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How To Measure Your SEO Content Performance

by Lawrence Hitches - 26 Nov 2023

According to many SEO’s, content is king.

But how do you determine if your content reigns supreme?

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. It aims to drive profitable customer action.

In SEO, content marketing helps to establish topical authority, ranking for long-tail keywords, and positioning your brand as a thought leader in the industry.

Measuring your SEO content marketing performance is crucial to understanding its effectiveness and making necessary adjustments.

In this guide, we’ll delve deep into the content performance metrics that matter and how to analyse them to ensure your content strategy is on the right track. Read on to learn how to measure content marketing performance.

Table Of Contents

Types of content for SEO
Settings goals for your SEO content
Tools to measure content marketing performance
Top content marketing metrics to measure
How to analyse these content performance metrics

Types Of Content For SEO

There are various types of content used in SEO content marketing, including:

Blog posts
Infographics
Videos
eBooks
Whitepapers

Content types infographic

Each type serves a unique purpose and can be optimised for search engines to increase visibility and drive organic traffic.

Understanding the breakdown of content types can allow you to prioritise your strategy around what content is going to resonate with your audience the most, and drive them to action at different stages of the marketing funnel. This can help you to better understand how to measure content marketing performance.

These types of content can generally be split into two categories: long form and short form.

Short Form Content

With short form content, less is often more. This can be used for a variety of purposes such as crafting engaging product descriptions, landing pages, email blasts and social posts. Short form content is more commonly seen in eCommerce SEO but still has many applications in SaaS SEO.

Short form content can be just as effective as long-form content depending on the purpose and how the content itself matches the intent of the searcher.

For example, a user is not likely to read 1000’s of words of content in a product description, when they’re already at the purchasing stage of their buyer journey.

Long Form Content

Long form content, as the name suggests, is typically more comprehensive. This includes lengthy blog posts, eBooks and whitepapers.

Remember that even with long form content, user experience and readability should always be at the forefront.

Backlinko conducted a study that analysed 11.8 millions websites and found that ‘comprehensive content with a high “Content Grade” (via Clearscope), significantly outperformed content that didn’t cover a topic in-depth.”

This indicates that there is a correlation between long-form content and ranking well in SERPs. But ensuring that the topic is only covered in as much depth as matches user intent is the sweet spot.

What type of content is right for me?

The answer to this question depends on the area of the marketing funnel that you want to target. Any content created for your website should perfectly capture your brand’s tone of voice and provide useful information to your users.

Top of the funnel searches – these are generally informational intent long-tail keywords. This would be blogs, eBooks, whitepapers.

Middle of the funnel searches – these tend to be more commercial intent keywords. This would be videos, landing pages, more product-specific blogs. Other types of content such as reviews or case studies are viewed here, while users are making a decision on if you’re the right fit for them.

Bottom of the funnel searches – these are often transactional intent keywords. These could be product or service names for example. The type of content focused on here is usually product or service pages.

SEO content marketing funnel graphic

Setting Goals For Your SEO Content

Before diving into metrics, it’s essential to set clear goals for your content. Whether it’s increasing organic traffic, boosting engagement, or generating leads, having a defined objective will guide your measurement efforts.

Without these initial goals, it can be difficult to benchmark and check the progress against the content marketing performance in order to understand if your efforts are paying off and bringing ROI.

Setting goals for your SEO content marketing can help you to:

Focus on desired outcomes, allowing you to work on priority content
Better measure the impact of your work
Identify when things aren’t working
Allow you to align with other marketing channels

Using the SMART framework can allow you to set goals clearly and efficiently.

S	Specific – define a specific goal
M	Measurable – properly track progress
A	Attainable – make sure it’s realistic
R	Relevant – ensure it aligns with the business
T	Time-Bound – stay accountable and set a deadline

There are a number of steps that you can follow to properly set your content marketing objectives:

Step 1: Identify your business objectives

Aligning your marketing channels with your overall business objectives can help to ensure everyone is working towards one common goal. Understand what the wider business is looking to achieve, and how SEO and your content marketing can play a part in that.

For example, if you’re looking to launch a new product or service that needs more publicity, create content around this – identifying problems via keyword research and how your product or service can help customers to overcome them.

If your business objective is to gain more revenue, then you may want to work on the bottom and middle of the funnel before looking at the wider brand awareness exercises.

Step 2: Benchmark against historical data

Benchmarking your historical data can help to clearly understand where you started and what you’re looking to achieve. Take into account seasonality by looking at a minimum of 12 months worth of data and use this to forecast the future performance.

Step 3: Conduct audience research

Understand what the current SERP landscape looks like and understand what your consumers are looking for not just from your site, but from your market as a whole. View competitors who are performing well and conduct keyword trend research to understand the overall sentiment within the total addressable market (TAM).

Step 4: Take resource into account

While as SEO’s we may want to create 100’s of pieces of content in order to capture as much of the market as possible, this isn’t always realistic. Be realistic about this and what your team or business can achieve within a set period.

Step 5: Set your goals

Using all of this information, set goals that you feel are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART).

Tools To Measure Content Marketing Performance

Now you have your goals set, it’s important to understand how you can measure the results of the content that you’re creating in comparison to the goals. Fortunately, there are a number of tools in the industry that can help.

Some of the industry favourites include:

Google Analytics – a free analytics tracking software that tracks and reports on website traffic.
SEMrush – is a SaaS platform that offers comprehensive online visibility insights.
Ahrefs – is a SEO software suite that contains various analytical tools for measuring online visibility.
SEOTesting.com – is an online SEO research tool that allows its users to run different tests

These tools provide insights into various metrics, from organic traffic to bounce rate, helping you understand your content’s impact. If you need some help with your analytics and conversions, our expert team can help.

Top 5 Content Marketing Metrics To Measure

SEO and content marketing are intertwined. For optimal results from search engines, producing high-quality content is essential. The relationship between SEO and content marketing is multifaceted, encompassing link-building strategies, ranking improvements, and user education and conversion.

However, the success of content marketing isn’t determined by a single metric. To genuinely comprehend the influence of your content marketing initiatives:

Recognise the essential content performance metrics.
Understand how to monitor them.
Determine which metrics are relevant to your campaigns and business.

Here are some of the most prevalent SEO metrics you should be aware of:

Backlinks

For many SEO experts, the primary objective of content marketing is to acquire links. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines emphasise the importance of generating unique content to naturally earn high-quality, relevant links. It’s essential to note that not all links are created equal. The quality of the links is more crucial than their quantity. Creating link-worthy content can be a great tactic to enhance the authority of your site and is a commonly-used Digital PR tactic.

Rankings

Achieving high rankings on search engines like Google and Bing is vital for driving organic traffic to your content. However, solely focusing on rankings can be misleading due to factors like personalised search and position zero. Most modern SEOs will keep track of rankings but in correlation with other content performance metrics such as organic search traffic and revenue or leads generated.

Organic Search Traffic

This metric provides insights into the amount of traffic your content receives from organic search. This is likely to grow over time or could benefit from a sudden surge in traffic if your content was to go viral for a particular reason.

It’s crucial to understand how organic search traffic compares to other channels, and what has directly impacted any growth (or decline). It is also important to track this specifically by the URL that you are creating, to properly attribute performance to any newly published content.

Organic Clicks/Impressions/CTR

This data offers insights into the search queries driving traffic to your content, potential search traffic, and your organic click-through rate (CTR). This can be quickly and easily measured using the free tool Google Search Console. These metrics can be influenced by high positioning and any fluctuations in seasonal trends.

Organic Conversion Rate

This metric measures the percentage of visitors who take a predefined action, indicating the effectiveness of your content in driving conversions. This can be both directly from within the content or as a secondary click, attributed to the visibility of the blog leading to brand awareness.

Dwell Time

This user-based metric measures the duration searchers spend on a page before returning to the search results. This has evolved from average time on page with Universal Analytics to average engagement rate on Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This can be found within Reports > Engagement > Pages, alongside a number of other engagement metrics. This can help to more closely understand if users are engaging with your content and any areas where they are not.

How To Analyse These Metrics

Analysing these content performance metrics requires a deep understanding of your goals and the tools at your disposal. For instance:

A high bounce rate might indicate that your content isn’t resonating with visitors.
An increase in backlinks can signify that your content is viewed as authoritative in the industry.

By regularly monitoring and analysing these metrics, you can refine your content strategy to better meet your objectives.

SEO Transformation with Content

The Entourage, known for its entrepreneurial coaching, lacked a strong online presence. The aim was to boost visibility for “business coaching” keywords.

We enhanced The Entourage’s authority by crafting quality blogs, creating keyword-targeted landing pages, and securing quality backlinks, aiming for a 15% organic growth.

The efforts paid off quickly:

Business Coaching Pages: Achieved improved rankings within two months.
Overall Website: Saw an 86% increase in organic traffic and a 155% rise in top-three rankings.
Blog Pages: Experienced an 81% growth in keywords.

The question came up, how much revenue could we measure through SEO content. Because we were tracking this from the beginning we were able to show across 2 years, it had produced over $600,000 of revenue for the brand.

Learn more about this campaign with our case study.

Conclusion

Measuring your SEO content marketing performance is not just about numbers.

It’s about understanding your audience, refining your strategy, and positioning your brand as an industry leader.

By focusing on the right metrics and continuously optimising, you can ensure your content not only attracts but also engages and converts. Measuring your SEO content strategy can allow you to better understand where you came from vs. where you’re heading next.

Want to boost your online visibility with SEO content marketing? Speak to a member of our expert team today.

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Ultimate Guide to Enterprise SEO

by Lawrence Hitches - 15 Nov 2023

Did you know that large enterprises manage an average of over 1 million pages on their websites? With such vast digital real estate, traditional SEO strategies just won’t cut it.

Welcome to the world of Enterprise SEO, where the stakes are higher and the rewards even greater.

For global businesses aiming to dominate the digital landscape, understanding and mastering Enterprise SEO is the game-changer. In this blog, we’ll be diving into what Enterprise SEO is, the biggest challenges, and some of our top most actionable tips that you can integrate into your strategy. Read on for more!

Table Of Contents

What Is Enterprise SEO?
Benefits Of Enterprise SEO
Enterprise SEO vs. Small Business SEO
Challenges Of Enterprise SEO
Top 5 Actionable Tips
Conclusion

What is Enterprise SEO?

Enterprise SEO isn’t just traditional SEO on a larger scale. It’s a specialised approach tailored for big organizations with vast websites.

Here’s what sets it apart:

Unique Methodologies: Enterprise SEO employs strategies specifically designed for large-scale sites.
Enhanced User Experience: It ensures a seamless experience across the domain, catering to varied audiences.
Entity Brand Presence: Beyond rankings, it’s about maintaining a consistent brand image online.

Here are some examples of sites that you can categorise under Enterprise SEO:

eCommerce brands which have millions of products
News outlets with hundreds of articles uploaded each day
Financial institutions such as national banks
Travel platforms with reviews and lots of user-generated content
SaaS companies that offer varied products and are scaling quickly

Take a look at our video for more tips and tricks!

Benefits of Implementing Enterprise SEO

When done right, Enterprise SEO can offer a plethora of advantages.

Some of the biggest advantages to Enterprise SEO include:

Wider Reach
With a much wider reach, you can cater to a global audience, offering tailored content to different demographics. This can be implemented across all stages of the funnel, ensuring you’re capturing a much wider market space.

Staying Competitive
An effective Enterprise SEO strategy ensures you’re always a step ahead. Competitors in fast-moving industries are going to be regularly updating their sites and looking at new and innovative ways to boost their site visibility in SERPs. With Enterprise SEO you can do the same, but better.

Streamlined User Experience
By integrating best practices into your Enterprise SEO campaign, you can produce a well-optimised site that will help users to find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently. User experience is a core part of Google’s algorithm and continues to be at the forefront of marketing campaigns for all sized businesses. Set the example with your Enterprise business.

Enterprise SEO vs Small Business SEO

In defining Enterprise SEO, the question arises – well, what’s the difference between regular, vanilla, white bread SEO?

The primary difference lies in scale: Enterprise SEO should be implemented by vast websites with thousands of pages, demanding intricate strategies and more budget allocation. Conversely, small businesses focus on optimising fewer pages with limited resources to implement them.

Challenges of Enterprise SEO for Large Organizations

futuristic city scape

The Scale Factor

Enterprise sites often have thousands, if not millions, of pages. Managing and optimising such a vast number of pages requires sophisticated strategies and tools.

A larger site means that crawlers need to get in and understand the content on the website, while being able to crawl and index effectively. This is where the significance of site architecture comes in.
Crafting an SEO-centric site architecture that inherently fosters links between various segments is imperative to any Enterprise SEO strategy.

A well-structured website aids search engine crawlers in discovering and indexing every page on your site.

If certain pages on your website are buried deep within the site’s architecture or aren’t linked from any other page, it becomes challenging for Googlebot to locate and index them. This means that users are also unlikely to find them and that they won’t be visible on the search engine.

Alongside this, you need to consider the importance of internal linking. On a much smaller site, a few strategic internal links can substantially elevate its ranking. On larger sites, internal linking is vital, sometimes for a page to be discovered.

Take a colossal website like YouTube as an example. With millions of pages, a mere handful of internal links barely scratch the surface.

To truly harness the power of internal linking on such a platform, a more expansive approach is essential. Devising a script to autonomously embed internal links to pivotal pages might be the answer. Regardless, manual scaling of internal linking for such vast sites is nearly an insurmountable task.

Content Production

Another pivotal facet of SEO that demands scaling for enterprise sites is content creation.

For eCommerce platforms, this translates to curating distinct content for every product, category, and subcategory.

For content-centric sites, it necessitates the formation of a dedicated editorial team and optimisation specialists.

For platforms abundant in user-generated content, scaling is achieved through rigorous moderation and fostering a vibrant community.

Getting The Buy In

Having an internal SEO specialist means getting buy-in can be more consistent and effective.

Requiring approval from multiple departments for changes to be made to the site can hamper results for Enterprise SEO, with it often being more challenging than necessary.

Longstanding and global brands often miss the mark on simplifying their CMS stack, so you’ll see that these enterprise brands have custom CMS or multiple frameworks they’re working off instead of a simple WordPress or Shopify build.

Enterprise SEO is more about selling ideas internally to push through positive changes, the principles of improving rankings remain the same as a traditional SEO campaign. In these more complex setups, talking to the right people who have the weight to carry change is half the battle.

If internal teams are too separated, a simple change to a title tag can take months to implement as it has to be approved by several teams.

This can also be the case with developer backlog and not gaining buy-in from various departments who are responsible for actually implementing the changes. There are other methods, such as Edge SEO which can utilise new techniques (such as overwriting the cached version of a site using the CDN to implement changes) to help overcome this process.

However, good communication and strong negotiating skills to showcase the value of the work being done is often the key to a successful Enterprise SEO campaign.

Navigating Technical SEO Challenges

Legacy Systems & Technical Debt

As businesses evolve, they often accumulate what’s known as “technical debt.” This refers to the outdated systems, platforms, or technologies they continue to use, often due to initial investments or resistance to change.

These legacy systems, while functional, might not align with current SEO best practices.

They can introduce challenges like slow page load times, non-responsive designs, or poor site architecture, all of which can hamper SEO efforts.

Addressing this requires a proactive approach. Organisations must prioritise regular Enterprise SEO audits to identify areas where legacy systems are impacting SEO.

The next step is migrating to modern, SEO-friendly platforms. While this might entail upfront costs and resources, the long-term benefits, including improved site performance, enhanced user experience, and better SEO rankings, make it a worthwhile investment.

Embracing modern technology not only resolves existing SEO issues but also equips businesses to adapt to future digital trends.

Understanding Duplicate Content in Large-Scale Websites

Duplicate content is characterised by significant chunks of content that mirror or closely resemble other content on the site.

This phenomenon is especially prevalent on large-scale platforms, notably e-commerce sites or those with many service offerings.

The implications of such duplication include:

Confusion for search engines, making them ponder over the content’s primary version.
Potential detrimental effects on the site’s SEO ranking due to ambiguity.

Combatting Duplicate Content

Canonicalisation: Employ canonical tags to guide search engines towards the primary version of a page, especially when dealing with similar content across multiple pages.
Craft Unique Descriptions: eCommerce platforms should prioritise crafting distinct product descriptions, even for products that are mere variations of each other.
Routine Content Audits: Undertake regular content checks to pinpoint and amend overlapping or redundant content.

Tackling Page Bloat: The Silent SEO Killer

Page bloat is defined by an overabundance of low-value or redundant pages on a site. The repercussions of unchecked page bloat include:

Consumption of the site’s crawl budget, delaying the indexing of new or updated content.
Dilution of the site’s authority, thereby hampering its SEO prowess.

Strategies to Mitigate Page Bloat

Periodic Site Reviews: Consistently review and eliminate outdated, irrelevant, or subpar pages.
Leverage ‘NoIndex’: For indispensable yet non-SEO valuable pages (e.g., legal pages), utilise the “noindex” directive.
Optimise User Contributions: For sites that entertain user-generated content, a stringent moderation system is crucial to ward off substandard submissions.

Multiple Regional Versions

In the age of globalisation, many enterprises cater to audiences spanning multiple countries and languages.

As a result, they often host various regional versions of their website, tailored to local languages and preferences. While this approach enhances user experience, it inadvertently introduces the risk of duplicate content. Search engines, without clear directives, might struggle to determine which version to display for a particular audience, leading to potential SEO issues.

The remedy lies in the implementation of hreflang tags.

These tags serve as clear indicators to search engines, specifying which version of a webpage is intended for which geographic or linguistic audience.

By integrating hreflang tags, enterprises can ensure that a user in Spain, for instance, sees the Spanish version of the site, while a user in the UK sees the English version.

This not only enhances user experience but also optimises the site’s SEO performance across regions.

Keyword Strategy: Leveraging High Domain Authority

a-magnifying-glass-looking-down-at-buildings-in-a-futuristic-style

Enterprise websites often possess a distinct edge when targeting competitive keywords, primarily due to their inherent high domain authority.

When Walmart creates a product page, it has a higher chance of ranking than a new brand selling the same products today.

However, enterprise sites mustn’t rest solely on the laurels of their domain strength.

While they are well-equipped to target highly-competitive head terms, it’s equally crucial to integrate long-tail keywords into their strategy.

These longer, more specific keyword phrases cater to niche audiences and can drive highly targeted traffic, often with a higher propensity to convert.

By harmoniously blending long-tail and competitive head terms, enterprise sites can craft a holistic keyword strategy that maximises reach, engagement, and conversions.

Unique Backlinking Opportunities for Enterprise Sites

Enterprise websites, given their expansive reach and brand recognition, often find themselves mentioned across various digital platforms. These unlinked brand mentions represent a goldmine of backlinking opportunities.

When another site references an enterprise without a direct link, it’s an implicit nod to the brand’s authority and relevance in the industry. However, these mentions, while valuable for brand visibility, can be further leveraged to enhance the site’s SEO profile.

Digital PR is way more accessible to enterprise SEO and a given when elevating an already existing authoritative brand.

Access to data sets to create insightful and linkable content is way easier. Given that the brand is already acknowledged, the request for a link is less of a cold pitch and more of a collaborative proposition.

In-House Marketing Teams

Enterprise companies often have entire marketing departments that cater to different marketing channels. Small businesses don’t normally have the infrustructure for more than 2 people in their marketing teams at best.

For enterprise SEO, this can be a major advantage or a roadblock to SEO strategy at times, with more stakeholders and indirect impacts from other channels.

With more stakeholders and internal people comes the biggest holdback to SEO success – internal politics.

With solid collaboration between channels, such as SEO and PPC working to get maximum search visibility instead of cannibalising each other. If teams are in lockstep on getting results together instead of individually, SEO growth is more likely.

Often in more savvy companies, they’ll have an in-house SEO specialist to lead the charge from within on what’s needed to move the needle in SEO. This is highly recommended for brands with most of their traffic and revenue coming through search engines.

Top 5 Actionable Enterprise SEO Tips

In this section, we’re highlighting the top 5 most actionable Enterprise SEO tips that we always look at when crafting our own campaigns for our enterprise clients.

Ground Your Strategy in Data

Making assumptions can lead to misguided strategies. Always base your decisions on concrete data.

Start with comprehensive competitor research, market segmentation, and benchmarks. Always be prepared with data, especially when presenting to stakeholders.

Craft a Compelling SEO Story

People resonate with stories. Transforming your strategy into a narrative can make it more engaging and memorable.

Begin with impactful metrics and analytics, like revenue numbers, to grab attention.

Highlight key benchmarks and end with unique insights about competitors. Make your strategy presentation a journey that leads to informed decisions.

Segment Your Recommendations

Enterprise websites are vast, and SEO touches multiple facets, from technical aspects to content and links.

Divide your strategy into clear sections. For instance:

Three major technical SEO fixes
Three major content strategy ideas
Three major backlink or digital PR ideas

Three’s the magic number, after all.

Set Clear, Achievable Goals

Goals provide direction and a measure of success.

Define specific targets, like improving page speed or increasing organic traffic by a certain percentage. Ensure these goals are realistic and based on your initial data and research.

Develop a Comprehensive SEO Roadmap

A roadmap provides a clear path for execution and showcases commitment to the strategy.

Use project management tools to create detailed SEO roadmaps. Break them down by months or quarters, leading to a full-year plan. Group related tasks into themes for clarity and ease of tracking.

In Conclusion

Enterprise SEO stands out as a specialised discipline tailored to large-scale organizations. From unique methodologies to intricate strategies, it addresses the distinct challenges and opportunities vast websites present. Whether it’s leveraging high domain authority, capitalising on unlinked brand mentions, or navigating the complexities of internal politics, mastering Enterprise SEO is crucial for global businesses to maintain a competitive edge

As we’ve explored in this guide, a holistic approach encompassing technical, content, and strategic elements, backed by the right tools and in-house expertise, can propel enterprise sites to unparalleled SEO success.

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How To Do An SEO Competitor Analysis

by Lawrence Hitches - 2 Nov 2023

Free SEO Competitor Analysis Template!

We’ve created a Google Sheets template to complete this step by step on your own, download the SEO Competitor Analysis Template by StudioHawk

Ever wondered why some websites constantly outshine others? Or why one of your competitors is suddenly taking over the market?

The secret could be SEO Competitor Analysis.

By diving into this, you can uncover secrets to unlock your website’s SEO growth in search results and boost your client acquisitions and or revenue.

This guide is packed with insider info, spicy tips, and all the do’s and don’ts to master the art of SEO Competitor Analysis.

Ready boost up the search results to outrank your competition? Let’s go!

What Is An SEO Competitor Analysis?

A competitor SEO analysis is a comprehensive review of top-ranking websites or competitors in your niche or industry.

This process is pivotal in gaining insights into their SEO strategies, allowing you to uncover what strategies succeed and which ones fall short in your particular area of business. When done correctly, can boost your organic visibility, as well as traffic and sales potential.

Why Is SEO Competitive Analysis Important?

Have you ever wondered why a particular competitor ranks better? Or what keywords they’re focusing on? These insights can help shape our own game plan more effectively.

This knowledge becomes crucial for refining your SEO practices. Surprisingly, your competitor isn’t always your adversary. They can be a valuable source of inspiration, offering learning opportunities to make your SEO strategies more efficient.

Remember, don’t just focus on a few competitors. Your offline competitors may be very different to your online competitors. Expand your scope and explore the SEO tactics of various players in your field. This approach provides a comprehensive view, revealing successful strategies for some and ineffective ones for others.

If you run a plumbing company, looking at an ecommerce store that sits within your market can be valuable too – we’re all trying to rank so there’s a ton of learnings out there.

SEO isn’t static. It’s influenced by changing trends, algorithms, and practices. As a result, continuous monitoring and adapting to competitors’ practices becomes imperative. While having a broad overview is vital, so is attention to detail.

Delve into aspects like keyword data, content structures, link-building methodologies, and the user experience competitors offer.

This deep understanding can guide a more informed and precise SEO strategy.

Research your niche, stay attuned to market dynamics, understand competitor strategies, and utilize these insights to fortify your SEO approach. Knowledge is indeed power, and in the world of SEO, it propels you to the forefront.

What do the SEO gurus have to say about competitive analysis:

Neil Patel, Co-founder of NP Digital: “Poor link structures are just opportunities for others to learn from your mistakes.”

Rand Fishkin, Co-founder of SparkToro: “Understanding the competitive landscape is critical to maintain or grow your SEO traffic.”

Bruce Clay, Founder of Bruce Clay Inc.: “Know your competition well. The more you understand your competition, the greater the likelihood of outperforming them.”

Danny Sullivan, Founder of Search Engine Land: “The best place to look for keywords and SEO strategies to target is your competitors’ sites.”

Brian Dean, Founder of Backlinko: “Analyze what the competition is doing (then do it better).”

When Should I Perform An SEO Competitor Analysis?

Have you ever pondered, “How often should I dive into an SEO competitor analysis?”

Regularly checking up on your competitors is a smart move. This isn’t just about playing catch-up; it’s about understanding the current field and anticipating the next big move in SEO. This isn’t merely about mimicking their moves but spotting opportunities they might’ve missed.

Prioritize regular competitor analyses so you’re not just responding but leading the way in the digital race. Consider it your secret weapon in the vast world of online competition.

You can perform an SEO competitor analysis quickly with SEMrush’ domain overview:

SEMrush domain overview interface

SEO Competitive Analysis Is an Ongoing Process

So, what is the ideal frequency for SEO competitor analysis?

Competitive analysis is not a one-time task. It’s an ongoing process that needs to be revisited periodically. Depending on the size of your site and the number of active competitors, you should rerun SEO competition analysis about every six to 12 months.

Parts of the analysis, such as looking at your competitors’ new keywords, should be performed monthly to remain competitive.

Regularly monitor the SEO-related strategies your competitors are implementing so you can respond and implement your own strategies accordingly.

As you get faster at doing competition analysis, the more frequently you can conduct it too. But remember, an SEO competitor analysis shouldn’t be a ‘copy & paste’ exercise. It’s about finding opportunities to expand your share of the market. The purpose of this is to find out what your competitors are doing and do it better.

How To Identify Your SEO Competitors

How do you pinpoint who your SEO competitors? It’s more straightforward than it sounds:

First up, there’s a pivotal difference to note. Just because someone’s a business rival doesn’t mean they’re your SEO competitor. Your business competitors are those who offer the same products or services.

Meanwhile, SEO competitors are sites that pop up when someone searches for the same terms you’re hoping to rank for.

They might not even be in your industry, but they’re fighting for that top spot on the search results page.

How do you find these sneaky SEO competitors?

Well, there are tools for that!

SEO tools can help determine who’s ranking for the keywords you want. Pop in a keyword, and the tool will reveal who’s appearing on search engine results.

To start here’s a list of SEO tools to use in your SEO competitor analysis:

Ahrefs: A trusted name in the SEO community, Ahrefs offers a buffet of features, from spying on competitors and keyword sleuthing to digging into backlinks and content research.

SEMrush: Consider SEMrush your Swiss army knife for SEO! Keyword research and competitor gap analysis, or give your site a thorough technical SEO checkup.

SEMrush compare domains interface

SpyFu: Channel your inner detective! With SpyFu, peek into your rivals’ top-performing keywords and ads across organic and paid search.

SEO Monitor: A tool that aims to make SEO strategies more predictable. It offers insights into organic visibility, traffic, conversions, and factors in the ‘not provided’ keyword data. This ensures a comprehensive understanding of your SEO performance.

Screaming Frog: Often described as an SEO spider, this desktop tool is a favourite for many SEO professionals. It crawls websites to provide real-time data on onsite SEO, helping quickly identify issues. Whether it’s broken links, duplicate content, or missing meta tags, Screaming Frog enables you to find and fix them.

SimilarWeb: A digital market intelligence platform. Whether you want to peek at a site’s traffic sources, discover similar sites, or get insights into competitors’ strategies, SimilarWeb has got you covered.

If you’re feeling more hands-on, there’s a DIY approach, too.

Type your primary keywords into a search engine and see who graces the first page. It’s a bit old-school and might take a tad longer, but it gives a direct view of who’s doing what in the SEO world. A Google Search is always going to be your greatest weapon.

It not only shows who’s ranking, but it gives an idea behind the intent and the type of content you need to be creating in order to be visible for the same terms.

Identified them? Great! Now, it’s detective time. Conduct an analysis into their content, keywords, and backlinks to discover how to outrank them.

Steps To Conducting An SEO Competitive Analysis

An in-depth SEO competitor analysis can show paths for upping your SEO game.

Here’s a step by step approach to take:

Step 1: Identify Who’s In the SEO Race

Before anything else, figure out who your real SEO competitors are. They might not be who you think! Those websites appear on the first page when searching for your target keywords. Yep, those are the ones you’re up against!

Step 2: On-Page SEO Techniques

After identifying your competitors, it’s time to dissect their on-page SEO strategies. Key elements to focus on include:

Meta Tags & Header Tags: These provide search engines with concise information about a page’s content. Properly optimized tags can significantly influence rankings.

Keyword Placement: The strategic positioning of keywords in content, title tags, and meta descriptions is crucial. It signals the primary topics of your content to search engines.

Content Freshness: Regularly updating content keeps it relevant and can positively impact search rankings, as search engines favor up-to-date information.

Intent Matching: Match the type and style of content you’re creating to the intent of searchers and what Google deems that to be. For example, if Google is showing just product pages for a specific term on page 1, getting your blog page to rank for the same term is going to be more difficult as the intents are different.

Step 3: Technical SEO Analysis:

Technical SEO is crucial for optimising your website’s interaction with search engines and users.

Key elements include internal linking, which uses pathways to guide visitors and help search engines understand your site’s layout.

A well-organised website structure ensures crucial pages are easily accessible, while page speed emphasises swift loading for enhanced user experience.

Security is addressed with SSL certifications, providing data protection and boosting search engine favourability.

Mobile optimisation is essential, guaranteeing a seamless browsing experience across devices.

Regular technical SEO audits are vital, allowing for identifying and rectifying potential issues that could impact search performance.

By focusing on these technical components, your website is better positioned for success in both user engagement and search engine rankings.

Step 4: Backlinks and Off-Page Strategies

When assessing competitor off-page tactics, consider:

Backlink Sources: Identify where their links come from. High-quality sources can boost SEO rankings.

Backlink Quality: Not all backlinks are equal. Prioritise those from authoritative sites.

Backlink Gaps: Spot opportunities to gain backlinks they might be missing.

By understanding their off-page moves, you can refine your strategies to build a strong brand in search engines.

Backlink Strategy: You can quite quickly identify what type of link acquisition strategy they are using by the type of links that are being gained. Are they enjoying the benefits of a successful Digital PR campaign? Is their strategy more focused on skyscraper techniques, broken link building or guest posting?

Step 5: Dissect Their Content Strategy

When analysing competitor content, focus on:

Themes: What main topics are they covering? This can highlight areas you might be overlooking.

Frequency: Note how often they post. If they’re more consistent, consider increasing your content output.

Depth: Are they providing detailed insights or just skimming topics? Identify where you can offer more comprehensive information.

Engagement: High numbers of quality comments or shares indicate resonating content. Aim for similar engagement on your pieces.

Formats: Beyond blogs, are they using videos or infographics? Diversifying content types can boost engagement.

Keyword Use: Observe their keyword integration for optimisation ideas.

Content Gaps: Spot topics they still need to cover for unique content opportunities.

By understanding different SEO content strategies, you can refine yours to stand out and resonate more with your audience – and beat your competitors to the punch.

Step 6: Gauge Their Social Buzz

While not a direct ticket to SEO results, social media activity can help. Check out their social media hustle.

Ask how engaged is their audience? This can offer insights into what resonates with potential customers in your industry.

Social media profiles are known as “foundational links” they provide signals about the credibility of a business, in a simialr way to brand mentions

Social channels can also be a great way to extend the exposure of your content, as well as highlight expertise and authority in an industry, in line with E-E-A-T.

Step 7: Go Beyond SEO

While at it have a look at their marketing strategy beyond SEO, what are they doing for Newsletters? Webinars? Video Content? And LinkedIn?

These can offer you a more holistic view of what’s capturing audience interest and help with topic ideation for your own content both onsite and offsite.

Step 8: Investigate Their Paid Presence

PPC is expensive. So if competitors are bidding on specific terms, then this suggests that they are finding some keywords more valuable than others, giving you an indication of what you should visible for organically.

If you’re running your own PPC campaign, review the extensive amounts of data that the channel offers. Find profitable keywords and find terms that your customers are trying to find you with, that you’re not yet visible for. Make all of your channels work together for a truly integrated strategy.

Navigating Competitor Moves After Algorithm Updates

Why should you monitor competitors after an update?

Algorithm alterations can significantly shift rankings, affecting both your site and your competitors.

Any drastic changes in keyword positions, such as moving from the 1st page of Google to subsequent pages (or vice versa), highlight the update’s impact to them, and is a good signal to make a move.

What To Do After The Analysis

The real work begins after your SEO competitor analysis. These are actions to take after an SEO competitor analysis:

Use your newfound knowledge on your competitors to fine-tune your SEO plan based on this. Use these competitor insights to your advantage whether you’re integrating this into an existing strategy or starting fresh.
Consider working with an SEO professional with niche expertise, as there are always nuances to why something that works for a competitor may or may not work for you.
Spot weak links and strengthen them.
Dive deeper into any competitor that stood out more than the others – what made them tick?
Be inspired, but never directly duplicate. Your brand has its own voice, identity, value proposition.
Regularly reassess your game plan, using competitor analysis as a reference point and benchmark.
Competitors are always changing. Your analysis today will be different in a few months – make this task a recurring event in your calendar.
Learn, adapt and get ahead.

The Power of SEO Competitor Analysis: A Real-Life Example

Have you ever wondered about the tangible impact of a thorough SEO competitor analysis?

Let’s look into a real-life example of B2C Furniture, one of StudioHawk’s esteemed clients,

Through meticulous competitor analysis, they identified gaps in the market, refined their strategies, and carved a niche for themselves.

The result?

An increase of 475% over the past 12 months.
316% increase in revenue.
B2C Furniture ranking page 1 for kids beds, single bed with trundle, children’s beds, and ‘kids trundle beds’, alongside other major retailers.

This case study is clear example when combine competitor insights with actionable SEO strategies.

Final Word: SEO Competitor Analysis

One priceless tool in your SEO toolkit is competitor analysis.

Gathering this intel is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, each piece refining your SEO approach. Remember, the SEO rewards the curious, the adaptable, and those ready to face every new challenge head-on.

Want to ensure your SEO journey is on the right track? With a touch of commitment and insights from SEO competitor analysis, success is within reach.

And if you’re looking for experts to guide you every step of the way, StudioHawk is here to help. Let’s partner with our elite SEO specialists to unlock organic growth for your brand. Speak to one of our experts today!

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Google Shopping SEO: A Comprehensive Guide

by Lawrence Hitches - 22 Jun 2023

When it comes to online shopping, one platform stands out: Google Shopping. This service, offered by the tech giant Google, has revolutionised online shopping. But how can businesses optimise their presence on this platform? The answer lies in Google Shopping SEO.

Understanding Google Shopping

Google Shopping is a service that allows users to search for products on online shopping websites and compare prices between different vendors. It’s like having a personal shopping assistant that sifts through the internet to find the best deals. But it’s not just beneficial for shoppers; it’s also a powerful tool for businesses.

How Google Shopping Works with SEO

Let’s delve into the mechanics of Google Shopping and how it showcases your products, with a particular focus on the role of SEO.

Imagine a customer is in the market for a pair of running shoes. Their first step is to conduct a Google search to compare different models, features, and prices.

Upon entering “running shoes” into Google’s search bar, the results page will look something like this:

running shoes search in google

Product search As depicted, the initial results page displays a selection of product ads at the top. These ads are from retailers like yours, utilising Google Shopping campaigns. These campaigns are optimised with relevant keywords in the product titles, descriptions, and metadata to improve their visibility in Google Shopping search results.

In addition to these ads, the page also features standard website links and Google’s new Top 24 section. However, our focus lies on the Shopping tab on the page’s top.

For the Shopping tab, alternatively, users can directly access this by typing shopping.google.com into their browser and searching for products from there.

Let’s examine how the Google Shopping search engine results page (SERP) appears with our specific “running shoes” search.

As shown above, Google prioritises paid promotions at the top, followed by regular or free Google Shopping listings. These listings are optimised for SEO and feature high-quality, clear product images and positive customer reviews and ratings, all of which can improve a product’s SEO on Google Shopping.

Users can refine their search using the left panel, filtering by attributes such as price range, color, size, weight, etc. The role of price competitiveness in Google Shopping SEO becomes evident here, as users often filter products based on price.

Upon clicking on your specific listing, a window will appear showcasing your product’s gallery images and necessary details.

running shoes shopping example

Visitors can click the title and be directed to your store’s page or click product details to visit Google Shopping’s product details page for that product. On the product details page, Google displays comprehensive information, product features, and user reviews.

If you join the Buy on Google option in the Google Merchant Center, you can even allow your visitors to purchase directly from Google. However, this feature is currently only available in the US.

What Does Organic Listing on Google Shopping Mean?

While Google Shopping has been a staple for some time, it was previously restricted to paid product ads/listings only.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to many physical stores closing, impacting the retail industry. In response to this crisis and to support struggling retailers, Google introduced organic listing on Google Shopping.

This means that store owners, eCommerce merchants, and even local shop owners can now list their products on Google Shopping free of charge. This development presents a wealth of opportunities for retailers, especially when they leverage the benefits of using Google’s Merchant Center and AdWords tools for SEO.

Approximately 20% of consumers turn to Google when searching for a product to purchase. With free product listings on Google, you can connect with potential customers interested in your products and drive substantial traffic to your store, potentially leading to sales without cost.

The Cost Structure of Google Shopping

One common question about Google Shopping is whether it’s free or paid. The answer is both. While it’s accessible for shoppers, businesses must pay to list their products. This transition to a paid model has been a point of contention, but it’s also opened up new opportunities for businesses to reach their target audience.

The Benefits of Google Shopping for Businesses

So, why should businesses use Google Shopping? There are several reasons.

Increasing Product Visibility

Moreover, the power of Google Shopping extends beyond just visibility. As explained in this in-depth guide by Search Engine Journal, Google Shopping can significantly boost your customer reach. It’s not just about listing your products; it’s about strategically positioning them in front of a vast audience. By combining free and paid Google Shopping listings with traditional Search ads, your brand can appear multiple times within a single Google Search results page, multiplying your exposure to potential customers. This multi-faceted approach can lead to more clicks and higher conversion rates, making Google Shopping an invaluable tool for businesses.

Knowing Which Keywords Drive ROI

You’ve likely heard the mantra: marketing is about leveraging data to make incremental improvements over time. However, this task becomes challenging when Google needs to provide comprehensive data. That is unless you’re willing to invest in Google Ads!

Currently, Google doesn’t provide detailed data on which keywords drive your organic traffic, citing ‘privacy reasons.’ While Google Ads isn’t a perfect solution, it does offer more granular data once you run Search Ads.

This data includes which keywords and search terms not only trigger your ads but also lead to the business outcomes you desire and at what cost.

Reaching More People

With Google Shopping, businesses can reach a wider audience. This platform isn’t limited to a specific region or country; it’s global. This means that even small businesses can reach customers they would never have been able to get otherwise.

In addition to the global reach of Google Shopping, research has shown that online searching and buying have become increasingly popular, potentially affecting shopping trips.

A study titled “Empirical Investigation of Online Searching and Buying and Their Relationship to Shopping Trips” found that the more often people search online, the more shopping trips they tend to make. This suggests that online shopping doesn’t necessarily replace physical shopping trips but can complement them. This means businesses using Google Shopping can not o a global audience but tangentially drive more in-store visits.

The Need for Speed: Quick Visibility with Google Ads

If you’re committed to your business for the long haul, you’re likely comfortable with the ‘long game’ of effective SEO. While it achieves impressive results, a slow process to a payoff can last for years. However, there are times when you need visibility quickly.

This is where Google Ads can step in to ‘bridge the gaps,’ driving additional traffic, you’re prepared to invest in.

For example, do you have a new product or service line that you want to start generating sales for immediately? Or you’re curious to test the demand for a new service idea.

Or you are considering opening a new office in a different city and want to gauge if there is a demand to support a new team.

With Google Ads, you can achieve this in hours or days. You may need a new landing page (for a service) and want to avoid accepting payment for something that has yet to exist. But Google Ads can help you conduct quick tests with minimal risk in numerous ways.

Attracting Quality Leads

Google Shopping is about more than just reaching more people and getting the right people. Because users on this platform are already looking for products to buy, they’re more likely to convert than users on other platforms.

Understanding Your Customers Better with Google Ads

The cornerstone of marketing is understanding your customer. The more effectively you can communicate with your potential customer in their language and meet their needs, the more successful your marketing efforts will be.

Google Search Console can provide some insights into your organic traffic, but the most valuable data is typically reserved for those willing to invest.

The silver lining? You don’t have to break the bank to gain beneficial insights.
Once your ads are live and operational, you can utilize the ‘Audience Insights’ report to learn more about your top visitors’ interests. This information can then be used to refine your copy, select collaboration partners, enhance your ad targeting, and more.

For instance, one client (who doesn’t sell bridal wear) discovered that individuals ‘in the market’ for bridal wear were about four times more likely to purchase from them than those not in that category.

This revelation led to intriguing ad targeting options and improved results on a larger scale.

Reporting and Metrics

One of the key features of Google Shopping is its robust reporting and metrics. Businesses can track their performance on this platform, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and improve their strategies.

Customer-Centric Design

Google Shopping is designed with the customer in mind. It’s easy to use and navigate, making the shopping experience enjoyable and increasing the likelihood of repeat customers.

Mobile-Friendly Nature

In today’s world, mobile compatibility is crucial. Google Shopping is mobile-friendly, meaning businesses can reach customers no matter their devices, supported by Think with Google provides insights into mobile shopping behavior and the importance of mobile-friendly design.

Easy Management

Managing your presence on Google Shopping is easy. The platform offers a range of tools and features that make it simple to manage your listings, track your performance, and optimize your strategies. The above report also provides insights into how businesses use mobile presence.

Selling the Click: Improving Click-Through Rates

The purpose of your meta description is to entice clicks and guide potential customers from the search engine to your website. While it doesn’t directly influence your ranking, the copy can significantly affect the number of users who click through to your site and their mindset upon arrival.

Of course, testing could be more flawless – Google can modify your meta description if it sees fit. However, you can leverage Google Ads to enhance your testing with minimal expenditure significantly.

By experimenting with various ad copies and comparing one ad against another, you can identify which emotions, benefits, and hooks do not draw clicks and convert people. To do this you’ll have to utilise the somewhat cumbersome ‘ad variation’ tool.

Setting Up Google Shopping: An 8-Step Guide.

Setting up Google Shopping may seem daunting, but it’s pretty straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Create a merchant center account.
Choose high-quality product images.
Create a product data feed.
Link your Google Adwords account.
Build a Google Shopping campaign.
Put bids in your campaign.
Schedule your campaigns.
Create product groups.

You follow the steps to set up your Google Shopping presence and start each customer.

Free Shopping Clicks with Google Merchant Centre

Are you familiar with Google Merchant Centre? This platform allows Google to verify that the data you provide (via a ‘product feed’) aligns with the information presented to your potential customers on your website. To run paid Google Shopping Ads, this data must be an exact match for each product. If you’re considering a ‘Performance Max’ campaign in Google Ads, this will be your initial step (and it’s worth testing).

However, this process will be automated—the Google Merchant Center Next introduction in 2023. Merchant Center Next will automatically pull all this data from your website. If you prefer, you can edit these products or turn off this feature entirely.

Additionally, there’s a lesser-known feature within every GMC account called ‘Free product listings.’ Once activated, you’ll notice your products appearing in more locations (like the complimentary section of the Shopping tab on Google). With the new Merchant Center Next, managing these listings will become even more straightforward, providing better insights and a simplified user interface.

The Pros and Cons of Google Shopping Ads

Investing in Google Shopping ads can be a powerful strategy, but it has drawbacks. On the one hand, these ads can significantly increase your visibility and reach. On the other hand, they require an investment, and there’s no return guarantee. It’s crucial to weigh the pros and cons before investing in these ads.

In conclusion, Google Shopping SEO is a powerful tool for businesses. By understanding this platform and optimizing your presence, you can reach more customers, increase your visibility, and drive more sales.

Why Should I Run Paid Ads When I Rank Well Organically Already?

There’s a common perception that brands with high organic listings and active advertisements are industry leaders. This perception, even if subconscious, often leads potential customers to think, “They must be good; I see them everywhere.”

So, don’t hastily conclude that advertisements are unnecessary.

This is particularly relevant if your ranking is outside the top two or three positions. Remember, your ranking can vary for users based on their previous searches, preferences, and more.

If you consistently rank in the top two or three positions for a specific search term, consider reducing or eliminating your ad spend to see if you can save money without losing traffic.

Running ads for your most profitable keywords can often be a smart defensive strategy, regardless of your ranking.

Final Word

To summarise, think about the following:

Where will you begin now that you’re equipped with various strategies to boost your traffic and increase profits?
Are you currently running any Google Search Ads? If not, this could be a quick way to uncover new terms that have search volume and convert well for your store.
Do you need to bridge short-term revenue gaps? Running Google Shopping Ads could add profit to your store within 1-2 months.
Are you looking to amplify existing results? Once your Ads are up and running, check your reports for new audience segments to target.
Do you want to enhance the click-through rates for your Organic traffic? Utilise Search Ads to test and measure quickly.

Are you seeking free traffic? Activate Free Listings once you ha the product feed sent to your Merchant Centre account.

References

Farag, S., Schwanen, T., & Dijst, M. (2005). Empirical Investigation of Online Searching and Buying and Their Relationship to Shopping Trips. Retrieved from **https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Empirical-Investigation-of-Online-Searching-and-and-Farag-Schwanen/abaf317613ec83668dd722fc27f6b5c3a1ac3f2a**

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What is Video SEO?

by Lawrence Hitches - 5 Jun 2023

Unfurling our journey with the term that’s been creating quite the buzz in the digital world lately, “Video SEO.” Video SEO is an integral cog in the digital marketing machinery. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and when ‘video’ is appended to it, the term refers to optimizing video content for easy discovery by search engines. Video SEO is about striking the perfect balance between creating engaging video content for people and making it favorable for search engine algorithms. Now, that’s a winning combo.

Step By Step For Video SEO

Understanding YouTube’s Search Algorithm: YouTube’s unique search algorithm pairs viewers with videos that align with their interests and viewing habits. It meticulously analyzes factors such as viewers’ watch history, likes and dislikes, duration of watch time, and feedback on content.
Mastering YouTube Search Optimization: The ranking of videos on YouTube is determined by the relevance of the title, description, and video content to the viewer’s search query. Additionally, YouTube considers the watch time and engagement a video has garnered for a specific question.
Optimizing for Suggested Videos: Suggested Videos offer a personalized array of videos that a viewer might be interested in watching next. To optimize for this feature, encourage viewers to watch another video in your series with compelling calls to action, utilize playlists, links, cards, and end screens to suggest the following video, and create a series of organically connected videos.
Crafting Optimized Titles and Thumbnails: Titles and thumbnails serve as the initial point of contact between your video and potential viewers on YouTube. They should accurately depict the content of your video and create a sense of anticipation.
Enhancing Descriptions and Hashtags: A description field is vital for helping viewers discover, understand, and decide whether to watch your videos. The initial lines of text should describe the video content using search-friendly keywords in a natural language.
Optimizing for YouTube’s Home Screen: The Home Screen is the first thing viewers see when they visit YouTube.com or open the YouTube app. To optimize for this, maintain a consistent upload schedule, engage viewers for extended periods, and replicate successful strategies.
Leveraging YouTube Shorts: YouTube Shorts are brief videos that last up to 60 seconds. Including #Shorts in your short video’s title or description can help YouTube’s system recommend your Shorts to a broader audience.
Utilizing Cards and End Screens: Cards and end screens prompt your viewers to take action. Cards are preformatted notifications that promote your brand and other videos on your channel. End screens can increase watch time on your channel by directing viewers to another video at the end of your current video.
Optimizing for “New to You” and Explore Feeds: YouTube introduced New to You to the mobile homepage to enable users to explore content beyond their typical recommendations. The Explore feed aids viewers on YouTube in discovering trending content globally.
Optimizing Uploads and Playlists: A regular upload schedule can attract viewers to your channel. Playlists can help them quickly find more content they enjoy on your channel.

How Has Video SEO Changed?

Just as the digital world evolves, so does the concept of video SEO. Initially, stuffing your content with keywords might have done the trick. But now, search engines have become more innovative. They prioritize the viewer’s experience. Hence, the shift has been from simple keyword inclusion to the relevancy and quality of your content. This evolution means incorporating various strategies, so let’s dive into the big nine!

Making the Right Pick: Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform

Regarding video SEO, choosing the right hosting platform can be a game-changer. Whether you pick YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, or any other platform, it boils down to your goals. If you’re chasing maximum exposure and are okay sharing the spotlight, YouTube is your place. But if you want the traffic driven directly to your website, platforms like Wistia might be a better fit. Vimeo, for instance, achieved 80% faster page loads and 50% lower bounce rates thanks to good SEO practices.

Insert a Video Transcript

Importantly, video transcripts serve as a secret weapon for video SEO. They not only enhance accessibility but also provide additional content for search engine crawlers to index. By providing more context about your video, transcripts can enhance its visibility and boost its ranking on search engine results pages.

According to an article by Candace Aditya on LinkedIn, transcripts enable search engines to analyze your multimedia content and index it accordingly. A study by Liveclicker compared 37 web pages before and after adding transcripts. Pages with transcripts earned, on average, 16% more revenue than they did before transcripts were added. Adding transcripts generated more traffic, which in turn resulted in more gain.

The First Impression: Make Sure Your Thumbnail Image Is Engaging

An engaging thumbnail can be the critical difference between a click on your video and scrolling past it. It’s the visual hook that piques a viewer’s curiosity. Ensure your thumbnail is captivating and accurately represents your video content. After all, nobody appreciates clickbait.

In addition to being visually appealing, your thumbnail should adhere to specific technical guidelines to ensure it’s optimized for search engines. According to a recent update to Google’s video best practices document, at least 80% of your thumbnail’s pixels should have little or no transparency to enable video indexing. Your thumbnail should be transparent and opaque for the best SEO results.

Furthermore, the naming of your thumbnail file could impact your video SEO. While there’s debate among SEO experts about the extent of this impact, it’s generally agreed that using descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your thumbnails is best. This could help when a user conducts a Google image search and boost your video’s visibility.

The Headliner: Pay Attention to the Title and Description of Your Video

Just like a gripping book title, the title and description of your video play an integral role in capturing the audience’s attention. They should be informative, captivating, and, most importantly, include your keyword. In the vast sea of digital content, your title and description can make your video stand out.

Ensure the Rest of Your Page Is Relevant

A video does not exist in isolation on your webpage. The surrounding text, images, and other content should all be relevant to the video and optimized for SEO. Cohesive content delivers a superior user experience and paints a clearer picture for search engine algorithms, boosting your page’s SEO ranking.

First Things First: Embed the Video.

If you’re posting multiple videos on a single page, remember this golden rule: The first video you embed is most likely the one search engines will choose to index. So, choose wisely and place the video you wish to rank higher at the top of the page.

Make the Video the Focus of the Page

Your video should be the star of your webpage. Keep it above the fold, ensuring visitors see it without scrolling down. This positioning not only improves the viewer’s experience but also signals to search engine algorithms the relevance and importance of the video.

Utilize Schema Markup

Semrush suggests that video schema markup can significantly enhance your SEO by making your video more discoverable and comprehensible to search engines. This can lead to higher click-through rates and better user engagement. The process involves adding specific tags to your HTML to provide detailed information about your video content. These tags include elements like the video’s title, description, duration, and URL.

On the other hand, Google’s guide on structured data for videos provides a comprehensive overview of how to use schema markup for videos. It explains how Google Search can be an entry point for people to discover and watch videos. While Google tries to understand details about your video automatically, you can explicitly provide information, such as the description, thumbnail URL, upload date, and duration, by marking up your video with VideoObject. Videos can appear in Google Search results, video search results, Google Images, and Google Discover.

Google also provides examples of how to add structured data to your videos, including standard video-rich results, LIVE badge, video host carousel, Clip, SeekToAction, and more. It also provides guidelines to follow when adding structured data to your videos, such as general structured data guidelines, video best practices, video sitemap guidelines, livestream guidelines, carousel guidelines, Clip and SeekToAction guidelines, and more.

Google Perspectives

In addition to the benefits of schema markup, it’s essential to consider the evolving landscape of search engine optimization. Google, for instance, has recently introduced a new feature called “Google Perspectives,” which aims to provide a more personalized and human touch to search results. This feature, as explained in a StudioHawk blog post, offers a variety of perspectives from different voices, including short-form and longer videos, images, and written posts shared by real people and content creators on discussion boards, Q&A sites, and social media platforms.

This development could mean a broader audience reach for video content creators as their content won’t be confined to the platform where they create it. Google can now help further distribute it to its Search users. However, this also means that the pool of potential competitors for creators is about to get a lot wider. To stand out, creators should make quality content that shares their unique expertise and experience.

Regarding SEO, Google Perspectives places strongly emphasizes generated content, quality, and originality of content, and personal experiences and stories. This means social media platforms, discussion boards, and Q&A sites could rank higher in the SERPs. As a result, businesses and content creators may need to rethink their content strategies to include more user-generated content or to engage more actively on these platforms.

Social Media and Video Marketing

In recent years, social media short video marketing has become a hot topic in academic circles. The appeal of this type of marketing lies in the characteristics of short videos, which include high entertainment value and ease of production and sharing. Research has shown that enterprises’ use of social media short video marketing can significantly influence consumers’ brand attitudes.

Final Word

Video SEO aims to make your video content easily discoverable by viewers and search engine algorithms. It’s a combination of various strategies and techniques that, when done right, can significantly improve your video’s visibility, engagement, and overall performance.

Staying on Top of your Video SEO

If you need to become more familiar with SEO for all media types, we recommend staying on top of Google’s changes. Google is constantly adapting to user search behavior and updating its search engine. With every change, Google aims to become faster, more efficient, and more helpful.

By partnering with an SEO agency, you can benefit from expert SEO specialists without spending time researching. At Studiohawk, we’re constantly maintaining Google’s trends and changes to provide the best services for your website. Contact us today to learn more.

References

Liu, G., Gao, P., Li, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Research the Influence of Social Media Short Video Marketing on Consumer Brand Attitude. Proceedings of the 2019 5th International Conference on Social Science and Higher Education (ICSSHE 2019). Retrieved from https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Research-on-the-Influence-of-Social-Media-Short-on-Liu-Gao/e4aa702b2f9bfb044fb7d2236fc6bfd37724e0b9

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What is E-E-A-T in Google’s algorithm?

by Harry Sanders - 29 May 2023

Google introduced an update to the familiar term E-A-T in December 2022, expanding it to encapsulate an additional factor: “experience.” This innovation introduced an acronym, E-E-A-T, affectionately termed “Double-E-A-T.” It is a cornerstone in Google’s evaluative mechanisms, the Search Quality Raters’ assessments.

What is EEAT?

EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and using EAT for SEO means creating credible content. Google first introduced EAT as part of its updated Search Quality Guidelines in 2014, then updated it later on to include the extra E, and will no doubt be updated for manual content reviewers to spot trustworthy sites since the introduction of AI chatbots.

Google is continually trying to improve the experience for its users, and to do so, they need to make sure ranking content aligns as closely as possible to search queries. False, low-quality, or unhelpful content harms Google and its users. Google uses EEAT to ensure the content that shows up is trustworthy and comes from the most credible standpoint. By prioritizing EEAT content, Google can ensure users get the best results.

Imagine if you searched for medical advice for treating migraines and the first page that came up was a dodgy, spammy website that gave questionable advice on home remedies that needed to be based on scientific evidence. While frustrating for the user, if Google did not implement EEAT in its guidelines, some users may see this information as truth and may potentially be harmful.

This is going to be a critical component of the new Search Generative Experience as Google wants to serve relevant and cited information in their generative AI responses, and working with an EEAT specialised agency will benefit businesses long term.

Let’s dive into each aspect of this E-E-A-T:

Experience (first ‘E’):

This term refers to the author’s firsthand experience with the topic they have produced content on. The creator’s credentials, qualifications, and demonstrated knowledge in a particular field are critical in establishing experience:

Relevant Education/Certification: Credentials related to the topic affirm experience.

Industry Work Experience: More industry time raises experience rating.

Published Quality Content: Prior high-quality work on the topic boosts the experience.

Positive Feedback: Commendations from field experts validate the experience.

Suppose a person professionally involved in health and fitness—perhaps as a dietitian or a personal trainer—is writing about weight loss. Given their specialized knowledge and hands-on experience, their insights will likely be far more informed and authentic than those from individuals outside this industry. This logic mirrors the evaluative criterion utilized by Google. In an instance where a medical expert writes a medical article, it’s not just an article—it’s a testament to the writer’s substantial familiarity and expertise in the subject. Google prioritizes such content as it promises high-quality information for the reader.

Expertise (second ‘E’):

This term relates to the knowledge and experience of the content creator. Content written by subject matter experts is usually considered more reliable and trustworthy, leading to better search rankings:

Content Quality: Clear, well-written content signifies expertise.

Comprehensiveness: All-encompassing content reflects mastery.

Accuracy: Current, correct content underpins expertise.

Referencing: Citing credible sources highlights expert acumen.

Authoritativeness (‘A’):

This term refers to the overall credibility of a website or a specific content creator. This can be measured through the number and quality of inbound links, mentions in reputable sources, and a strong reputation within a particular field or industry. An authoritative website is one that’s widely recognized as a leader or reliable resource in its niche:

Social Media Presence: Large social media following signals authority.

User Engagement: Content that provokes shares and comments denotes authority.

Peer Recognition: Compliments from experts elevate authority score.

Trustworthiness (‘T’):

This term represents how safe and reliable a website appears. Factors such as clear contact information, privacy policies, secure connections (HTTPS), and good user reviews can help enhance a website’s perceived trustworthiness:

Transparency: Revealing background and qualifications enhances trust.

Objectivity: Bias-free, factual content indicates trustworthy sources.

Independence: Content without sponsorships or promotions is deemed more trustworthy.

With the new addition of “Experience” in the E-E-A-T, Google is putting even more emphasis on user experience, acknowledging that a positive and seamless user experience is just as necessary as the expert and authoritative content. By considering all these elements, website owners can optimize their content and structure to align more closely with Google’s guidelines and improve their search engine rankings.

Simple EEAT Checklist for Your Website:

Now we understand EEAT as a concept and how we act it out, here’s a simple checklist to walk through on your website and add to if you’re missing them:

Physical Address: Proves business legitimacy.

Phone Number: Facilitates easy customer contact.

Domain Email Addresses: Indicates customer support responsiveness.

Meet the Team Page: Offers insight into your company, building credibility.

About Us Page: Communicates business identity, increasing trust.

Author Page: Displays your qualifications and expertise.

Author Bio: Briefly introduces you and your expertise to readers.

Author Brand SERP: Showcases all your written content, improving visibility.

Contact Us Page: Easy contact option boosts credibility.

Testimonials: Positive customer feedback builds trust.

Accreditations: Certifications from notable organizations confirm legitimacy.

Awards: Affirms leadership within your field.

Awards SERP: Highlights your awards, enhancing visibility.

Social Profiles: Active social engagement reveals audience involvement.

Privacy Policy: Details personal data collection, usage, and sharing.

Cookie Policy: Informs about your website’s cookie usage.

Terms and Conditions: Specifies website usage terms, protecting legally.

Case Studies: Real-world success examples establish trust.

Careers Page: Attracts quality talent, increasing credibility.

GDPR Compliance: EU data collection compliance signifies trust.

Modern Slavery Statement: Declares your stand against modern slavery.

Accessibility: An inclusive website promotes credibility.

Code of Ethics: Displays company values and principles.

Disclaimer: Limits liability for specific actions/events.

Editorial Policy: Describes content submission/publication rules.

Complaints Policy: Explains complaint handling, promoting credibility.

All Rights/Copyright: Protects intellectual property and affirms legitimacy.

Favicon: Enhances brand recognition and trust.

Company Number: Verifies business legitimacy.

SSL Certificate: Encrypts website data, bolstering security and trust.

What is YMYL?

YMYL stands for Your Money, Your Life. Google uses this classification for content that would affect your financial livelihood or overall well-being. Like our previous example about searching for medical information, false content can harm users.

Thinking of EAT and YMYL together is essential because Google focuses the most on EAT for YMYL articles or websites. If you own a website that discusses medical or financial advice, speaking from a place of authority and truth is essential.

The combination of EAT and YMYL is why educational institutions and credible organizations rank high. These types of sites have a high domain authority because it’s clear that they’re delivering expert information.

How Does Google Factor EEAT and YMYL?

You can think of YMYL as a category of websites that determines how essential EEAT needs to be. The more YMYL content a website includes, the more Google will scrutinize whether the content upholds EAT.

The bottom line is that Google wants to prioritize websites that serve a beneficial purpose. Google will rank sites shallow if their primary purpose is misleading or harmful to users.

Technically, EEAT SEO for Google factors into a manual content review process rather than one of Google’s algorithms. While Google doesn’t disclose its specific ranking process, the Search Quality Guidelines give us a solid idea of what’s prioritized.

Examples of EEAT and YMYL Content

YMYL content can apply to full sites or individual pieces of content. Some areas that Google would consider as YMYL are:

WebMD
The Mayo Clinic
Business Insider
Nerd Wallet
wikiHow

These sites offer different types of advice, whether medical-based, financial, or more general. Even if you don’t own a place as big as these examples, your content may still include YMYL aspects.

Examples of EEAT content include anything written by subject matter experts or peer-reviewed studies. SME content is the most remarkable example of EAT, though you can still create EEAT content without hiring experts.

EEAT content doesn’t have to apply to YMYL, so you can create EEAT articles for various topics. If you’re a local business, one of the best ways to integrate EAT within your website is through reviews, testimonials, and case studies. User-generated pieces of content help signal to Google and other users that you’re a credible source.

You can also boost your website’s credibility through a backlinking strategy. Backlinks are any links to your site from other websites. The more links you have from high-authority sites, the more it boosts your domain authority and rankings. Consider asking other websites or publications to reference your content and guides.

How to Incorporate EEAT and YMYL

How you incorporate EEAT and YMYL into your website will depend on your products, services, and information. If you’re a service provider, you likely already have an expert point of view in your industry. Creating EEAT content is as easy as writing based on your expertise.

If you aren’t a firsthand expert on the topics you want to write about, consider hiring subject matter experts. Especially if you’re incorporating YMYL content, don’t limit your writing to keyword research. Your content should answer users’ questions truthfully and as helpful as possible.

Staying on Top of EEAT SEO, YMYL, and More

If you need to become more familiar with EEAT SEO, YMYL, and other Google ranking factors, we recommend staying on top of Google’s changes. Google is constantly adapting to user search behavior and updating its search engine. With every change, Google aims to become faster, more efficient, and more helpful.

As a business owner or marketer, your goal is to work in tandem with Google as much as possible. Google has its users at the top of mind – not your website. To stay competitive, keep your audience as your priority to develop reliable and helpful content.

By partnering with an SEO agency, you can benefit from expert SEO specialists without spending time researching. At Studiohawk, we’re constantly maintaining Google’s trends and changes to provide the best services for your website. Contact us today to learn more.

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A first look into the Search Generative Experience

by Lawrence Hitches - 28 May 2023

A first look into the Search Generative Experience

In this blog post, we will dive into the initial impressions and insights surrounding the recently launched “Search Generative Experience” (SGE) by Google through the private testing that was released on May 25th, Google introduced SGE, a new search feature aimed at enhancing user experiences and providing more direct access to relevant information within the search results page.

The SEO and digital marketing community has been scouring keyword searches and have been actively sharing their observations and findings.

In this breakdown, we will explore the first wave of tweets and insights shared by industry experts, shedding light on what people have witnessed and experienced with this new feature:

SEO Is Not Dead Yet…

When Google demo’ed this keyword at #GoogleIO it didn’t show this many organic links at the bottom. The organic carousel below this query shows *14* (!!) results from product review websites. And plenty more below. SEO is not dead yet. – Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc)

Lily Ray, points out that the demo didn’t show as many organic links at the bottom of a search result as what she’s currently seeing. There’s a carousel of 14 results from product review websites that appear beneath a specific search query. Despite these changes, Lily says that “SEO is not dead” yet!

buy a surfboard online

[Image: Image]

— Brendan OConnell (@BrendanOConnel) May 25, 2023

Brendan O’Connell shares an image related to buying a surfboard online, possibly pointing towards some aspects of e-commerce or online shopping trends a very basic search but very telling.

Featured Snippets Here to Stay?

FS are still here, it also holds back from answering several medical queries. – Gael Breton (@GaelBreton)

Gael Breton, mentions that Featured Snippets are still present. Additionally, he notes that the SGE is refraining from providing responses to several medical queries. This might indicate a feature or limitation of the Google SGE experience that considers the sensitivity and potential risk associated with providing health-related information.

No Trigger for YLML on Queries

No AI Snippet, probably triggered by YMYL filter. – Gael Breton (@GaelBreton)

Gael shares that no AI Snippet is available for a specific search query (“cheap car insurance”) in the Google SGE experience. It is suggested that the AI in the Google SGE experience is also adhering to these guidelines of Your Money, Your Life, withholding AI-generated snippets for queries that could have significant real-life implications for users

Google Business Profiles in SGE

Google Business Profiles listing panel images carousel test. – Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick)

Barry Schwartz shares a link to an article or post discussing a test related to Google Business Profiles. More specifically, the test involves the image carousel within the listing panel of these profiles, it signals Google’s ongoing efforts to refine and improve the presentation of business profiles in its platform.

Example of Local Search

My first SGE had to be local 😏

May 25, 2023

Andy Simpson shares their first use of SGE was focused on local search.

Using Original Content Without Citation?

This is one of many examples I am finding but something that is a bit alarming about SGE is that it seems to directly plagiarize content. I thought generative AI almost always switched words around. I’m finding many examples where the answer is pulled from the page verbatim. – Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc)

Back to Lily shares concerns about SGE seeming to directly replicate content from source pages without rewording or paraphrasing. This stands in contrast to their expectations of generative AI, which typically transforms the original text to some extent. Lily’s findings point to the need for more nuanced handling of content reproduction by AI systems, especially when it comes to respecting original content and avoiding issues related to plagiarism.

High Ranking Pages Not Used

FYI, being the top ranking results organically doesn’t automatically imply that your site will be cited/linked to in the SGE result. – Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc)

Then addresses a common question about Google’s Search Generated Experience (SGE). Then clarifies that a website’s ranking in the organic search results does not guarantee that the site will be referenced in SGE results. This is a significant insight for website owners and SEO professionals, as it indicates that top organic rankings and visibility in SGE results may require different strategies.

Google taking on direct feedback from users

This is a more appropriate way for Google to cite their sources. Link attribution in the actual “AI answer”. With quotation marks. That’s a direct quote you’re using.

May 26, 2023

Mike Futia, discusses the issue of proper citation in the context of Google’s AI-generated responses. He suggests that when Google’s AI pulls direct quotes from sources, it should include link attribution within the AI answer itself, marked clearly with quotation marks.

Of course with anything people are finding the humour in Google’s new SERP appearance, pushing SGE for a quick laugh:

Thin Content in Generated Responses

The best part about the @Google #SGE is that I don’t have to click just to land on a thin content @amazon affiliate FBA page anymore. That experience is right there for me to enjoy on top of the SERP. “Y’all take care of the E-E-A-T, and we’ll make the thin content experience this time. Thanks for everything, #SEO.” – G – Jeff Coyle (@jeffrey_coyle)

Jeff Coyle, comments on the perks of Google’s SGE, which lets them view content straight in the search engine results page (SERP). He appreciates not needing to navigate potentially subpar Amazon affiliate pages, as Google manages this task itself.

CLS? Never Head of It?

Google: Low Cumulative Layout Shift is important. Also Google:

May 26, 2023

Ross Hudgens draws attention to a possible inconsistency in Google’s web design guidelines. Google promotes the need for a low ‘Cumulative Layout Shift’ (CLS) to improve user experience, but may not be following this standard itself. CLS gauges a page’s visual stability – a low CLS indicates stable page elements during loading. Essentially, Hudgens is suggesting that Google’s own pages might have a higher CLS than their own recommendations.

LLM can be gamed

SGE Engineers: Yea, Brit’s trying to convince SGE that Jlo’s favorite food is grilled cheese again.. —Knowing how LLMs work makes this game too easy 😅

May 26, 2023

Britney Muller recently shared a rather amusing experiment where they tried to pull the strings of Search Engine algorithms (otherwise known as “SGE”) to convince them that Jennifer Lopez’s (“Jlo’s”) favorite food is grilled cheese. When they talk about “knowing how LLMs work”, she’s hinting at leveraging their knowledge of Language Models to nudge search results in a particular direction.

Criticism of SGE

. I’m in absolute awe. How do some of you refrain from bitch slapping Google? There’s a number of SEOs looking at #SGE, pointing out flaws with Googles piss poor handling of direct usage of content, and none of them are telling G to fuck off. #SEO #SGE

— Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA) (@darth_na) May 27, 2023

Lyndon expresses their frustration at Google’s handling of direct usage of content with SGE, and questions the restraint of SEO professionals in not criticizing Google more harshly.

Hot take: I don’t think SGE goes live in close to its current form. It’s not good enough. Or if it does, it’s a mistake. I recorded a video breaking down three example queries from SaaS, e-commerce and fintech, and then recapped my overall thoughts.

29:24 568 views

— Ross Hudgens (@RossHudgens) May 26, 2023

Ross Hudgens shares a hot take on the current state of SGE, doubting its readiness for live implementation. He also mentions a video he made discussing their thoughts on SGE.

Overview of SGE

🚨 I just got my hands on the new Google SGE AI. I used to be a PM on the Google Search team. Here’s what’s new and how it changes SEO.

[Image: Image]

— parthi loganathan (@parthi_logan) May 26, 2023

Parthi Loganathan, a former Product Manager on the Google Search team, shared insights on how the new Google SGE AI is changing the SEO landscape quite well in their twitter thread:

Fact-Checking: Google’s pulling facts straight from the top pages. So, if you want to be picked up and quoted by Google’s AI, think about serving fresh takes and unique viewpoints instead of reheating what’s already out there, this is where experience part of EEAT will kick in to cull the waves of content coming out that isn’t created for people, rather to rank.
Keep It Clear: Click a source, and you’ll see the text Google “read” highlighted in purple. The takeaway? Keep your pages user-friendly with clear headings and straight-shooting answers. Google seems to play the game of semantic similarity, so a solid FAQ section might be your ace in the hole.
Quantity Matters: The more a product gets mentioned across pages, the better chance it has to strut its stuff in the AI response. So, consider boosting your investment in gathering reviews and perspectives

Final Word

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) presents opportunities and challenges for SEO and digital marketing. Reactions are mixed due to concerns about original content and search result quality. Businesses and SEO professionals must prioritize high-quality content and adapt to changes in this AI-driven landscape. The objective remains user experience and information accuracy.

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Google Perspectives: A New Dimension to Search

by Lawrence Hitches - 21 May 2023

Google Perspectives: A New Dimension to Search

Google, the tech giant known for its innovative solutions, has recently unveiled a new feature called “Google Perspectives”. This addition to Google Search is designed to provide a more personalized and human touch to search results, offering a variety of perspectives from different voices. But what does this mean for users and content creators? Let’s delve deeper into the implications and opinions surrounding this new feature.

What is Google Perspectives?

Google Perspectives is a new feature that will appear as both a filter and a dedicated section in Google Search. It’s designed to provide users with a more “lived experience” to their search queries. This is running in tandem with its new Search Generative Experience.

Instead of just providing links to different websites, Perspectives will display a feed of short-form and longer videos, images, and written posts shared by real people and content creators on discussion boards, Q&A sites, and social media platforms.

This feature was spotted in August 2022 as a test in the SERPs:

I was able to successfully trigger Google SERP Perspectives on two queries right out of the gate:

❯ why worry about climate change
❯ why is carbon capture important

Winners appear to be trusted, high-E-A-T pages…#SEO https://t.co/rktQBtGsV9 pic.twitter.com/dPj3PvLDIC

— Rich Tatum »∵« (@RichTatum) August 1, 2022

For instance, if you’re planning a trip to a country where you’ve never been before, and you’re unsure about the local customs and etiquette, you might search for “how to respect local customs in [country name]”, and then select the Perspectives filter. This would present you with a page of results featuring insights from individuals who have traveled to or live in that country. You might see a video blog of a traveler sharing their experiences, or read a social media post from a local explaining the do’s and don’ts in their culture. This way, you can gain a more personal and diverse understanding of the local customs, helping you to prepare for your trip and respect the local culture.

The feature is designed to showcase insights from a range of journalists, experts, and other relevant voices on the topic you’re searching for. The idea behind the feature is to give users a variety of noteworthy voices on a news topic to broaden their understanding of the subject matter.

=

Why Google Perspectives?

The introduction of Google Perspectives is a response to the changing dynamics of internet usage. With the rise of social media and community websites like Reddit and Quora, users are increasingly seeking personal perspectives and experiences. Moreover, Google Perspectives is also a strategic move to compete with the growing popularity of platforms like TikTok, which has become a preferred platform for Gen Z when looking for information.

How Does It Benefit Content Creators?

Google Perspectives isn’t just a game-changer for users but also for content creators. With this feature, creators’ content won’t be confined to the platform where they create it. Google can now help further distribute it to its Search users, providing a remarkable opportunity to reach new audiences.

However, this also means that the pool of potential competitors for creators is about to get a lot wider. To stand out, creators should focus on making quality content that shares their unique expertise and experience.

It’s important to note that while this feature adds a new layer of depth to search results, it also raises questions about the credibility and reliability of the information presented. Google has assured users that it will display more details about the creators of the content, such as their name, profile photo, or information about the popularity of their content, to help users discern the credibility of the content. The “About this result” feature was launched in 2021, and this will extend to “About this Author” soon.

This lines up with the E-A-T update to include ‘Experience’ as an element to now make it EEAT, and the Helpful content update. To me, this all leads back to the idea that Google is on the hunt for original, unique, experience-driven, and people-centric content.

Additional Features

Alongside Perspectives, Google has also introduced “About this image” and AI-generated image labels. The “About this image” feature provides more information about the origin and usage of an image. The AI-generated image labels, on the other hand, allow site owners to label their images as AI-generated, providing more transparency about the source of the content.

The Impact of Google Perspectives on SEO

The introduction of Google Perspectives is likely to have significant implications for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Traditionally, SEO has been about optimizing websites to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) based on relevance and quality of content. However, with the introduction of Perspectives, the game is set to change.

User-Generated Content

Firstly, Perspectives places a strong emphasis on user-generated content. This means that content from social media platforms, discussion boards, and Q&A sites could potentially rank higher in the SERPs. As a result, businesses and content creators may need to rethink their content strategies to include more user-generated content or to engage more actively on these platform.

Quality and Originality

Secondly, Google Perspectives prioritizes the quality and originality of content. This means that content creators will need to focus on producing high-quality, original content that provides unique insights and experiences. Simply rehashing existing content or relying on keyword stuffing will not suffice. SEO strategies will need to focus more on content quality and less on traditional keyword-based strategies

Personal Experiences and Stories

Lastly, Google Perspectives emphasizes personal experiences and stories. This means that content that tells a story or provides a personal perspective could potentially rank higher in the SERPs. Content creators may need to incorporate more storytelling into their content and provide more personal, relatable experiences.

Final Word

In conclusion, Google Perspectives is a significant step towards a more personalized and human-centric search experience. It has the potential to transform the way we interact with search engines and access information online. However, as with any new technology, it will need to be used responsibly and with a critical eye.

Contact us about our Generative AI SEO service today!

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Google’s New Search Generative Experience

by Lawrence Hitches - 19 May 2023

Search Generative Experience

How will Search Generative Experience (SGE) look?

On May 10th 2023, Google announced their new changes to search, powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence known as Magi. This highly anticipated update promises a more visually appealing, personalized, and human-like search experience. However, gaining access to the cutting-edge Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) is currently limited to those on the Google Labs waitlist, so you might have to exercise some patience before getting your hands on it. Find out more about our Generate AI SEO service.

There’s been a massive response from the SEO community. Is this the death of SEO, again?

Don’t fret! We’ve broken down in-depth exploration of the exciting new features of Google SGE.

Here’s your SGE links you need to read:

The detailed PDF on Search Generative Experience (SGE): This document outlines Google’s vision for integrating AI into search.

The two-hour Google IO keynote presentation: The keynote provides insights into the technical aspects and future developments of Google’s AI integration.

The post on Supercharging Search with Generative AI: This release explains the enhanced capabilities of search with AI integration.

Search ads today and in the future: Google acknowledges the impact of AI integration on search advertising and highlights potential changes.

A look at what’s next for AI and Google Search | Google I/O 2023: This video visually showcases the AI-powered search and its features.

Learn from others’ experiences with more perspectives on Search: Breaking down the Perspectives feature.

3 new ways generative AI can help you search

How To Get Access To SGE (Search Labs)

To access SGE (Search Labs) and other experimental features, it is necessary to join the waitlist for Search Labs.

Keep an eye out for an email or notification from Google, which will welcome you to Search Labs.

Quick Tip: To access SGE, use an old or create a new gmail account. Once you’ve received access, use a VPN to change your location to USA and you should be able to start seeing a generative AI section within the SERPs.

So, what is SGE?

SGE stands for Search Generative Experience, an experiment by Google to enhance Google Search using generative AI. With SGE, users can ask entirely new questions they never thought Search could answer, quickly get the lay of the land on a topic, ask follow-up questions naturally in a unique conversational mode, and generate creative ideas and drafts right in Search.

SGE Preview

How does SGE differ from traditional search methods?

SGE differs from traditional search methods by using generative AI to transform the search experience. With SGE, users can ask entirely new types of questions they never thought Search could answer, quickly get the lay of the land on a topic, ask follow-up questions naturally in a unique conversational mode, and generate creative ideas and drafts right in Search.

How SGE Works

Generative AI search results

SGE leverages AI technology to present informative snapshots to individuals when appropriate. These snapshots offer a concise overview, including relevant factors and synthesised insights. As a starting point, they enable users to explore different web content and perspectives.

SGE also provides links to corroborating resources, empowering users to verify the information and delve deeper into their exploration. This approach facilitates the discovery of diverse content from publishers, creators, retailers, businesses, and other sources, allowing individuals to leverage the information they find to accomplish their goals.

The testing is live and with access to Search Labs we’re able to test out keyword searches to see how Google responds.

Here’s an example of a search result with a FAQ, PPA, and Knowledge panel usually:

By clicking on the right hand corner you’ll be able to see where Google have generated their response from:

Note that there’s no direct citation for where the response has pulled content from the result. More on that later.

The first result will appear just under, with FAQ’s still under the result:

SGE Local SEO Searches:

Google provided their generated response with 3 results, map pack, and links to websites on the side:

Noticeable that the one of the three results is different in the normal search results underneath compared:

When we push the local result further to get more details on what’s required to get a satisfying result we get this:

SGE Brands Searches:

Had to try out our own name, was instead given the option to generate a response manually:

Reviews mentioned as part of the new generated response:

SGE Ecommerce SEO Searches:

Searching for products with modifiers for price, one did not feed me back anything:

Upping the price gave me a different response, with “things to consider” on the purchase:

ecommerce sge result

Products were available, the organic results below, with sponsored results below that too:

ecommerce sge result

On the other hand, I noticed that branded search terms for eCommerce brands will represent a new challenge. We can see below for the branded query ‘nike sneakers’ in the SGE section Google is showcasing third party sellers alongisde Nike in a carousal like format. Histroically, brands like Nike have always owned this space when it comes to branded queries (e.g. Nike + product/category name).

Without SGE:

Key Takeaway: While SGE is still in it’s early stages it will be hard to tell for these types of branded queries if the SERPs will still look this. If you’re a big eCommerce retailer like Nike, this might be a good time to start reviewing and optimising your product landing pages.

SGE News Searches:

Here’s a news search on the Denver Nuggets, summary of the events of the game less than 24 hours beforehand:

SGE Events Searches

While looking at informational searches on “what to do”:

SGE Informational Searches:

Up to date information based on the citations:

SGE YMYL Searches: Navigating Sensitive Subjects

Regarding specific categories like medical advice or financial matters, Google exercises caution and refrains from providing direct answers to safeguard user well-being. For instance, queries concerning administering Tylenol to a child may not receive a response due to the sensitive nature of medical advice. Google extends its commitment to safety by expanding the “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) policy to encompass civic information.

Google explains, “Just as our ranking systems prioritise avoiding potentially harmful, hateful, or explicit content, the SGE also upholds a higher standard. It places greater emphasis on delivering informative responses that are corroborated by reliable sources.

It’s been very noticeable that there are some searches that have no response at all – presuming that’s because they are in the finance space:

SGE Heath Advice Searches

Health takes a different approach, where they make it clear it’s not medical advice:

When pushed to give based on medical advice, normal result appears with a featured snippet:

SGE “How to” searches:

When given a very long tail expression, there’s no SGE trigger at all, a clear example of an “information gap” in SGE:

In their documentation they state that the SGE won’t show up for “some” topics known as “Information Gaps”, this “some” in relation to the sheer amount of searches per day can still be targeted with great content:

Google strives to address “data voids” or situations where its systems have lower confidence in generating accurate responses. In such cases, the AI-powered snapshot may not be generated. Furthermore, explicit or dangerous topics are handled cautiously, and Google refrains from responding to those instances.

SGE Sponsored Ads Searches:

Ads will persistently occupy dedicated ad slots strategically placed across the page. Google says they are committed to maintaining transparency, ensuring that ads are distinguishable from organic search results.

When Search ads are displayed, they prominently showcase Google’s industry-leading, unmistakable ad labels featuring the bold black text of the “Sponsored” tag.

Sge 2 Mobile 800x542

These featured a non triggered response, and the sponsored results at the top, an additional scroll needed to find the organic results on desktop:

Conversational mode

Users can tap and “ask a follow-up” or choose from suggested next steps provided beneath the snapshot. This action initiates the conversational mode, where they can naturally inquire further about the topic they are exploring, interacting with Google. In addition to the concise AI-generated snapshots, people can delve deeper into the subject by accessing additional resource links.

Throughout the conversation, the web links below the SGE change dynamically, allowing users to explore the most relevant content from various online sources conveniently.

When asked about thriller movie recommendations you can ask a follow up with comparisons in a more featured chat experience:

‘Perspectives’

Google is set to introduce a revolutionary feature called the Perspectives filter, which aims to provide searchers with diverse viewpoints to address their queries. By utilising this filter, users can access a wide array of long and short-form videos, images, and posts sourced from discussion boards, Q&A sites, and social media platforms.

Helpful Content

In mid-2022, Google introduced the Helpful Content update to improve search results. This update explicitly targets content created solely for search engine ranking purposes and aims to prioritise genuinely helpful and valuable content. Google has now announced plans to further enhance this system in the coming months by better understanding content from personal or expert perspectives, ultimately improving the ranking of search results.

Google recently announced an upcoming update to its invaluable content system. This update, set to be released soon, aims to enhance the search experience by uncovering valuable information from lesser-known sources like forum threads, blogs, and other elusive corners of the internet. These hidden gems will be prominently displayed in Google’s search results, bringing forth valuable resources often overlooked.

We’re also improving how we rank results in Search overall. Helpful information can often live in unexpected or hard-to-find places: a comment in a forum thread, a post on a little-known blog, or an article with unique expertise on a topic. Our helpful content ranking system will…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 10, 2023

This ties in to the addition of ‘Experience’ to EAT, which now has been updated to EEAT as a concept for Google Rater team to use to assess content.

Impact of SGE on SEO

Google Needs Human Driven Content

While some individuals have expressed worry over SGE, others maintain a more positive outlook. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land sees SGE as a healthier way for Google to link to publishers and support the ecosystem. However, the true impact of SGE remains uncertain, and it is essential to examine the situation more closely.

Google recognises the importance of diverse and human-created content. They understand that users value information from real people and experiences, not just AI-generated responses.

If website owners and content creators stopped, then Google will have no fresh content to generate their AI responses. This is where the Perspectives feature will come into play too.

The Featured Snippet on Steroids:

This paradigm shift poses a challenge for website owners. With AI-generated answers presented prominently, organic search traffic to websites may decline. The traditional approach of relying on website visits and clicks for revenue generation could become less effective. The conventional ‘10 blue links’ are further down the search results page, and as we know, if most click-through happens at the top, the links will likely have less click through rate (CTR).

The more ominous predictions of a significant drop in traffic lead to concerns and speculations about the future of sites from SEOs around the globe.

Affiliate marketers writing product reviews may face challenges as AI snapshots display product details, reviews, and pricing directly in the search results.

With the user’s tests available we’ve seen that affiliate websites can rank in the top of SGE results.

Takeaways from Google SGE Testing

Here’s my takeaways from my SGE tests over the past days:

Lack of Citations

Citations are needed on SGE, with links out for users to click through. For a search engine that is stacking heavy on EEAT, it’s contradictory to not have an authority behind the content they serve.

SEOs are taking this point straight back to Google, Mike Futia suggested that when Google’s AI presents direct quotes from sources, it should include clear link attribution within the AI-generated answer itself, visibly marked with quotation marks:

This is a more appropriate way for Google to cite their sources. Link attribution in the actual “AI answer”.

With quotation marks. That’s a direct quote you’re using. pic.twitter.com/4qKUrduhRJ

— Mike Futia (@mikefutia) May 26, 2023

Too Slow Loading, People Won’t Wait

I work fast so waiting up to 10 seconds for a generated result, or remembering to click to prompt the generation isn’t my style. Released to billions of users, with no understanding of what this is, people may fall into use the “old” search results anyway.

The shifting of the search result page feels awkward and clunky to the eye. CLS is a page experience factor right Google?

Google “CLS is bad”

Also Google 👇 https://t.co/sfPI5qmMrm

— Nate Hake (@natejhake) May 25, 2023

Gaps in SGE for YMYL Topics

Makes sense to me not to have these as Google doesn’t want any mis-fires they can be blamed for providing the wrong information.

Impact on Informational Queries

These types of information searches I feel are the most logical for SGE, when you want nuanced information that a simple keyword search can’t answer, when you need to dig deeper to find the information you need.

“And” will be a keyword modifier

How are SEO tools going to deal with the new level and longer tail expressions people may use for SGE, you can have multiple “and”’s added to a keyword search. This is where content creators will have to focus on picking the right topics, with semantic searches to optimsie for these results.

SGE needs more work – not there yet.

It feels clunky, messy, and the generated results are hit and miss. There’s a significant amount of work to be done here, starting with Google delving deeper into addressing informational queries without providing lengthy and bloated answers, or giving people quick ways to access their transactional searches without the need for reading up a company’s biography.

From seeing the reactions to the SGE testing from the SEO community, it’s lukewarm at best:

What’s Next?

Currently, SGE is in the testing phase, and over the next few weeks, it will roll out to testers in different stages. It is important to note that the final version of SGE may differ from what Google initially showcased. Based on speculation, it may take six to twelve months before SGE becomes widely used by most users.

Google’s release of SGE can be seen as an effort to fire back to Microsoft’s utilisation of GPT-powered search, which led to an 11% jump in Alphabet’s share price, Google’s parent company.

When will SGE be released?

Liz Reid, the Vice President of Search at Google, stressed that the Generative Search Experience is an exploratory in nature. With each result loading, the phrase “Generative AI is experimental” prominently features, clear why, as Google has to test this out extensively as this change to SERPs will impact billions of users on day 1. This distinct trial phase is projected to conclude by December 2023.

How to Prepare for SGE

With SGE, searching for information is changing. This means businesses need to make their content creators more reliable. They can do this by creating strong profiles with keeping EEAT in mind. Also, businesses should motivate their authors to be more active on social media and share their work. This is important because the standing of the author in the community is now very important to rank in Google Perspectives eventually.

To keep up with SGE, businesses should try different content strategies. They can use comments from users on their own websites or stay active on online forums. They should also try making short videos. This can be useful for SGE and make their social media pages more interesting. TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are good places for these short videos on informational keywords.

Websites will need to focus on making their content high-quality and easy to read. They should make sure that it can be accessed on mobile devices. They should also include relevant Schema to prove authenticity, (Person:schema) could be now essential to getting your website indexed and ranked. Updating content regularly and making it interesting is also important as fresh content will be used in the generated responses.

Lastly, they should learn about Generative AI. Google has a free course on this called Introduction to Generative AI, SGE is a big change in how we search for information, and those who can adapt to it will do well in the future.

Final Word:

The introduction of Google’s SGE has created a wave of anticipation and concern among publishers and niche site owners. While the future impact remains uncertain, adapting and evolving in response to changing SEO dynamics is crucial.

To stay competitive in this new era of Search, exploring advanced tools like generative AI for SEO might be beneficial. Check out our Generative AI SEO services to learn more about how these advancements can optimise your online presence

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How to Conduct an Enterprise SEO Audit – 10 Point Checklist

by Kayla Chauvel - 7 Mar 2023

In the modern digital landscape, enterprise SEO is crucial for the success of large businesses. A large-scale variation of traditional SEO, this specialised approach takes into account the complex structure and processes of enterprise websites. It requires a strategic approach at both local and national levels to increase organic traffic and brand awareness, and drive business goals.

Large businesses looking to enhance their presence in the results pages of search engine giants often invest in an SEO audit. This comprehensive evaluation provides valuable insights into a website’s strengths while identifying opportunities for improvement. Auditing is the first crucial step in developing a successful SEO strategy.

In this guide, we’ll delve into the intricacies of enterprise SEO, exploring the unique challenges faced by SEO specialists and large business owners alike. We’ll also deconstruct the auditing process, highlighting ten measures of performance that have important effects on overall site health.

What is Enterprise SEO?

Enterprise SEO is a tailored approach to optimising large businesses’ websites for search engines. Like traditional SEO, it aims to improve brand presence, rankings, and organic traffic to build authority and achieve business objectives. Key areas of focus include website structure, content quality, backlink analysis, and a range of technical factors, which form the foundations of local and national optimisation strategies.

When it comes to enterprise SEO, size matters. Big businesses have big websites, which can include hundreds, thousands, or even millions of pages! They also have a larger number of stakeholders, higher revenue, and more complex processes. For these reasons, a successful enterprise SEO strategy requires a tactical approach to drive targeted traffic and increase brand awareness. To achieve these outcomes, businesses and SEO providers must have a keen understanding of search engine algorithms and should regularly perform analyses of digital assets.

What is an Enterprise SEO audit?

The first step towards improving a business’s online presence is to perform an SEO audit; an evaluation of a website in terms of its SEO performance. These audits analyse components relating to structure and content, and uncover foundational issues.

Enterprise websites differ from standard websites in terms of size and complexity, and as such, require a more comprehensive evaluation to identify issues. In these cases, an enterprise SEO audit must be conducted. This type of audit is more extensive compared to a standard SEO audit, and takes into consideration the website’s unique structure and processes. When performed thoroughly, the results provide valuable insights into the business’s online performance and inform the development of an effective SEO strategy.

Why should I audit the SEO for my enterprise website?

It can be tough to be a big fish in the business world. Enterprises often deal with unique challenges and require expert insight when it comes to developing and implementing local and national SEO strategies. An enterprise SEO audit is a tool that provides a deeper understanding of a website’s position in terms of online visibility and search rankings. It’s a vital component in developing a successful optimisation strategy that serves a business’s goals. In essence, enterprise owners first need to understand where they are before they can decide where they’re going.

10 Point Checklist for an Enterprise SEO Audit

Auditing large websites can be complex and time-consuming, taking days or even weeks to complete. To simplify this process and ensure a thorough analysis, we’ve identified ten key elements that every enterprise SEO audit should include:

1. Keyword Analysis

Keywords play a critical role in SEO by attracting targeted traffic while improving search engine visibility. In an enterprise SEO audit, keywords are evaluated based on their relevance to a business’s products and services, competition, and search volume. Good keyword usage is characterised by the use of targeted, specific, and relevant keywords that align with the business’s target audience and objectives. On the other hand, poor keyword usage includes tactics like keyword stuffing and the use of low-traffic, irrelevant, or generalised keywords.

2. Keyword Search Intent

For every search query, there’s an underlying purpose. This is called ‘keyword search intent’, and can be informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial. Enterprises can use this information to align their content with the needs and interests of their target audience, which can result in higher click-through rates, user engagement, and ultimately, more customers. During an enterprise SEO audit, keywords are evaluated to ensure they match user intent. This involves analysing the search queries that direct traffic to a business’s webpages and determining whether the content on those pages satisfies the needs of the users.

3. Page Headings

Page headings are HTML elements used to structure web content. They range from H1 to H6, and are used to help search engines understand the content of a page and its hierarchy. Page headings should be relevant and descriptive, and accurately reflect the page’s content. Proper use of heading tags can improve readability and contribute to an enhanced user experience.

4. Page Indexing

Page indexing is a fundamental aspect of an enterprise SEO strategy because it determines whether or not a page is discoverable by search engines and users. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search engine results pages (SERPs), making it virtually invisible to potential customers. Tools such as Google Search Console and Screaming Frog can be used to assess page indexing and identify underlying issues. By ensuring that all pages are properly indexed, enterprises can improve their visibility, reach a wider audience, and drive more organic traffic.

5. Search Appearance Analysis

It’s important for businesses to keep up appearances. The way a website is presented in SERPs is known as ‘search appearance’. To ensure that a website is optimised for user engagement and search engine rankings, search appearance can be evaluated through the length and relevance of meta titles and descriptions, and by using structured data to help search engines better understand a webpage’s content. This enables the webpage to be displayed as an enhanced result known as a ‘rich snippet’.

6. Content Quality

The heart of every website is its content. It’s this foundational element upon which all else is built. For an enterprise website, high-quality content is essential to achieve a strong online presence. Search engines prioritise content that is informative and engaging, and penalise sites with low-quality or duplicate content. Thus, when auditing a website, content is evaluated based on readability, originality, and accuracy.

7. Page Load Speed

In today’s fast-paced world, people have little patience for slow-loading websites. According to Think With Google, a loading delay of just 1-3 seconds results in a 32% increase in bounce (users who leave a site or ‘bounce’ back to the search results after viewing only one page). This is why page load speed (one of Google’s Core Web Vitals) is a powerful metric of user experience and a critical factor in SEO. When auditing an enterprise website, page load speed is evaluated based on server response time, time to first byte, caching, network and device performance, code structure and complexity, and other relevant factors.

8. Backlink Analysis

The collection of inbound links used to direct traffic towards a website is known as its backlink profile. The quality and quantity of these backlinks can significantly impact a website’s search engine rankings, with links from authoritative and relevant sources being particularly valuable. SEO tools use metrics like Domain Authority Score to analyse the strength of a website’s backlink profile, which is calculated based on the quality of inbound links, website traffic, and user engagement.

9. Mobile Friendliness

Reflecting the growing number of users who access the internet from mobile devices, Google has been shifting towards mobile-first indexing, meaning that it primarily crawls and indexes the mobile version of a website as opposed to the desktop version. Thus, to rank well in SERPs, it’s crucial for websites to have a mobile-friendly design. In an enterprise SEO audit, this is evaluated based on how well a website’s mobile version is optimised for speed and user experience, and how it adapts to different mobile devices.

10. Look at Your Top Competitors

Identifying top competitors in a given industry and examining their tactics can provide valuable intel into what works well and what to avoid. Competitor analysis involves reviewing website structure, content, backlinks, and other optimisation efforts. Businesses can then use this information to inform their own SEO strategy and outperform their competitors.

Book Your Enterprise SEO Audit Today!

At StudioHawk, we understand large businesses. As Australia’s largest SEO agency, we know how to make the most of an enterprise SEO audit. Our team of specialists are skilled in analysing complex websites, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing strategies to improve search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic. Contact us today if you’re ready to take your SEO higher and soar with the Hawks!

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8 Benefits of SEO for E-commerce

by Matthew Farmer - 17 Feb 2023

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods or services online, including the exchange of currency for those goods and services. The power of e-commerce exploded during the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021. Many bricks and mortar stores had to pivot online to stay in business.

Many businesses discovered that being an online business was much better than brick-and-mortar. No rental on real estate, your customer reach was further, and you could update your product listing rapidly.

They also discovered that being online, they needed a different marketing model, and they needed SEO help.

What is SEO for E-commerce?

SEO for e-commerce has many similarities to SEO in general, but there are some niche practices and some specific tricks you can use to get yourself ranked. Google ranks websites in their SERPs by the perceived value they will present to the person doing the search. A user’s search intent drives what results are given to them in SERPs. This means your web page and its content needs to understand search intent and deliver.

If a user’s search intent is transactional, they’re researching what to buy. Therefore an informative and educational blog piece can help them choose you. If a user’s search intent is commercial, they’re ready to buy and want to find a product. This is where you have category and product pages, with SEO copy, to serve that intent and bring traffic to your e-commerce site.

Here are the top 8 benefits of e-commerce

1. Increases Brand Visibility & Credibility

If your brand regularly appears at the top of search results, people tend to associate your brand with the products and services they want. You could get to the stage where people go directly to your online store, rather than Google for alternatives.

Brand awareness is the first step in the marketing funnel. You need to target keywords and produce content that serves those higher-up queries, the informational and transactional queries. If you can answer someone’s questions on HOW to do something, without selling to them, your brand’s credibility will also increase.

Through smart SEO, you can give helpful information and advice, so that when someone is further along in your marketing funnel, it is your brand they will turn to first.

2. Generates Consistent & Sustainable Traffic

The traditional stages of a sales funnel are awareness, interest, desire and action. Content can be written for every stage, from helpful How-to articles to product reviews. Combine this with brand credibility, and your SEO can bring a constant stream of customers.

By utilising a multi-faceted SEO approach, with keywords and content targeted at your audience and their intent, you will increase your brand’s credibility and value in the eyes of Google, which will raise you up the SERPs, and hence bring in more traffic.

Which leads into…

3. Generates more Sales and higher ROI

Growing traffic and consistent traffic can lead to more conversions and sales to your website, naturally. With SEO tailored to your e-commerce audience, and how SEO works over the long term, you’ll invest less over time to get a growing audience.

Having more conversions with the same investment gives you an ever-increasing ROI.

4. Increases your Click Through Rate (CTR) and Average Order Value (AOV)

Good SEO gets your website pages ranking high with Google SERPs. The higher up the list, the more click-throughs you get. The first organic result gets 30% more click-throughs than the rest.

The Average Order Value can increase, too, with the higher up the ranking you go. Top search results are achieved through a mixture of Google recognising your authority based on search terms and search intent. A person’s desire to spend is based on brand loyalty and recognition, and the value they see in what you present.

Start combining elements of e-commerce SEO, such as brand visibility, an enhanced customer experience, and good content that fits your marketing funnel, and you can see why people would start to put more into their shopping cart each time.

5. Enhances your Customer Experience

If a customer lands on your website, and it doesn’t look good, or it is hard to navigate, or it does not answer their queries, they will leave. If your website structure is not optimised to load quickly and cleanly, again, it will give customers a poor experience. You need your e-commerce website optimised for Google to crawl and for load speeds. If your website has the same content as your competitors, but is optimised to load faster and cleaner, it will rank higher than your competitors.

A high user experience drives conversions and sales. Google will see that your website is generating sales thanks to this user engagement, and this will help raise your rankings in Google.

6. Opens up more Remarketing opportunities

Do you accept cookies when you’re using the internet? These are great tools to allow you to market to people who have visited your site. E-commerce SEO that works, and gets people to visit your website, can allow you to drop a cookie onto their browser, asking permission, of course.

From there, you can send them follow-up advertising as banner ads or through social media.

7. Organic Traffic is Free!

There are many ways to generate free traffic to your website through SEO techniques. Some of the most effective ways to generate free traffic through SEO include creating high-quality, relevant content, building backlinks, optimising your website’s structure and navigation, and promoting your website and content on social media platforms. While content creation and SEO tools come with an initial cost, you won’t have to keep spending money like you would in the case of a PPC campaign where you pay per click.

8. Long-term growth

SEO grows over time. This means that the more you invest in your campaign over time, the greater the rewards. Organic visits to your online store will increase. The number of conversions will grow too. The range of content you’re serving to your clients will grow, and from this, you can use the content for e-books, multi-channel marketing and more.

Positive customer reviews, high-quality content and a website optimised for Google and user experience, provides value to you for years.

Our E-Commerce SEO Services

If you have a store online using Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento2 or any other e-commerce platform, get in touch with StudioHawk. We can do a free SEO audit of your website. You will receive a no-obligation report showing you the strengths and weaknesses with your current SEO. You can take this report and fix the problems and not hire us, that’s okay.

Unsure what’s right for you? Get in touch with one of our specialists today. We’ll help you determine the best approach to achieve your marketing goals.

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AI Content vs Human Written Content for SEO

by Kayla Chauvel - 23 Jan 2023

For decades, one powerful concept has captured the imaginations of millions: artificial intelligence. An evergreen topic in popular culture, it’s been the subject of dozens of bestselling novels and blockbuster films, like Bicentennial Man, Her, Minority Report, and Ex Machina. While we’re still lightyears away from the robot-serviced society depicted in I, Robot, there’s no doubt that AI is building an imposing presence in our world.

2022 saw numerous developments and expansions in AI technologies that could have radical impacts on individuals and businesses alike. One of those innovations was OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Hailed as “the future of search” and a “game-changer” for businesses that rely on written content and language processing, this advanced chatbot can form detailed responses to questions, write and debug computer programs, and compose music, long-form essays, articles, poetry, and songs. But for all its praise, ChatGPT isn’t without fault. Many have expressed concerns regarding its factual accuracy, creative capabilities, and influence on the demand for knowledge workers.

Between the pages of books and on the silver screen, sci-fi thrillers are dramatised with unexpected outcomes. An operating system helps a struggling writer find his voice before abandoning him. A band of highly-intelligent enslaved robots try to gain control over humanity. A nationally implemented pre-crime program attempts to imprison a man before he commits a violent crime. In reality, the stakes aren’t as high. But as we enter a global AI revolution, we can look to these action-packed plots to help us answer an important question: Just because we can, does that mean that we should?

What is AI content?

Let’s start with the basics. AI content is written material (such as blogs, articles, product descriptions, landing pages, and reports) that has been generated by computer software. Content marketing is a diverse field, and as such, there are many different AI content creators. Some well-known examples include Jasper, Copysmith, Writesonic, CopyAI, and ChatGPT. These web-based AI platforms are trained with millions of words to generate original, coherent, cohesive content. In the case of ChatGPT, a deep neural network uses self-attention mechanisms to input data and learn the patterns and structure of human conversations. This allows it to generate human-like responses to questions. ChatGPT can create everything from short social media posts to multi-page essays. All you have to do is ask.

Can Google detect AI content?

AI content is a direct threat to Google. Why scroll through page after page in search of information when an AI content creator can provide you with concise, relevant answers in a fraction of the time? Prophesied as the ‘Google-killer’, ChatGPT is a potentially deadly competitor of our old faithful search engine.

But Google won’t give up without a fight.

As AI content creators become more sophisticated, Google’s bots continuously work against them, analysing trends and inconsistencies in writing style to detect and demote content that has been auto-generated to manipulate search rankings without regard for quality or user experience. This type of writing violates Google’s Search Essentials, and is deemed spam. When detected, low-quality AI content receives a manual penalty that impacts the ranking of its webpage.

Can AI content rank well on Google?

So, let’s address that all-important question: Can you leverage AI content to accelerate your marketing plan? The short answer is yes, AI content can rank well on Google searches. However, quality will always outrank quantity, meaning that human-written content will almost always perform better than AI-written content. As a result, AI content must undergo fact-checking and fine-tuning by human writers to gain higher rankings.

What are the benefits of AI-written content for SEO?

AI-written content has the potential to change the way many businesses market themselves through SEO. The benefits include:

AI content is more cost-effective

Bots are cheaper than brains. Cost-effectiveness is one of the driving forces behind the development of new AI technologies. Content generators are no exception. With the ability to create written work much faster than their human counterparts, clients can expect to pay a great deal less for the results. Take a look at our Pricing* to compare the difference in cost of AI- and human-written content.

AI is constantly improving

The very beginning of artificial intelligence began in 1935, when the concept was introduced by the English computer scientist, Alan Turing. Less than 20 years later, the first artificial neural network was created. By 1966, a robot with the ability to reason its own actions had been developed, and the following decade gave rise to the first personal computers. Cut to the current day, and AI devices have become a staple of daily life. Laptops, PCs, and smartphones are among the most popular devices.

Rapid progressions in new technologies are the source of AI’s persistent allure. Constant improvements and expansions trigger our curious minds to ask the question, “How far can it go?” Already, machines have been trained to reason and problem-solve, process language and images, and use tools to carry out complex tasks. Like all forms of AI, content generators are constantly advancing, finding new ways to develop human-like language that draws in readers and ranks high on search engines.

What are the disadvantages of AI-written content for SEO?

In spite of their overwhelmingly positive reviews, AI content generators have some serious shortcomings.

AI content has its limits

Sophisticated as they may be, AI content generators don’t quite add up to a human brain. These complex machines are mere imitations of human intelligence; the result of clever programming. Their functionality has limits.

ChatGPT, like all AI content generators, is trained with material that has already been published on the Web. When asked to answer questions, the chatbot strings together pieces of information from those sources, rearranging fragments of text to come up with something new. But bots cannot create truly unique content, as they lack the ability to form original ideas. Similarly, they cannot understand user intent, and struggle to impart a specific tone of voice. It’s these shortfalls that tend to expose them to Google’s AI-detecting crawlers.

AI content has quality concerns

AI-generated SEO content relies heavily on data analysis and algorithms. Sounds boring, right? That’s because it is. AI content tends to be keyword-dense, but lacks the qualities that engage readers. Without creativity, tone of voice, or nuances in local language, AI content tends to fall flat on human ears. For this reason, human-written content should continue to outrank AI content in the foreseeable future.

Inconsistencies in factual accuracy have also been identified as a major drawback of AI-written content. When used for SEO purposes, AI content must undergo fact-checking and editing by human content writers to ensure accuracy, relevance, and clarity.

What are the benefits of human written content for SEO?

What is it to be human in the dawn of super-intelligent machines? What distinguishes us from segments of code, pieced together to replicate the complex structure of neurons? How are we unique?

Humans can be creative

Have you ever marvelled over a work of art, or been brought to tears by a song? Ever experienced a burst of inspiration after reading a novel or watching a film? This is a reflection of your intrinsic human creativity; the result of synchronicity between multiple networks in your brain. It’s this quality that allows humans to come up with unique concepts and envision scenarios that have never occurred. Unlike bots, humans can harness creativity to develop ideas and create content that is truly original, entertaining, and tailored to a specific audience.

Humans can bring a personal touch

Humans intuitively seek connection with others. This is true of both customers and businesses. We all wish to be understood. While ChatGPT and its peers can make data-driven decisions and create content limitlessly, they are incapable of conveying your brand’s unique vision and tone, and hence cannot form connections with your intended customers. No digital tool, however advanced, can master the complexity of emotional intelligence. Humans, on the other hand, can empathetically adapt content to create a personalised customer experience that encourages brand loyalty.

What are the disadvantages of human-written content for SEO?

Our inherent uniqueness may give us a creative edge over AI, but it can also work against us.

Humans are less efficient

The human brain – while capable of sentience, empathy, and original thought – is at the mercy of fluctuating hormones, moods, and environmental factors. Ever had an off day? Maybe you were tired, distracted, or a little under the weather. As humans, our productivity can change from one day to the next.

This is where AI takes the ball and runs with it, leaving us straggling behind. A machine isn’t susceptible to the mental and physical afflictions that weaken humans. It doesn’t tire, and it doesn’t need to wait for inspiration to strike. It can churn out content 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reliable and ultra-efficient, AI can outproduce even the most highly skilled team of content writers.

Humans are more expensive

Creativity costs. If you’re looking for truly original content with a tone of voice specific to your brand or business, you should expect to invest accordingly. See our Pricing* to compare the difference in cost between AI- and human-written content.

Will AI replace content writers?

For now, AI content generators will serve as a tool for human content writers, helping us to ideate and produce content quicker and at a lower cost to our clients. But when we look to the future, what is it that greets us? When does a personality simulation become the beginnings of something more? How far will humanity go to preserve time and energy, and – perhaps more importantly – how far should we go?

That, my friends, is in your hands.

Our SEO Content Writing Services

At StudioHawk, we provide tailored content writing services to suit your business’ needs. Whether you choose AI-generated, human-written, or expert-level content, we’ll help you create a unique flight path that gives you the space to soar.

Unsure what’s right for you? Get in touch with one of our specialists today. We’ll help you determine the best approach to achieve your marketing goals.

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