SearchCap: AMP images, Google Maps promoted places & machine learning
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The post SearchCap: AMP images, Google Maps promoted places & machine learning appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Bing Expanded Text Ads Can Now Be Edited on Mobile by @MattGSouthern
Bing is rapidly expanding the use of expanded text ads with an update to the Bing Ads mobile app.
The post Bing Expanded Text Ads Can Now Be Edited on Mobile by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
How Google has changed a consumer’s path to making a physical purchase
Just as it does in the real world, physical location makes a huge difference on Google. Because people have their phone in hand at all times, they expect Google to serve them information based on where they are or where they’re headed. This means Google’s influence is not just broad, it is also deep. From […]
The post How Google has changed a consumer’s path to making a physical purchase appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Best Tools to Perform an SEO Audit
Editor’s Note: This post was originally publish in April 2012 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Because SEO results are always changing, it’s easy to make mistakes along the way without even realizing what you’re doing wrong. Seeing results from your SEO strategy is a long process, and there may very well come a time when you aren’t seeing the results you want. That’s why it’s so important to perform an SEO audit every few months to make sure you’re on the right track.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, an SEO audit is something you perform to analyze your current strategy and the results coming as a direct result. If you are missing opportunities or making mistakes, an SEO audit will look at your past efforts and determine where the problem lies.
There are people and companies you can hire to perform an SEO audit for you, but there are also plenty of tools you can utilize to do it yourself. Below is a list of some of the most popular and well-rated tools to help you perform an SEO audit on your own.
Top 5 SEO Audit Tools
1.Open Site Explorer – SEO Moz seems to do it all from great blog posts to great SEO services, and one of their newest software is Open Site Explorer. This software will give you up to 10,000 links to help you tell whether or not your link building is working. It will give you information about your competitors’ internal and external links, give you on-page optimization suggestions, and will sync with Google Analytics to help you get analysis on your traffic.
2. Woorank – Woorank is an awesome resource that’s always keeping tabs on the latest and greatest of SEO news and tools. Their auditing tool allows you to run an instant website review that will reveal how your website is performing across 70+ different metrics. Over 75,000 different sites are reviewed each month on this tool, making it a trusted resource for webmasters looking to improve their site performance.
3. Ahrefs – Crawl reports, position trackers, and content exploration-oh my! This tool is a popular favorite for everything from keyword exploration to on page optimization. Ahrefs is incredibly detailed, giving users a full picture of not just how there site is performing, but where there’s room for improvement. The thoroughness of this auditing tool makes it a top choice.
4. Screaming Frog– Like Ahrefs, Screaming Frog is another one of my favorite, go-to tools. There are a handful of different versions to choose from, but in short, Screaming Frog’s SEO spider tool will crawl your site pages and analyze SEO performance. Check out the video below to learn more.
5. DeepCrawl – This SEO audit tool is no joke, and true to the name, it digs deep into the functions of your website. The in-depth reports crawl millions of pages and reveal key insights regarding load time, links, title, URL length, and more. Most impressively, DeepCrawl has a scheduling feature that allows you to keep a recorded history of all the changes you make, task employees with specific corrections, and continue running regular audits.
Google tests its own user ratings for movies
Google has decided to experiment with user ratings for movies and TV shows. Is this a new permanent feature?
There seems to be an initial attempt from Google to introduce user ratings in its search results for movies and TV shows.
A selected sample of testers noticed a thumbs up and thumbs down sign on the special box that offers more details about a movie. This is a quick way for Google to build user ratings depending on its own audience.
Image: Techcrunch
According to the first images, the search results display a new percentage of user ratings, right next to IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. The only difference from the other two sites is the system of rating, with Google relying on like and dislike and not an actual rating as a sign of preference.
For the time being this seems to be available only in the desktop version and it isn’t clear whether there is a plan to turn this into a permanent feature.
Even if Google hasn’t revealed its plans yet, it could be an interesting addition to its database which may even lead to further plans on building users’ reviews and gather more features on its own site.
Image: androidpolice
For example, the dedicated section for each movie could rely on users’ ratings to personalise the experience for each user, or even find a great way to connect user ratings with its own Google Play.
For the time being, we are waiting to hear from Google on its thoughts for the particular testing and whether we expect to see it globally anytime soon. Should we vote on that, too?
Introducing the new Google Wallet experience on the web
We’re excited to introduce the new Google Wallet web experience (wallet.google.com) just in time for the holidays. Available across all browsers, the updated Wallet website has a brand new look and added features, which will make planning that New Year’s trip with friends a breeze.
You can send what you owe to your friend’s email address or phone number, and they can quickly transfer the money to their bank account – all without installing an app.
You can also request money on the web and your friends can pay you back without leaving their browser. Once you receive their money, you won’t even need to cash out. You can just set a default payment method and any money that’s sent to you through Wallet will be automatically transferred to that account.
Sign in to wallet.google.com now and be sure to bookmark it for the next time you need to pay someone back.
Send Money | Request Money
11 Ways to Hack the LinkedIn Pulse Algorithm
Why do you blog? You want your content to be discovered and read by as many people as possible, right?
But often your reach is limited. You’re limited by the size of your existing audience.
Every day, people are bombarded with more content than they will ever have time to read. Most people are both incredibly busy and have the attention span of a goldfish (guilty on both counts!).
So how do you make your content go further and make sure lots of people read your stuff?
Image via Reid Hoffman
LinkedIn Pulse can help you do just that.
What Is LinkedIn Pulse?
LinkedIn Pulse is LinkedIn’s version of a personalized newsfeed. It is also available as a standalone app. Pulse allows users to see the biggest headlines and read top industry news of the day.
According to recent figures, LinkedIn has more than 1 million publishers; more than 150,000 posts are published every week; and the average post reaches LinkedIn members in 21 industries and nine countries.
You’ll see a mix of curated content on LinkedIn Pulse:
Stories that people in your network and/or people in your industry have shared.
Trending stories from your extended network.
Posts from LinkedIn’s publishing platform – including “Editor’s Picks,” content written by influencers, publishers, and individuals.
We’ll focus on the third type of content for the remainder of this post.
Why You Should Use LinkedIn Pulse
You should publish posts on LinkedIn for the same reason you publish content on your own site as well as third-party publications and blogs like Medium.
Exposure.
If you’re going to invest time and money in creating content, you want it to be consumed.
By publishing content on LinkedIn, you’re increasing the odds that more people will discover and read your content.
However, finding success on LinkedIn Pulse, like any other channel, requires a strategy.
You’ll also have to put in the needed time and effort to make your investment worthwhile.
Depending on how many connections you have, the posts you publish on LinkedIn can easily get anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousands views, on average.
But sometimes LinkedIn articles become unicorns – they can get 50,000, 100,000, or even millions of views.
Wish you could get that many views? You can!
Here are 11 hacks to help your content blast off like a rocket on LinkedIn Pulse.
1. Keep Your Titles Short
If your headline is too long, LinkedIn might truncate your title. That means people who are scrolling through the app or their newsfeeds will see only part of your headline.
Make your headline as concise as possible without neglecting important headline elements that increase clicks – such as using the right keywords, an emotional hook, and a promise (i.e., telling readers what they’ll get out of reading your post).
2. Use an Eye-Catching Image
If your headline fails to do the trick, the second most important element that can persuade readers to click is your article image.
Definitely avoid using boring images in your content, such as:
Generic headshots.
Company logos.
Anything that will make a reader squint.
Anything that screams “I’m a stock photo!” We’ve seen them all a thousand times before – the highway signs (Opportunity Ahead; Innovation, Next Exit), the happy and diverse business team working around the computer, and the business handshake of trust, to name just a few.
Here’s a great example of an eye-catching image:
Now that’s an image that stands out from the rest and makes we want to click!
3. Grow Your LinkedIn Connections
Every time you publish a post on LinkedIn, your connections will see an alert in their notifications.
But to really make ripples, you need a large audience of first-level connections.
For any of the stuff we’re talking about throughout this post to really work, you’ll need to make as many connections as you possibly can.
This means improving your LinkedIn profile (to sell yourself to potential connections) and expanding your LinkedIn network (this includes connecting to people you know as well as people you don’t yet know).
Here’s how to write the perfect LinkedIn connection request.
4. Publish Frequently
LinkedIn is a bit of a numbers game. You can’t just publish a post once every six months. That won’t help you.
I publish at least twice a week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You should probably only publish on weekdays during work hours – LinkedIn is a professional network, so not much happens after hours or on the weekends.
My whole LinkedIn Pulse strategy is powered 100 percent by republished and syndicated content. I’ve never once originated a single piece just for LinkedIn.
Don’t worry about duplicate content issues or the potential impact on organic search rankings if you pursue a content repurposing strategy. As long as you make it clear the article has been published before with a note that links to the original article, Google is good at figuring out which is the original source and which is the copy.
5. Get Featured on Channels
LinkedIn Pulse has more than 100 individual channels. Some of the most popular channels are for Leadership & Management, Big Ideas & Innovation, Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Social Media.
Getting your posts featured in one of these channels is essential to success. Pulse exposes your content to a massive audience.
At most, you can have 25,000 connections on LinkedIn (though most people don’t come anywhere close to this number). But these Pulse channels have millions of followers.
If you want a post you’re writing to get featured in Social Media (and potentially be read by those 14 million channel followers), then spend some time looking at what types of stories get featured. Figure out what types of article you need to publish if you want a shot at being featured.
6. Do Some Old-School SEO
Content optimization is one super simple way to help get your content featured on a Pulse Channel.
To categorize your content, LinkedIn Pulse does an analysis of the text of your article.
This is like SEO tactics of the dark ages, when all you had to do was include your keyword in the title and use the right words a few times throughout the post.
7. Ask a Pulse Editor to Feature Your Story
Want to get a story featured on LinkedIn Pulse? Then you’ll have to tweet at them.
Yes, seriously, you’ll need to head to Twitter to get something featured on LinkedIn.
All you have to do is send a friendly tweet to @LinkedInPulse. Like so:
8. Give Your Post a Paid Boost
Although getting your post featured on a Channel is awesome, it isn’t enough. You need to help your post go red hot.
After your content gets attached to the channel, you need to quickly drive lots of traffic to it. This will help push your post to top of channel, as opposed to being just listed on the channel in fifth position (or wherever it ends up being shown).
You have to get to the top spot. How?
Spend a few bucks (no more than $50) on Facebook and Twitter promoted posts. This will help quickly drive lots of traffic to your LinkedIn post.
The LinkedIn Pulse algorithm will reward your content if your post generates a bunch of traffic and engagement within a few minutes.
The best part? You don’t have to pay to drive traffic for long. The social media ads will simply act as a catalyst.
Once your social media ads have helped your article get to the top, the traffic will be self-sustaining for a while as LinkedIn’s users go to their favorite Channel to see what’s trending.
9. Promote Your LinkedIn Page
Although you’re limited to having 25,000 connections on LinkedIn, there is no limit on how many followers you can have.
What you should do is promote your LinkedIn page from other pieces of content.
For example, are you linking to your LinkedIn profile from your Twitter profile? That’s just one way you can help amplify your LinkedIn presence.
Think about it: you’re getting thousands of profile visits on Twitter every month. Even if only a small percentage of those click on the link to your LinkedIn profile, it increase the odds of further amplification on the network.
10. Repost Content
LinkedIn won’t penalize you for reusing the same content you’ve already published on their platform. There are no duplicate content filters.
If a post you published didn’t generate any engagement a few months ago, and you think it should have done much better, why not publish it again?
There are two things you should change, however: your title and image. Most likely, your old headline was too boring or your image wasn’t interesting. Now you know better!
11. Only Syndicate Your Unicorns
Not every piece of content you write belongs on LinkedIn. So don’t syndicate everything – especially if you’re publishing more than two articles per week around the web.
Focus on your best stuff. Only use content that performed remarkably well elsewhere, whether it generated a lot of traffic for your blog or engagement on another social network.
Your best content has already proven itself on one platform. That means it has a higher probability of doing well on LinkedIn as well.
TL;DR
If you aren’t yet using LinkedIn as part of your content strategy, you definitely should. Use these 11 hacks to use the LinkedIn Pulse algorithm to your advantage and send your content into outer space.
By the way, one other platform that will help your content go further is Medium. The strategy for getting your content to trend is kind of the same for both places. However, one thing I like a little more about Medium is that it’s more of meritocracy – there are no anointed Influencers.
Have you tried LinkedIn Pulse yet? If not, what are you waiting for?!
This article was orginally published on the Wordstream blog and it’s repeated with permission
The Complete Guide to Messaging Apps by @antonymesser
Messaging Apps are everywhere. We take a look at their history, where they’re headed and why they could be the next big bend in the road when it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the big players like Google and Facebook.
The post The Complete Guide to Messaging Apps by @antonymesser appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
3 CRO Techniques for Boosting Conversions in 2017 by @sejournal
CRO is a straightforward process once the right data is in place. Collecting data is the tough part and a one-stop shop like Zarget offers a plethora of CRO tools that make life easier for a digital marketer.
The post 3 CRO Techniques for Boosting Conversions in 2017 by @sejournal appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
4 Ways Disruptive Marketing is Winning Over Customers
Much more than just a buzzword, disruptive marketing is changing the way we react to, understand and accept companies and their advertising. From a business standpoint, disruptive marketing represents a key shift in an era where promotional strategies update as fast as the technology that carries them.
From a consumer standpoint however, all of this change can lead to uncertainty and confusion. Here’s how some of today’s top companies are changing the marketing space through disruption – and what you can learn from them.
What is Disruptive Marketing?
“Disruption is all about risk-taking, trusting your intuition, and rejecting the way things are supposed to be. Disruption goes way beyond advertising, it forces you to think about where you want your brand to go and how to get there.” – Richard Branson
Disruptive marketing is taking all the marketing rules you’ve heard and practiced faithfully – and stomping on them. It’s never settling for the way things are, but rather turning “the way it’s done” on its head. Disruptive marketing shakes things up by changing customer perceptions about not just the company – but the industry as a whole.
And here’s the important part. Because they’ve changed our perception entirely, we come to associate new, better and more positive feelings with the company and brand that started it.
Want an example?
Ask anyone around in the technological boom of the late 1990s if you should have bought an Apple computer back then.
After they finish laughing, they’ll likely explain to you that Apple products were regarded as bland, overpriced garbage.
Not only were they overpriced but most of what they came up with were rehashed clones of products that were superior in terms of processing power, features, price and available software. Apple’s stock tanked, if you can believe it, to a low of $4 per share.
Today, agree with it or not, Apple is synonymous with sleek, sophisticated, forward-looking products. People wait for hours, even days, in line to score the latest iPhones. What brought about such a shift? The design of an MP3 player in an age when most people were touting Discmans as the ultimate in portable music. And the innovation just kept growing from there.
That’s the kind of effect that disruptive marketing can have on not just a brand, but an entire industry and the way we perceive it. But not everyone can pull off a disruptive marketing campaign. No matter what industry you’re in, all of these types of campaigns have a few selective traits in common.
Key Traits All Disruptive Marketing Initiatives Have in Common
So what exactly makes a disruptive campaign…disruptive? Disruptive brands don’t just push the envelope, they crumple it up and throw it in the trash. They’re not afraid to be daring and break the status quo. But for all the buzz they generate, they also need to be able to ride the peaks and valleys successfully, as not everyone will be accepting of their challenge to a traditional mindset.
Here’s another great example, from the Singapore Red Cross. How many times have you been told in your life that you should donate blood? Probably many times. You know it can save lives and yet very few people take the time to do it – particularly healthy, young people. The Singapore Red Cross decided to change that with an ad that capitalized on young people’s love of selfies and celebrities by doing an ad called “Blood Ties”.
Music. Blogging. Comedy. All things that attract the younger generation. Forget the preachy “you need to give blood!” demands – this kind of ad speaks to them exactly in a way that resonates. It’s a win-win.
Why Customers Love Disruptive Marketing
Most customers love disruptive marketing because it changes the face of how we perceive advertising. If done well enough, it even becomes a part of our vocabulary. When was the last time you called a cab? When was the last time you called an Uber? There are even more reasons that customers respond so well to disruptive marketing. Namely:
It’s Approachable
Disruptive marketing often tells a story in a way that consumers can understand. In one example from Spain that went viral around the world, an ad against child abuse showed an image of a child with the caption “sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering from it.”
Most adults got the message, but its true impact was understood only by children. Using lenticular technology, when viewed from a certain height, the ad’s message changed entirely:
From a child’s height, the message showed the boy with bruises and cuts indicative of abuse, and the ad read “if someone hurts you, call us and we’ll help you.” The ad was meant to speak to victims of abuse even – and especially –when they’re out with their abuser.
It’s Affordable
Disruptive marketing doesn’t have to break the bank in order to be effective. It just has to change how things are done – even a little. Case in point: Air fresheners. You probably don’t give much thought to buying them. You just want something that smells good, right?
But what if you could do more than that? What if you could create an entire mood just by the scent that best describes your décor? Airwick created such a quiz-style design with its Scent Decorator:
By clicking just a few images, you get a better idea of the feeling you want to create in your room, along with recommended air fresheners to complement it. Not bad for a can of smelly air, is it? This kind of process takes an ordinary, inexpensive thing and transforms it into something more – and that’s the kind of disruption that customers can feel comfortable with.
It’s Often Imitated, Never Duplicated
One of the best reasons customers (and businesses) respond so favorably to disruptive marketing – especially after the initial shock wears off, is because it can’t easily be duplicated. There’s only one Airbnb. Only one Red Bull. Only one Apple. Companies who try similar tactics to position their brand in a related way will be ignored in favor of the first to have done it. And when you have that kind of a lead on the competition, it makes sense to do everything you can to stay one step ahead.
It Hits a Common Touchpoint
Disruptive marketing is that loud and sometimes obnoxious friend that says what we’re all secretly thinking. The Dollar Shave Club turned subscription-based marketing into a huge trend by offering razors for $1 a month. But the reason they found such success wasn’t because of their pricing – it was because their founders came together over a common complaint: They were tired of expensive razors with ironclad packaging and countless “technological features” like flashlights, ionized organic coatings and salad slicers built into the handle, and still the same painful, bumpy shave.
It remains to be seen if Dollar Shave Club can keep up the disruption that their viral videos were famous for – especially after being bought for a BILLION dollars by personal care and shaving giant Unilever.
Now It’s Your Turn…
What are your thoughts on disruptive marketing? Have you seen a particular ad campaign that really changed the way you perceived a particular brand or industry? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
About the Author: Sherice Jacob helps business owners improve website design and increase conversion rates through compelling copywriting, user-friendly design and smart analytics analysis. Learn more at iElectrify.com and download your free web copy tune-up and conversion checklist today!