Does aligning SEO goals with multiple teams and departments feel like herding cats? It's time to try the perfect SEO brief.
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As part of a more significant effort to fight creator impersonation, YouTube has stopped allowing channels to hide the number of subscribers they have.
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SMBs: Taking risks doesn't have to be scary. Let's explore tested, successful marketing strategies as a safe path to expanding into uncharted territory.
The post Small Business Marketing: How To Safely Try New Strategies appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
SEO isn’t just about the numbers. It is also about understanding the audience and building an SEO campaign around that information.
The post 7 Methods To Research & Analyze Your Audience For SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Read on to learn how advertisers are prioritizing machine learning, first-party data, and the impacts that inflation imposes on marketing performance.
The post Inflation’s Impact On Ad Spend Detailed In Merkle Report appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Google has updated its rich results content guidelines to align better with the overall Google merchant guidelines thus disallowing rich results for products that are widely prohibited or regulated, or that can facilitate serious harm to self or others.
These include, but are not limited to, weapons, recreational drugs, tobacco & vaping products and gambling-related products.
New rich results guidelines. Google has updated the rich results product content guidelines to add this section:
Don’t mark up content that promotes widely prohibited or regulated goods, services, or information that may facilitate serious and/or immediate or long term harm to self or others. This includes content related to firearms & weapons, recreational drugs, tobacco & vaping products and gambling-related products.
Application. Google said this policy applies to all forms of rich result markup, including star ratings, prices, or availability information and more. This can impact products with rich result structured data markup that are widely prohibited or regulated, or that can facilitate serious harm to self or others. “This could include goods like fireworks, recreational drugs, and other products that can pose acute threats of physical harm,” a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land.
Effective immediately. Google told us this policy goes into affect today, at the time this story has published.
Why we care. If you sell any of these types of products, you will probably want to remove the structured data markup from those pages. If you do not remove the markup, either way, Google will not show rich results for these product categories.
We did ask Google if you will receive some sort of manual action within Google Search Console and Google said it will not issue manual actions, instead Google will simply just remove the rich results for these types of search results. So no manual action will be given but technically the removal of these rich results is the penalty one would receive for violating the rich results content guidelines.
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U.S. FCC commissioner responds to reports that China can access TikTok user data, requests Google & Apple remove TikTok from app stores.
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The organization in charge of HTML and web privacy standards announced a major change to address future of web at a faster pace.
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Personalizing your marketing campaigns for one customer is easy, but how about one hundred or thousands of customers across multiple marketing channels?
Work smarter, not harder, by using artificial intelligence (AI) as part of your martech stack and giving your customers the unique experiences they crave.
Register today for “Use Data to Create Next-Level Customer Experiences at Scale,” presented by MoEngage.
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Online retailer Warby Parker was sued by 1-800 Contacts over it’s use of the latters branded keywords to redirect searchers to the Warby Parker online store. The case was dismissed by a Manhattan federal judge saying that Warby Parkers’ ads are unlikely to confuse potential customers.
The decision. Judge Kevin Castel argued against 1-800 Contacts saying that customers are unlikely to think that they’re buying from 1-800 Contacts when they click on a Warby Parker ad. Castel also said the companies’ trademarks were too dissimilar to confuse contact-lens buyers, who are likely to pay close attention to what they are purchasing and noted that Warby Parker’s name is clearly displayed in the search results and on its website.
Castel added that prospective customers will take the time to figure out that the search results link to Warby Parkers website, and will therefore discern that they are buying from contacts from Warby Parkers website.
1-800 Contacts response. A spokesperson for 1-800 Contacts said after the ruling that the decision by the judge was “inconsistent with several well-established legal principles,” and that the company is “evaluating appropriate next steps, including whether to appeal.”
Sounds familiar. Earlier this year we reported on an attempt by Edible Arrangements to sue Google over theft, conversion, and racketeering. Edible Arrangements lost that lawsuit, but this was not the first case courts heard over trademark and copy issues.
In my own Google search, I was unable to mimic the results that this suit was based on and didn’t find any Warby Parker ads initially. You can read the article and ruling from Reuters here.
Why we care. The dismissal of this case against Warby Parker should concern advertisers who are competing for branded keywords. If you’re facing a similar issue, you can visit the Google trademark help document, but it can be a painstakingly long, and temporary band-aid for a much bigger issue. On the contrary, if you’re using another brand’s keywords in your ad strategy, be careful, as you could see yourself in hot water.
The post Warby Parker dodges 1-800 Contacts lawsuit over search results, website appeared first on Search Engine Land.
US Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is requesting that Apple and Google ban TikTok from their app stores. The request is due to the social media apps “pattern of surreptitious data practices.”
The request comes after BuzzFeed News reported that US data had been accessed from China. TikTok had been adamant for years that any data access from US users had been kept in the US. But according to leaked audio, employees of TikTok have been able to access nonpublic data about TikTok users.
“As you know TikTok is an app that is available to millions of Americans through your app stores, and it collects vast troves of sensitive data about those US users. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance — an organization that is beholden to the Communist Party of China and required by the Chinese law to comply with PRC’s surveillance demands,” Carr said in a letter addressed to Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook.
“It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data.”
TikTok’s response. After the revelations, TikTok was quick to respond that it was moving all US users’ data to Oracle servers. They add that they expect to delete all US user data from their own centers.
This sounds familiar. In 2020 then President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning TikTok from the US, citing an investigation in 2019 over national security concerns. TikTok responded saying that the EO was issued without any due process. Last year, President Biden revoked the ban and replaced the order with requirements that the Commerce Department review apps that may pose national security risks.
TikTok, Apple, and Google have not yet responded to the request.
Why we care. Apparently, only the US can access US user data. In all seriousness, the calls for a ban seem to be hypocritical at best. While we understand the need to limit national security threats from foreign adversaries, where do we draw the line? Will all foreign apps be required to keep their US data in the country?
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The Google Maps Platform has added a bunch of new features for businesses to add deeper integration with its Google Maps Platform APIs to help those businesses streamline some of their integrations with Google Maps. These include the ability to embed Reserve with Google on your site, a new embed a store location tool, a Locator Plus feature, store locator analytics and more.
We have seen Reserve with Google feature in Google Search and Google Maps for a while now. Now, Google is allowing businesses to use the Reserve with Google feature on their own sites or portals.
Google added new APIs to allow you to embed the Reserve with Google on your site and your own maps. Google said this allows for “end-to-end appointment booking flow, and connects users to a variety of services.” It allows your customers who are using your store locator an option for bookings, right within the locator, which creates an easier booking process.
Here is how it works:
Google also has rolled out a way to manage and publish your store locator using the Google Maps platform. Google said this will allow you to “quickly update and roll out your store locator” on your site. In the Locator Plus solution, you can capture the location of every single store you want to show users – all within one map, Google explained. This can now be done with a simple copy and paste of some embed code and very little API development coding.
Similar to the store locator feature, the new Locator Plus feature allows businesses to easily import business details from your Google Business Profile. This will allow the business details your already have in your Google Business Profile to be reflected in the store locator on your website. The details include include hours, contact information, photos, service options, and more.
With all these announcements, Google also is rolling out a new Google store locator analytics dashboard. This analytics dashboard should help you better understand the impact of your implementation and generate insights from your data. It shows you how well your site visitors are engaging with your store locator, Google said.
The dashboard helps you measure your performance week over week, including number of views, number of interactions with Google Search and Google Place Details, and overall engagement rate. The dashboard uses anonymized data to provide important benchmarks on how a developer’s implementation compares against other developers using the same solution.
Why we care. All these tools can be useful for large and small businesses to manage their local presence not just on Google but also on their own site. Plus, searchers are accustomed to Google and may find these embed features familiar and be more likely to use them.
At the same time, this is putting more and more of your data in Google, making you more reliant on Google for management and hosting of this features and data. So keep that in mind before implementing these on your site.
The post Google Maps adds new store location feature, Locator Plus, Reserve with Google integration, new analytics and more appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Web analytics company SimilarWeb acquired rank tracking and monitoring tool Rank Ranger last month. Terms of the deal, announced on May 16, were not revealed.
I recently had a chance to conduct a Q&A with SimilarWeb VP, GM Digital Marketing Solutions Baruch Toledano, as well as Rank Ranger CEO and founder Shay Harel.
Toledano and Harel discussed what the acquisition means for both companies and their customers. They also discuss some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in SEO right now. Here are the highlights.
The company, founded in 2007, has more than 1,000 employees. It also has more than 2,500 customers around the world, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, including Adidas, Adobe, Booking.com, DHL, Google, MGM and Pepsico.
According to Toledano, SimilarWeb’s mission is to:
Why did SimilarWeb acquire RankRanger? Toledano said:
This acquisition provides many SimilarWeb customers with a comprehensive view into their business decisions, Toledano said.
What is Toledano’s favorite thing about Rank Ranger?
This was the second acquisition for SimilarWeb within six months. In November, SimilarWeb acquired Embee Mobile, a mobile insights provider. That acquisition was meant to strengthen its mobile app intelligence offering.
The company, founded in 2009, has “hundreds” of customers (the company declined to be more specific), including H&M, Reckitt and Motley Fool.
All of Rank Ranger’s employees (more than a dozen developers and SEO specialists) now work out of SimilarWeb’s Tel Aviv office. All that has really changed is that Rank Ranger is now a SimilarWeb-owned company.
Harel views SimilarWeb as a complementary software to Rank Ranger, which allows for new opportunities to develop new SEO tools and analytics (e.g., traffic analysis, competitor intelligence, advanced reporting).
Here’s how Harel summed up what Rank Ranger does:
For many startups, the goal is to get acquired. But that was never the goal for Rank Ranger, Harel said:
I asked Harel what he remembered most about the early days of the company. At the time, SEO was still in its early stages and there was a growing demand from marketers for tools that helped them perform daily and monthly tasks:
Harel also shared a couple of highlights from his time at Rank Ranger:
So what is Harel’s favorite thing about SimilarWeb?
According to Toldedano:
He added that challenges are opportunities where SEO can become a pivotal role within the marketing team:
Because SEO sits at the junction between creative, analytical and technical disciplines of marketing, it provides the best representation of the voice of customers and what it means to each of these disciplines, Toldedano said.
Keeping up with Google is the biggest challenge, according to Harel. More specifically, changes to SERP features and the display of organic results.
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1 out of 4 people in the U.S. lives with some type of disability. Because consumers are online now more than in previous years, your clients’ websites must be accessible to everyone.
It’s not merely a matter of being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It’s also good business—because web accessibility can deliver better results and enhance search engine optimization.
Join a panel of agency, compliance and disability leaders to hear more about how web accessibility can work for your agency and your clients.
Register today for “Agencies: Grow Revenue Streams Through Web Accessibility & Compliance,” presented by accessiBe.
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Facebook is testing a new sidebar that helps users find groups quicker and easier. The sidebar lists your groups and their latest activity like posts or chats. You can also pin your favorite groups so you can access them quicker, and even create your own.
The case for groups. Facebook groups aren’t new. Groups are used to get users with similar interests, and hobbies together, in a place where they can collaborate, communicate, sell, or meet in person. This reorganization doesn’t change the functionality of groups or how they work, but reorganizes them within the Facebook platform and offers a few new features.
How groups are organized. In the new sidebar, you’ll be able to easily see a menu that takes you to links for events, shops, chats, or other channels within the group.
Within their groups, admins can create individual channels to allow smaller, more casual interactions. This is meant to drive deeper discussions and organize the group around sub-topics of interests and demographics.
Community chat. Message and collaborate with other group members in private, smaller channels based on a sub-topic or interest.
Community audio. This allows admins and members to hold audio conversations in real-time.
Community feed. Just like with a normal Facebook feed, the community feeds allow you to browse activity within your selected channel.
Launch date TBD. There isn’t any information on when these new features will be launched to the public fully. But you can read the announcement here.
Why we care. Businesses with a large Facebook presence can take advantage of these new features and create groups around their product or service. There’s no guarantee they’ll result in any measurable success, but creating a community around their brand may be a way to keep people engaged.
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Your opportunity to earn industry-wide recognition, boost company morale, generate new business, and showcase your company’s outstanding achievements is here: Enter the 2022 Search Engine Land Awards now!
Early Bird rates expire in two weeks… submit your application by Friday, July 15 at 11:59pm PST to save $100 off standard rates (per entry!).
Join the esteemed ranks of past winners, including:
Check out the full list of 2021 winners here – and all of the available entry categories.
And last, but certainly not least, say hello to your 2022 Search Engine Land Awards judges!
Winners will be announced on October 17 in exclusive coverage on Search Engine Land – the industry publication of record.
Take the first step now by creating your account and exploring the application process. If you have questions, please reach out to us at awards@searchengineland.com.
Best of luck! We look forward to your submission!
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Yoast SEO, one of the more popular SEO plugins for WordPress, has finally adopted IndexNow, the Microsoft backed protocol to submit content to search engines. This is available in the premium version of Yoast SEO version 19.2, the company announced.
What is IndexNow. IndexNow provides a method for websites owners to instantly inform search engines about latest content changes on their website. IndexNow is a simple ping protocol so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted, allowing search engines to quickly reflect this change in their search results. The co-sharing of IndexNow went fully live in January 2022.
Integrations. Why Microsoft built its own plugin for WordPress sites to use IndexNow, Yoast decided to build it in to its premium plugin. Why did Yoast add it now? “The latest change to the protocol is the second significant development that made us change our minds about IndexNow. The IndexNow team changed the endpoint of the API from pinging each individual-supported search engine to a single API managed by the protocol. This means that sites only have to ping a single site, making the process much more efficient. All of this fits into our view of a sustainable crawling and indexing solution, so now is the time to implement IndexNow with a new integration in Yoast SEO,” the company explained.
What is IndexNow. IndexNow provides a method for websites owners to instantly inform search engines about latest content changes on their website. IndexNow is a simple ping protocol so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted, allowing search engines to quickly reflect this change in their search results.
Google support? Nope, not yet. Google last year said it was testing IndexNow but since then has not said much about IndexNow. There have been some rumors that Google would not adopt this protocol but as we have seen in the search space, things change fast and often.
Why we care. Like we said before, instant indexing is an SEO’s dream when it comes to giving search engines the most updated content on a site. The protocol is very simple and it requires very little developer effort to add this to your site, so it makes sense to implement this if you care about speedy indexing.
Now, if you have WordPress and use Yoast SEO premium, you can easily active IndexNow for your site.
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Leveraging smart bidding allows advertisers to take advantage of real-time or auction bids. Generally, there is a wide range of information helping the algorithms operate efficiently, such as time of day, past search history, location, ad budget, and more.
Most advertisers are aware of the disadvantages of automated bidding, such as the loss of control and the ability to utilize bid adjustments. But in his MX Advanced 2022 presentation, Ani explains that the efficiency and performance gains are worth it.
Ani explains that it’s up to us as advertisers to provide the algorithms with the data points it needs to make the right decisions in that real-time auction process. “Ultimately automated bidding will take the heavy lifting out of your campaign management and will typically outperform manual bidding. But like most things in life, you get what you give and machine learning can only make smart choices if it knows what’s valuable to your business. So it’s really important to set up campaigns and conversion actions that are in line with your business goals.”
There are four types of smart bidding available to use. Those are:
It’s typically suggested that when launching new campaigns to use a manual CPC or maximize clicks strategy. This gives the algorithm the data it needs to understand who the customer is and who it should go after. Ani suggests keeping tight control of your keywords and how much you’re paying per click to drive that traffic. Then when you get a decent number of conversions using that strategy, switch to smart bidding.
The chart below from Optmyzr shows us what bid adjustments are available for your strategy and goals.
If you’re a service-based business, you’ll likely want to use a Target CPA strategy with Maximize Conversions. Ecommerce businesses will want to use a Maximize Conversion Value strategy with a specific ROI goal. Ultimately, it’s about aligning your business goals so that the system can improve the efficiency of those campaigns. Here are some other best campaign practices:
Ani offers the advice “eyes on, hands-off.” Let the algorithm do the work and be patient!
For campaigns that don’t have revenue ties to it, such as lead gen. or phone calls for a medical practice, the system will know how many calls or form fills are completed, but it can’t differentiate between the high-quality ones and the ones where people are looking for the wrong service. In these instances, you’ll need to ensure that the proper feedback loop is being utilized so the system can ensure you’re getting the right traffic. To prevent this, you’ll need to import offline conversions and sales data from your CRM.
Performance Max campaigns have taken over in popularity. The campaigns supersede any other campaign types, even search. The only exception to the rule is that f the search campaigns have exact match keywords. So if you’re running a display or shopping campaign in conjunction, the Performance Max campaigns will always take precedence.
Performance Max campaigns requires a different process than other Google ad campaigns you might have created. Performance Max combines dynamic search, shopping, smart shipping, and discovery all in one.
Set up includes asset groups (ad groups), audiences ad copy, including inputs for headlines, descriptions, images, and videos, and listing (product) groups. One important thing to note is that the Performance Max will create a dynamically generated video for you if you don’t create and upload your own. These videos usually aren’t pretty, so you’ll want to ensure that you upload one of your own choosing.
You’ll also want to make sure you have offline conversion tracking, uploaded customer lists, and built audiences around relevant keywords so Google has some direction on whom to target. If you have a product feed in the Merchant Center, Google will match your feed with the creative assets you provided in the asset group. Unfortunately, you won’t see the search terms that result in conversions or wasted ad spend, so you don’t have a lot of visibility in performance aside from revenue. The best course of action is to review in your feed which brands are spending money, and which aren’t converting. Then use that info to make changes on your offer. Keep in mind that you’ll only be able to see the data if you show “All Campaigns” and filter for Performance max.
Get your free pass here.
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“Not all Google updates are equal,” said Glenn Gabe, SEO consultant at G-Squared Interactive, in his presentation at SMX Advanced. “Google pushes thousands of changes per year, but some are small and some are large.”
Whenever a new Google algorithm update is announced, SEOs often spend a lot of money, time, and resources optimizing their sites. And while this can be a good thing, as it helps improve these properties, it can also distract marketers from higher priority tasks when the update is overhyped.
For example, many sites worked heavily on improving Core Web Vitals even though the page experience signal is lightweight (more of a tiebreaker). Gabe showed examples of sites that saw no movement at all when their CWV scores were “poor” and “good”.
To properly address these updates — and discern what impact they will have — Gabe offered SEOs a few tips that can help them get to the heart of the issue.
Any major drop in rankings/visibility following a Google update will undoubtedly spur many SEOs to action. But, to avoid wasting too much of your valuable time and resources, Gabe recommended getting all the facts in place before jumping to conclusions.
“Avoid the knee-jerk reaction when rankings drop,” he said. “You might need to [make changes], or you might not need to. A drop during a major algorithm update could be due to relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, or overall site quality problems.”
“All of these are very different, so don’t just charge ahead,” he added.
Gabe suggests marketers create a delta report to analyze these changes. This type of report will detail changes in your top landing pages and queries, allowing you to pinpoint those that have dropped during significant algorithm updates. It can also reveal the root cause of the drops and help teams determine the next steps.
“This is quick, easy, and packed with punch,” he said. “It can reveal a lot of information.”
Sometimes visibility changes following a Google update stem from a quality issue with your site, rather than a change in the algorithm or new competitors.
“If you determine this is the case, there’s good and bad news,” Gabe said. “You can address those problems and see recovery eventually, but it takes significant work over the long term. You will typically not recover quickly — it’s usually months of hard work.”
Gabe said that when addressing these quality issues, site owners should analyze their sites through the lens of broad core algorithm updates, then work to improve content quality and user experience. This means reviewing potential technical SEO problems that could be affecting site quality as well.
“As Google’s John Mueller explained, when you think about quality, it’s not just about content,” said Gabe. “It’s not just about the text on a page, so don’t just focus on what people are reading.”
“E-A-T, or expertise, authoritativeness, and trust, is super-important,” said Gabe. “You could think of Google’s algorithm like a human who’s asking if the [site] creator has expertise on a topic. You have to look at your content objectively.”
Because E-A-T isn’t a score or scale, it’s not always easy determining how well your site embodies its principles. Yet Google’s documentation has highlighted its importance — especially when future-proofing sites for algorithm updates. So, SEOs should ensure they’re adhering to its standard.
When it comes to improving E-A-T after a ranking drop, many SEOs focus on improving content quality and thoroughness, which are incredibly important. But, as Gabe noted, authoritativeness is also heavily influenced by links and mentions from authoritative sites.
“If you do the right things content-wise and build trust with your audience, links and mentions from well-known sites could help from an E-A-T standpoint,” he said. “It’s not easy to fix this problem if you don’t have a lot of authority, but you can work at it over time.”
“It’s really important to identify, plan and execute changes to improve the site overall,” he added.
Not registered for SMX Advanced? Get your free pass here.
Already registered for SMX Advanced? Log in here.
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Correct hreflang tags are critical for international SEO success. Here are six common hreflang tags mistakes and what to do about them.
The post 6 Common Hreflang Tag Mistakes Sabotaging Your International SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
When you have a productive team, you’ll have happier clients. And happy clients equate to sustainable business growth, which keeps your team employed and equally happy.
The problem is many marketing leaders were trained in archaic productivity techniques, such as meeting madness that can quickly drain the creative air out of the room, or non-stop daily nagging via Slack.
I’ve also witnessed many clients implode due to a lack of focus on productivity measures – not only within their in-house marketing departments but across their entire staff. This is a major downfall for agencies like mine – because of their lack of productive habits, they failed internally, and I lost a client. This lack of productive discipline hurts hundreds of agencies across the world.
Old habits die hard, especially when productivity comes into play.
So whether you’re leading a team of writers, SEOs, or social media influencers, these productivity hacks will help your agency succeed.
And the more you repeat good habits, the stronger you can build on these, making you and your staff outrageously productive.
With that said, here are 21 tips to keep your marketing team – or any team – productive.
One of the main productivity issues I’ve seen across hundreds of agencies and companies I’ve worked with over the past two decades is the lack understanding roles.
Undefined roles and responsibilities can result in leaks in your project management funnel, where certain deliverables are not met, or clients are not given the required attention.
On the flip side, leaders have a natural impulse to put more responsibility on their most productive staff, creating bitter resentments between staff members and management.
To avoid these issues, it’s essential to define your work process as a company and clearly delegate roles and responsibilities to staff. Consider even minute details like administrative work, who takes leads on projects, and who needs to do the grunt work.
With various roles and responsibilities defined, you must put your team in the best position possible to succeed. Clearly, someone with little knowledge of SEO or writing will struggle in those roles, dragging down your business.
So if someone is better at client communication than one of your SEO associates, consider making them responsible for client relations.
However, no agency is perfect.
Outsource your weaknesses. Hiring freelancers or white labeling services is a great way to fill labor gaps without overwhelming your team or hiring new individuals.
Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.
Your job as a leader is to put these individuals in the best position possible to succeed.
Capitalize on your team’s strengths. Delegate the rest.
Because your team will have a diverse set of strengths and weaknesses, it’s common for some employees to at least feel like they are taking on more responsibilities than others.
Therefore, to prevent any sort of hostility and to incentivize greater production, it makes sense to tie compensation to productivity.
There truly is no greater incentive at a workplace than to base pay on performance. But better yet, give workers the freedom and flexibility to work on their schedule (including remotely) to save money and also save your employees their time.
Meeting mania – many managers love it, but employees hate it.
There is no bigger impediment to the workday than taking a big chunk of time (especially in the mornings when people can be in full creative mode) to talk about strategy.
Cut out wasteful meetings, but make the most of the meetings you do need.
Apply these productivity hacks to meetings to ensure that you and your team are as productive as possible:
Have you ever noticed that you tend to be more productive in the morning, even without a cup of coffee? This is because, for the average adult on a normal schedule, your energy levels naturally spike shortly after you awake due to your circadian rhythms and cortisol levels.
Thanks to our agrarian roots, this was the time of day when you would typically go out and do manual labor, so our bodies created a little internal alarm clock to wake us up.
For this reason, I always do my most creative work such as writing and strategy planning, which requires lots of focus, early in the morning. You can also plan out tasks based on your general level of alertness.
For example, many of us experience a second wind mid-afternoon. So by performing essential tasks when we’re most alert and mindless tasks when we are crashing a little bit, you can get remarkably improved productivity without downing a couple of espressos to stay focused.
To follow up on this, it’s important to plan your day ahead of time. In fact, I like to take time on the weekend or early Monday to block off time for tasks throughout the week to keep my schedule on track.
By using a project management software or Google Sheets, you can track progress throughout the week, spend extra time working on tasks when you’re falling behind on, and even gain a little hustle trying to beat the clock on tasks where you are falling behind.
For example, blocking off time to even look at emails is a great way to reduce distractions and condense tasks into a small, manageable chunk of time without being overwhelmed.
I check my email only three times a day on my “creative” days, which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and about seven times or so Tuesday and Thursday when I plan the bulk of my meetings and more administrative work.
Of course, don’t forget to block off downtime throughout your day and week for breaks. While breaks will momentarily stop productivity, taking a 15-minute break here or there will actually make you more productive throughout the day overall.
Not only do breaks make you more productive, but they make you more alert and a better decision-maker.
For example, a famous study of Israeli judges found that judges who took two breaks in the day prior to granting detainees parole were more likely to grant parole. On the other hand, judges who had not taken breaks typically chose the safest or most simplistic answer of just denying detainees parole altogether.
In addition, this study from Stanford showed that writers and other creatives who were stuck with writer’s block benefited tremendously from talking walks to clear the mind.
I also cease all work duties at 6 p.m. every Wednesday, and spend alone time either in the woods hiking, riding motorcycles, or in my office reading with a bottle or two of wine.
I shut off completely, and reset myself for the rest of the week’s duties. This means no computers or checking work emails or social media from my phone. I also do the same thing for the entire day Sunday, which is mostly spent with family to recharge.
The more mental clarity your team has daily, the sharper the focus and productivity.
While you don’t need an entire yoga studio or massage center like those found at Google headquarters, some tips to improve mental clarity and reduce stress throughout the day include:
Creating a calm environment involves reducing distractions. Whether you have an open office layout, cubicles, or are remote, there are a few ways to reduce distractions throughout the day, which will help your team focus:
Unfortunately, our attention span can only focus on so much, and multi-tasking is often a distraction in and of itself.
Train staff and yourself to focus on single tasks simultaneously, even if it means blocking off points of the day for communication, like email and Slack.
Perhaps the most straightforward study arrives from the classroom. One ScienceDirect study found that college students who multitasked during homework and class assignments took longer to complete their homework and had a worse GPA.
One way to help your staff stay focused is to provide them with the proper tools and education to become more productive.
For example, project management software and calendar apps have led the way as a resource for individuals to plan out tasks in advance, set due dates and block off time to complete tasks.
If you’re looking to save money, I also like to set up simple project management spreadsheets with tasks, checkboxes once a task is complete, due dates, and employee signatures to track and assign tasks.
These tools also provide a transparent view of staff members’ productivity and help you identify distractions or tasks they struggle to complete.
Furthermore, there is no better way to set your staff up for success than by explaining tasks thoroughly to avoid confusion. Many employees struggle to ask questions at work when they are confused about a task.
To prevent confusion and anxiety at work, provide detailed explanations and hands-on teaching to help staff master tasks quickly.
Naturally, in the age of AI and IoT, no agency still conducting manual keyword or backlink research without proper software really stands a chance. So, to boost productivity, you need to invest in the right tools.
For example, I like to use Semrush for general keyword research, backlink audits, and topic research. In addition, my team also uses Grammarly to cut down on editing times and provide clients with a polished finished product.
Transitioning a little bit from individual productivity hacks, the culture you create at your company will be a massive determinant of success and productivity. This article from Harvard Business Review outlines the importance of building a high-trust culture and how it boosts productivity:
“Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance.”
If employees are motivated to come to work and feel happy at their job, they are more likely to work harder and contribute as much as they can to improve their workplace.
Contrast this to toxic work environments where individuals are most likely to slack, gossip and complain, often not fearing if they will get fired or let go.
Hosting a diverse environment of people with different backgrounds and opinions contributes to knowledge sharing, which boosts the productivity and efficacy of projects.
And since most employees demand diversity in the workplace, this improves your overall culture and the well-being of your employees. Again, happier employees are more productive ones.
I’m a big proponent of positive reinforcement and its efficacy in forming positive habits.
While discipline is effective at curbing bad habits, rewarding productive members with gratitude is a great way to reinforce positive habits, improving productivity.
Discipline for the sake of discipline is rarely effective. Rather, if you want to curb unproductive habits at work, you need to provide constructive feedback with solutions for employees to improve their habits.
For example, if I come back to you and say this article is poorly written without any feedback, how are you supposed to address my specific criticisms or improve?
Make feedback constructive and a learning process.
As previously stated, high-trust cultures tend to be more productive. Well, one way to build trust is to be authentic, open and honest with employees.
Building trust with your employees and establishing a positive company culture starts with your actions as a founder. So by being genuine and transparent with employees, you can cultivate trust, build their confidence, and boost their productivity.
A major part of building trust is transparency and being on the same page as employees. Establishing a shared vision for company growth and branding is a great way to build trust across your organization and also make employees feel like they are a part of your agency, not that they just work for it.
Actualizing your company’s vision will require tons of hard work, which is where proper time management and productivity hacks come into play.
To bring your vision to life and improve the productivity of your employees, you need to set goals.
Goal setting can increase employees’ productivity by 11 to 25 times. Most importantly, big goal setting has the largest impact.
The logic is quite clear; when employees feel like they are working for something, they are more committed to seeing it through.
Even in an immediate sense, goal setting makes you one step closer to your goal just by setting expectations and tracking progress.
Stretch goals are high-risk, high-reward goals that require a lot of effort and creative problem-solving.
While wellness and proper guidance are all nice ways to boost employee productivity and happiness, sometimes it takes adversity to see what employees are made of.
So be sure to challenge leading team members from time to time with ambitious tasks to push them out of their comfort zones. Not only will employees learn more through this process, but they may even come close to reaching these goals, thus improving your agency’s efficiency beyond previous limits.
By reinforcing these habits through continued education and guidance, your team can form long-lasting habits that will help make your agency operate the leanest possible.
And lean means higher profit margins, which equates to a sustainable business.
The post 21 ways to keep your marketing team productive appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Go beyond the usual "Click here" or "Learn more." Here's how to get users motivated with more engaging CTAs.
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The presence of knowledge panels has been increasing in Google’s SERPs for years. As a result, the classic search results, also known as “10 blue links,” are getting more competition when it comes to attracting the attention of the searcher.
Or should we better call it the “questioners”? Because most search queries are implicitly formulated questions that require an answer.
Google wants to use the SERP features to answer the questions directly. These features are a window into the Knowledge Graph or are directly or indirectly associated with it.
This article will explain how Google creates knowledge panels – and how they work.
Entities play a direct or indirect role in many search queries. That is why you will find different box variants in the SERPs for many search queries.
As soon as Google recognizes that with a search query as a subject directly after the entity asked about knowledge panel delivered. The knowledge panel can also be called an entity box and it is delivered for almost all entity types.
However, a knowledge panel is not delivered for every entity of a type. The entity must be captured in the Knowledge Graph.
One of the fundamental questions for SEOs is which entities to include in the Google Knowledge Graph. According to Google, only named entities from the classes of the following entity types are primarily recorded in the Knowledge Graph.
However, not all entities from these classes are associated with a knowledge panel presented in the SERPs. The entities must have a certain social relevance or authority in the respective area.
The classic knowledge panel can be recognized by the share button in the upper area of the panel.
Knowledge panels are not to be confused with business boxes. These are not based on the Knowledge Graph, but on an entry on Google Business. To what extent the data from Google Business is also taken into account in the Knowledge Graph is not clear, but it is not unlikely.
Google uses different templates for the knowledge panel. The placeholders for the content in the knowledge panel vary depending on the entity or entity type that is searched for. The placeholders are based on the standard attributes of the respective entity type.
The criteria by which Google evaluates this relevance are not clearly documented or there are no concrete statements from Google.
Wikipedia plays a special role for the proof entity. The surest way to be recognized as an entity is to have an entry on Wikipedia.
But other platforms that provide semi-structured data, such as Soundcloud, can also be used by Google to identify entities, as the hack for the keyword “SEO services India” has shown.
There it becomes clear that SoundCloud was used as the source for the entity detection. Websites such as SoundCloud or Wikipedia always present information in a consistent structure. This means that the information can be easily extracted from the websites without mark-ups.
The knowledge panels were first presented in the SERPs with the introduction of the Knowledge Graph in 2012.
In the Google patent Providing knowledge panels with search results, one finds the basic methodology and purpose of the knowledge panel. The purpose for users of a Search engine is described as follows.
“Knowledge panels can improve users’ search experiences, in particular for queries directed to learning, browsing, or discovery. For example, the knowledge panel supplies users with basic factual information or a summary of information about a particular entity referenced in a search query. Knowledge panels can assist users in navigating to related content in a seamless and natural way. Knowledge panels can supply new content that may not otherwise be encountered by a user without selecting several search results. Knowledge panels can also help users obtain information faster than they would if the users were required to click through multiple search results to obtain the information.”
Here is an excerpt from the patent on the methodology for delivering the knowledge panel:
“Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for providing knowledge panels with search results. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining search results that are responsive to a received query. A factual entity referenced by the query is identified. Content is identified for display in a knowledge panel for the factual entity. The content includes at least one content item obtained from a first resource and at least one second content item obtained from a second resource different than the first resource. Data is provided that causes the identified search results and the knowledge panel to be presented on a search results page. The knowledge panel presents the identified content in a knowledge panel area that is alongside at least a portion of the search results.”
The basic functionality when delivering a knowledge panel can be summarized in the following process steps:
I find it exciting to realize that each entity type is assigned its own knowledge panel template with corresponding placeholders.
The entity type of the respective entity represented by a knowledge panel is always specified below the name of the entity. Depending on which standard attributes are assigned to the entity type and for which attributes the values are available, content is specified in the knowledge panel.
Example entity type “Canadian rapper” in musician Drake’s knowledge panel
Regarding the question of which images are selected for the knowledge panel, I looked at some Google patents from the last few years.
This patent describes how Google could select representative images for entities of the type “person” for the corresponding knowledge panel.
The steps are as follows:
The selection of possible images as well as the clustering of these into categories is determined depending on the proximity to the entity as well as the aspect ratio. It will be very likely that machine learning methods are used. We get an idea of possible categories by looking at the image search.
Another exciting Google patent related to images and entities describes how Google Images could assemble the images for semantic pre-selection.
“A system and computer-implemented method for associating images with semantic entities and providing search results using the semantic entities. An image database contains one or more source images associated with one or more images labels. A computer may generate one or more documents containing the labels associated with each image. Analysis may be performed on the one or more documents to associate the source images with semantic entities. The semantic entities may be used to provide search results. In response to receiving a target image as a search query, the target image may be compared with the source images to identify similar images. The semantic entities associated with the similar images may be used to determine a semantic entity for the target image. The semantic entity for the target image may be used to provide search results in response to the search initiated by the target image.”
In this patent, images are labeled with attributes. through which the images can be assigned to specific entities. These attributes are initially identified via image recognition of an initial image. Additional attributes are added via attributes of similar images and similar entities, presumably of the same type. This is how the meaning of the picture emerges.
These patents describe some approaches to how Google could specify images for knowledge panels. In my opinion, the source of the image is also decisive, which image Google selects the most relevant image for an entity and thus uses in the knowledge panel.
Popular sources for people’s pictures seem to include Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia, social media profiles (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter) and well-known magazines. To what extent the ranking in the image search correlates with the selection of the image(s) for the knowledge panel is unclear.
The influence of SERP features is increasing every year and with it the influence of the Knowledge Graph on the search results. The classic blue links are losing more attention and thus relevance.
Entities are at the center of the Knowledge Graph and will have an increasing impact on the SERPs.
With regard to voice search, SERP features such as featured snippets and knowledge panels also play an important role.
The changes in the SERPs due to the MUM update can already be seen, as can the increasingly central role of entity-based searches.
Therefore, SEOs should no longer perceive this topic as a “nice-to-have.” The Knowledge Graph should be included in your SEO strategies.
The post How Google creates knowledge panels appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Machine learning tool Surfer SEO has partnered with Semrush for a first-of-its-kind integration.
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