Rich snippets are a type of structured data markup that allows search engines to better understand what information is contained on each web page. Rich answers were first displayed by Google back in 2009. Our research at BrightEdge has shown that the rich answers, such as video thumbnails, can increase the click-through rate by as much as 50 percent in certain SERP positions.

What is the Google rich snippet tool?

As of 2016, Google supports the following types of snippets:

• information about a product, such as its price, reviews and availability
• recipes that can are compatible with web searches and Recipe View
• reviews of items or businesses, such as a store
• events that people might attend at a particular time and place
• information about a software application, such as price and reviews
• a video thumbnail for online videos
• news article headlines, images and publisher information

For example, for a news article, you might see a snippet that looks like this:

For a video rich answer, you may see:

Do rich snippets help SEO?

The regulations that dictate which rich snippets are displayed for which sites are regularly changing. For example, Google experimented with author rich answers for a few years before eliminating them in 2014.

Video snippets were once much more widely used, but in 2014, many brands saw them disappear. While there is a lot of conjecture about why this happened, highly reputable video sites, like YouTube, will still have them appear.

Given the number of changes that have happened with rich answers in the past, it is likely that there will be more changes in the future. For this reason, you should focus on preparing all your content for potential rich answers.

To optimize your content for potential snippets, you should use schema.org markup. This has been designed to provide a common system for Google, Bing, Yandex and Yahoo! Use all of the markup data that applies to your site and optimize both your existing content and new content that you create.

The schema markup will allow you to fill in numerous pieces of data about your content. For example, if you are doing a schema markup for an event, you can fill in information such as:

• the aggregate rating
• the person or organization attending
• the time the event will begin
• the event duration
• the end date and time
• the place or postal address
• the organizer
• the performer

Getting rich snippets to appear with your search results can help increase click-through rates and boost visibility. Using schema markup can help you maximize your chances for displaying a snippet.

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What is search volume?

Search volume is a metric that shows how many people are searching for a particular query. When creating your content strategy, taking search volume into account is vital because it reflects the popularity of the query. Ideally, you want to find keywords with a high search volume and a low rate of search competition. However, finding long-tail keywords that appeal to your target audience with low competition can also be an effective strategy.

Why is monitoring search volume important?

Looking at your search volume can provide you with important insight about the popularity of certain keywords and how it fluctuates throughout the year. Exact match data will tell you precisely how many searches were run each month of the year. Rolling average data, on the other hand, will account for all of the volume for all the searches throughout the year and find you the average. This can be helpful if you are working with highly seasonal keywords, such as "Super Bowl" or "Halloween Costumes." If you only used the exact match and started to do research in May, it might be a challenge to ascertain the true value of the keyword.

How do you use search volume data?

1. Armed with the data gained from search volume research, you can target optimal keywords throughout the year. Since you will know the value of particular keywords and how their usage fluctuates throughout the year, you will be able to identify optimal opportunities to target them.
2. You will be able to understand historical trends and make future projections. As you compile historical search volume for particular keywords, you will be able to see if drops indicate a loss of value for the keyword or if it is a part of regular, yearly cycle. This will help you make future projections about the keyword’s performance and inform your decisions about the best keywords to use in your content.

Using search volume can help you begin to compile the keywords that you will use to build a successful website. Understand the difference between the exact match data and the rolling average data and use them as needed to better understand a keyword’s performance.

Related Materials

• Boost your organic traffic with Quick Answers
• Create content that measurably performs

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Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. When you have established a strong domain authority score, Google automatically trusts your new posts more than they trust the posts made on other sites without that built-in trust. This allows your work to rank higher on SERPs, even though it has not had the time to gain necessary SEO features, like backlinks.

When a website continually publishes high-quality material that search engines and people alike know they can trust, the domain as a whole begins to gain trust in the eyes of the search algorithm. That is why certain sites, like BrightEdge.com, can rank highly for new blog posts, even when the post was only put up a few days ago. On the other hand, if you are a new website still trying to gain traction, your outstanding post written a month ago might still be a few pages back in the SERPs.

Why is domain authority important?

Google wants to return the highest quality results to its users, which means it needs to be able to recognize those results quickly. If every website on the Internet was judged by itself then new articles from the New York Times, for example, would be hard to find until several weeks after the piece was relevant.

The key is learning how to make your website appear trustworthy and earn that critical domain authority. When you do, you will be able to raise the rankings of all your web pages, increase visibility and build your brand.

Increase Your Domain Authority

How to increase domain authority?

1. Build a quality backlink profile. You need to show the search engines that other websites trust your content regularly.
2. Build internal links. It is easy to neglect internal links, but they are important to showing Google, and visitors who arrive on your site, how to move around your domain and find relevant content. Internal links also encourage people to remain on your site, which helps build your engagement statistics.
3. Optimize your technical SEO. You want to make sure that your site is easy to navigate and that your site maps have been uploaded and organized. Meta tags and meta descriptions can help Google know when your content is relevant. Keywords and alt tags also make your content easy to understand and match queries.
4. Build brand trust. Write and distribute content that people can trust to provide them with accurate, helpful information throughout the buyer’s journey. Use data to know what customers want to see and then deliver it to them.

Domain authority is an important factor for increasing your visibility and rankings on the SERPs. Building your brand to increase this authority is a great way to grow your organization.

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What exactly is artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Machine learning, a core aspect of what's currently defined as artificial intelligence, is becoming increasingly prevalent as personalization becomes important and customers want to see brands that understand their needs. Even Google has begun to use machine learning, as evidenced by the introduction of RankBrain in 2015 (link to project page on RankBrain).

Machine learning empowers algorithms to learn. It can watch how people respond to websites and different types of content to best predict what will lead people closer to conversion.

It is likely that machine learning will become even more significant in the near future. By 2020 the digital universe will expand from 130 exabytes to 40,000 exabytes. This is significantly more than the human brain can handle. Machine learning will make it easier for brands to interpret all of this information so that it can be used to improve the user experience online.

Will machines replace humans in marketing?

When people think of machine learning, they often begin to wonder about the possibility of humans being replaced by machines, but this is rather unlikely. Although artificial intelligence can be fantastic for finding patterns and learning what content to display to users, they will not be able to be creative. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, cannot create unique content that triggers emotions or understand which images will best convey certain feelings. Humans will instead rely on machines to provide the analysis of content while humans can take care of the creative efforts.

How is machine learning used in marketing?

• Machine learning will offer key insights into optimization, helping brands understand what people want to read.
• Humans will be in charge of creating high-quality content that speaks to the needs of the customers, as detailed by the machine learning or AI platform.
• Machine learning will analyze customer behavior on websites to better understand how people progress through the buyer’s journey.
• Machine learning will take the content created by people and develop a more personalized experience.

One of the major ways that machine learning will be integrated into human-mediated marketing is in the concept of the Smart Content framework. In this framework SEO and content marketing are converged, and machine learning is woven into discovery, optimization, and measurement phases of content development to help marketers' campaigns keep parity with ever-changing search algorithims--which themselves are becoming increasingly managed through machine learning. BrightEdge defines Smart Content as:

1. TARGETED to exactly what customers want and need when they need it
2. OPTIMIZED to make the content more visible and discoverable
3. ALWAYS ON and technically up-to-date
4. INTEGRATED, activated across devices and the entire marketing stack for maximum impact
5. PROFITABLE for marketers because the content delights and engages readers on topics they have intent for and primes them for conversion

Machine learning will be an important part of marketing in the future, as it will help brands better understand customer behavior and what people want to see online. Humans will always be in charge of the creative process, but this type of learning will make it easier to create a superior user experience.

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What is a redirect?

Redirects allow you to send users and search engines from the site that they initially requested to a new site. You might do this if you are doing maintenance on a particular page or if you are in the process of site migration. Different redirects, however, will have different impacts on how search engines respond to them and the influence on your optimization efforts. The three main types of redirects are 301s, 302s, and Meta Refresh.

Are 301 redirects bad?

A 301 redirect means that the page the user requested has been permanently moved to another location. This is generally regarded as the best method for SEO purposes. The page that the 301 sends the visitor to will receive most of the link power and PageRank that the original page had, which helps you to maintain your rankings on SERPs.

What is a 302 redirect?

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect. If you are doing maintenance on your server and you need to temporarily have customers visit another page, then you will use a 302. Like a 301, these redirects to pass along PageRank and link power, but Google views this redirect as temporary, and thus will index the original and the destination site with that in mind. If you intend to have this redirect be permanent, it is in your best interest to make sure that it is properly noted as a 301.

What is a meta refresh redirect?

A meta refresh redirect will automatically send users from the original URL to the new URL after a certain number of seconds. This is the redirect that the site has used if you see the message, “If you are not redirected in X seconds, click here”. While these refreshes might pass along some of the link power of the original site, they are generally regarded as poor for the user experience and not the preferred means of redirecting traffic.

Redirects can be an important part of websites for a variety of reasons. Regardless of whether you need to redirect people to a new domain or just need to do some server maintenance, composing the redirects correctly can be very beneficial to your SEO and your readers.

Universal search is search that allows Google to show images, local businesses, rich snippets, and more right on the SERP. In the past, Google only showed links from other websites when a user typed in a query. Now, Google uses universal search. This refers to Google’s ability to take results from a few different verticals and combine them into a single SERP.

What is universal search in SEO?

The types of content that will appear for a query will vary depending upon what people commonly look for with a particular question. For example, you might see that a search for the query, ‘the United States’ returns a mix of images, news articles and standard websites:

On the other hand, the query, ‘how to separate egg white’ will give you a Google Quick Answer, a video, and text results:

Maximizing your visibility online, therefore, requires you to understand your position in universal search and find ways to improve your ranking.

How do I rank well in universal search?

1. Understand your rankings and those of your competitors intimately. BrightEdge’s Competitive Analysis, powered by Share of Voice, can help you see how your content compares to that of your competitors and what is giving them an edge over your own material.
2. Create content that people want to engage with and share. Google watches user signals, including the click-through rate and the time spent on site. The more your readers engage with the site, the better off you will be.
3. Do not neglect local SEO, which can be a big component of blended rank—particularly with the local 3-Pack. Keep your business results updated on social media and all your web properties. In particular, make sure that your NAP—name, address and phone number—are correct across all social sites and online listings. Use location-specific keywords in places such as the title tag and the URL.
4. Use schema markup to ensure that the algorithm understands the content on your website so that its appearance can be maximized. With a complete markup, you can trust that any opportunities for rich snippets that arise will be used. It will also help Google identify relevant images, videos or other types of content that might be applicable in certain searches.

Blended search is an important part of modern search because it means that your ranking is not just a competition against other, similar style content pages. You also have to consider the other types of content that will be included, such as images. Taking the time to maximize your exposure in the blended rank will help you see the best results possible from Google search.

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What is a landing page?

Your landing page is the place where your customers convert. You have spent your time and energy creating and optimizing landing page content to coax them closer to your brand, and your landing page is where they take the official step and become a lead or a paying customer. You have successfully convinced them that you have authority in your industry and that you have something of value to offer them.

Landing pages can vary widely. You might offer free e-books or white papers in exchange for lead information. You might also have landing pages where you sell individual products and services.

Regardless of the goal of your landing page, each one has some features in common:

• It contains a short description designed to convince your visitors to take the final step and convert
• Your content is offered for a price, whether that price is money or just contact information
• The page requires intimate analysis to maximize the number of conversions

How do you make a landing page design that converts?

Landing pages can be challenging to develop. It is easy to view them as simple since they do not have too much content, but they require insight into your competitors and into customer psychology. Small details, such as the color of your buy button or the phrasing you use when describing your offer, have all been shown to impact conversion rates-- sometimes drastically. Data has the power to give you the insight you need to better understand your customers and how your landing pages compare to your competitors, empowering you to reach your full potential.

What should a good landing page design have?

Data can offer you keen insights every step of the creation process.

1. Use data from competitor sites to create a landing page that borrows some of the most successful features
2. Continuously run A/B test on features of your landing page, including your:
   1. Text
   2. Colors
   3. Images
   4. Forms
   5. Layout
3. Implement changes that allow you to build a landing page that maximizes its appeal to visitors so that you get a strong conversion rate.

Layout pages require precision and careful consideration to ensure that they meet the needs of your customers and maximize your potential conversions. Data will help you reach your goals, thereby increasing your leads and growing your business.

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Are email campaigns still effective?

An estimated 91 percent of people check their email at least one time per day. This makes it a highly efficient means of getting in touch with today’s consumers. Customers prefer this method as well-- it is still the most desired means for consumers to receive messages and content from the brands that want to get in touch with them.

These statistics indicate clearly that brands that want to engage with customers can use email for a strong ROI. The key is learning how to build emails that get the attention you are looking to find.

How do you make an email campaign more effective?

For email to be attractive to users and have the strongest possible ROI, it is best to use personalized messages.

You need to make sure you have quality content developed for each of your buyer personas at each stage of your buyer’s journey (link to content for the buyer's journey). You want to have a variety of different types of content-- including videos, whitepapers and articles-- so that you can appeal to the preferences of your different users. Remember that all content must have value to add for customers.

In addition to customizing the email so it accurately reflects where customers are in the buyer’s journey, you also want to create emails that reflect the individual. As people travel throughout your website, you should collect information about them and their needs. For example, when they fill out a landing page form, grab information about their company. The more the emails can be individualized, the better foundation it will lay for a strong relationship with the prospect.

How do I know if my email campaign was successful?

1. Measure your response rates to emails. See how many people respond to your offers and record your open rates and click-through-rates. This will offer insights into how valuable people view your emails and how engaging your headlines are for prospects.
2. Measure conversion rates before and after the email campaign. To see how well your email marketing strategy influences buying decisions, measure your conversion rates before and after your email marketing campaign.
3. Compare to see if improvement is needed in your campaign. Look at all your metrics together, including your open rates, click-through-rates, offer redemptions and conversion rates to see how successful your email marketing strategy is at driving the desired behavior.
4. Adjust and move forward. Make any adjustments that are needed and move forward with your campaign.

Email marketing can be a very efficient means of contacting customers and presenting them with the value of your brand. The right email will be personalized for the customer and their unique needs while also offering value. Create a marketing campaign that focuses on the user and see how email can help build your brand.

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How can Facebook help me build my brand?

It is an unfortunately common assumption for many businesses that social media, particularly Facebook, are just opportunities to stand on a soap box and broadcast your brand message to the millions of people who use the platform. When they does not work, many of these businesses will just give up and declare that Facebook does not work for them.

The trouble is that this is not the role of Facebook. People are not on social media to listen to sales pitches, they are there to be social with their friends and the brands they like. Customers today value brands that take the time to get to know them on a personal level, rather than acting as an impersonal corporation.

Facebook can help you build your brand by acting as a platform for you to engage with your followers, answer their questions and get to know their needs. By doing this, you build your brand and encourage brand loyalty.

How do I use build a Facebook community?

1. Invite people to follow you on Facebook. Advertise your page wherever you go, including your website, your newsletters and your emails.
2. Encourage existing followers to engage with your content. When your followers like or share your existing content, the material will then appear on the newsfeeds of all of their connections, which then increases your exposure and encourages more people to like your page.
3. Engage with your existing followers. Be attentive to the site and respond to their questions and comments promptly. Ask questions of them and participate-- but do not dominate-- conversations that pop-up on your page.

How do I use this community to build my brand?

Once you have an established Facebook community, you want to use this group to build your base and increase your conversions.

1. Host contests where people receive coupons in exchange for telling stories about their experiences with your brand or posting pictures of themselves with your products. This encourages people to make another purchase while also spreading brand reach through the participants’ posts.
2. Offer special codes and giveaways exclusively for your social media followers.
3. Offer insider tips about getting the most out of products or services in your industry-- make your Facebook page a valuable resource for people.

Facebook can be a valuable resource, but it is not just a megaphone for blasting your message. Use the platform to build your brand and you will see what makes social media as a marketing tool so popular.

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1. Identify your buyer personas so that you understand their motivations and what they want to see online
2. Use tools like the BrightEdge Content or Data Cube to look for keyword suggestions based upon search volume, relevance to your industry, your buyer personas and their buyer journey. Choose both head terms and long-tail keywords to deviate your content strategy.
3. Use BrightEdge tools to uncover competitors to identify possible holes in your content marketing campaign. You can uncover keywords that are helping them, but have been neglected by you
4. Monitor trends to see which keywords have spiked, such as in response to a particular event, and be prepared to develop rapid, timely content

How to find keywords?

The digital ecosystem is becoming increasingly crowded. According to IBM, 90% of the content available today was developed in the past two years. At this rate, it is easy for any website to fail to gain traction without targeting the right keywords. That’s why you need to conduct extensive keyword-level research. This process involves finding what queries people enter into search engines and the search volume of each of these queries.

Keywords tell Google what your topic is and helps search engines match your relevant content to the right queries. The key, however, is that you need to find particular terms that matter to people and which you can rank on. Data is the key to uncovering the right keywords.

How do I use SEO keywords?

Once you have the keywords in hand, you need to build a comprehensive content strategy with content that your customers want to read. You do not want to create one blog post with a keyword and consider that keyword covered. Instead, you need to view your keywords as topics and use them to promote scalable content across your campaign. One blog post can then be a jumping-off point that is explored more in depth in a white paper or converted into a webinar topic.

A keyword used to popularize a video can then be used when creating a related infographic. Use your keywords to provide you with ideas for directions to cover in your content marketing campaign. This will help you use them more naturally and encourage you to establish yourself as more of an authority.

Uncovering the right keywords can be a challenge for many organizations. Through the use of data, you will be able to better understand what customers want to see and the topics that attract the most attention. You will then be empowered to create the right content at the right time — improving your engagement rates and conversions.

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