Digital marketing

I’ve been experimenting with making and editing video lately. I’m not doing it for my jollies or because I think I’m damned good looking (which I am). It’s because WE (humanity) has demonstrated loud and clear that we want to CONSUME video. We prefer it to text. And if that’s true, and you and I are in the business of communicating, we’re going to have to make video. Oh, and it’ll have to be good. But What Do People Want? People consume over 1 billion hours of YouTube video every day. You might not be part of that stat YET, but it’s because you haven’t gone looking for videos that cover topics you’d actually want to watch yet. My mom and dad really like poker. So I went to YouTube and typed in “Texas Holdem Tips” and got a few million results (like this one ). Maybe you’re an aspiring author but don’t have the time to write a book. I found this video about how to write a book in 24 hours. (Sounds dubious to me as an author, but I didn’t watch the video.) http://ift.tt/2...

It’s human nature to seek out instant gratification, but as search marketers we are trained to deploy data driven strategies to hit long term goals. Unfortunately, our bosses aren’t always content with our long term strategies. Fortunately, there is a metric in Google Analytics called page value.… http://ift.tt/2oPNinL

Business to Business (B2B) marketing is often different from Business to Consumer (B2C) marketing thanks to the elaborate buying processes, a narrow market and more complex products and services of a B2B website. In this article about B2B SEO, I’ll compare the distinctions between the two and explain what that means for your B2B website and SEO. When reading the above, you might think: “In both cases you’re selling products or services to a customer, and you want those products to be found and ordered, so what could be the difference?” While that might be true in case of, for example, office supplies, there are instances of B2B products and services that do require a different approach, especially when it comes to more specialized, complex, technical and expensive products, ordered by larger organizations with multiple stakeholders, so you’ll have to adapt your website to take those distinctions into account. Differences between B2B and B2C So, what ...

A patent granted to Google this week tells us about social media influencer scores developed at Google that sound very much like the scores at Klout . In the references section of the patent, Klout is referred to a couple of times as well, with a link to the Wikipedia Page about Klout, and the Klout FAQ page. We aren’t given a name for these influencer scores in Google’s patent, but it does talk about topic-based influencer scores and advertisers. Many patents are published that might give the inventors behind those patents a right to the technology described in them, but often the decision to move ahead with the processes described in those patents might be based upon business-based matters, such as whether or not there might be value is pursuing the patent. When I read this patent, I was reminded of an earlier patent from Google from a couple of years ago that described an advertising model that used social media influencers and their interests called Adheat. That patent was AdHeat...

Google is continuing their efforts against fake news and the company has publicly stated that fakes news ‘…is the most high profile’ issue that majority of the people who play around with Google’s search engine encounter. A significant percentage of the average searcher’s results are either misleading, offensive or fake. Google has outright stated that they can’t ‘fully solve’ the problem of fake news right now. People can be hopeful because the company is making some progress to finally rid the world of fake news. Obviously, it would take a lot of resources and time for Google to make that ‘small step’ into something bigger, more long-term but it is definitely happening. Here’s how Google is fighting against fake news: 1. New Search Quality Rater Guidelines Search is one of Google’s primary functions. Utilizing this system means that it should be quality-checked regularly. Google works around this by employing people and a complex process of experimentation. This process is chec...

Dr. Peter J. Meyers of Moz recently published his findings on HTTPS . Almost a year ago, Dr. Pete wrote that 30% of page-1 Google results that they studied were secure in that they were using HTTPS. He went on to reveal that recently this week, that number has peaked to 50%. moz.com/blog Based on what Dr. Pete wrote, it can be inferred that the steady increase without any sudden spikes are a result of people slowly accepting and converting to HTTPS and not because of Google’s constant algorithm changes. http://twitter.com/RankRanger Dr. Pete and Moz justified their findings by collaborating with Rank Ranger who operate on a separate data set; which more or less generated and proved their findings. What this means is that if two tracking tools were able to come to more or less the same answer, then the both of them are more or less correct if not on to something   interesting. moz.com/blog Dr. Pete thinks that by the end of 2017, HTTPS websites will cover at ...

Enterprise users of Google My Business, rejoice! Late last week, Google rolled out the ability to download Insights data, in bulk, straight from your dashboard. With no access to the API required, this new feature enables a whole new set of users to measure and report on the performance of their listings within Google Search and Google Maps.… http://ift.tt/2q1ZXc5

Why Thin Content Still Ranks as a Top SEO Issue to Solve was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips . It struck me the other day, while I was reviewing a client project with one of our SEO analysts, that the old problem of thin content is still an insidious revenue killer for many websites. Or put another way, until you have content worth ranking, do not be surprised if you don’t rank well. By way of example, the client, a B2B lead gen site for industrial parts, is receiving 150% more traffic this year compared to last and getting a record number of inquiries. We’re seeing these stellar results after many months of work that focused heavily on fixing thin content — until content was improved, the traffic suffered! By focusing on improving content quality, our client is seeing 150% more traffic this year compared to last and getting a record number of inquiries. (click to enlarge) Then looking at some mobile and newer sites remind...

“Martin, it’s all psychological. You yell, ‘Barracuda,’ everybody says, ‘huh, what?’ You yell ‘Shark,’… we’ve got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.” – Mayor Larry Vaughn, Jaws (1975) What is Direct Traffic, Sayf? Hi random person! Thanks for asking!… http://ift.tt/2oDX0uk

If you own an eCommerce site, a product can run out of stock. When a product becomes permanently unavailable, what should you do with the product page in your online store? Delete that specific page? Set up a redirect? Show alternatives? Or just leave the page as it is? This Ask Yoast  will help you make the best decision when a product goes out of stock. Brad Griffin out of Texas USA emailed us: “When a WooCommerce product is out of stock, I’ve got a couple of options: a redirect; a fallback URL; a waiting list; or delete it and do nothing. Let’s assume that the product is a one-time sale, it’s not coming back. What should I do with that URL? Check out the video or read the answer below! Want to outrank your competitor and get more sales? Read our Shop SEO eBook! » $ 25€ 25 - Buy now » Info Best practice product out of stock In the video, we explain which options you have when a product goes out of stock and what would be the best decision: ” Well, Brad, ...

SEO can be really complicated! How do you start with improving the structure of a site? How do you write amazing and SEO-friendly articles? To help all of you with your SEO strategy, I’m writing a series of Ask Yoast case studies. In these case studies, I’ll take a look at a specific site (the owner knows about it of course :-)), and I’ll give some SEO advice. In this second case study: SEO of an online shop! Ask Yoast Case studies Want Marieke to look at the content of your site? Send an email to ask@yoast.com ! Improve the SEO of an online shop! In this case study, the SEO of an online shop is the central topic. We were given the chance to take a look at the SEO of Knock Knock , independent makers of clever gifts, books, and whatever else they can think up. The Knock Knock team didn’t have a specific question for us, so we just took a look at their website and give advice on how to improve the SEO First impression of KnockKnock I want to buy those noteboo...

Gannett’s announcement yesterday that its ReachLocal division has acquired SweetIQ really pissed me off in that the day after Yext’s* IPO I had a great conversation with a Local vet where I predicted that the success of the IPO would set off a wave a M&A in the Local Marketing Tech sector and damned if I wasn’t going to write an all-knowing post asap so I could look like a genius when it happened. Thanks to my endless capacity for procrastination Mohannad, Mike & crew have beaten me to the punch (congrats to them btw). But that’s not going to stop me from trying to change the timeline. So here goes (in handy ordered list format to trigger Instant Answers!): How Will The Yext IPO Affect The Local Search Industry? Post-IPO, Yext is now worth over $1 billion The day of the IPO Yext’s CEO, Howard Lerman, went on the record that this is a “winner take all market” and that Yext will be using the IPO proceeds for sales and marketing, which basically translates to “we’re going t...

“I feel like Poncho is your other girlfriend or something,” said Jacq to me the other day after I shared something funny Poncho said to me in Facebook messenger about how he ranked “Umbrella” as one of the “middle ellas” below “mozzarella” and above “salmonella.” I should explain something: Poncho is a bot. And Poncho’s “official” job is to give me the weather report. Poncho is A Great Communicator This link takes you to Poncho’s website. I think it’ll ask you to download the app. But the way I get my updates from Poncho is through Facebook Messenger . It feels even more human. Which is weird to say. I know this is a bot. Or even stranger, I know this is a human-filled “jukebox” of “interaction” that is actually more like a micro-media project. (Again, Poncho’s job is to give me the weather, but he tells me weird and jokey things with it. And he sends little gifs). http://ift.tt/2otHYHA

In the digital marketing world, trends are constantly emerging. To stay competitive, brands need to stand out and adapt to evolving trends or else they risk falling behind and loosing the interest of their target audiences. My recommendation? Expand your marketing beyond image ads by incorporating video content. … http://ift.tt/2o8Lw5V

Every business owner with a website is looking for ways to get noticed in the search results. Today, there are loads of tactics to rank well as a local business, but there is no silver bullet: as with most SEO issues, this is a combined effort. One of these pieces of the local SEO puzzle is Google My Business, a dashboard for managing listings. But what is it exactly and why is it so important for local SEO? Make sure your customers find your shop! Optimize your site with our Local SEO plugin and show you opening hours, locations, map and much more! » Buy now » Info What is Google My Business? My Business is Google’s one-stop shop to manage how your business will look and perform in the search engine. It is an essential tool to find out and adjust how your site shows in Maps, the Knowledge Graph, Google+ and organic search results. According to the 2017 edition of Moz’ Local Search Ranking Factors Survey , Google My Business continues to be the biggest driver of local SEO succ...

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most important feature that enables improved website visibility and recognition online. Without it, you might as well stand on the street and yell at people to check out your website. However, SEO is a strategy that needs to be implemented the right way in order for it to provide the best results. There is no doubt that you will find tips and guides online that will “teach” you how to take an advantage of SEO fast and easy. However, you shouldn’t believe everything you find on the Internet. In fact, there are ways to take an advantage of SEO, but Google loves nothing more than to punish those who try to cheat their way to the top of the rankings. Here is some SEO advice you should most definitely ignore. More Keywords Means Higher Rankings No, it doesn’t. As the matter of fact, trying to flood content with keywords will do quite the opposite of ranking it high. It will get banned from search engine altogether. Google has this algorithm that...

When you set up new views and add your regular filters, chances are, things usually work exactly as expected. But occasionally, you’ve triple and quadruple checked each individual filter, yet the data is not coming in as expected (or isn’t coming in at all).… http://ift.tt/2pwTe9K

If you’re creating content for a website, you might want to, occasionally, publish an article in a language different from the language of your other content. However, it’s difficult to rank with one specific article that’s written in a language that differs from the rest. So what should you do to improve the SEO of that article? In this Ask Yoast , I’ll help you out and explain when to optimize your metadata in another language, when to use hreflang and what more to do to help that article rank! Justin from VPNgids.nl  (VPNguide.nl) emailed us with this question: “I’ve got a Dutch blog but I want to publish an article in English. What should I do? Should I just add an hreflang tag or something else?” Check out the video or read the answer below! Become a technical SEO expert with our Technical SEO 1 training! » $ 199€ 199 - Buy now » Info English article on a Dutch blog In the video, we explain what options you have to improve the SEO of an ...

G-Lock Apps is an email deliverability tool that was built to find out exactly why emails get blocked or filtered, why it happens and how to fix it so that the user can continue to send emails while maximizing all of the benefits that go with it. G-Lock Apps started out precisely because of the question “Why are my Emails going to spam?” and built around that problem are tools and solutions to avoid that in the first place. Essentially, G-Lock Apps is a deliverability and spam-testing tool all-in-one package. You could say that G-Lock Apps was built out of necessity, especially for people that send a lot of Emails such as Linkbuilders and Email Marketers. How G-Lock Apps Works Interestingly enough, this all-in-one Email tool works on a very simple procedure. What the tool does is that it gives the user a tracking ID as well as a list of email addresses from Gmail, Hotmail and the like; this is what G-Lock Apps refer to as a ‘Seed List’. What then happens is that the user appends th...

I asked my son Harold how he’d describe himself and he said, “I don’t know. There isn’t one word that describes me. I like gaming and stuff, and making music, and all that other stuff. There’s just not one word.” I can tell you what word he’d never use: autistic. Harold’s a very high functioning kid and the challenges of autism aren’t really his concern. He just works around them. BUT there’s stuff there that we can learn from and it’s important. Harold is a Multi-Hyphenated Guy Like everyone working in the world today, Harold has lots of pursuits. He plays video games. He modifies indie games, changing their skins and music. He’s a very accomplished music maker (at last count, he’d published just under 200 pieces on Soundcloud – yes, I said 200). That’s what he focuses on. He consumes media. He makes entertainment and media projects. To him, they’re one in the same. You watch it. You make it. You listen to it. You make it. You play it. You make it. They’re the same thing to Harold....