enewton@brightedge.com

M Posted 7 years 3 months ago

t 9 min read

Why is publication date important?

When Google determines which websites are the most relevant to a particular query, two criteria examined is the publish date and date on the page. Particularly for time-sensitive queries, such as news articles, the publication date will have a huge impact.

Take, for example, the query, “Google’s algorithm update.” Considering that Google regularly updates their algorithm, the searcher will most likely want to see information regarding the most recent major update. As of the writing of this piece, that would be the March 2019 Core Update or the Florida 2 update. When a person makes this query, these are the results that they want to see.

The Google Panda update was another major update that attracted significant attention several years ago. The sites covering that update have likely amassed a number of backlinks and high traffic rates. Their publication date, however, is one clear indicator that they do not discuss the update the user wants to see. Therefore, even though they might have more backlinks than the recent articles, the recent articles receive precedence.

Given the importance of dates in determining relevance, it is clear that they can therefore impact SEO. Marketers should also note that for many queries, Google also displays the date of the content next to the listing on the SERP. This influences whether or not people will want to click on a particular article, thus impacting your click-through rate and the prospects you can bring into your sales funnel.

Understanding how Google determines dates, therefore, and what you can do to make sure Google has the right one, can impact how you structure your pages. Google recently spelled out their methodology, and we wanted to dive into it with our community.

How does Google determine the date on the page?

Google reports that they use a variety of factors when determining the date of a page. The spider automatically looks for any prominent listings on the page that might clearly state when the content went live. It also checks the structured markup or schema of the page to see if a date has been noted. The search engine does not limit itself to these methods, however, and can also use other means of examining pages and determining the publication date.

The search engine reports that they use several different methods to reduce the potential for error. Sometimes publishers do not include a clearly listed publication date or their structured markup might not be generated correctly. By looking at several factors, it becomes easier for the search engine to make the most accurate determination.

General SEO best practices for specifying a date on a page

To make sure that Google interprets your page’s date correctly, there are two main steps you can take as you design your site.

One, list a clear publication date on the page. Secondly. use structured data with the datePublished or dateModified markups to help Google best understand when your page was published or updated.

If you find that Google interprets your date incorrectly, look closely at the content on the page. Keep and eye out for any potential prominent dates that might be confusing the search engine. If you can remove them, do so.

As you do promote your dates throughout your website, keep your methodology consistent for all the pages. For example, keep the date the page went live listed in a consistent spot and manner on all of the pages.

Special content date situations to note

Keep in mind that depending upon the type of content you create, Google might also have additional criteria to remember as you promote your date. For example, on news stories, Google reminds publishers to make sure that you follow the Google news rules regarding the dates listed in articles. In other words, you must have a clear date and time of publication and can only list updated times if the article has been substantially updated.

Google also reminds site owners that if they are promoting an event, they should make it clear on the page when and where the event is, but keep the publication date separate. The date of the event should not be listed as the publishing date for the content.

For anyone who updates a piece of content, you can list an update publication date, making it clear to users when the piece was originally published and when it was updated. Structured data makes this easier for search engines to interpret with the datePublished and dateModified markups.

Should you create new content or modify existing content?

With this discussion of dates, it becomes a natural discussion to then look at whether or not content should be updated or if new content should be created. Anyone considering their options should think about the questions below.

1. Is your content useful? Ask yourself if the content you want to update is still largely useful for users and just requires some small adjustments to take into account the latest developments. Content still relevant for users can generally be updated with a new publication date and serve the targeted audience well.

2. What is the traffic rate and the SERP ranking for the page? A page that still receives a solid stream of traffic and rankings well generally benefits more from an update than fresh content. Your fresh content would then have to compete with your old content for visibility, and you want to make sure that people who land on your old content receive the latest information.

3. Does my content fit? Look at how this piece of content fits in with the rest of your content structure. For example, if you are working to build a content cluster, would drafting new content help you to build you your pyramids and establish your authority better?

4. How much of an update does the page need? If the update will result in you redrafting nearly the entire piece of content, then creating a new piece might serve you better. If you do create a new piece, you will want to use a 301 redirect from the old piece to maintain the link equity benefits. If, on the other hand, you will only need to update a small paragraph, writing an entire new piece might end up with a considerable amount of repetition.

If you do end up creating a new piece of content to reflect the latest updates in the field, it can be helpful to put a link at the top of the original piece to let people know where they can go for the latest information about the topic.

Content dates can benefit not only your SEO, but also how many people click through from the SERP. Making sure Google interprets your page’s publication date, therefore can be an important step. Make sure your pages have been consistently created with the correct date promoted and weigh carefully the needs of updated content versus new content as you build your content calendar moving forward.

maspillera

M Posted 7 years 3 months ago

t 9 min read

For brands interested in capturing some of this valuable data, here is what they should know about measuring PR campaign success.

How do you measure PR campaign success?

To measure PR success, campaign goals need to be defined. There are several different metrics to consider when measuring the impact and success of a PR campaign, each one giving you information about customers at a particular stage.

Measuring PR mindshare, awareness, reputation, and sentiment

At the top of the PR success funnel are mindshare, awareness, and reputation. If you represent a high-end brand, mindshare and reputation awareness are key to customer willingness to pay a premium for your product.

Mindshare explains why famous brands can charge more for their products - people value what they know and know what they value. A famous brand removes uncertainty about quality and performance and that drives higher purchase conversion.

Social media can be a valuable channel for measuring mindshare, awareness, and reputation. Consumers use social media to share with their friends, family, and colleagues what they love, like, and don’t like about products and services.

You have key metrics to monitor on social media.

• Content reach
• Engagement
• Sentiment

1. Content reach. Content reach can be gathered by examining how many people in aggregate have viewed your content as well as the number of impressions your content has.

2. Engagaement. Engagement then focuses on how people responded to the content, which provides a strong indication about how the content connected to them. Different metrics exist on the different social media platforms:

• Facebook engagement measures: comments, shares, and likes.
• Twitter engagement measures: replies, retweets, URL clicks, and likes.
• Instagram engagement measures: comments, likes, Instagram Story reach, and URL clicks.
• Youtube engagement measures: comments, shares, views, number of likes/dislikes, URL clicks.

High engagement numbers will generally correlate strongly with your content reach. As more people respond to your material and share it with their own followers, you will in turn see more people reading the material and higher rates of impressions.

3. Sentiment. Sentiment captures whether the comments are positive or negative. The saying, "I don't care what you say about my brand as long as you spell my name correctly" is a myth. Being plastered with negative comments from a swarm of nasty trolls spelling your name correctly is bad.

Measuring your SEO impact and social amplification from using PR

In the middle of the PR success funnel are traffic, SEO impact, and social amplification. Generally, PR campaigns are comprised of articles published on third party platforms that provide valuable announcements and information about your business. These campaigns then tie closely with material you publish on your own site.

Using PR platforms makes it easier to monitor how many people click through to your website after reading a PR piece. Not only can you see how many people click through to your site, but you can also monitor additional metrics, such as backlinks.

Backlinks provide you with valuable information, including how well the audience responded to your piece and if they see it as worthwhile to share with their own audience. Google appreciates backlinks as a ranking factor because it lets them know how other people see the page. A website with many backlinks from reputable sites can generally be assumed to be one that provides helpful information. This increases Google’s trust in the site, and therefore, its ranking, which drive traffic.

Internally, your PR campaigns should coincide with blogs and on-site articles that provide more information about your organization and what you are doing to serve customers and remain at the forefront of your industry. Press releases and articles also help define public information, which make it easier for employees to share without worrying about sharing confidential information.

Blogging is also a great way to generate traffic and trust. According to the Content Marketing Institute, more than half of 18-49 year olds get their news and information online, and that number continues to grow. You can also see support for this strategy by considering that small businesses with blogs get 126 percent more lead growth than those without, according to the CMI.

From an SEO perspective, as you generate traffic from any PR campaign you can start to see the positive impact on your SERP rankings. Make sure all the content has been properly optimized to attract more attention, and then increased traffic from promotions and social media will help to boost your position in the results.

Social amplification results from content sharing on social networks, like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. It’s good practice to link positive press mentions on all your social media to amplify your awareness, brand reputation, and purchase decisions. This helps customers hear about your organization from other sources, increasing your brand value and trust in their minds.

Measuring PR revenue, conversions, and pipeline contributions

At the bottom of the PR success funnel are revenue, conversions and pipeline contributions. Google Analytics can help you to track referral traffic driven by using PR. You can use this referral traffic to track from where your qualified sales originated.

UTM stands for urchin tracking module, and it is the longstanding standard for channel tracking in Google Analytics. At the end of each link, add ?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=PR&campaign=3-12-press-release. If you do not add UTM to your PR and Social, it can often be incorrectly counted as Direct traffic.

By drilling down in Google Analytics in on Acquisition/All Traffic/Channels Referred, you can see the traffic PR secured on third-party sites sourcing traffic and then track what customers did after reading those articles. You can watch them through the pipeline, seeing how many pageviews, the number of sales qualified leads, and leads that materialize. You can then determine the revenue these leads drove for the organization.

Using a first-touch attribution model, you will be able to track customers and determine what first brought them to your site. You can then analyze the referring site and start to gain a better idea of the financial benefit of your press releases and media mentions as well as what articles drive converted traffic.

A strong PR campaign can provide valuable benefits for brands looking to increase their engagement across the web and social media apps. Executives prefer all activities to be measurable and tracked. Consider your campaign goals with your next PR campaign and the KPIs you can use to capture the success of your strategy.

enewton@brightedge.com

M Posted 7 years 4 months ago

t 9 min read

Websites that aren't optimizing for site speed are setting themselves up for poor rankings, high bounce rate, and bad user experience. An estimated 40% of people will click off a site that doesn't load in 3 seconds or less. For a business as large as Amazon, a single extra second in load time can therefore translate to loses as high as $1.6 billion per year.

A few years ago, long page loading times on mobile led Google to begin work on a collaborative effort to create AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages. These pages are designed to load lightning fast, improving the user experience across the web. In the years since their first development, they have caused debate but also spread across the digital ecosystem.

The value of AMP lies in its ability to help brands create fast, effective sites. Since this development has been around for a few years now, we thought we would take a look at the evolution and path of this strategy to help our community determine if they should put it to use as well.

What is AMP?

AMP first appeared in 2016 as an open source effort put forth by Google to enhance the site speed of many mobile web pages. The median load time for pages marked with AMP is as quick as 1 second. Pages created in HTML and Javascript can both be properly formatted to work in AMP, and these pages work on most browsers and platforms.

Pages that have been marked up with AMP will be stripped of any unnecessary or slow-loading features. While this does away with some of the functionality of the site--leading to debate about the role of articles optimized with AMP within the buyer’s journey--it does help to provide the page with an optimal position within the SERP.

Google created this markup to improve the user experience by encouraging the creation of web pages that loaded particularly fast. They often place emphasis on these marked up pages, giving them priority positions in carousels at the top of SERPs.

How has AMP progressed?

AMP has been available for marketers for about 3 years now. When this AMP update was first introduced, it caused considerable discussion within marketing circles. People wondered about the role the articles would play for mobile buyers as they would not provide the same opportunities for lead capture as a standard web page. People also wondered about the level of value it would provide for various sectors.

When the AMP upate was initially launched, it focused considerably on media sites with the idea of helping web pages appear in Google’s top news carousel on mobile devices. Since then, it has expanded its focus with brands from a variety of different sectors finding the value of employing it.

Some of the initial problems people had with making webpages AMP-compliant, such as the lack of lead capture forms, have also been rectified. Brands can now place forms on AMP pages. This increases the opportunity for engagement with users and thus generates more enthusiasm from site owners.

Three years out, AMP has become firmly entrenched within the marketing world, with the benefits and drawbacks clearly visible. By the end of just the first 18 months, we saw an estimated 900,000 web domains using AMP within their strategies with 2 billion uses worldwide.

By now, AMP also has made a strong appearance across a variety of industries with entertainment and news remaining some of the largest categories of usage.  Major domains, including Reddit, Ebay, and Pinterest have implemented AMP on their websites.

How do I implement AMP successfully?

To implement AMP, you will want to design a stripped-down page that provides nearly the same feel as your standard website. Your branding and colors should be consistent so that customers do not lose association with the site they are on.

Keep in mind that there are some design limitations on AMP, particularly when it comes to Javascript. AMP has its own library that restricts what you can use effectively. Some more complex elements are also restricted if they might slow down load times.

When do I use AMP?

When AMP was first launched, people focused on the enhanced site speed the markup promised. Its ability to strip web pages down and ensure that they loaded lightening fast for users promised to help create a more positive user experience. While this projection has come to fruition, sites have also experienced other benefits from using AMP.

Notably, Google’s own research indicates that users spend about 2 times the amount of time on AMP sites. The search engine giant also found that ecommerce sites that employed AMP saw as much as a 20% lift in conversions compared to those who did not. When customers are polled, they also  indicate that they are more likely to click on AMP pages than non-AMP pages.

Brands debating the value of AMP should consider a few different factors.

1. Look at what their competition is doing. AMP pages do provide some advantages, including the opportunity to be featured in some mobile search results. If AMP use remains heavy within your industry, not using AMP could place your pages at a disadvantage.
2. Consider also your current site speed. Site speed has become an important factor in rankings and user engagement; pages that struggle here will stand out negatively. AMP offers very concrete benefits for brands to increase their site speeds on mobile, making it an excellent alternative for those who need to decrease their load times.
3. Consider your internal ability with HTML and web development. When using AMP, there can be some challenges and it is important to make sure that the pages are set up correctly. While it can seem simple to just turn on the AMP settings with Wordpress, for example, it will still require some degree of monitoring and customization. It would be better for brands to have a standard web page than an incorrectly established AMP site.

Generally speaking, an AMP update does offer considerable advantages for sites, in terms of higher engagement rates, improved rankings, and better site speed. This means that the average site will likely want to strongly consider the benefits of using AMP on at least some of their pages. For example, using AMP on blog posts will help the pages appear prominently for relevant searches.

Analytics and AMP

Tracking analytics for AMP pages requires adding additional analytics tracking code into the website. You will need to include an <amp-analytics> element to ensure that the AMP update of your page is properly tracked through Google Analytics.

Google reports that with AMP Analytics you can track the following information:

• Page data: Domain, path, page title
• User data: client ID, timezone
• Browsing data: referrer, unique page view ID
• Browser data: screen height, screen width, user agent
• Interaction data: page height and page width
• Event data

You want to make sure that you establish your analytics separately for your AMP page because they provide two different experiences for users. As you create your AMP pages, you will work to maintain a similar appearance and consistent branding, but there will still be differences between AMP pages and standard pages. Tracking your analytics for AMP separately will help you better understand these differences and how they impact customer interactions.

Using AMP analytics will also help you better understand the impact of an AMP update on your site and goals. By running a few test pages, you will begin to gain a clear picture of whether or not the potential benefits of AMP have materialized for you. You will have the information necessary to make an informed decision about using AMP for the rest of your site.

AMP has impacted site development and the mobile user experience as its ability to develop faster pages impacts what people expect from websites when browsing on their devices. As this markup has matured, it has become easier for brands to employ while still capturing leads and encouraging people through their sales funnel.

For more information about whether or not AMP is right for your site, read our POV article on AMP.

koleary

M Posted 7 years 4 months ago

t 9 min read

Mobile devices surpassed desktop as the main way that people browse the internet a number of years ago, for some industries BrightEdge research found that 62% of all web traffic comes from a smartphone or tablet device.¹ For some industries, like food and beverage, the share of searches from smartphones and tablets is as high as 72%.²

The predominance of mobile search has changed people’s behavior and expectations. Previously, if you were going out, you might have researched a restaurant online before leaving home. Today, you’re just as likely to wait until you arrive at your destination, search for “restaurants near me,” and receive hyper-local results that you can act on immediately.  

These new consumer expectations and behaviors are relevant to any business with a brick and mortar presence. An incredible 76% of local mobile searches lead to a store visit within one day, while 28% result in a purchase.³ When people search for something nearby, they are often ready to buy.  This is why it is so critical to ensure that your business shows up in Google’s Local 3-pack: the trio of nearby businesses that dominate the search engine results page (SERP) of 23% of local-focused mobile searches, according to BrightEdge research. When a local 3-pack is displayed on mobile, 55% of the clicks are for one of the three listings. If your business is not featuring there, you’re immediately missing out on half your potential audience.   

Here are three ways to make sure your business is easy to find.

1. Have clear, complete, and factual information

Google’s main source of information about your business is from company profiles found on Google My Business. To ensure the correct information is displayed in Google Search or Google Maps results pages, make sure that your company profile page is complete and up-to-date. While Google searches account for nearly two-thirds of all searches,⁴ it’s also important to update and maintain your business profile on other channels like Yelp for Business, which is where Bing gets its local business information for display on Bing Search and Bing Maps results pages.

Also, it is important to clearly display your business address, contact details, and business hours on your own website’s home page, as this is another source that Google and Bing will check. Having accurate and informative “About Us” and “Contact” pages on your website will also boost your chances of appearing high in search results rankings. Finally, if you have multiple locations, create an individual page for each location with the unique information and content about each one.  

A good tip is to look at existing 3-pack search results for the keywords related to your business’ products or services, and ensure that your company profiles have the same keywords, or read Google’s suggestions for improving your company’s local ranking.

2. Be inventive with the keywords you target

Last year, Google reported a 500% increase in “near me” mobile searches that included “can I buy” or some variant. Knowing which keywords related to your business that people include in these searches is critical to your chances of appearing in that valuable 3-pack near me search result. Don’t be afraid to speak the local language. A long sandwich may be called a “sub” in most of the US, but if you’re targeting local customers in Philadelphia, they are more likely to call it a “hoagie,” in New York City, a “hero,” or in New England, a “grinder.”

If your business is near a prominent landmark or location in the area, think about potential variations on “near me,” like “near the ballpark” or “near Times Square.” You should also find out which terms your competitors are successfully targeting and see if they apply to your business. BrightEdge can help you analyze and prioritize which keywords you should create content for by helping you understand which universal results (like a Local 3-pack or Quick Answer) appear on the first page of search results.  

3. Encourage great local customer reviews

Google doesn't display just any three businesses in the 3-pack search results. The search engine wants to give its customers the best three local businesses related to their searched keyword. That’s why businesses with good reviews on Google are more likely to be featured in 3-pack search results. Encourage your happy customers to leave positive reviews on these sites, along with any sites related to your business, whether that’s a food blog or car review site.

If your business has received good customer reviews, featuring them on your website can be helpful. Get permission from your customers to post the review first. Then, mark up the review with optimizing schema in order to claim it as a first-party review. You may see the review on the search engine results page, much like a Yelp listing, except this drives traffic to your website, not Yelp’s. Google can be strict about the use of first-party reviews so it’s worth looking at its rules if you’re using a review.

Whatever your business, having complete factual information, being inventive with your keyword targeting, and getting great reviews will help local customers find your business when they’re searching locally. With Google constantly tweaking what it’s looking for and how it displays search results, BrightEdge will tell you how to optimize keyword targeting and keep you up to date with changing search engine algorithms with the goal of boosting traffic to your site so your business can stay ahead.