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Think about mobile-first indexing as "entity-first indexing."
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More than half of Google's searches are now mobile, but 61% of mobile searches don't get clicks.
- Yet... most desktop SEO tools are not providing accurate mobile rankings.
- YET... what does mobile ranking matter if you're pushed down on mobile by the knowledge graph, ads, and other goodies.
- Mobile-first indexing is not just about websites! You are competing with entities.
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Entities are those things (like Knowldge Graph, carousels, and on) that exist above your mobile rankings.
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Google wants to index more than just websites.
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Focus on the right goals; paid traffic isn't a goal, leads and sales are a goal. Traffic alone is a vanity metric.
- Avoid traffic-based goals!
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The first question to focus on: "How do our paid search goals support business growth?" (This is a good question to ask about all initiatives.)
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Landing pages that answer visitor's most important questions perform better than pages that don't.
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The second question to answer: do our visitors have the information it takes to move forward with their query?
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"Before we can change behavior, we need to understand why we engage in that behavior."
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Uses Zoom for video conferencing.
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Believes that the more she gets to communicate and educate as to what her agency is working on, the more her clients will be happy. Not exactly analogous to GigSalad... but communication is good.
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Marketers conflate content marketing with blogging. "They're not the same thing."
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"At the end of the day, brands are performance marketers. If you don't deliver business results, they will let you go." - Defunct Casper writer
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"Impressive media and high quality content is not the same thing as effective marketing."
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If the content isn't customer-centric, it's not going to work.
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An effective blog should involve writing a library of resources to solve problems for your customers.
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Tortuga's 1 big problem to solve with their content: what should I bring on my trip and how should I pack it?
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Don't write story-driven content; write resources -- problem-driven content that will always answer questions and solves finite problems.
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Rethink your blog's homepage. Newness is not relevant; creating a resource for them to find answers to their problems is not about chronology.
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SLIDESHOW. Relevant talk. https://getstat.com/mozcon/clkn/http/go.getstat.com/mozcon-near-me
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Users are dropping "near me" and city-based modifiers from search queries, according to Google. They expect their location to be implied.
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Google interprets different intents for similar location-based search:
- face painters in me
- face painters in Seattle
- face painters
- best face painters
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73% of keyword searches in their test returned a local pack (local rich content results on search results page).
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Google changes their local pack based on intent; "x near me" shows a smaller mileage radius of map results, while "x in Y city" shows a greater mileage.
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Google has a hard time finding local pack results that it qualifies as "affordable."
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Google interprets organic intent the same for organic search results!
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The influence of geomodification on search results:
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Geo-modifiers have a significant influence on organic results ("base" keyword search vs. "near me" vs. "in city")
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Brick and mortar businesses perform best on "near me" SERPs
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Aggregator sites show up the most on "in [city]" searches
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Agency: https://www.vervesearch.com/services/contentmarketingservices/
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Target the big sites in order to snowball your traffic; don't target the low-authority, low-visit sites for guess blogging campaigns.
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Create campaigns for more than just the link itself. Create great content.
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The trick is to collaborate with an expert and find surprising data on your site. Make interesting content that reputable sites would want to share!
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What is interesting, surprising data on the site that we could use for national coverage? Perhaps Santa/Christmas-oriented? What's a good story for journalists? Make content for people.
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Grit and perseverance is the most important quality to have.
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It's important to be able to disagree in order to make organizations better. Encourage people to ask questions.
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Created LinkScore to measure the value of links: https://www.vervesearch.com/linkscore/
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Write your pages and blog posts for process intent. Separate sections clearly -- step-by-step!
- Give the simple answer first, and then take the next section to expand upon the answer, step-by-step.
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Good story/SEO strategy: lead with the lede, then give the details, then give the context of those details.
- Take and applied to the Q&A Model: lead with the clear answer, dive into the details after that, then give them the specific examples.
- Designing for conversion: design with purpose, including meaningful data to help the convertee, make it personal, and show the product!
- Data across various services, from Google Analytics to Moz/Ahrefs/SEMRush, is inaccurate and unreliable in different ways. (Talk filled with examples.)
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50%+ of clicks are going to paid ads.
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March 9th may have turned more non-geo location searches into localized by default.
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Find the right blend between the needs of the consumer and the needs of the business.
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Email rules about humans:
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- Always collect consent. (Email is opt-in, not opt-out.)
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- Create accessible emails.
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- Mobile still matters.
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- Make it easy to unsubscribe.
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- Embrace inbox management controls. (In other words, stop freaking out about the Promotions tab.)
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- Look beyond vanity metrics like opens and clicks.
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- Tools to find questions and keywords related to topic
- answerthepublic.com
- keywordtool.io
- buzzsumo.com
- webpagefx.com/seo-tools/faqfox
- keyworddit.com
- bit.ly/learnpowerbi
- powerbi.microsoft.com
- WATCH THIS TALK LATER
- WATCH THIS TALK IN THE OFFICE
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"Empathy drives top performance."
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10+ hours a month of customer research drives 30% more annual revenue growth.
- Goal: talk to customers for at least 10 hours a month.
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Only 51% of buyers/customers/clients feel companies do a good job asking about their needs.
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So how do we drive more clicks, conversions, and currency with empathy?
- Think of empathy as a muscle; you have to build and maintain it.
- Tip #1: Talk to your customers (in a research capacity) monthly.
- Tip #2: Develop an empathy-driven culture. Make one of your major customer KPIs your NPS score.
- Automatically report NPS responses to Slack.
- Tip #3: Create automatic empathy loops.
- Empathy loops like a VIP program also drive more engagement. [Editor's note: meh.]
- Drives more loyalty, more word of mouth.
- Empathy loops like a VIP program also drive more engagement. [Editor's note: meh.]
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Customer Research questions:
- Q1: Walk me through a day in your life...
- Q2: Walk me through how you use X...
- Q3: What's the #1 challenge X solves for you?
- Q4: Walk me through your decision to try X...
- Q5: If you could wave a magic wand and solve problem Y, what would it look like?
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More customer development questions: https://mfishbein.com/the-ultimate-list-of-customer-development-questions/
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Toyota 5 Whys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys
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UserTesting.com
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UsabilityHub.com
- Asking them to do novel things like "hire a face painter from Google, going through with a request up until the step where you submit your information."
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See slides for more information.
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Use SEO split testing!
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Goal charter basics for reporting:
- What is the goal?
- Why do these goals exist? (Objectives.)
- How will we know when we've met the goal?
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In a successful company, everyone is rowing in the same direction. Everyone is trying to achieve the same goals. How are you going to row in the same direction if you don't communicate?
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The best teams:
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Feel comfortable crying in front of each other
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Know they won't be judged harshly or unfairly by their fellow teammates
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Bolster each other's weaknesses + compound strengths
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Are made up of diverse people who share core values
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Have psychological safety (https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it)
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