Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met SEO
Improve Your Website’s Visibility Mastering SEO for Better Results Dutch translation Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website Meester worden in SEO voor betere resultaten
Boost your website’s visibility with effective SEO strategies Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met SEO
Improve Your Website’s Visibility Mastering SEO for Better Results Dutch translation Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website Meester worden in SEO voor betere resultaten
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Boost your website’s visibility with effective SEO strategies Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met SEO
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Improve Your Website’s Visibility Mastering SEO for Better Results Dutch translation Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website Meester worden in SEO voor betere resultaten
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility Mastering SEO for Better Results Dutch translation Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website Meester worden in SEO voor betere resultaten
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van uw website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO Verbeter de Zichtbaarheid van Je Website met SEO
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Verhoog de Zichtbaarheid van Je Website met Effectieve SEO Strategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO (Dutch translation Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van uw website met SEO)
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility Master the Art of SEO Verhoog de Zichtbaarheid van Je Website Beheers de Kunst van SEO
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO > Improveer de zichtbaarheid van je website met SEO
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Dutch translation Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies! Verhoog de Zichtbaarheid van je Website met Effectieve SEO Strategieën!
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Dutch translation Verhoog de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility Mastering the Art of SEO Dompel jezelf onder in de wereld van SEO Vergroot de zichtbaarheid van je website
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Improve Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Dutch translation Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies (English) Verbeter de Zichtbaarheid van je Website met Effectieve SEO Strategieën (Dutch)
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with SEO Doe je Website Opvallen met SEO
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility Mastering the Art of SEO Verbeter de Zichtbaarheid van je Website Meester worden in SEO
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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Boost Your Website’s Visibility with Effective SEO Strategies Verbeter de zichtbaarheid van je website met effectieve SEOstrategieën
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By Silvia Gituto November 13 2023 How to Leverage Content and AIpowered Tools in Your Content Writing Content Marketing | Marketing Industry The author’s views are entirely their own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz Content writing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have transformed how content is created optimized and analyzed These tools have enhanced productivity and efficiency in the writing process from data analysis to content optimization and keyword research allowing writers to focus on highervalue tasks that require strategic and creative thinking SEO tools have been around for some time and now with the advancement of AI new tools have come about that we must learn to stay ahead The rapid advancement of AIpowered tools has revolutionized various industries and content creation is no exception In fact the technology is being populated on such a scale that the global market revenues of AI in marketing are expected to grow from 274 billion US dollars in 2023 to 1074 billion in 2028 The time has come to learn how to use all of these tools together to make our content writing processes easier Let’s delve deeper into why you should use both SEO and AI tools some concerns and misconceptions about AI how AI is reshaping the landscape of content writing and some great ways to use these tools Embrace AI as a tool not a threat There’s been a lot of chatter that the increasing prominence of AI writing tools will replace writers in the future and cause a flood of poorquality content This couldn’t be further from the truth in my opinion When you approach AI as a tool rather than a threat and embrace its collaborative potential you realize that these tools are designed to enhance and assist human creativity not to replace it They automate repetitive and timeconsuming tasks allowing writers to focus on crafting engaging narratives strategic thinking and adding a human touch to the content AI writing tools should be viewed as tools that augment creativity not diminish its importance They enhance productivity and efficiency in the writing process such as with data analysis content optimization and keyword research allowing you to focus on highervalue tasks that require strategic and creative thinking Here’s what Jon Gillham the founder of OriginalityAI has to say on this topic The use of AI by writers can be a massive efficiency booster for everyone One of the biggest struggles I see right now is everyone trying to understand who benefits from that efficiency Everyone involved in the writing process getting on the same page with when and how AI can be used in the writing process is key It’s also important to note that AI tools can assist with the content writing process but can’t replace the innovative thinking and creativity that content creators bring to their work Only humans can develop unique ideas express expertise and authority write engaging narratives and connect with their audience on a deeper level AI is still far from achieving humanlike writing It lacks the tone nuance and cultural understanding that humans possess Human writers apply emotional intelligence to evoke emotions adapt to various writing styles describe experiences and connect with an audience in a way that AI can’t and may never be able to replicate Use content writing tools SEO content tools assist in identifying target keywords and phrases for optimization that help your content align with search intent and ranking opportunities They can also help you analyze competitor strategies so you can quickly identify content gaps and opportunities among much more These tools can be an important part of your content strategy if used effectively Examples of content writing tools 1 Moz Pro’s Keyword Explorer Keyword research is the pillar of SEO When you publish content you’ll want to make sure to use the right keywords so that your content pops up in the results when people search for information online This is one of the first steps you’ll take when creating and writing content Keyword research tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer can help you find out what keywords you’re ranking for those that people are searching for which keywords are searched the most and which other sites are competing for your target keywords To understand what content to write and how to optimize it to target relevant traffic you need to conduct keyword research Moz Pro’s Keyword Explorer can also help you identify the most competitive keywords in your industry The tool will also show you what relevant keywords are most popular among consumers in a particular industry and which ones are worth targeting Here’s how you can use Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool to generate keywords Step 1 Log into Moz Pro and type in your root keyword If you sell dog food for example type in ‘dog food’ and select the country of your choice from the dropdown arrow as shown below You’ll see keyword metrics for your keyword in the Keyword Overview Report including the Monthly Volume Difficulty Organic CTR and priority Step 2 Create your keyword list by selecting ‘Keyword List’ in the dropdown menu next to the ‘Priority’ metric Step 3 Below the metrics you’ll also see a Keyword Suggestions panel which as the name suggests has a list of keywords you might not have thought of along with their monthly search volume Click ‘See all suggestions’ to see the complete list of keywords Step 4 Factoring in the keyword’s Relevancy and Monthly Volume select the keywords you’re most interested in then use the ‘Add to’ button to add them to your keyword list You can now use this list of keywords to inform your content strategy Create targeted and relevant content around these keywords to improve your site’s search engine visibility Remember that your content should always address user intent and provide value to your audience 2 Use AlsoAsked to find FAQrich results The FAQrich results such as the People Also Ask (PAA) section in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is a SERP feature from Google that displays a list of questions asked in relation to the original search query It is a goldmine for content writers because it can give a deeper insight into the specific concerns and questions of your target audience Particular tools have brought a new level of efficiency and effectiveness to content writing by fetching realtime PAA query data and insights When writing content the PAA section can help you to Generate relevant and valuable content that addresses common questions and concernsExpand your article’s topics cover related queries and enhance the article’s depth and comprehensivenessIntegrate PAA queries as keywords in your article to improve its search engine visibility and alignment with user search intentIncorporate PAA queries to create a structured FAQ section within your article enhancing user experience and providing quick answers to common queries Here’s what Mark William Cook the founder of AlsoAsked has to say “I work with a lot of data when doing keyword research and a common challenge people run into is wondering “Should I answer all PAA questions in my content?” In my opinion great content will always include an intent statement that summarizes what the reader can take away from the content It’s this intent statement that gives you your scope of questions to answer” Tailor your content to match the language and phrasing of PAA queries aligning with how users search increasing the chances of your article being considered relevant The tool AlsoAsked is a valuable asset that utilizes AI algorithms to fetch PAA queries directly from SERPs It then presents this data including a tree of subsequent results when questions are clicked providing valuable insights into the interests concerns and informational gaps of your target audience Follow the below steps to generate PAA questions using AlsoAsked Step 1 Enter your search term in the query box and choose the language and region you are researching Click on the Search button I’ve searched the keyword “vitamin b for dogs” From the results that appear the first layer of questions is what you would see on SERPs after entering your search term on Google Step 2 To go a bit deeper choose the question you want to focus on and click on the “+” node next to it This will open a new tree of questions which will further inform you about the intent of that particular search term and what you may want to include in your article Step 3 Export your data You can either do that in PNG format or export to CSV and you’ll be left with hundreds of ideas to optimize your content further Consider adding these newly suggested keywords to the Keyword List you created in Moz Pro You’ll see various keyword metrics such as Monthly Volume which can help you decide which keywords to target 3 Group your keywords with SE Ranking Google’s algorithm uses context in searches to help provide users with targeted results by looking for nuances in the search terms That means when writing content you should match the user’s intent Tools can help you group similar keywords based on search intent so you can quickly identify a diverse number of terms used to search for the same concept or page This can allow you to write highquality content and optimize it to rank for a wider variety of semantic and longtail keywords Here’s how you can use SE Ranking — my goto tool for keyword grouping in seven simple steps Step 1 On the SE Ranking interface click on the “More” button and in the dropdown menu select “Keyword Grouper” and name your report Step 2 Select the country location and languageStep 3 Choose your keyword grouping accuracy It ranges between 1 and 10 The higher the accuracy the fewer the search queries that will be put into a single group Step 4 Set up the search volume check using the dropdown menu to select one of these three options (I recommend using the ‘check volume’ option because the search volume will be checked for all search queries) Not checkCheckUpload volume independently Step 5 Choose your preferred grouping method The two options are Soft grouping — All keywords are compared against the query with the highest search volume and if the number of URLs in the Top 10 matches the set accuracy level they are grouped into clusters Hard grouping — All queries will be compared against each other eliminating the grouping of irrelevant keywords Those keywords are clustered if they have the same set of URLs in the Top 10 for the specified accuracy level Step 6 Enter in a row the search queries that need to be clustered Alternatively you can import a file by draganddropping it into the highlighted area as shown in the image below or by uploading a file from your computer Accepted formats are XLS XLSX or CSV Step 7 Click on “Start Grouping” once it’s done the grouped keywords will be saved under the file name you chose You can now develop a content plan based on these grouped keywords by writing articles that align with each keyword group’s intent A content plan based on grouped keywords with corresponding articles ensures your content is optimized for search engines and strategically aligned with user intent It improves search rankings enhances content relevance and better meets your target audience’s needs leading to more organic traffic to your site AIpowered tools like SurferSEO and SEOScout are also great options to check out that do similar tasks Find the right balance between AI and human expertise When perfectly balanced the marriage between human expertise and AI has the ability to birth successful content By embracing AI and combining the best of both a content writer can maximize efficiency adapt to evolving trends and maintain authenticity This balance can help you stay competitive in the digital landscape with content that connects with your audience on a deeper level Here’s what SEO Specialist Samantha North has to say about balancing AI and Human expertise “AI content writing often gets a bad rep but it’s definitely here to stay In fact Google has stated that it doesn’t differentiate between human or AIwritten content The main factor is the content being of high quality Speaking from my own experience it’s possible to leverage AI automation alongside human expertise to create highquality content For example a writer might use AI to create a detailed outline for an article; then a human writer would flesh out the sections by themselves In many cases poor quality generic AI content is a result of overly basic and lazy prompting If the writer takes the time to learn how to interact properly with the AI and craft detailed and meaningful prompts then it’s possible for AI to generate highquality text (not just the surfacelevel fluffy stuff that a basic prompt usually produces) Finally it’s always essential to edit and factcheck AI content before publishing So as you can see there’s a lot of scope for human content writers and AI tools to work very effectively together” Examples of AI writing tools Here are examples of AIpowered tools that you can use to speed up different aspects of your contentwriting process 1 Use AIpowered tools for Generative AI detection Very ironic yes but AI tools are invaluable when it comes to detecting AIgenerated content Lazy writing that reads like it was entirely produced by AI may affect how search engines rank it which is why it’s essential for you to be able to detect whether or not this has occurred in particular pieces of content But these are tools and as such one must exercise caution when using them There is chatter about the inaccuracy of these tools as pointed out on LinkedIn by Michael King founder of iPullRank as shown in the screenshot below He scanned the US Constitution and got a result of 9226% AI generated result Clearly when using generative AI detection tools it’s important to use them in the context of other data points There are free and paid versions for these tools but in my experience free plans are exhausting because they can only scan 50—1500 characters at a time It’s a daunting task that could feel like eating a plate of rice one grain at a time if you’re working on a piece of content 5000 words long for example AI content detection tools like Writer Duplichecker and OriginalityAI provide more value at a minimal cost All you have to do when using a generative AI content detector is type in the URL or text directly into the tool From a range between 1 and 100 it gives you a score with 100 being the highest for humangenerated content and 0 being the lowest 2 Use AI Poweredtools for keyword research Keyword research can be a long and daunting process But thanks to AIpowered tools you can now shorten hours of this process to several clicks of a button when writing content Here’s how you can do keyword research in a few clicks with SEOai Step 1 Log in to SEOai On the menu on the left scroll down and select ‘AI Explorer’ under ‘Keyword tools’ Step 2 In the dialog box that appears type in a prompt that describes keywords associated with what your search is related to For example if your seed keyword is ‘image optimization’ prompt ‘keywords related to image optimization to enhance search engine optimization’ Step 3 You’ll be presented with a list of keyword phrases along with their search volume and difficulty Step 4 From the list of key phrases check the boxes alongside them to select keywords you’d like to use according to the keyword Difficulty and Search Volume Once you’ve chosen what you need save or export them in CSV format You’ll now have a list of keywords to use in the piece of content you’re writing 3 Use AI to generate headings AI content writing tools are advantageous when generating headings They save time by generating multiple headers quickly so you can choose the most suitable ones without spending too much time brainstorming What’s more AI content writing tools consider the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) when generating headings by analyzing the SERPs understanding the context competition and user intent for a given topic and then generating more relevant and effective titles that incorporate SERP analysis AIcreated headings are usually more likely to attract organic traffic and meet the needs of the target audience Here’s how you can generate headings using Surfer SEO in just three steps Step 1 Go to the SurferSEO free outline generator In the dialog box type in the general topic of your article Be sure to include your seed keywords then click on ‘Generate an outline’ Step 2 The tool will generate a list of H1’s H2’s and H3’s At the bottom right of the window click ‘Copy Basic Outline’ to copy the data Step 3 Open a new Google document and paste the headings there Now you have a list of headings that you can freely choose from 4 Use AI to generate metadescriptions Sometimes writing numerous eyecatching meta descriptions can be draining Using AI to write them will save you time by quickly creating drafts that you can build on A meta description is a summary of a page that search engines can read to figure out what your content is all about My favorite AI tool for this is ChatGPT All you need to do is prompt it correctly Be clear and concise and remember to include every detail — the tone length and keyword(s) you want to include in the meta description Below is an example of a prompt I used to generate a meta description for an article on how to feed dogs a balanced diet It’s important to note that ChatGPT isn’t very good at following rules Always confirm the word count and use of keywords and be ready to change up reduce or tweak what it generates You should also ensure the content matches your company’s voice and tone In a nutshell AI is here to stay and as content creators we need to embrace it as a tool and not a threat Content writing and AIpowered tools have transformed how to efficiently and effectively create optimized content This integration of AI in content creation marks a significant shift in how content is conceptualized developed and consumed While AI algorithms have made significant progress in generating coherent and contextually relevant content they can’t replicate how humans connect with an audience Even content created by the best AI needs a human touch to breathe life into it That’s why finding the right balance between AI and human expertise is crucial It’s the perfect recipe for highquality humanfirst content that fulfills search intent The kind of content that search engines will rank high in SERPs About Silvia Gituto — Silvia Gituto is a Senior SEO Content Strategist who has a thorough understanding of the the role SEO plays in the digital marketing landscape She works with B2B and B2C companies across the globe to provide strategy and growth solutions to scale their SEO growth with actionable SEO strategies She focuses primarily on optimizing website content to dominate search with highquality peoplefirst content to improve search engine rankings and enhance organic traffic
By Tanaaz Khan November 21 2023 Want to Stand Out From the Herd? Ditch Commodity Content for Proprietary Research Content Marketing | Marketing Industry The author’s views are entirely their own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz The launch of ChatGPT flooded the market with AIgenerated content However AI lacks the spark of originality and those killer insights that turn your audience into loyal buyers Want to break away from the pack? It’s time to level up to proprietary research reports that serve as magnets for highintent leads In this article I will show you how to create proprietary research reports that power your content strategy and drive growth AI turns content into a cookiecutter mess It’s common to find SERP after SERP filled with nearidentical content because AI tools spit out content faster than you can say “chaching” As AI churns out indistinguishable content at scale it’s creating a glut of mediocrity We’re talking about a sea of articles that parrot each other often leaning on stale data and wornout industry clichés Every company’s got its hands on these AI tools and the more lookalike content they produce the quicker they race to the bottom You’re no longer competing on quality but who can churn out content the fastest So what’s the play? Zig when everyone zags Here’s what you need to do Be different Stop chasing the same topics everyone else is writing about Instead dive into your data for unique angles Get proprietary Use original research product or customer data to find fresh topics that capture audience interest Fuel your teams Leverage this unique data to empower your internal teams with demandgenerating content Why original research is the fuel for highimpact content strategy 1 Invest in one report to fuel your content calendar for months Research reports require a higher level of investment but one report can act as the cornerstone piece for two to three quarters It depends on how much data you have either from the published report or the data points that never made it into the live report You can repurpose a report into Social media postsPodcast episodesWebinar topics Email sequences to nurture cold leadsCluster of blog postsIdeas for guest posting on industry publicationsPotential topics for pitching live events 2 Build relationships with peers and customers Use the report to collaborate with industry peers and internal experts during creation and promotion It opens doors to partner marketing and influencer engagements Jeff Sirkin CEO of Sirkin Research advocates for a strategy he calls “The Trojan Horse Method” “The idea is to use your ideal customers and the people in your database” says Sirkin “When you use them as the survey audience you get opinions from the people whose opinions matter most And when you create the content they’re suddenly interested because it’s about them It’s about the biggest challenges they face related to your product” This approach deepens your relationship with your audience which helps with brand loyalty 3 Become the thought leader your industry needs Think McKinsey or Gartner and your mind immediately goes to their groundbreaking reports Why? They dig deep spot trends and transform them into actionable insights They’ve become the goto authorities because they offer value that cuts through the noise You should aim to do the same Make your brand synonymous with an idea or solution that resonates with your audience For example the Content Marketing Institute produces annual Benchmarks Budgets and Trends reports across multiple sectors Over time these reports positioned them as the leading resource for content marketing trends An example of an annual report that CMI produces each year 4 Create content that acts as a link magnet Search engines love fresh content And what’s fresher than a hot offthepress research report? A comprehensive research report becomes a primary source others want to reference earning you valuable backlinks For example Andy Crestodina CEO of Orbit Media has conducted an annual blogging survey for the past ten years to identify the biggest trends and challenges in the industry The survey helps Orbit Media earn tons of backlinks annually Orbit Media’s annual blogging survey has attracted over 13000 links from 3700 unique domains as of October 2023 Backlinks show search engine bots that you’re an authority on a specific topic while attracting more engagement and shares from humans 5 Generate highintent leads A Demand Gen report found that 45% of B2B executives rely on research reports during their purchase journey Potential customers want access to research that addresses pressing industry questions or reveals new insights You can gate your reports with a contact form to get more segmented leads An example of qualifying fields that you can include in your contact form 6 Earn media mentions Journalists love data and the opportunity to turn it into a story A recent report found that 63% of journalists want to receive research reports from brands and PR professionals A journalist would likely pick up your published report if it offers fresh data on a popular topic or a unique take on existing research Each media mention enhances your credibility and leads to more site visitors and sales opportunities 12 tips to help you create your first research report 1 Survey internal teams to identify focus topics Many companies think they need to publish reports that only speak to larger industry trends But that doesn’t always work unless you’re an established company with significant brand awareness Victoria Gamlen head of marketing at Sirkin Research says your report should drive demand in the short and long term To do that you need to get a lay of the land Talk to teams across the gotomarket function like Executive teamMarketingSales ProductCustomer Success Gamlen’s team calls this process “organizational therapy” where they conduct competitor analysis to assess what’s out there and devise hypotheses on topics that matter The only way they can do that is by understanding the business and product/service first and identifying the following Top customer concernsLarger industry shiftsTrends within your customer base This input can help identify gaps in current knowledge and guide the focus of the research ensuring that the final content is both relevant and impactful 2 Master survey design Sirkin mentions two extremes when creating original reports; they’re either too broad or too product/servicefocused and neither offer any value to the buyer The survey’s structure flow and question types (multiple choice openended etc) should align with survey design practices Ask the right questions not just questions you want the answers to Michele Linn founder of Mantis Research a surveybased research firm recommends the following as a starting point when designing the survey questionnaire Identify a statistic you want your brand to ownIdentify missed opportunities in your spaceUncover any gaps you wish to addressDecide if you’re going to compare segments 3 Keep confirmation bias in check Conducting research is about testing hypotheses not validating preconceptions You’re seeking insights not affirmations If you let the data guide the story rather than trying to fit the data into a predefined narrative you’ll get better results Gamlen adds “The whole point of demand research isn’t to prove something right or wrong We’re here to get clarity on what’s most important to your ideal customers If you prove something wrong it means you’re proving something else right This means you have a solid base to drive results while saving time and resources” 4 Dial into the right audience for genuine insights Your survey responses should come from topical experts Since it’s a representative sample clean the data to weed out unqualified responses This might mean excluding responses from individuals outside your target demographic or refining your dataset to represent a balanced crosssection of your audience Conducting audience research is a vital part of this process Nneka Otika a freelance content marketer started with audience research when creating the State of the Administrative Industry report for Office Otter “I looked at what had been covered researchwise in the industry and discovered that we only covered salaries says Otika So I decided to go with a state of industry report which gave room to look at topic areas that my audience was already having issues with like company recognition and lack of training budgets” This level of research helps you dial in on who to survey — in this case surveying administrative staff not people management teams 5 Avoid asking biased or doublebarreled questions Subjective questions lead participants in one direction skewing the results For instance “Don’t you think our product is the best?” is a leading question Alternatively asking a doublebarreled question confuses respondents and leads to unclear responses especially if it’s qualitative For instance “How satisfied are you with our product’s price and quality?” tries to answer two questions in one 6 People love data but you need to stitch it into a story Raw data while valuable often comes across as sterile and disconnected Use data storytelling to weave that data into a cohesive engaging narrative that entices your audience Use data to tell a compelling story that captures attention provides context and leaves a lasting impact It’s about balancing logic (data) and emotion (story) to drive the message home Katherine Boyarsky cofounder and CMO at CXD Studio a content marketing agency recommends presenting key findings first and deep diving after “Frame the report with key findings up front where readers can quickly skim the most insightful data points and themes” says Boyarsky “Give each chapter or section a theme and organize the data starting with benchmarks then getting into how people are overcoming challenges what the solutions are and ways they can look to the future and prepare for what’s to come” An example of how you can present key findings from your report before diving deeper into them 7 Focus on one problem at a time Investing significant resources into your content may tempt you to address multiple issues at once Resist that urge A narrow focus sharpens your content making it easier for your audience to digest and act on the core message Think of your surveybased content as a topic cluster Each piece dives into a different facet of the main issue providing a more nuanced understanding For example when Algolia published the Ecommerce Site Search Trends in 2023 report every question in their survey revolved around sitesearch products This consistency helped the audience better understand the subject but also subtly showcased Algolia’s own sitesearch product By staying on topic Algolia delivered a report that was both memorable and actionable 8 Build a story tracker from your report findings In an article for CMI Linn suggests using a story tracker to catalog and organize potential content ideas stemming from your research Once your research is complete each data point insight and potential narrative can become a valuable content asset You have two options brainstorm new topics or angles based on your findings or refresh existing content with your latest statistics This approach rejuvenates your current content and provides a solid foundation for an entire campaign built around your report An idea tracker template built in Airtable to brainstorm topics and content angles from your report Source 9 Explore multiple avenues for creating reports You don’t always have to partner with a thirdparty provider to publish something unique Tap into internal data or use lowlift methods to gather data Some options include Use inapp product data to understand how customers use your productConduct qualitative interviews with your audienceDo a comparative analysis of historical dataUse short surveys to ask pointed questions about a narrow topic of interestAnalyze data from thirdparty sourcesUse internal market or audience research documents to find interesting data points For example Boyarsky’s team at CXD Studio helps Doordash an online food delivery platform conduct the DoorDash Restaurant Online Ordering Trends report annually They use past reports and current survey data to compare and highlight key trends Customer data from 2021 and 2022 showed that 6% of readers joined the platform after reading the report That’s 1500 new customers attributed to a single report 10 Hire a dedicated data analyst for your program A researchled content program is only as good as the insights derived from the data While collecting data is the first step the real magic lies in interpreting and translating that data into actionable insights You need someone to collect organize and analyze the data Sirkin recommends hiring a data analyst with a strong business understanding “Many companies have a generalized analytics team or department supporting different business functions so they don’t know what any of it is” says Sirkin “But if you have a dedicated marketing analyst or marketing analytics team you can educate them on the data they’re analyzing” This approach empowers the analyst to create a report incorporating the company’s narrative Also it makes it easier for the analyst to educate internal team members while presenting the findings 11 Integrate distribution to extend content reach Only 6% of B2B content marketers amplify their research findings It’s a waste of data considering how much effort goes into producing a research report Think about distribution from the planning stages to maximize your content mileage For instance the marketing team at Databox a business analytics platform discusses the latest survey results on their podcasts while offering suggestions Here are a few ways to bake distribution into the process Share your findings on social mediaBuild a series of blog posts around the topicAsk experts to share the content on their social media or newsletterWork with influencers to reach a broader audienceCreate onepager documents for sales enablement and product teamsAsk your research partners to share it in their marketing channelsCreate a video series where experts share their thoughts on the results 12 Futureproof your process with solid documentation Documentation isn’t paperwork; it’s your playbook for success Otika at Office Otter discovered this when they dived into their first research report without a roadmap “A specific challenge we had was a lack of a documented process because we had never created a research report before” says Otika “We made many mistakes and at the end of the project we sat down and looked at our process to understand what we could change” “For example we didn’t outsource graphic design which could have freed up time to create content and distribute it before we published the second report” The lesson? Document each step for future reports It’s a set of guidelines that empower everyone involved to act more efficiently By documenting the process you avoid pitfalls and establish a sustainable program for longterm gains Original research doesn’t have to be a massive investment Boyarsky says it’s a myth that researchdriven reports are too expensive “Anyone can publish researchdriven reports no matter your size stage or budget” says Boyarsky “You can write a 10 or 20question survey and share the link on social media or with your audience via email Once you have enough responses to be meaningful create the report” She also recommends partnering with other brands to pool resources or acquire an audience from Pollfish or SurveyMonkey Audience That’s precisely how Databox built its survey and contributor program internally When Peter Caputa Databox’s CEO joined the company in 2017 they barely did any marketing And because the product was integrationbased he realized there were only a few topics his team could speak on with authority This resulted in a contributor program where they sent short questionnaires to people within their network organized the results in common themes and published them Contributors were happy to be featured with a backlink while Databox built a repository of valuable content with zero assumptions over time “When we started it was oneonone and the benefit was we were going to quote them” says Caputa “People appreciate that because they aren’t receiving outreach that says ‘Hey I want to feature your expertise in my content’ Most people receive outreaches like ‘Hey buy my product or check out my content’ So by reversing it it helps because it’s a compliment” As a result of this approach Databox’s website achieved a high Domain Authority Over time it helped the company rank for relevant highintent keywords that brought in product signups As of October 2023 Databox has 343000+ backlinks from 14800+ unique domains as a result of a surveyled approach Rise above the noise with proprietary research In a market saturated with AIgenerated content originality is necessary Publishing proprietary research reports gives you the data points to support internal activities and become an authority in your industry Start small if you have a limited budget Consider setting up contributor programs that are costeffective and rich in value Use the information above to design a focused research program Then turn your data into compelling stories and use diverse distribution channels to amplify your reach The payoff is multifold — establishing you as an industry leader in the long run About Tanaaz Khan — Tanaaz Khan is a freelance content strategist and writer for AInative B2B SaaS brands She specializes in creating researchled and SMEdriven content that helps her clients build topical authority and drive product signups She has worked with companies like Jasper Fiverr and Content Camel to create authoritative longform content Connect with her on LinkedIn or via her website
By Katherine Waiter Ong October 31 2023 How to Incorporate AI Chat and Software into Your SEO Workflow Marketing Industry | Content Marketing The author’s views are entirely their own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz AI has been slowly weaving its way into the SEO industry for years with search engines using AI in their search algorithm machinelearning (ML) SEO tools and computer vision improvements But over the last 12 months the speed of new AI options and applications to SEO has exploded You’re not alone if you feel like you’re trying to drink from a fire hose The AI fervor might be calmer but there are still critical applications for AI in your SEO workflow — making your work easier and getting you to impact faster The SEOs that learn to prompt AI chatbots and use AI software will be more effective due to delivering recommendations quicker and more effectively Like learning how to research topics vs keywords learning AI chat prompting is essential to an SEO’s professional development roadmap I’m not alone in wanting more time back in my day In the 2023 State of Marketing AI report 77% of marketers are using AI to reduce time on repetitive tasksIn this post I will share various parts of my SEO workflow where I use AI prompts and software to speed up my deliverables and get more compelling content without paying for ML SEO software (like Jasper ClearScope MarketMuse etc) These can be fantastic tools but some of my clients are new to SEO and don’t have the budget for software expenditures just yet Training my clients on AI prompting I train all my clients on writing for searchers and I’m convinced that reworking our SEO workflow with AI prompts is the future I now also train my clients on my new AIenhanced SEO process I was inspired by Ross Simmonds’ Whiteboard Friday where he walks through where in the content creation process human SEOs are still needed My clients are the subject matter experts and I’ve trained them on the AI chatbot prompts they can use during the content creation process outlined below I’m beginning conversations with them about how to provide AI guidance and ethics policies to their employees A few guardrails before getting started with AI Before I get into my tested AI prompts you need to be aware of a few caveats AI cannot count or do math well; it should only be quadruplechecked by other tools and the human eyeChatGPT mirrors your intelligence and education level; you must train it to write for your target audience’s reading level I prompted AI to drop the reading level for one client to match their target audience Most writers by default write based on their education level (this client was no exception) and the copy is not always readable to the audience you are trying to target who may have a different reading level It can generate responses that are biased based on its training setIdeally AI should only be used to partially generate content — a human’s expertise is still needed And I still think that AI can ID a writer’s unique fingerprint There’s an exhibit at the Planet Word Museum in DC that walks through how they have trained AI on a corpus of language and it could tell that JK Rowling was also Robert Galbraith because every writer has unique language choices Google has said that AIgenerated content is acceptable if it’s “original highquality and people first demonstrating qualities of EEAT”It also makes stuff up called “hallucinations” Treat AI like you would a newtoyou intern and check every step and you should be OK You can ask your AI chat if it understands your prompts ask for references and review any references it provides If the output is poor you can turn it around and have the AI interview you with questions to craft the perfect AI chat promptNew projects should be started in new chat conversionsMultichain prompts with the context of the goal audience and information about your business get the best resultsWhen using AI make sure toNOT share proprietary informationHave client permission to share their data with AIrReview the outputs — the answer the references the logicBe careful of copyright — don’t generate images “in the style of [artist’s name]” What tools should you use? Most of the real power of AI chat comes from using an AI Chatbot that You can use plugins (like ChatGPT4)Access live links (like you can now with ChatGPT 4 and Bing Chat)Can ingest large amounts of text Claudeai is excellent for this but the Split Long Text Chrome plugin can break your prompts into sections to make it easier for AI chatbots I’m going to start from the beginning from a consultant’s perspective — focused on content creation or editing You’ll notice that as I go I use different AI software chatbots (ChatGPT4 Bard Bing Claudeai) or other tools (Capsho Microsoft Designer native Microsoft tools) depending on which I think works best for the task at hand I have a list of SEO software saved in case I need it for a specific use case but I default to finding free tools to get my work done if possible Across the board you can be most effective when you provide AI chatbots context about your brand goals target audience and plans for the output If I need the output in a particular brand voice or to mirror a person’s writing style I also add that to the prompt (but as mentioned be careful not to copyright) I use this language Analyze the text below for style voice and tone and generate the output to match the style voice and tone Then I paste an email/blog post/landing page/transcript in the tone I’m trying to mirror Here are some everyday SEO tasks and activities where I’ve been able to speed up my delivery findings and outputs using AI Speed up everyday SEO activities with AI Know who you/the client is talking to Caveat This is 1000% not as powerful as conducting research directly with your target audience via a client discovery session user focus group or a “jobs to be done” formal research session Ideally you confirm what you get from AI with human conversations with your target audience But if you’re lost as to who you are talking to this is a better starting point than not thinking about your target audience I’ve enhanced my basic prompt here with tips from Andy Crestodina to make it a chained set of prompts Prompt 1 Build me a persona of a [job title] who works for a [company type] company List the roles goals challenges pain points and decision criteria for selecting a [your company type] company Prompt 2 What keeps that persona up at night? Prompt 3 What words does that persona use to describe his/her [service] challenges and solutions? Prompt 4 If you were [describe your persona] what online resources would [persona] read to help you be more effective at your job? Topical research — What topics should you cover? What are your topical gaps? Prompt 1 Here are the titles of our published blog posts related to X content What content is missing? Prompt 2 Based on the episodes in this feed [feed URL] what topics related to have not been covered? The target audience is X and the content is focused on X or helping X persona with x Know the main topics and subtopics that must be covered in your copy Prompt 1 Create a table with the semantically related subtopics of X topic organized by the stages of the searcher’s learning about the topic The output should have one column for the learning stage and another with the keywords used in a search Prompt 2 I saw this one shared by Aleyda Solis’s SMX Advanced presentation and have adapted it to my workflow Step 1 Export a raw list of keywords and their search volumes from Moz Pro’s Keyword Research tool Upload this list to ChatGPT and ask the AI tool to cluster the keywords into semantically associated groups (while maintaining the associated search volumes) Export this to a csv file Step 2 Create a hub and spoke model from a list of these keywords consolidating those that are too similar and would be targeted by the same content to avoid duplicates Take their search intent into consideration to group them These will be used in the X section on our website The hub and spoke model should be in English and list each keyword’s search intent The target audience is [x] and this should attract and engage [name of the target audience here] for a [type of business/service] List them in a table along with their specified average search volume in additional columns listed below Additionally suggest titles and meta descriptions following SEO best practices for creating content to target them [list keywords here] Know your unique brand value and how to surface it in content Prompt This needs to be executed with an AI chat with access to the internet (ChatGPT4 or Bing Chat) or ChatGPT with the BrowserOps plugin Based on these competitors [list competitors names & URLs] how is [your brand + URL] different? Create written content with AI Create a content brief I like using the preset prompts in AIPRM an addon to ChatGPT I particularly like the “Content Brief with Expert SEO Guidance” And here’s the output Generate an outline Prompt Generate two different alternatives of outlines for a [#] word article called [title here] The article will be optimized to rank for [keyword here] and should include the semantically related subtopics necessary to rank for the topic Draft meta title and description options You can prompt AI for each page Prompt Please improve the following meta descriptions to encourage the searcher to click and read The target audience is x and here are the titles and meta descriptions currently ranking in search for this topic [insert titles and meta descriptions] This prompt is even more powerful when you add your brand voice (or copy for the AI to train on to understand your brand voice) and your target audience (and their reading level) The real power I realized comes when you do this at scale For a client I was able to generate five different meta description options for 350+ podcast episode pages that did not have meta descriptions I used the GPT for Sheets and Docs plugin in Google Sheets and could hand my client options to fill in the empty descriptions on their podcast pages It’s not as effective as crafting a description based on the topic we want it to rank for (in this instance we did not know that) but in this case it was worth testing it rather than having it empty You can see the output below You can also see the hallucinations as I didn’t give it the podcast name but it made up one Find internal links I am constantly looking for an effective way to build internal links to critical pages at scale for sites that can’t host a plugin to do the job for you I’m still testing out ways to execute this at scale Prompt Step 1 Load the page you want to build links for in Bing Chat Step 2 Provide Bing the prompt Choose other URLs from [domaincom] that people might be interested in and find helpful if they saw the [target keyword] as valuable Provide the exact URLs to me and write a contextually relevant paragraph that links to [the URL where you want to place links] but do not include a link to the page you are on [URL you are evaluating] This prompt is one that I’ve shared with subject matter experts who write for my client’s websitesProvide landing page editing suggestions based on copywriting best practices & formulas I’ve used this one from Edwin Lima to create a landing page on my sitePrompt Please write a highconverting landing page copy as if you’re one of the top conversion copywriters in the [add your industry] industry using the FOMO copywriting framework I want your main point to be [Add the primary thought you want to share with your audience] The topic is [Add your topic in keywords you know your audience uses to speak about and search for your topic] For an audience of [Add a description of your audience as specific as you can] who want to [add what you understand the goals of your audience to be] but who are faced with the challenge of [add the challenge of your audience as best you understand it] and who know [add the basic level of knowledge of your audience] but do not know [add what your audience does not know yet] My goal is [Add your goal with this Landing Page and if possible how it relates to your overarching marketing or business goals] My offer is [Add your value proposition regarding pains gains and benefits to your visitor] Social proof [Add the social proof quotes or numbers that explain why people should take you and your offer seriously] My three supporting thoughts [Add the three supporting thoughts that help make the case you’re trying to complete in your piece preferably in the need solution result structure] CTA [Add your CTA] The other copywriting formulas you can play with are FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)Hero’s JourneyBAB (BeforeAfterBridge)AIDA (Awareness Interest Desire & Action) — AISEOai has a generator for you Improve your current blog copy Because many of my clients are enterprisesized science organizations the first step for me to offer content optimization is understanding what they are writing about I’ve found Curator’s Bulk Extract Topics from URLs helpful in quickly mapping out potential topics to pages for optimization Here’s the output Then I use this prompt “Provide a list of semantically relevant topics and entities that are missing from this with the goal of this article ranking for [target keyword] for [target audience]” and paste the existing article below that Generate alt text options Some AI generators will write draft alt text for you if you upload your image like Alt Text Generatorin or Alt text generatornet If you’re on WordPress plugins like Alt Text automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility For the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) purposes these all should be humanreviewed to make sure they make sense Draft copy that will help you steal the featured snippet Prompt This one I saw shared by Tony Hill and I’ve added it to my frequently used list Step 1 “I want to rank my article on Google for a featured snippet for the search query [insert the new query triggering the featured snippet] This is the featured snippet from another website Google is showing for this query [paste in all the text from the competitor’s featured snippet showing on Google]” Step 2 “Please write a featured snippet to include in my article Make it better than the one above so that it’s more helpful clear and informative so that Google will rank it instead” Step 3 “Which featured snippet is more likely to rank in the featured snippet position on Google for the search query [insert the search query I want to rank for] [paste in my competitor’s current featured snippet showing on Google] [paste in the paragraph ChatGPT generated from step 1]” These are the human steps Rewrite paragraph B (the one it generated for me) so that it is better than paragraph A and would be more likely to rank in a featured snippet on Google for [insert the search query I want to rank for]Then publish the ChatGPT paragraph to your article with the query as an H2 Create other types of content with AI Generate podcast interview questions Prompt 1 “I need a summary of [book] by [guest] What are the key takeaways? What can you tell me about the author?” Prompt 2 “[Paste YouTube transcript] What can you tell me about [guest] from this show?” Prompt 3 “[Paste social media URL] What can you tell me about the person on this account?” Prompt 4 “Develop [number] questions to ask a [subject matter expert] about [topic] on my podcast Be sure to address how [topic] impacts [industry/audience] and use realworld examples to frame your questions where possible” Create elements of video text titles transcripts descriptions and thumbnails Prompt “Generate a video description and title for [insert YouTube link] that includes keywords [“Keyword 1” “Keyword 2” “Keyword 3”] and related phrases Make sure it covers these main points [talking point 1] [talking point 2] [talking point 3] Also recommend related videos from [YouTube channel link] that I can include Make it [number of] words and write in a [adjective] tone of voice Mention the key benefits and value the video provides to the viewer Keep the description concise (2 short paragraphs) while highlighting why someone should watch the full video Provide relevant hashtags Here’s the video transcript [paste transcript or provide video link]” This prompt type could also be set into ChatGPT for sheets if you have multiple videos to optimize Create social media posts graphics and promotional emails Prompt option 1 “Generate a series of [number of tweets] engaging tweets for a social media campaign promoting [product or service] Please include [key features] and use a tone that appeals to [target audience] Additionally incorporate [hashtags] and a [call to action] to enhance the campaign’s effectiveness Write it in the style of the provided example capturing its tone voice vocabulary and sentence structure Example [paste example]” Prompt option 2 “I am looking for a subject line for an email about [the thing you want to promote] The email will be sent to [the audience] whose goal is to [action desired from recipient] Generate ten subject lines with [specific tone/style] and include [keywords/phrases]” Prompt option 3 “Develop a persuasive email that entices [job title] at [company] to sponsor my [newsletter/podcast/YouTube channel] that targets [audience] Some reasons they should advertise with me [audience size niche open rate/downloads/etc]” I have also used Capsho (a paid podcast promotion software) for this task and have been impressed by the output and I will be trying out Buzzsprout’s AI functionality for this season of my podcast Pull together data for a content audit I used the Advanced Data Analysis plugin with ChatGPT4 to create the content audit sheet I had it combine sheets for the following with the URL as the key Crawl dataGSC databacklink datasocial shares dataGA4 Prompt “Can you combine these sheets for me? The key is the URL I’m uploading sheet 1 of [4] now Upload crawl data Google Search Console data backlink data social shares data and data from Google Analytics 4 Before uploading ensure the URL column is labeled URL in all sheets” That prompt gave me a colossal sheet I could start from to look at patterns and spot areas for improvement You can also use ChatGPT to develop schema markup and generate Python code Graphics and presentations I use various Microsoft AI tools such as Microsoft Designerwhich teaches you how to craft prompts and helps you create AI images Here’s an example of one I made It also has features like uploading a document into Microsoft 365 and exporting it to a fully designed PowerPoint I am also playing around with generating images in ChatGPT with the Argil extension And Adobe Firely has great graphic options Here’s an example from that tool There are great tools like Claudeai (where you can upload large amounts of text) or the AskYourPDF ChatGPT plugin that lets you upload pdfs as a part of your prompts At some point this functionality will be native in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspaces so more of this functionality will be available natively in tools you’re already using Conclusion These are just a sample of what I’m testing daily to help improve my SEO processes The future of using AI in our workflows is exciting It allows us as SEOs to work more efficiently and offload timeconsuming tasks so that we can focus on effectively delivering our client recommendations Using AI support will give SEOs extra time to provide client training and develop deeper client relationships — the soft skills part of SEO that only a human can tackle which can make or sink our SEO efforts About Katherine Waiter Ong — Katherine owns WO Strategies LLC an organic traffic marketing partner and trainer to primarily sciencebased enterprisesized organizations based in the DC area and the Digital Marketing Victories podcast host She has over 18 years of SEO experience and built her first website in 1994 She has developed awardwinning campaigns and worked with organizations ranging from federal agencies foreign governments startups nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies focused on G2C B2B and B2C audiences She also conducted the first study on consumer adoption of wearable computers as her master’s thesis at Georgetown University You can connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn
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By Emilie Martin August 8 2023 Blast Off Into the Future MozCon 2023 Day One Recap SEO Events | Moz News Day one recap contributors were Emilie Martin Vickie Wu and Zach Edelstein Today we kicked off day one of MozCon 2023 That’s right we’re back and better than ever! We’re in a brand new venue this year and we’re excited to experience it for the first time with all of you! Whether you joined us in person or via our live stream we are so grateful to get back together again for another year of MozCon madness We hope day one helped set the scene for what the future of search is going to look like Let’s recap yesterday’s talks Opening remarks + State of the Industry — Cheryl Draper Setting the stage for what’s to come Cheryl Draper kicks off MozCon 2023 laying out all the important details you’ll need to get through two jampacked days! From seasoned speakers to our community speakers Cheryl made sure to let us know what we’re in for this year Cheryl is joined by fellow emcees Melissa Rae Brown and Cyrus Shepard Cheryl let us know the reason we chose the future of search as this year’s theme It has everything to do with Seattle! Very fitting as Seattle is known as the city of the future and has futurerelated infrastructure like the monorail and space needle We wanted to imagine what the future would look like A lot has changed since the last time we came together and we’re forced to think more than ever about the future of search; think of machine learning artificial intelligence TikTok and Google Analytics 4 Every time we log online there’s something new to digest! Make sure to take breaks grab yourself some lunch and stay hydrated! Remember to follow #MozCon on Twitter or X and get involved in the conversation over there Am I about to go on a ride or at a digital marketing conference? Does it matter?! ;) #MozCon pictwittercom/D4l7hCYBGz— Holly Miller Anderson | Marketing SEO eCom DTC (@millertime_baby) August 7 2023 Google’s Just Not That Into You Intent Switches During Core Updates — Lily Ray Acting as the conduit between us and impactful changes to the Google algorithm Lily Ray returns to the MozCon stage with her thoughts on why your rankings may have changed during a core update Following up on her 2022 talk on Why Real Expertise is the Most Important Ranking Factor of Them All Lily delved deeper into Google algorithm intricacies Many SEOs have wondered why Lily and her team are so obsessed with core updates Lily revealed her origin story starting with getting on the wrong side of Google’s 2012 Penguin update Lily took her knowledge and experience over to the agency world and did things right committing to helping businesses suffering from Google core updates This Penguin Update slide from @lilyraynyc is freaking me out #mozcon pictwittercom/423YHQFyFe— Dr Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) August 7 2023 If you’ve been impacted by a core update to deal with your recovery Lily recommends prioritizing fixing these issues Changes in user behavior — Lily used the example of the company ‘Playground’ battling with several other companies with the same name onlineWorld events and crises — Lily used the example of the keyword ‘masks’ and pages related to them Previously costume masks ranked on page one but during COVID19 medical face masks took the top spots insteadOverhauls to search like EEATRelevancy shifts and Quality Deserves Freshness (QDF) — Before the July 2021 updates if you searched for Steel Dragon the results that showed up included a game and a hardware store After the update they started ranking the rock band intent shifted and Google started understanding more about user intent related to the keywordIntent switching — We’ve got the three classics informational transactional and navigational But we all know there are more than three search intents Lily mentions buying products factchecking recipes seeing pictures looking at the news watching a video translating and more Lily emphasized creating content for each intent you think your users hold when searching Be everywhere your customers can find you Intent shifts are inevitable and patience is a virtue when it comes down to it If you’re looking to see where you can find information on Google Core updates you can see a list of them here You can catch Lily performing as our DJ at our closing party at MoPOP Why SEOs Need to Start Playing Offense Instead of Defense — Chris Long Chris turned heads last year with his talk on Advanced OnPage Optimization and he joined us this year to discuss how to shift to an offensive SEO mindset helping you to prioritize key initiatives get stakeholder buyin and navigate successful longterm SEO strategy In a game of chess you always want to be on the offensive so that you can control the board But in SEO we feel like we always have to be on defense The best SEOs that Chris knows are constantly playing offense; they’re experimenting and looking at the future of search So how can SEOs play offense? Identify new content opportunities — Chris suggests starting with a content gap analysis which you can do with Moz Pro but this is a little on the defensive side To look at it offensively we need to know what topical areas we need content for For example if we work with personal loans we might look at all keywords to do with personal loans we can now build content in this topical areaChoosing which pages to optimize — The more advanced way of optimizing content involves finding which categories we need more visibility in This works on sites with many different topical areas for example Macy’sTechnical SEO prioritization — First evaluate the percentage of total pages experiencing technical issues then evaluate issue type Make sure to take your recommendations as close to the end as possible If you do tho you’ll always always be playing defense @gofishchris #mozcon pictwittercom/zYHHPf1Sz8— Yosef Silver (@ysilver) August 7 2023 Get data for key initiatives — Getting buyin is just as important as the SEO work and one of Chris’ favorite ways to do this is by framing every content initiative as an opportunity cost What is the opportunity cost of not creating a specific type of content?Perform experiments — Chris’ experimentation process includes creating a hypothesis implementing a testing framework and measuring the resultsChris noted that SEOs need to embrace AI— the SEOs playing offensive are implementing AI in their workflows According to Chris’ online poll approximately 72% of SEOs are already doing so and Chris is confident that AI will enable us to become better creators A special announcement from Moz you’re not gonna want to miss! We’re so delighted to share that Brand Authority is here! Melissa Rae Brown introduced our exciting new metric available for Moz Pro and Moz API customers Learn more about how you can use Brand Authority in Dr Pete’s blog post – Introducing Brand Authority Measuring the Unmeasurable And Brand Authority is live! #MozCon https//tco/R9qiPE5b2R— Emilie Martin (she/her) (@emiliecgm) August 7 2023 SEO CoConspirators Navigating Complex Systems — Jackie Chu Jackie Chu discussed tips and tricks for growing organic traffic at scale in 2022 and came back this year to share how you can source and uncover allies enlist your coworkers and successfully navigate the political landscape to get your own SEO project prioritized The easiest way to get shut down as an SEO is to tell people you need to do things “for SEO” Jackie has gotten really good at making sure what she needs to get done is taken seriously; she looks to the legal team the business owner and the engineering team in organizations to find her allies Piggyback on companywide key initiatives to get your work prioritised says @jackiecchu #MozCon pictwittercom/T14xEabZAb— Lidia Infante (@LidiaInfanteM) August 7 2023 Spearhead your accessibility projects with your legal team Accessibility issues are SEO issues Web accessibility involves making sure your website and web content are usable for everyone and accommodates all accessibility issues 45% of people are colorblind; that’s quite a lot of people to be excluding Follow web content accessibility guidelines and note 4 significant themes your content needs to be perceivable operable understandable and robust Jackie recommended checking out bitly/seoaccess for a complete checklist of web accessibility guidelines Enlist the business owner Identify who would care about your project’s success tell them what they can get out of it agree on who will drive what and highlight the time to see the impact Instead of saying something like “We’ll fix broken links that will help SEO” say “We’ll fix broken links… to increase traffic and revenue to payments” Getting buyin from the business owner can help you scale your impact and build trust and relationships When working with your engineering team ask yourself — is this a bug or is it a feature? Most engineers want the company to be successful and it’s important to set them up with accurate information If it’s a bug ask yourself if this is a confusing brand experience if it’s impacting any customer and if it’s impacting other channels (like SEM) Examples include; the page not rendering content differences on mobile and desktop blocking Google bot rate limiting and 500 errors Consider the previous three suggestions when attempting to find your allies at your company If you learn how to package your SEO projects by framing other people’s motivations you can start to get them prioritized Search Data at Scale — Daniel Waisberg In his inaugural MozCon talk Daniel set a precedent for equipping a room full of people with invaluable skills for managing data at scale using Google Search Console bulk exports Now on the #MozCon stage @danielwaisberg! First time MozCon presenter handling it like a pro 😎 pictwittercom/pc5zPoxQd2— STAT Search Analytics (@getSTAT) August 7 2023 Daniel is super passionate about the Google Search Console bulk data exporting functionality The first milestones of creating this product included asking stakeholders if they could create it how they should do it and getting the correct approval The project moved swiftly to testing internally and eternally then documentation was written final tweaks made and the product was launched! Big theme of the day I’m seeingGETTING BUYIN 🤝Heard it across all four talks so far even @danielwaisberg talking about shipping new GSC features Ideas are only one part of the equation You also need the buyin to SHIP things#mozcon— Josh Gallant 🇨🇦 (at MozCon) (@joshgallantco) August 7 2023 To access the tool head to Google Search Console input your data and receive bulk exports daily for your website You’ll see site impression which is aggregated and it is segmented by country device type and more You can even drill down to specific pages To be more efficient in your data analysis Daniel suggests focusing on planning and optimizing Plan your data pools to avoid surprises and be smart about how you pull your data If you have a large website you can limit your data — NB set your expiration date to partition not your table! Remember to preaggregate your data for analysis and set billing alerts and restrictionsWhen focusing on optimization limit the input scan sample the data and use approximate functions Daniel wants to make sure search data is available and useful at scale He recommended SEOs focus on search Google Search Console and Google Trends Check out Daniel’s training on bulk data exports here Beyond the Written Word FutureProofing Your Content Strategy by Leveraging Multimedia Formats — Azeem Ahmad We were so happy to have Azeem one of our fantastic Community Speakers grace the stage (for the very first time!) Azeem talked us through how to futureproof your content strategy and stay ahead of the competition As marketers we measure too much stuff Azeem lets us know where we get it wrong; we know what users want but we often don’t know how they want it Throwing up blog pages doesn’t cut it anymore If we as a community had moved beyond this there prolly wouldn’t be a slide for it in @azeemdigital’s deck… #mozcon pictwittercom/e6Fl27XSPY— James Wirth (@jameswirth) August 7 2023 To go from basic to advanced in measuring data Azeem recommends following these steps Azeem’s quickfire tips for creating audio and video content include Weigh in on current eventsShare ‘x things you didn’t know about’StitchingDay in the lifeMorning routineSoftware demosBefore and afterHow we do ‘x’FAQsViral hack testsMythbustingHowto guidesTrending templates Check out Azeem’s Whiteboard Friday to learn more about diversifying your content strategy From Fear to Forward Motion Navigating the Future of Analytics with Confidence — Brie E Anderson After lunch Brie entered the stage to remind us of the everlooming topic of GA4 Just kidding we’re all pulling up our socks to try and figure out how best to use this new set of analytics to make real business decisions Brie mentioned that change is hard but it’s also inevitable She guided us through the most important sections of GA4 and how we can put it to work Data stream is how information gets from your website to GA4Events are where you can see what you’re tracking if it’s important and if it’s working This is key for documentation and to meeting your business marketing and personal goals You can mark any events of your choosing as Conversions with ease! Audiences while similar to UA now have unique new features in GA4 For example you can now add an audience trigger which will create an event when someone becomes a member of that audience Timebased audiences are also worthwhile trying out!Data Settings — It’s best to speak to a privacy expert to see what’s right for youProduct links — Do them! Brie said “The best and worst thing about GA4 is it’s customizable” This is especially true for Reports A vital tool in Advertising to make use of is Conversion Paths which help you see where in the funnel channels are falling As much as this change can feel daunting and isolating Brie shared comforting words as her last sentiment Us marketers SEOs business owners etc — we’re all going through it together! GA4 may not feel intuitive initially but as long as you’re willing to embrace the mistakes along the way it’ll all be worth it in the end Brush up on your GA4 skills with the Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics Watching @brie_e_anderson give her #MozCon presentation on GA4 and yowza am I super glad she exists So many little nuances and randomness of where certain things are that are not intuitive nor have clear documentation— Blake Denman 🙃 (@blakedenman) August 7 2023 Down the Mountain — Noah Learner Noah spoke on the MozCon stage last year about how to break into new areas with topic maps and rejoined us this year to share his evergreen framework for optimizing your own career which can be applied to any market He laid out this repeatable process in four steps 1) Go wide Create a strong skill set — This can look like working in an agency early on signing up for sucky work embracing errors and finding ways to fuel your curiosity outside of work and within your circle of friends and family Critical thinking is the art of deciding what to do and when to do it Find and use a decisionmaking process that works for you and make improvements regularly! 2) Go deep Find your Ikigai (“reason for being”) Uncover what ties all the things you love togetherDon’t be afraid to reach out to your heroes A like comment DM zoom call and inperson conversation can take you far Go into these conversations with the mindset of seeking as much wisdom as possible Join communities with the same types of people and passions Can’t find them? Build your own! 3) Go big Are you a writer? Start a blog Prefer speaking? Host a podcast (and feature your heroes!) Learn how to speak and ask for what you wantOvercome fears through therapy box breathing recording and revisiting wins and remembering your purpose 4) Give back This is arguably the most important step! Your vulnerability and mentorship can make a world of difference for someone else This all started with Noah drawing his “Why” From there he put in the time and effort to get his flock down the mountain Now it’s your turn to ask yourself What’s my dream and what would I sacrifice to get it? For all those at #MozCon looking for @noahlearner’s SEO Community Slack link https//tco/TyKzMtzfna— Moz (@Moz) August 7 2023 The SERP Is Dead Long Live the SERP — Tom Capper Our very own Tom Capper following up from his 2022 talk on noncatastrophic keyword research addressed Google’s everchanging SERP and looked at Google’s direction for the future The first major death of SEO was in 2003 Google Ads In 2012 the knowledge graph killed SEO In 2014 SEO killed Google In 2020 “zeroclick searches” killed SEO Despite all of the “dead SEO’ instances in history Tom mentions that interest in SEO is only growing Tom talked about the elephant in the room SGE (Search Generative Experience) Here are some interesting observations Tom made on how it’s performing SGE is appearing less and less possibly to save costs There’s very little overlap with organic results indicating that SGE ranking is likely not built on organic ranking“Follow Up” in the SGE is very similar to “People also ask” and maps are often replicated in the SGE and below it This points to SGE being built in a rush with little consideration of redundant results and functionalities TLDR SGE is often not appropriate and can even be wrong a lot of the time What happens next? You’ll be happy to hear that there are worthwhile opportunities that will hold up now and in the future for SEOs businesses and publishers alike Tom advises to start investing efforts in Google Business Profiles Google Shopping and a human approach to content Absolutely loving the research @THCapper did about SGE SGE often pulls from sites not ranking in top positions SGE doesn’t show ads SGE is redundant w/ other SERP featuresLooks like we came to many similar conclusions 👏🏽#MozCon pictwittercom/z3XXGa9b4a— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) August 7 2023 Headless SEO I’m Sorry But This Is Happening — Lidia Infante Lidia joined us for her second year on the MozCon stage Last year she presented us with tips on SEO gap analysis but this year she spoke about headless SEO You’d think I shouldn’t be nervous about public speaking anymore but no #MozCon pictwittercom/HcQhtVinzK— Lidia Infante (@LidiaInfanteM) August 7 2023 If you’re not sure what ‘headless CMS’ is it refers to a CMS that deals only with content not the frontend experience of a website This type of CMS allows you to post content anywhere — the web apps and more via API Given this definition of a headless CMS what is different about headless SEO? Lidia described the pros and cons of a headless CMS for SEO The downside is traditional CMS will allow you to use plugins like Yoast to help with your search optimization There are several advantages of using a headless CMS including the ability to reuse content across apps and other platforms as well as internationalization Lidia provided a checklist of 7 implementations you need to request from your development team to get started with your headless CMS Request all the key meta tags including title meta description meta robots viewports and moreGive your content editors a customizable URL slug Define your XML Sitemap setup You will need to create a validation rule so that only 200 indexable canonical URLs get added You will also need to define your preferred update frequencyMake room for structured data This is one of the most exciting aspects of headless SEO For example you can create a rule in your CMS that generates FAQ schema for the appropriate sections on your pageValidate your headings’ hierarchy This is key for accessibility Perform a parity audit This means you will need to make sure that all JavaScript looks the same to users and Google Views on Views of Video SEO — Crystal Carter Crystal is all about the visuals! In 2022 she presented us with her views on how to use visual search to your advantage and this year she brought her wealth of knowledge to the topic of video SEO Crystal mentioned that video SERPs account for an average of 20% of untapped keyword opportunities; there has never been a better time to improve your video SEO Why is onpage video SEO important? Well because users love video and the prevalence of videos in the SERP is up 45% YoY! Crystal dove into the data and uncovered that Google’s addition of video content in its SERPs is largely connected to TikTok’s success Google is using video to help drive competitive strategic objectives 84 minutes a day watching videos… 👀@CrystalontheWeb #mozcon pictwittercom/90mstcQxMg— Josh Gallant 🇨🇦 (at MozCon) (@joshgallantco) August 7 2023 Why is video SEO different from page optimization? Primarily because video content can appear in the SERPs in a variety of ways Videos can even appear multiple times in the same SERP in places like a recipe result YouTube result and webpage simultaneously How do we optimize onpage videos for SEO? Crystal dives into these three components of video SEO success Video content — Use highquality file format and thumbnails Optimize your content by using keywords in your script and making sure that you satisfy user intent Video platform — Use YouTube! This one is pretty simple according to Crystal YouTube has 48m pages ranking on the SERP right now far above any competitor Leveraging YouTube gives your content the best chance to rank On a more technical level video defaults on YouTube meet Google video indexing specs such as supported format and full video schema Crucially every YouTube video is indexed so yours will be!Video webpage — This page should meet all technical SEO foundations as well as include a transcript Additionally make sure your images are always above the fold! GA4 added a new Organic Video channel to help SEOs measure the performance of this content There has never been a better time to grow your audience by embracing onpage video SEO The Evolution of Content & the Future of Our Industry — Ross Simmonds Ross ended day one of MozCon with a bang following up on his talk in 2022 on finding your way to SEO and content success This year he spoke on the evolution of content and the future of our industry as we know it – touching on the question of whether AI is actually coming for our jobs or not Ross takes down a common statement circulating in the marketing community AIwritten content will NEVER drive results Ross’s approach is to use AI as a way to augment or supercharge your own skillset We’ve all been lied to We’ve been told Gum can’t be digested Driving with a dome light on is illegal AI written content will never drive SEO resultsAll nonsense #Mozcon— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) August 7 2023 In a world that is so hyperfixated on content and whether or not AI can replace the process of creating it Ross explains the need for marketers to embrace the full content growth framework to stand out while being able to incorporate AI to supercharge the process Here are the key areas in which Ross recommends using AI tools to evolve your content Research – Tools like ChatGPT can help summarize and analyze large documents for you to use as research for your new content Create – Use AI to reverse engineer great content and help you determine what performs well What checklist does AI utilize to generate great content? Generally the same kind of checklist a human would use to generate great content@TheCoolestCool #MozCon pictwittercom/9OG5QrWbcr— James Wirth (@jameswirth) August 7 2023 You can also use a keyword research tool like Moz Pro to export a list of keyword suggestions and then feed that file into ChatGPT to help you come up with content ideas! Distribute – Create once distribute forever! Using AI you can take a piece of content you’ve created and summarize or repurpose it Use ChatGPT to create tweets based on your content and similar Tweets that you’ve made before Optimize – Upload a piece of content and have ChatGPT make recommendations on SEO optimizations Ross’ final takeaway is that if you are hesitant to embrace AI embrace experiments Find ways to test these tools not to replace your marketing strategy but to enhance it Catch more from Ross in his Whiteboard Friday How Content Is Evolving Thanks to AI On to day two! The first day of MozCon 2023 provided many insights and it seems that the unintentional theme of the day was getting SEO buyin! Glad to hear we’re all on the same page; we need to be in order to keep up with the future of search We launched our new metric Brand Authority have you checked your own Brand Authority score yet? Let us know your archetype on X We hope you enjoyed happy hour on the summit terrace and are now ready for another day of MozCon magic! About Emilie Martin — Emilie is a Learning & Development Specialist working on the Content Team at Moz She works on creating educational content including Academy courses blog posts guides videos and more Her background is in customer training and education and has a passion for digital content creation
