the process of dealing with fake reviews, and it’s never fun. But with a solid plan and a clear head, you can minimize the damage.
As always, the best way to overcome negative reviews is to surround them with positive ones. Don’t forget to let your happy customers know how much you appreciate their feedback.
7 Universal Content Strategies to Increase Audience Engagement
Content is a contest. Whether you’re writing blog posts or cutting videos, there’s always someone else out there who wants to win over your audience as bad as you do. These content strategies can help increase audience engagement across a variety of mediums to help get your message out there.
1. Gauge the Competition
Who’s winning the race for your important keywords?
Finding ways to outrank those competitors will help bolster your share of the audience.
One important step in increasing engagement is finding (and fixing) gaps in your current keyword strategy.
You could be falling behind in areas where your competitors already have plenty of content. There could also be high-volume keywords the competition hasn’t covered yet, leaving an opportunity for your site to fill in the gap.
Conducting a keyword gap analysis requires a strong grasp of your site’s current standing and where you want to improve: how people are finding your site now, which keywords are most valuable to you now, and what your competitors are doing better.
Tools like SEMRush’s Keyword Gap Analysis can help, but it’s only useful if you understand what keywords are and which keywords matter to your business.
2. Optimize Metadata
To most people, metadata is an afterthought.
For anyone with a website, it shouldn’t be.
Metadata refers to two types of information: basic descriptions of digital files (file author, date crated, file size, etc.) and descriptions of webpage content. Both types of metadata play a role in your content’s search engine visibility.
Search algorithms use metadata to help determine what a webpage is about. When metadata contains relevant keywords, it gives the page a better shot of ranking for those search queries.
Optimized metadata may not increase audience engagement alone, but it can help give well-crafted content the boost it needs.
3. Increase Page Speed
Slow loading speed is one of the biggest barriers to audience engagement.
Nearly half of all internet users will not wait longer than three seconds for a page to load. It doesn’t matter how great a blog or video is if it’s dragged down by a slow-loading site.
If you’re not sure of your site’s speed (or can’t figure out why it’s slow), Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool can give answers. Beyond that, there are lots of big and small fixes to increase page speed.
4. Boost Presentation
Looks matter, at least when it comes to boosting audience engagement.
The nicer the page presentation, the more likely people are to view the content, share it with others, and link back to it — all important ingredients of attracting and engaging an audience
Overall site design plays a big part in this (which is one reason to redesign your site periodically). But there are also many smaller steps you can take to make your content easier and more enjoyable to consume.
- Break blog posts into short paragraphs with a logical flow, adding bullet points and lists where applicable.
- Add relevant images. Blog posts with images get an average of 94% more views than those without.
- Embed a video. Video increases the average time people spend on a site by 105%.
If you do add supplementary videos and images, be sure to optimize them with keyword-rich metadata.
Speaking of different mediums…
5. Use a Variety of Content Mediums
Radio didn’t bring an end to libraries. Film wasn’t the death knell for radio. And the Internet hasn’t dampened the popularity of video (only changed how we see it).
Why? Because different people like to consume information in different ways.
Some of your audience will always prefer a long-form blog post or whitepaper to a video; others won’t give text the time of day when there’s a visual alternative.
Using a variety of content broadens the appeal of your site to a wider audience. Blogs, eBooks, videos, case studies, infographics, and podcasts can all help to build different segment of an engaged following.
6. Be an Authority
Authority is one of the biggest factors in how search engine algorithms choose which sites make the front page. To increase audience engagement, you’ll have to show that you’re an authority in your industry.
Being an authority doesn’t mean you’re the be-all and end-all for your industry. Rather, it means you have a take on the topic that is more in-depth, more authentic, and more current than the competition.
For future content, focus on quality and relevance over quantity. As for older content that still performs well? Keep it current!
7. Send the Right Content to the Right Audience
Instead of blasting all your content to everyone at once, take a precision approach. Aim for where you know it’ll connect.
There are lots of ways to make sure your content reaches the right people and get them to engage with it:
- Starting an email list is a great initiative for anyone looking to build an army of loyal followers.
- A/B testing provides guidance when it comes to making the best possible first impression on visitors.
- Retargeting visitors with content you know matches their interests brings wayward audiences back into your sights.
The point is, different content will resonate best at different points in the marketing funnel. Once you’ve figured out your funnel, you can begin to weave it into your content strategy.
Getting Audiences to Engage with Your Content
No content creator can produce a viral masterpiece every time, but these steps will help put it on the screens of audiences that matter.
It all starts with strategy. We’d love to help you find yours.
Marketing funnel strategies: How to Fix 5 common mistakes
Understanding your business’s marketing funnel is key to a successful marketing campaign. Thanks to tools like Google Analytics, it’s easier than ever to see how your customers go from being curious prospects to loyal patrons. Still, there are common beginner mistakes people make when they’re new to the world of marketing funnel strategies.
These mistakes aren’t always fatal. However, fixing them is necessary to unlock your funnel’s full potential.
What Exactly is the Marketing Funnel?
The marketing funnel is a helpful way of visualizing how people make the decision to purchase (or not) a product or service.
The idea is to imagine how customers approach the business at three different stages in the purchase process: the awareness, the consideration, and conversion stages.
- The top of the marketing funnel is the awareness stage. This is the point with the biggest pool of potential customers — that’s why it’s the widest part of the funnel. Here, people are discovering a product or service for the first time. They may not have prior knowledge of the business or its solution. Sometimes, they aren’t even aware they have a problem that needs solving.
- The middle of the marketing funnel is the consideration stage. People in this stage know the business and what it offers, but they aren’t ready to buy. There aren’t as many potential customers here as there is in the top of the funnel, but they’re closer to purchasing.
- The bottom of the marketing funnel is the conversion stage. The bottom represents the potential customers who have already decided to buy — now, they just need to decide who to buy from.
Why visualize customers using the marketing funnel? Because each different stage calls for a different marketing strategy. Customers at the top of the funnel are easier to reach, but they need convincing before they’ll buy. There are fewer customers in the conversion stage, but they’re the ones who are most receptive.
Your marketing efforts will generate better returns when you understand where to find people at each stage in the funnel and what resonates with each of them.
Fixing Common Marketing Funnel Mistakes
A marketing funnel strategy involves tactics to target potential customers at different points of the marketing funnel and move them closer to making a purchase. Data on user activity from platforms like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights can help you understand what’s working (and what’s not) at each step along the way.
However, even a robust strategy backed by good data is susceptible to a few common mistakes.
Keep these points in mind when you’re working on your winning marketing funnel strategy.
1. The Funnel Doesn’t End with Conversion
What happens at the end of the funnel?
Ideally, the person converts, whether that means buying a product, hiring a service, or taking some other action that benefits the business. The prospect becomes a customer.
What next? That customer doesn’t just vanish — they become one of the business’s biggest assets.
Assuming the product or service met their expectations, those customers more receptive than anyone to the business’s other offerings. They can become loyal fans and advocates for the business. Finally, they’re going to spread the word about their experience, so it’s in the businesses interest to keep them happy.
It’s a mistake to forget about customers after the conversion stage. Instead, use what you know about their needs and preferences for effective customer retention.
2. Market at All Points of the Funnel
When potential customers are close to converting, don’t be afraid to give them an extra ‘nudge’.
Many businesses make the mistake of focusing only on acquiring leads at the top of the marketing funnel, since people at the bottom are already close to converting. But conversion is not a guarantee.
It pays to invest in appealing to customers at all points in the funnel, especially the ones who are already eager to buy.
3. Don’t Let Prospects Go
Just because a prospect left without buying doesn’t mean they weren’t interested. There are dozens of reasons why someone might bounce. It could be they forgot what they were doing, wanted to check out competitors, or needed more time to think before making a decision.
With tools like AdWords and Facebook’s Pixel, you can retarget these potential customers and bring them back.
Retargeting is a fundamental marketing funnel strategy. Use what you already know about the customer to deliver a message that reminds them of your business.
4. Integrate the Funnel into Your Content Strategy
Content plays a big role in moving prospects through the marketing funnel. People don’t like ads, but they’re willing to consume content that delivers something of value: humour, entertainment, authenticity, information, empathy.
Blogs are a great example. Blog posts can raise customer awareness at the top of the funnel and provide ongoing value to those who have already converted. For example, an orchard could publish seasonal recipes that get people craving Ambrosia apples; an agency could share insider tips on their areas of expertise.
Don’t think of content strategy and marketing funnel strategy as two worlds. The marketing funnel gives content direction. Content is the current that ferries customers along.
5. Continuously Update Your Marketing Funnel Strategy
Marketing funnel strategy is not a one-time effort.
As technology evolves and customer habits change, your approach should pivot along with them. Ten years ago, mobile e-commerce was an emerging trend. Now, it accounts for $1.4 trillion in annual sales and 58% of e-commerce worldwide. Businesses who caught on to the change and optimized their strategies for mobile devices reeled in the benefits (see: How to Make Sure Your Site is Ready for Mobile).
Keep track of the changing ways customers are discovering and interacting with your business. Otherwise, your funnel won’t be in the right position to catch the stream of potential customers.
Marketing Funnel Strategy
In sum, remember these tips to avoid the common beginner marketing funnel mistakes:
- People who make it through the funnel once already are some of your best prospects. Keep customers coming back after they convert.
- Don’t focus exclusively on the top of the funnel. Prospects in the conversion stage still need that extra push.
- Use retargeting methods to bring prospects back into the funnel if they bounce.
- Treat your content marketing strategy and marketing funnel strategy as one.
- Your marketing funnel strategy is never complete. Keep adapting to consumer habits and buying trends.
Need a hand? Send us a note and we’ll be happy to help you out.
How Local SEO Services Can Increase Inquiries and Drive Foot Traffic to Local Businesses
Local search engine optimization refers to tactics that increase a website’s visibility in local search queries. Search engines have become the primary directory people use to shop local (64% of customers use search engines as their main way to find local businesses), and Local SEO services are meant to ensure a business ranks in the search engine results for localized inquiries.
The bare basics of local SEO are things most business owner can do on their own: creating a complete and current Google My Business profile, encouraging customers to write positive reviews, and writing timely Google My Business posts. However, outranking competitors in a crowded local market requires a deeper optimization strategy.
How Google Determines Local Rankings
Search engine algorithm are built to recognize when a user is searching for results specific to a certain geographical location. These queries often include the name of a city or town (“donuts in Guelph”) or another geographical marker (“donuts near me”).
When someone makes a local query in Google, the search engine algorithm tailors its results to the specified location. In 93% of local queries, the top of the results page includes a box called the Local Pack, which highlights three local results for the query.
The Local Pack is a coveted spot in the rankings. It’s the first thing people see on the page, placing above even the top-ranking search result, which bolsters the business’s visibility and credibility.
Whether the query produces a local pack or not, local SEO is essential for businesses that want to reach new potential customers through search. On average, only the top three search results have a clickthrough rate above 10%.
Local search results are based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence. Distance is just as it sounds how far away the potential results are from the location specified in the search. Relevance refers to how well: a local listing matches the search query, drawing from information the business provides in its Google My Business profile. Prominence is more complex.
Although Google has not released the full details on how its algorithm determines prominence in local results, we know it includes:
- How well-known the business is in the “real world” (famous landmarks or well-known store brands are likely to be prominent)
- Backlinks to the business’ website
- Number of Google Reviews
- Overall star-rating in Google Reviews
- Business’s ranking in web results (Google states that, “SEO best practices also apply to local search optimization”)
Return on Investment of Local SEO Services
Local SEO services provide a high return on investment for businesses focused on dominating a specific geographical market. No other advertising channel is as successful in targeting the most people who are currently looking for your product or service.
Local SEO is:
- Highly Targeted
Local SEO tactics are designed to increase exposure to people who are already searching for the business’s products or services and thus more likely to convert. Unlike traditional advertising channels, there is little exposure wasted on people who aren’t interested. - Able to Reach Massive Potential Audience
Google says that 46% of the 3.5 billion searches it processes each day are local queries. Local SEO is increasingly important as more and more people embrace search engines as their primary business directories. - In the Moment
Local search tactics position a business to reaching local customers who are looking for that product or service right now. Half of all local queries from mobile devices are searching for basic information like a company’s hours, address or phone number; 78% of those result in an offline purchase. No other advertising channel is as effective at capturing customers at the exact moment they’re ready to make a purchase.
Local search tactics and strategies are particularly effective in reaching prospective customers in the middle of the marketing funnel. They have already decided they want a certain product or service; all businesses have to do is help them choose between local options.
Understanding Bounce Rate, Long Clicks and Pogo-Sticking
How users interact with your website can have a significant impact on its search engine ranking. Factors like how long a user spends on a landing page, or whether the user clicks through to another page on the site, help Google’s search engine algorithm determine your site’s quality and relevance to search terms.
One of the ways we measure site engagement is by looking at data collected by Google Analytics: metrics like bounce rate, visit duration, and pages per visit. These numbers give insight into whether the page resonates with your audience and how to better optimize it.
However, the engagement data you can access with Google Analytics isn’t what Google uses to determine search engine ranking. The search engine algorithm uses different engagement metrics, and unfortunately, these numbers are a bit harder to pin down than bounce rate.
Below, we’ll discuss the meaning of three important terms that illustrate how users interact with your site: bounce rate, long clicks, and pogo-sticking.
Understanding Bounce Rate: Hits, Sessions and Bounces
Before we talk about bounce rate, it helps to get a refresher on how Google Analytics collects data.
The moment a user lands on a website, Google Analytics begins to record a ‘session’ for that user. A session is a single continuous visit to a site, which can include viewing multiple pages on the site and interacting with the site in different ways. Google Analytics tracks everything the user does on the site during that session, including how long the user spends on a specific page (Time on Page) and the total duration of the session.
A session ends in one of three ways: the user leaves the site, is inactive for a period (30 minutes by default) or the clock strikes midnight (in which case Analytics starts tracking a new session for that user beginning at 12:00 AM).
In addition to tracking sessions, Google Analytics also tracks every ‘hit’ that occurs during a session. A hit is any user interaction with the website that triggers data to be sent to Analytics, such as:
- Clicking a link to another page on the site
- Leaving a comment on the page
- Playing a video
- Purchasing an item
- Clicking a button to Share the page on social media
A bounce is a session that ends without a hit. It means the user viewed a single page on the site before exiting, without interacting with the page (at least not in a way that triggers a hit to Google Analytics).
Bounce rate is the number of bounces divided by the number of sessions or the percentage of users who landed on a page and left without interacting or viewing other pages on the site.
Is High Bounce Rate Always a Bad Thing?
A high bounce rate equals a low retention rate. If visitors are leaving a site after viewing a single page, it means that page has not enticed them to engage with or go deeper into the site.
Whether this is a bad thing depends on your objective.
Some pages are built purely to inform. If a visitor lands on a Store Hours page, for example, it is likely they’re already planning a trip to the store and need a bit more information. One would expect that page to have a high bounce rate because once it has done its job, the user should be good to go.
It’s for this same reason that blog posts and news articles tend to have a high bounce rate. People usually visit those pages to obtain a specific piece of information. If the page delivers, the user can leave.
However, a high bounce rate can also indicate problems with your site. It could be that people bounce because the page is of low quality, or it didn’t meet their expectations.
In other cases, a high bounce rate reveals a flaw in your marketing strategy. A flawless page will nonetheless generate a high bounce rate if you’re sending the wrong kind of traffic there.
Finally, bounce rate can yield clues to some of the important factors that impact on your search engine ranking.
Does Bounce Rate Affect SEO?
Bounce rate can tell you a lot about whether people find a page useful and relevant. Usefulness and relevance is information that Google’s search engine ranking algorithm wants to know, too. So, does bounce rate affect SEO?
The short answer is, no. Google confirms that bounce rate is not a ranking factor. Not every website uses Google Analytics, so Google has no way of obtaining widespread data on bounce rate. Plus, as we noted above, a page can be exactly what users were looking for and still have a high bounce rate.
But bounce rate is fundamental in uncovering other numbers that do impact SEO: long clicks and short clicks.
What Are Short and Long Clicks?
The search engine algorithm does not consider a page’s bounce rate when it comes to determining its ranking in the results. However, it does notice how Google’s users interact with pages that appear in the search engine results.
When a user clicks through to a site from the search engine results page (SERP), Google tracks how long the user spends on that site before returning to the SERP. A long click occurs when a user clicks through to a result and does not return to the SERP or remains on the site for a long time before returning.
Short clicks, on the other hand, occur when a user clicks through and then quickly backtracks.
Another important term here is dwell time, or the time a user spends on a site before returning to the SERP.
Difference Between Short Clicks, Long Clicks and Bounce Rate
Unlike bounce rate, short and long clicks do affect a site’s search engine ranking. And it’s unfortunate that Google Analytics doesn’t track them because this data provides even more insight into a user’s activity than bounce rate.
Bounce rate only shows how many users bounced; it doesn’t tell you why. They may have closed the browser, returned to the SERP, or gone for a lunch break.
Short clicks, on the other hand, reveal that the user went right back to the SERP after clicking. Some call this pogo-sticking: you can visualize the user hopping from the SERP to the site and then back to the SERP in quick bounces. Pogo-sticking is a clear signal that the page didn’t fulfil the purpose of the search query.
Although Google Analytics doesn’t track short clicks, long clicks or pogo-sticking, it is possible to uncover some insight on these numbers using bounce rate. Bounce rate and pogo-sticking are directly proportional; if a page is getting a lot of short clicks, it will have a correspondingly high bounce rate, while a higher proportion of long clicks will lead to a lower bounce rate.
The challenge is uncovering the reasons why users bounce.
Are Short Clicks Always a Bad Thing?
Like bounce rate, there are some cases where pogo-sticking is normal.
Take health-related search queries, for example. Users who are researching symptoms will likely want a second opinion, so they’ll bounce back to the results page more than once during their query. It is likely that Google’s algorithm recognizes this and takes it into account.
What You Need to Know About the GDPR in Canada
On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force. This law creates new obligations for Canadian businesses who collect or handle personal information about people living in the European Union (EU).
We’ve briefly summarized what you need to know about the GDPR in Canada from our perspective as digital marketers. Keep in mind that we’re marketing geeks, not lawyers — but we do hope this information provides a good starting point.
What is the GDPR?
The GDPR lays down rules on the protection and movement of Europeans’ personal data both within and outside the EU. It aims to harmonize the laws on data privacy in line with the European Charter of Fundamental Freedoms, which gives EU citizens certain rights regarding their personal data.
The regulation came about back in 2016, but it does not come into force until May 25th, 2018. As that ‘deadline’ approaches, it’s no surprise many Canadian businesses are wondering whether the GDPR applies in Canada and, if so, what they need to do about it.
The short answer is yes: if you do business in the European Union, it’s likely the GDPR will apply to you, even if you’re based in Canada.
We’ll go into more detail about what that means next.
What Does the GDPR Do in Canada?
The GDPR regulates how businesses handle personal information about individuals who reside in the European Union. That includes the business’s European customers, employees, associates, and others on whom the organization collects data.
As a Canadian business, you must follow the GDPR when collecting personal information from European citizens if you:
- Have an establishment in the European Union.
- Offer goods or services to people in the European Union
- Monitor the behaviour (including online behaviour) of people in the European Union.
How to Handle Personal Data Under the GDPR
Personal data includes any information that relates to an identifiable person, like a name, surname, I.D. number, or home address. It also includes aspects of an individual’s digital footprint, like their email address, IP address, or cell phone location data.
If your business has an online presence, chances are that you collect at least some data that falls under the category of personal data.
The GDPR establishes six main principles on how businesses (including Canadian businesses) should handle personal data:
- All data must be collected and processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner. In most cases, you may only collect or process someone’s data after obtaining consent to do so (more on that in the next section).
- You need a specific, legitimate, lawful reason to collect data. No hoarding personal information ‘just because’. If you’re going to collect data, you have to do it with a specific purpose in mind!
- You must limit your data collection to what is necessary to fulfill your purpose. In other words, don’t take more data than you need. If all you need is a name and an email address, don’t ask for a phone number as well.
- You have an obligation to keep the data accurate and up-to-date. Have measures in place to avoid keeping false or outdated information.
- You cannot keep data for longer than is necessary to fulfill your purpose. Once you’re done with it, destroy it.
- You are responsible for data security. If you store the data on an IT system, you must ensure only authorized parties can access it; if you keep physical copies, keep them in a secure location. You also have an obligation to inform people in the event of a data breach.
What is Consent to Collect Personal Data?
Consent is one of the major areas where the GRDP differs from Canada’s federal data privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Whereas PIPEDA in many cases allows for implied consent, the GRDP is strict about when and how businesses should get permission to use someone’s personal information.
As a business, you must obtain clear, affirmative consent in order to collect and process personal data, meaning the person actually has to indicate their permission somehow. For example, an opt-out system like a pre-checked box on a web form not constitute consent.
Consent must also be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. The person you’re asking must know who you are and what you plan to do with the data, and that they can refuse or withdraw consent at any time.
For children under 16, you must obtain consent from the child’s parent or guardian.
How Canadian Businesses Can Prepare for the GDRP
To reiterate, the GRDP mandates that all businesses who operate in the EU, offer goods and services to EU citizens, or monitor the behaviour of EU citizens must follow the rules for data protection in the GRDP. That includes Canadian businesses. If you do business with Europe, it’s incumbent on you to prepare for the GDRP now.
The exact steps you take will depend on how you operate, but the following are good starting points:
- Review your current policies and processes on data collection. What do you collect, and why? Do you obtain and record consent?
- Create new boilerplate contract clauses that meet the law’s requirements. Consult with your lawyer on this one. If you run an e-commerce website or have automated communication with European customers, it’s essential that your agreements fall in line with the new regulation.
- Start keeping records. You will have to be able to prove you have taken steps to follow the law if ever called into question.
- Decide how to approach the ‘ask’. People might not be willing to hand over their personal data unless you offer them a good reason to. Think about what you can give your customers in return for their consent.