New year means new blog posts, but before we kick off 2020 in earnest, we want to recap Contitude's most read blog posts of 2019.Here's a quick summary of what impressions are and why you should get familiar with Google Search Console, as well as how to create automated marketing feeds and tips for creating content that's in line with Google's algorithms. If you want to read more about the topic, we've also linked to our respective posts.
Are impressions relevant to measure and track?
What are impressions and how does it help you build your brand?
Impressions or exposure in English is simply described as when someone is exposed to your message or brand. It's a way of measuring that is common in social media and search engines that gives an indication of how many people have seen your post
Shifting focus in the context of digital media
Traditional channels aim to reach as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost. This can be done by advertising in newspapers, on TV or on posters in public transport. Through digital channels, it is possible to measure the results of marketing in several ways, which means that there is a greater focus on clicks and conversions. In practice, this means that you pay when someone clicks on your ad on Google. It's good to pay for those who are actually interested in your product or service, so you pay per click. However, there is value in advertising more broadly and paying for exposure. Exposures build brand awareness and can provide future customers who have seen your logo or your website and have slowly built up trust in you and your company. Read more about impressions and brand exposure here.
What is a funnel?
A funnel is an Inbound Marketing concept that refers to a flow that automates your marketing.A funnel is an automated process that attracts visitors to your website, engages them and converts them into leads, then automatically processes them until they are ready to make a purchase.
Do you need an automated marketing system to create a funnel in the best way?
It is possible to create manual feeds on the website where you receive emails when someone interacts on your website. You then have to manually manage each ticket. Through a Marketing Automation system, you can instead set up so that the process happens automatically. For example, you can set up a follow-up email to be sent out after a week and then after a month and then you will receive a notification when you should contact your lead. In this way, part of the communication can be automated.
What are the elements of a funnel?
In a marketing funnel there are different stages and you need different types of content in your funnel depending on which stage your potential customer is in. Maybe they've never heard of you? Or are they educated, have built trust in you and are ready to make a purchase? The segments you can group customers by are called:
- Attract: catch the attention of the target group
- Engage: make sure your audience finds interesting content and gets involved
- Convert: any form of conversion, such as downloading a guide or even making a purchase
- Nurture: nurturing the relationship with the customer after the conversion
The advantage of working with automated flows or funnels is that it streamlines your sales process, saving you both time and money.Read more about what a funnel is and how to work with automated flows here.
Google's SEO advice and ever-changing algorithms
Google makes about 3,200 updates to its algorithms every year. No wonder it's hard to keep up with the changes. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is Google's recommendation to focus on content. Fill your website with relevant information for your target audience, and there are even guidelines to help you when it comes to writing content.
Unique content
You can of course refer and link to other sources but make sure that most of the text on your website is original.
Clickbait
In fact, Google advises against using overly shocking headlines. Sure, you'll get clicks, but if all visitors leave the page quickly because the content wasn't as interesting as the headline intended, this will affect your ranking. Google wants to give their customers relevant results and if you have a high bounce rate, other results will appear instead, causing you to drop in rankings. Instead, focus on compelling and relevant headlines that fit with the rest of the content.
The whole website
Do you have a consistent and interesting theme on your website so you are perceived as knowledgeable and trustworthy in your niche? How are you perceived compared to your competitors? If you have regular visitors and people interacting with your website then you are probably doing it right. Continue on that track and also work on branding issues to help you create even more visibility.
Bounce rate
If you get visitors but have a high bounce rate - that is, many people leave your website quickly - you are not trustworthy enough. Your visitors have not found what they are looking for and do not trust you, but have moved on. Review your content, headlines and meta descriptions and try to make them more relevant to your target audience.
Fake news
As with click bait, it may work for now but Google doesn't like factual errors and in the long run spreading false information will pay off. If your website has been flagged for this, it could potentially affect the ranking of your entire website.
Readability
It's not just the length of the text and how relevant the information is that counts, but also how easy the page is to read. Divide the text into shorter paragraphs and use clear headings. This will help the reader navigate through your page.
Mobile adaptation
Surely no one has missed the fact that the majority of Google searches are done through mobile devices? For this very reason, Google has changed its algorithms to Mobile First, meaning that Google looks first at the mobile version of the website and second at the desktop version. So make sure your website works really well on mobile devices.Here are many more tips on how to adapt your content to fit Google's algorithms.
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a useful tool from Google that helps you see which keywords you are and are not appearing for in Google search results. You can also see how you rank in Google's search results.The tool helps you keep track of how you are performing in Google's search results with your different landing pages and keywords. It also gives you an indication of what kind of searches are driving traffic to your website. This will help you get inspired about what kind of content to fill your website with.
What can I use Google Search Console for?
- Google Search Console helps you see how your website appears on Google.
- You will find out what opportunities are available to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO)
- You can deal with different types of security issues and so-called penalties from Google.
- You can request faster indexing for different pages through manual handling.
- You can submit an XML sitemap through Google Search Console so that Google can more easily read the content of your website.
- Get updates on mobile usability
Learn more about the benefits of Google Search Console here.
Summary
Above, we have provided a summary of the key points from each blog post. These are our most read blog posts in 2019 but there are many more blog posts to look at from the past year. We have touched on topics such as what agile marketing is, how sales and marketing need to work together to create a winning sales process and an SEO trendspotting.Regardless of what we write about, we hope to be able to provide tips and advice on the subject of digital marketing, both for those who are new to the industry but also for those who have a lot of experience and want to stay updated on the subject.Feel free to contact us if you want to brainstorm about digital marketing!
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