Tips & Tricks Archives - Find2Digital - Digital Agency

New Changes to Google Ads Keyword Matching: What It Really Means

find2digital — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:56:19 +0000

Google’s latest announcement may be the most confusing one yet. Not like it’s Display ad announcement where we’re left questioning why it was even announced and exactly what is different. But more so because it involves match types, which, between quotations and parentheses, exact matches and close variants, requires some brain gymnastics no matter how experienced you are.

So in this post, I’ll be breaking down Google’s latest announcement into the following:

The three changes Google has made to keyword matching behavior in Google Ads.
What Google says this means for using multiple match types.
Why some PPC experts beg to differ.

Here’s what Google says

In its September 23 announcement, Google shared that it has made improvements to keyword matching technology as well as changes to rules on how it selects keywords in your account.

As with any Google announcement (and to Google’s defense, as any company will do), this one is framed positively. So, just like how…

Taking away our dearly beloved modified broad match was “Making it easier to reach the right customers on Search,”
Limiting search term report visibility was “Improving the search terms report while maintaining user privacy,” and
This one is “Matching the most relevant keyword to every search.”

Google says the update is designed to help you:

Maintain better control over which keywords match to a search, especially with broad match.
Reduce account complexity by giving you more control over where traffic goes without the extra work of multiple match types.
Ultimately allowing you to more easily attract more relevant and high-performing traffic using fewer keywords.

There are many aspects of the announcement that PPC experts disagree with, but we’ll get into that later.

For now, let’s break down what Google is telling us in this announcement.

Change #1: BERT has improved keyword matching precision

The first point Google makes is that its BERT algorithm technology—used to interpret language, queries, and search intent—is now being applied to keyword matching behavior, making it more predictable and precise, particularly for broad match.

Here’s the example Google gives:

If someone searches a highly specific auto part like 1995 5 speed transmission seal input shaft, Google can now match that query to the broad match keyword auto parts.

Change #2: Exact match logic now also applies to broad and phrase match

In order to understand this change, let’s make sure you’re clear on the current logic for exact match: Back in its February announcement when itretired modified broad match, Google shared that it will now always prefer the exact match keyword that is identical to the search. So if you are targeting multiple exact match keywords in an ad group, prior to this update, Google might choose an exact match keyword slightly different from the search query if it is deemed more relevant to the meaning of that query. Now, it will prioritize the identical exact match keyword.

Now this same logic will be applied to broad and phrase match keywords. So if you don’t have an exact match keyword that is identical to a query, but have broad or phrase match keywords relevant to the query, Google will prioritize the broad or phrase match keywords that exactly match the query.

Here’s the example Google gives:

If someone searches for sushi delivery near me and you’re targeting broad match sushi delivery and broad match sushi delivery near me, the identically matching broad match keyword sushi delivery near me will be preferred—unless you’re targeting exact match sushi delivery near me, in which case that keyword will be served.

A refresher on match types in case you need it:

Change #3: If you have multiple keywords and match types that are relevant [but not identical] to the query, Ad Rank will not be the only deciding factor

The last point in the announcement tells us that if your keywords are relevant to a search query but none of them are identical to it, Google will not use just Ad Rank, but Ad Rank AND other relevance signals to determine the keyword it serves. “Other relevance signals” include the meaning and intent of the search term and the meaning of your targeted keywords based on their associated landing pages (thanks to BERT).

Here’s the example Google gives:

If someone searches “quick sushi delivery near me” and you are targeting the phrase match fast sushi delivery and the broad match food delivery, Google will select the phrase match keyword because it’s more relevant—even if it has lower Ad Rank than the broad match keyword.

Google says, “These rules ensure that the most relevant keyword will always be prioritized, so you can more easily use broad match and still maintain control.” They provide the chart below to illustrate the new logic.

Here’s the chart Google uses to explain this change:

So what they’re saying is that the new rules for keyword matching don’t rely solely on Ad Rank, but relevancy as well, which, if you’re puzzled by that (i.e., hasn’t Google always matched to relevancy?) you’re not alone. More on that in a bit.

Google’s resulting points

We’ve written in the past about using the same keyword with multiple match types to identify your highest performing keywords. Google is saying this is no longer necessary.

Point #1: You can get more qualified traffic using fewer keywords

Again, this is only what Google is saying. With these improvements, you can maintain better control over which keywords match to a search, especially with broad match. This, in turn should “reduce account complexity,” and eliminate the “extra work” of using multiple match types to control where traffic goes in your account.

Point #2: You should create thematically consistent ad groups

Google suggests that you “group keywords into thematically consistent ad groups so your ads will serve from the ad group you expect them to.”

So if you’re a food delivery service and sushi and pizza are your most popular searches, you would create three ad groups:

One ad group with creative and landing pages for sushi delivery.
A second ad group with creative and landing pages for pizza delivery.
A third ad group with creative and landing pages for food delivery.

Point #3: If you’re pairing broad match with Smart Bidding, there’s no longer any benefit to using multiple match types

What Google is saying is that since broad match is more precise and predictable now, and since it now follows the same logic as exact match (prioritizing the identical keyword), you can just target the appropriate broad match keywords and get the same results as you would if you targeted the phrase and exact match versions of that keyword:

“Also note that when you use broad match with Smart Bidding, there’s no benefit to using the same keywords in multiple match types. Broad match already covers the same queries and improves performance with real-time bid optimization.”

Here’s what others say

Here are a few reactions and resources from PPC experts on this update.

Amy Bishop: “Putting all your eggs in the broad-match-basket could increase CPL.”

In her Search Engine Journal coverage, Amy Bishop explains that there still may be value in multiple match types for the same keyword, and recommends running small tests in your own account to draw your own conclusions:

“There’s still value in having multiple match types, in the sense that exact match should still match more tightly and therefore may attract better relevance than a broad match keyword. Putting all of your eggs in the broad-match-basket could lead to increased CPLs because that term could likely still match to other lesser-relevant terms, driving up the cost.”

Julie Bacchini: “Have you not been matching the most relevant keyword to the query up until this point?”

Julie Bacchini shares much stronger feelings about this update in her post called Google Ads Updates Keyword Matching – AGAIN. Some sneak peeks:

“I should assume that Google Ads will be smart enough to know whether I actually offer a “1995 5 speed transmission seal input shaft” on my site?”

“If the term matches an exact or phrase keyword, that should be the only “relevance signal” that is needed, no?”

“No mention of our friend the “close variant” specifically in here either, so how that plays in?”

Greg Finn: “This is horrid generic advice.”

Greg Finn also responded with a counter blog post: Sorry Google, There Are Benefits to Using Multiple Match Types when Using Broad Match with Smart Bidding.

“I believe that this is a blanket statement that does not apply across all advertiser use-cases. True to Cypress North’s core pillars, I spoke out against and challenged this sweeping advice. “

He then goes on to provide four scenarios where it is beneficial to use multiple match types, even when using broad match with Smart Bidding.

Mark Bissoni: “Covering every variation of a query so you’re eligible for exact match preference is a pain in the buttocks.”

In Mark’s Twitter thread, he lists out a number of closely related keywords and writes:

“This means we need very long keyword lists (using the same match type) to cover every which way a keyword could be typed.”

Ginny Marvin: “There’s no need to list out plurals, etc.”

Ginny Marvin, Google Ads’ product liaison responded to Mark’s tweet saying:

“Close variants behavior isn’t changing, so there’s still no need to list out plurals, etc. (Agree, that would be a pain.) And exact match will *still* be preferred over the same KW set to phrase or broad match.”

She then links to Google’s help article on close variants.

Susie Marino: “This is a wake up call for advertisers who have been too lazy about keyword clean up for too long.”

Susie Marino says that she can understand where the pushback is coming from:

“I get where the pushback is coming from. Theoretically, as Julie said, this matching behavior should have been happening the whole time. This just seems like another unnecessary push for folks to use broad match. Plus, Google’s example of an auto keyword matching up to a specific auto part search was weak. What if we actually don’t want to match up to that?”

However she does agree that Smart Bidding would be helpful:

“However, Smart Bidding would be our savior in that case by (hopefully?) bidding less. Otherwise, I think this is a wake up call for advertisers who have been too lazy about keyword clean up for too long.”

She also supports the concept of downsizing your keyword list:

“I have to give Google credit for encouraging the use of less keywords to get more. Many people already overlook the rule of close variants, which is a personal pet peeve of mine. There’s no need for plurals or slight variations of your keyword. Use just the core terms you need to get your point across and you’ll cut your optimization time in half.”

Excessive keywords make things messy. While the shameless plug from Google on broad match and Smart Bidding isn’t welcome, I think the lesson on downsizing your keyword list is helpful. At the least, this will have people reevaluating their search intent, and that’s at least a step in the right direction.”

Broad match tips

As Google pushes us more an more toward using broad match with Smart Bidding, you may find these resources helpful:

How to Succeed in Google Ads without Modified Broad Match
4 Tips to Succeed Using Google Ads Broad Match (with Data!)
The Pros and Cons of Every Automated Bidding Strategy in Google

What are your thoughts?

Hopefully you now have a better understanding on how match type behavior has changed, what Google means by “improvements” to broad match, and how other advertisers are interpreting it. What about you? What are your thoughts on this match type update?

The 5 Best Marketing Campaigns We’ve Ever Seen (& How to DIY)

find2digital — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:38:51 +0000

As consumers, we are inundated by targeted marketing campaigns all day, every day.

But the thing is, there are marketing campaigns—promo codes, marketing emails, social posts, search ads, and more—and then there are MARKETING. CAMPAIGNS. The ones you talk about or share with others. The ones that make you see a brand in an entirely different way. The ones you remember.

Now, not everyone is Spotify or has a billboard-sized budget—but we can learn a lot by looking at some of the best marketing campaigns out there. So today, we’re going to cover:

What exactly a marketing campaign is.
The different types of marketing campaigns and requirements.
Five examples of the best marketing campaigns we’ve ever seen.

Each will come with takeaway tips so you can emulate, duplicate, and iterate on each of these examples.

What is a marketing campaign?

The term “marketing campaign” is quite broad and can mean many things. I’ve defined it here as a project executed to drive a specific action and carried out through one or a variety of channels. For example, you might be run a giveaway marketing campaign and carry it all out on social media. Or you might send out emails about it, write blog posts on it, have an influencer get the word out, and so on.

Marketing campaigns are designed to drive a specific goal, like increasing website traffic, boosting sales on a particular product or service, or getting more people to try out a free tool. They also typically have specific time frames assigned to them in order to accurately test, analyze, and optimize.

There’s a lot that goes into a successful marketing campaign:

Who: Which audience segments are you targeting? New customers? Dormant customers? Users of a particular service you offer?
What: What are you promoting, and what are the assets needed for the campaign?
Where: Where will you be carrying out the campaign? Social, email, website, offline?
When: When do you plan to launch, run, and close the campaign?
Why: Why are you running the campaign? What short and long-term goals does it target?
How: How will each piece of content work together to maximize the campaign’s success?

Types of marketing campaigns

There are plenty of ways to leverage marketing campaigns to drive your marketing objectives. Let’s take a look at some types of marketing campaigns you can run.

1. Launch campaigns

For those of us who like to work for startups, you’re probably familiar with the hustle of trying to get brand new launches in front of an audience—whether for a new product, service, or feature.

This is the perfect opportunity for a marketing campaign! Depending on the size of your launch, you may want a full-court press on all your marketing platforms. For launches in particular, think about including:

Press release
Press features or sponsorships
Blog post written by stakeholders
Syndicated content on LinkedIn or Medium
Advertising campaigns on social platforms
Influencer or network support

The iPod launch campaign did so well, Apple still uses this type of imagery and copy for their wearables.

For tips on this campaign type, check out 12 Ways to Effectively Promote a New Product or Service.

2. Sales promotion campaigns

Thinking about reducing the price of a service for a limited time only? Upgrading your bread-and-butter product? Sounds like a great time to market that through a time-limited marketing campaign.

You’ll need to communicate with your existing customers to update them about the discount or new UX, and you can try to leverage them to spread the word.

You’ll need:

Email communication (promotional email examples here).
Blog post (depending on the duration of the campaign).
Network support
Shareable social media assets

Here’s a list ofsales promotionsyou might use for a campaign like this.

3. Event marketing campaigns

Conferences are finally making a comeback! This hits close to home, as I am neck-deep in planning conference sponsorships, speaking sessions, and booth designs. Not to mention attending webinar after webinar on “how to” this and “how to” that.

To make sure people attend your webinar, show up to your workshop, or buy tickets to the conference you’re holding, include some of these materials:

Drip emails
One-to-one outreach
Landing page with registration form
Shareable social assets

Need some event marketing ideas? Look no further than these 11 Brand-building Event Marketing Ideas.

4. Lots of other marketing campaigns

Those are just three of the many types of marketing campaigns. The list goes on and on, depending on your goals, business circumstances, and what you define as a marketing campaign.

For example, here are some more to consider:

Reengagement marketing campaigns: to get dormant or former customers to come back.
Product or service-specifc marketing campaigns: to promote an existing product or service that needs some extra love.
Rebranding marketing campaigns: Nothin’ like showing your new makeover to the world.

Without further ado, let’s get into some examples! You can use these to inspire your next marketing campaign, spark some creativity for the current one, or help you plan a roadmap.

The best marketing campaigns we’ve seen and what we can learn from them

Below are five great examples of marketing campaigns done right. I’ll also talk about how you can apply them to your own campaigns.

1. Two kinds of people (Apple)

Way back before the Mac was a “book” and when personal computers were a luxury, Apple launched the Lisa—the first ever computer with a mouse. Their launch campaign included a TV commercial starring Kevin Costner.

No, this was not the first influencer marketing campaign. In fact, this was a pre-fame Kev.

And no, the Lisa never took off.

It’s the script of this commercial that makes it such a hallmark campaign: “That’s why we make the most advanced personal computers in the world. And why soon, there may be two kinds of people: those who use computers and those who use Apples.”

Takeaway: stay committed to your brand voice

As you can see, “Think different” may be Apple’s currentmarketing slogan but this has been their messaging since the 80s. encompasses the history of their brand messaging. You can’t truly brand your business without consistency, and Apple has done their due diligence in this arena for the past three decades.

2. Operation Santa (USPS)

I am fascinated by USPS. I mean, how absolutely mind-boggling amazing is it that you can put a cheap, sticky paper onto an envelope, put it in a box outside your house, and it will MAGICALLY end up thousands of miles away?!

But I digress. With Operation Santa, USPS encourages children to write letters to the “North Pole,” aka a collection center that posts pictures of the letters online. Participants can then read these letters and answer one or many of the requests in the letter by mailing the child a package.

So while this marketing campaign helped to drive more business to USPS, it was in a charitable manner that made everyone feel good.

Takeaway: involve a third benefactor with your campaign

All marketing campaigns are technically a win-win: your customers get the valuable offer you’re promoting, and you get their business. But with a charitable marketing campaign, you can go for a win-win-win. The third benefactor here—children of underserved communities—gives both USPS and its customers incentive to make the best of this marketing campaign. We all love buying products that also have a positive impact on our society.

3. What Agnes Saw (Tokyo Olympic Games)

This inspiring commercial features the oldest living Olympian (Agnes Keleti) as well as several incredible Olympics moments that have occurred over her lifetime. “What Agnes Saw” represents her seeing the torch light and the thousands of athletes just like her.

If this doesn’t tug at your heart strings or make you want to get up and do something, you might not have a heart. I’m going to be honest, I had no plans on watching the Olympic games this year. Mostly because I don’t have cable TV (as opposed to OTT). But after I stumbled upon Agnes’s sweet memories, I stole a login to my parents’ cable plan.

Takeaway: try a “look back” campaign that shows your achievements, challenges, or even mistakes

The Olympics are an event unlike any other. And each year they are held is so different than the last; locations, cultures, geopolitical events, and athletes all influence the make-up of the games.

What this marketing campaign from the Olympics shows us is how to embrace the different challenges and achievements. Don’t shy away from where you’ve been and celebrate where you’re going.

In practice, that means apologizing for any wrong doing and showing your customers how you are correcting it (acknowledging your mistakes has its benefits, you know). Or maybe it is best illustrated in showing the generations of family that have worked to develop the perfect formula for your business.

4. Prime Day (Amazon)

In 2015, Amazon had their first Prime Day as a campaign to get more Amazon Prime subscribers. And oh boy, did it work. So well that they’re still holding multiple days of Prime Day six years later.

Takeaway: offer a little something extra for loyalty

If you are a subscription-based business, take a page out of Amazon’s book and offer your subscribers a little something extra for their loyalty. Something that will make their friends and family so jealous, they’ll want to subscribe to your service as soon as they can.

I always suggest free stuff, because people love free stuff. In fact, the gym I go to recently had a “Member’s Day” that focused on fun games and giveaways for their members. They even brewed a signature beer for the event!

5. Where are my Quays?

How could we not include an influencer marketing campaign in here? And no, I’m not going to mention a certain weight-loss gummy/tea/supplement…

Where are my Quays is the ultimate influencer campaign. Does anyone remember when Chrissy Teigen absolutely blew up Quay sunglasses in 2019?

Everyone *had to have* a pair of these gigantic sunglasses after the comedian/model/John Legend’s baby mama endorsed them through a series of commercials and social media plugs.

Great move, Quay. Although my child-sized face was unfortunately too small for any of their products, I too fell victim to the campaign. You can find my sunglasses on Poshmark, please take them off my hands.

Takeaway: seek out genuine endorsement

First of all,know your audience. Who are you trying to reach? Who is in their sphere of influence? And how can you match the person within their sphere of influence with your product?

Working with influencers isn’t easy. But, in my experience, sometimes the right influencer will fall in your lap (aka send you an email pitch). You want someone who loves your product as much as you do, because genuine endorsement can’t be faked.

What are the best marketing campaigns you’ve seen?

While these are just some of my favorite marketing campaigns, it’s certainly not an exhaustive list. And you crazy marketers just keep coming up with creative ideas. So send us your favorites and we just may add it to the list!

What Fresh Content Really Means to Google (+How to Create It)

find2digital — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:28:26 +0000

We commonly hear that having fresh content can help your SEO, but it’s not as common for us to see a breakdown of exactly what fresh content means and how important it is for ranking.

So in this post, we’re going to cover:

What content freshness is and how it’s measured.
When content freshness is a ranking factor.
How to know when it’s time to refresh content.
How to improve your freshness score.

What is fresh content?

Fresh content refers to recently published, updated, or rewritten content. Google and its users appreciate fresh content because it’s more likely to be accurate.

Ever since its freshness algorithm update in 2011, queries for trending or time-sensitive keywords trigger Google to prioritize newer pages with the most up-to-date information. The freshness update impacted at least one result on the page for 35% of searches.

We can identify four dates associated with any URL that has been published online:

Published: when the page was uploaded on the website.
Indexed: when the crawlers first discovered the page and added it to Google Search.
Last crawl: when the page was last crawled by those bots.
Modified: when the last change was made to the page.

If a page is updated and republished after the first crawl, the published time indicates when the page was most recently edited by the website. If the page is updated without republishing, it is shown as modified time.

How does Google measure content freshness?

According to Moz, Google estimates the freshness of your content based on many factors, including:

Page inception date: The date it was indexed by Google.
Amount of change to the updated page: Large changes signal more freshness.
Number of changes to core content of the page: Changes to the main body content add more freshness than adjusting the date/time tags.
Rate of page change: Frequent changes on the page signal more freshness.
Rate of new page creation: Websites that add new pages more frequently may get a higher freshness score.
Freshness of backlinks to the page: Links from sites that have high freshness scores can improve yours.

Is content freshness a Google ranking factor?

The freshness factor doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Rather, it’s one of the multiple factors or trust signals that both search algorithms use for ranking and users contemplate before clicking any of the results. And since freshness is more relevant to certain queries than others, the requirement for fresh content should always be evaluated on the basis of your primary keyword.

Fresh vs “unfresh” queries

Query categories for which Google will seek out fresh content include:

Recent events (e.g. a playoff game)
Hot topics (e.g. Google’s page title update – trending at the time of this post).
Recurring events and reports (e.g. presidential elections, annual conferences).
Ongoing but always-changing information (e.g. product reviews).

Query categories where recency has no major impact on the accuracy of the information may include:

Food recipes
Historical facts
Broad topics
Evergreen topics

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Fresh queries

Someone interested in reading about ecommerce trends will likely be looking for the latest trends in the ecommerce industry, not those of the previous years.

A page targeting a recency-sensitive query will slowly decay if not updated, whereas frequently updated content is more likely to have its position reassessed.

“Unfresh” queries

But for a keyword such as “search marketing,” freshness is not necessarily among the most crucial factors. People who search for that keyword will likely want to find out the basics of what search marketing is and what it covers, which hasn’t really changed in the last few years.

In this case, an older but still-accurate page that gains new backlinks continually but is not updated can certainly compete with a newer page that doesn’t have inbound links or keeps losing its existing links.

How to improve your freshness score: best practices

Now that we established how content freshness can impact ranking for time-sensitive queries, let’s quickly go through some tips and best practices for incorporating the freshness factor into your SEO strategy.

1. Check the SERP

The easiest way to evaluate the level of freshness that users presumably want for a query is to look at the publication dates of the top results. For example, you can check the first 10 or 20 results and calculate their average age. Ideally, you should also give more weight to the top-ranking results in your calculation.

We can see by the SERP that recency is important, but not critical for the query “how to get on the first page of google.”

2. Publish new (evergreen) content regularly

You don’t have to always be publishing content on new topics. But as we learned earlier, your rate of new page creation factors into your freshness score. So be sure to be publishing new content regularly, whether on evergreen or time-sensitive topics.

The more frequently you publish content, the more often Google knows to crawl your site.

3. Update old content regularly

This Google research publication points out that search engines cannot recrawl every page all the time due to the massive scale of new content being published every day.

As a result, Google crawls pages preferentially based on their rate of content update.

By updating old content regularly, you improve your freshness score which can then make it easier for your time-sensitive content to rank.

Report pulled from ahrefs for a social media marketing brand; as expected, they have to update their content very frequently.

4. Prioritize already-ranking content

If your content didn’t rank in the first place, the updates are hardly enough to rise to the top. Here are some resources to help you with getting your content to rank:

10 Free Ways to Get on the First Page of Google
How to Rank for a Keyword in 10 Steps
The Complete Guide to SEO Basics

5. Actually update your content…

Changing your article’s published date and the year in the title is a common practice, but this does little to signal freshness to Google. As we covered earlier, changes to the main body of the page are more important to Google than adjusting the date/time tags. So you’ll need to update the core content of the page.

While creating fake freshness can potentially increase your CTR, at least momentarily, it will likely result in shorter dwell time on your page if users still find your content somewhat outdated.

And if you end up with weaker engagement metrics, that certainly can have a negative impact on your ranking.

6. …and then actually change the publish date

In his SEO Blueprint training course, Glen Allsopp stresses the importance of aligning the published time Google associates with your URL with the year in your page title.

Articles where the published time doesn’t match the year in the title are, in fact, fairly common.

7. Submit to Google through Search Console

After updating your core content, you may choose to resubmit your sitemap on Google Search Console if you wish to speed up the process of having Google recrawl your updated content. Google will find the changes eventually on its own, so this is usually not worth it for smaller changes.

When to update, republish, or publish new content

Whether it makes sense to update content so Googlebot will crawl your page more frequently and rank it higher depends on how important freshness is for your query.

Here is what Ahrefs suggests:

When freshness is crucial: Update the page frequently or publish new articles on the topic regularly to keep up with demand.
When freshness is important but not critical: Update the page regularly, and if ranking starts to drop, consider revising and republishing.
When freshness isn’t important: Focus on creating the best possible guide on the topic.

So let’s take a look at your options when freshness is crucial or important.

When to update content

While Google pays more attention to major updates, minor updates to a page are still important, because as we mentioned, a page’s freshness deprecates over time, no matter how evergreen. Examples of small updates include:

Adding in new internal links
Updating platform screenshots
Adjusting headings
Adding a new item to a list

This method is a great way to get more traffic from your evergreen posts that don’t need major revisions.

When to revise and republish content

Revising outdated posts/pages and changing the published date is an effective way to boost freshness. This becomes relevant when an article requires a complete overhaul to meet visitors’ need for recent, up-to-date content. It should earn you a higher freshness score than a simple update.

This method is best for evergreen topics that resonate with your audience long-term; as well as pages for which you want to preserve backlinks and other beneficial SEO traits.

Whenever republishing revised articles, it’s a good idea to share them on social media, just as you would any other new article to boost engagement.

Pro tip: Another option is to combine several topically related, outdated articles into one updated ultimate guide and redirect all traffic from the old pages to the new one. Especially if those old pages are performing well, you don’t end up losing that existing traffic, either.

When to publish new content

A good example of topics that require new content regularly is any article that lists out and explains trends around a certain theme.

For example, at Supermetrics, we cover affiliate marketing trends every year. If you search for “affiliate marketing trends,” none of the results on the first or second page are older than from 2020.

To maintain freshness for this topic, we write an entirely new article every year, where we feature new experts and go through recent developments.

Another reason for this practice is that we’re also targeting the query “affiliate marketing [current year].”

An additional bonus is that your older posts provide historical data that is useful for looking at trends over time.

How to know if I need to refresh my content

Keeping tabs on your page performance, including traffic trends and engagement, is crucial for understanding freshness.

Track performance metrics

For example, a page that doesn’t rank at the top but attracts a good amount of clicks that result in visits with a high average time on the page and low bounce rate will signal to Google that users consider your page relevant and fresh enough for that query.

You can learn more SEO metrics here.

Following these metrics for your content over time will provide useful insights into your page performance and whether there’s a need for updates or revisions. You can track these metrics using Google Analytics or by pulling the data to a spreadsheet with a reporting tool like Supermetrics (as in the image below)

Check keyword and query data

Keyword traffic volumes tend to fluctuate, and not only for trending topics. So, if your page traffic is down, it could also be due to recently declined keyword volume for that query.

Look at position history

Or maybe there’s new competition for your target keyword and one of those new pages managed to cut in with their fresh content. A brief look at the SERP position history could reveal if this is the case.

Keep an eye on clicks and impressions

And keeping a close eye on the clicks and impressions and the search queries that generate them helps you evaluate when it might be time for updating your page to improve freshness.

Recap

The aim of keeping your content fresh is to serve users better by making sure your information is up to date. This should lead to more clicks and engagement and attract links organically, all of which is a signal to Google that your page deserves to be at the top of the search results.

We covered a lot in this post, so let’s finish off with a recap:

Freshness is a ranking factor for Google but only for pages that target time-sensitive and trending queries.
If recency adds little or no value to the query you are targeting, frequent updates won’t help your page to outrank an older, authoritative result.
The best way to determine how important freshness is for a particular keyword is to search that query and look at the top 10-20 results.
If freshness is important, monitor your page performance and update your content only when its ranking starts to decline.
Depending on the performance metrics, you can decide whether to update the page regularly, revise and republish it, or create entirely new content on the topic.

How to Write an Awesome Blog Post in 5 Steps

find2digital — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 14:56:43 +0000

Writing a blog post is a little like driving; you can study the highway code (or read articles telling you how to write a blog post) for months, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing like getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road. Or something.

Now that I’m done thoroughly mangling that vague metaphor, let’s get down to business. You know you need to start blogging to grow your business, but you don’t know how. In this post, I’ll show you how to write a great blog post in five simple steps that people will actually want to read. Ready? Let’s get started.

How to Write a Blog Post in Five Easy Steps [Summary]:

Step 1: Plan your blog post by choosing a topic, creating an outline, conducting research, and checking facts.
Step 2: Craft a headline that is both informative and will capture readers’ attentions.
Step 3: Write your post, either writing a draft in a single session or gradually word on parts of it.
Step 4: Use images to enhance your post, improve its flow, add humor, and explain complex topics.
Step 5: Edit your blog post. Make sure to avoid repetition, read your post aloud to check its flow, have someone else read it and provide feedback, keep sentences and paragraphs short, don’t be a perfectionist, don’t be afraid to cut out text or adapt your writing last minute.

Now let’s review each step in more detail.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 1: Planning

First, a disclaimer – the entire process of writing a blog post often takes more than a couple of hours, even if you can type eighty words per minute and your writing skills are sharp. From the seed of the idea to finally hitting “Publish,” you might spend several days or maybe even a week “writing” a blog post, but it’s important to spend those vital hours planning your post and even thinking about your post (yes, thinking counts as working if you’re a blogger) before you actually write it.

Long before you sit down to put digital pen to paper, you need to make sure you have everything you need to sit down and write. Many new bloggers overlook the planning process, and while you might be able to get away with skipping the planning stage, doing your homework will actually save you time further down the road and help you develop good blogging habits.

Choose a Topic That Interests YOU

There’s an old maxim that states, “No fun for the writer, no fun for the reader.” No matter what industry you’re working in, as a blogger, you should live and die by this statement.

Before you do any of the following steps, be sure to pick a topic that actually interests you. Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – will kill a blog post more effectively than a lack of enthusiasm from the writer. You can tell when a writer is bored by their subject, and it’s so cringe-worthy it’s a little embarrassing.

I can hear your objections already. “But Dan, I have to blog for a cardboard box manufacturing company.” I feel your pain, I really do. During the course of my career, I’ve written content for dozens of clients in some less-than-thrilling industries (such as financial regulatory compliance and corporate housing), but the hallmark of a professional blogger is the ability to write well about any topic, no matter how dry it may be. Blogging is a lot easier, however, if you can muster at least a little enthusiasm for the topic at hand.

You also need to be able to accept that not every post is going to get your motor running. Some posts will feel like a chore, but if you have editorial control over what you write about, then choose topics you’d want to read – even if they relate to niche industries. The more excited you can be about your topic, the more excited your readers will be when they’re reading it.

If you’re really desperate for inspiration, check out our list of eight blog topic generators to get you going, or these eight tricks to come up with unique blog ideas.

Write an Outline For Your Post

Great blog posts don’t just happen. Even the best bloggers need a rough idea to keep them on-track. This is where outlines come in.

An outline doesn’t need to be lengthy, or even detailed – it’s just a rough guide to make sure you don’t ramble on and on about something tangential to your topic.

For example, this is the outline for this post that I sent to my editor before getting to work:

Introduction

[Quick summary explaining what the blog post will cover]

Section 1 – Planning a Blog Post

– Things bloggers should do before putting pen to paper – outlining, research etc.

Section 2 – Writing a Blog Post

– Tips on how to focus on writing, productivity tips for bloggers

Section 3 – Rewriting/Editing a Blog Post

– Self-editing techniques, things to watch out for, common blogging mistakes

Section 4 – Optimizing a Blog Post

– How to optimize a blog post for on-page SEO, social shares/engagement, etc.

Section 5 – Conclusion

– Wrap-up

The purpose of this outline is to make sure I know what I plan to cover, in what order the various sections will appear, and some bare-bones details of what each section will include.

Outlines keep you honest. They stop you from indulging in poorly thought-out metaphors about driving and keep you focused on the overall structure of your post. Sometimes I’ll write a more thorough outline (and sometimes I won’t bother with one at all), but most of the time, something like the outline above is perfectly acceptable.

Whether you write your outline in your word processor, on a piece of paper, or even scribbled on a bar napkin, do whatever works for you to keep you focused.

Do Your Research

One of the biggest secrets professional bloggers (myself included) don’t want you to know is that we don’t actually know everything. Truth be told, sometimes we don’t know anything about a topic before we sit down to write about it.

This doesn’t mean that all bloggers are insincere fakers. On the contrary, many bloggers’ natural curiosity is what makes them great at what they do. If you blog for a living, you have to be comfortable jumping from one topic to the next, even if you don’t know anything about it. What allows us to do this, and to write authoritatively about subject areas that are new to us, is knowing how to properly research a blog post.

It almost goes without saying, but relying solely on Wikipedia as a primary source is almost always a bad idea. Yes, Wikipedia does have thousands of excellently researched articles, but it’s not infallible, and erroneous facts do make their way into articles without site editors noticing. Plus, every verifiable fact on the site is cited from links elsewhere on the web, so why cite the middleman?

If you’re relying on third-party information to write your blog post, choose authoritative sources. Official associations, government websites, heavily cited research papers, and preeminent industry experts are all good examples. Nobody is right all the time, though, so approach every source with a the practiced skepticism of a journalist and question everything until you’re positive your information is solid.

Check Your Facts

A few years ago, I edited a piece written by a colleague focusing on the highlights of a major technology conference. The writer, under a seriously tight deadline, had done a bang-up job of writing great copy in virtually no time, but he failed to properly check his facts. He cited an article from Forbes in which the writer claimed Steve Jobs was using PowerPoint on stage – something that never happened. It was lazy journalism on the part of the Forbes writer, and an easy mistake to make on my colleague’s part, but the result was the same; one poorly researched article directly impacted another because both writers failed to do their due diligence.

All it takes to tank your credibility is one glaring error. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s crucial to avoid gaffes like this. If you’re just starting out, your credibility and authority will take a major hit if you publish inaccurate information, and even if you have a blog with millions of loyal readers, your regulars will be all too eager to jump all over your mistake – just take a look in the comment sections of publications such as Wired or TechCrunch to see how quickly this can happen.

In the event that you fall prey to a well-executed hoax, repeat widely circulated misinformation, or simply make a mistake, own up to it right away and be transparent about your edits. If you try to slip something past your readers, you can bet that they’ll call you out on it, further compounding the damage. Be honest, be accountable, and fix it – fast.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 2: Writing a Great Headline

Everyone and their grandmother has an opinion about headlines. Some say you should be as specific as possible (to avoid misleading your readers and manage their expectations), while others recommend taking a more abstract approach. Vague headlines might work just fine if you’re Seth Godin, but for most of us, being specific is better.

Some headlines practically write themselves.

There are two main approaches you can take to writing blog post headlines. You can either decide on your final headline before you write the rest of your post (and use your headline to structure your outline), or you can write your blog post with a working title and see what fits when you’re done.

Personally, I don’t adhere to a rigid strategy one way or the other. Sometimes I’ll come up with a strong headline from the outset and stick with it, whereas other posts will take a lot more work. Although sites such as Upworthy arguably ruined internet writing with their clickbait headlines, the process behind the site’s headlines has merit, as it forces you to really think about your post and how to grab your audience’s attention.

Your approach to headlines should also vary depending on your audience. For example, let’s look at these super-specific headlines from around the web:

The exact figures presented in these headlines are all framed within a context of providing actionable advice to other marketers and startups. “Case study” blog posts like this often perform well, due to their transparent nature (which pulls the curtain back from successful growing businesses and the people who run them) and the “how-to” angle (which attracts people who want to accomplish the same thing by following real-world examples).

That’s all well and good if that’s what you’re looking for – which, in my case, is rare. I didn’t read any of these posts, simply because it seems that at least half of the blog posts in my RSS feed are structured in this fashion (including this one). They’re great for the sake of example, but I glossed right over them because they’re so similar to the dozens of other posts I see every day telling me three hacks to grow my startup by X percent in Y months.

Another common technique is posing a question in your headline. Done well, this can be extraordinarily effective, as it is in these examples:

However, this technique is also growing tiresome, and fewer publications are utilizing it these days (thankfully alongside the always-irksome “You won’t believe…” headline). If you opt for asking questions in your headlines, be sure it’s a question your audience will be genuinely interested in.

Writing headlines for blog posts is as much an art as it is a science, and probably warrants its own post, but for now, all I’d advise is experimenting with what works for your audience. If your readers want hyper-specific case studies on how to do stuff, by all means let ‘em have it. Don’t, however, do something just because someone else is, especially if it’s not resonating with your audience.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 3: The Writing Part

So, you’ve done your research, settled on a headline (or at least a working title), and now you’re ready to actually write a blog post. So get to it.

Similarly to headlines, there are two main approaches to writing a blog post. You can either sit down and write an entire draft in a single sitting (my preferred workflow), or you can chip away at it gradually over time. There is no right or wrong answer here – only whatever works for you.

However, I’d recommend getting as much done in one session as possible. This makes it easier to stay focused on the topic, minimizes the chance that you’ll forget crucial points, and also lets you get the damned thing out of your hair faster.

Even if you work more effectively in short bursts, try to maximize the amount of writing you get done in those sessions. The more times you have to revisit a draft, the more tempting it is to add a little here, and a little there, and before you know it, you’ve gone wildly off-topic. Get as much done as you can in a single sitting even if you prefer to draft a blog post over three or four writing sessions.

Like most skills, writing becomes easier and more natural the more you do it. When you first start, you might find that it takes a week (or longer) to write a post, but with practice, you’ll be knocking out great posts in hours. Unfortunately, there are no “hacks” or shortcuts when it comes to writing – you have to put in the time at the coalface.

NOTE: A lot of people struggle with writing introductions. A great strategy is to write the introduction last. Just get into the meat of the blog post, and worry about the introduction later. Here are five easy ways to write a great introduction.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 4: Using Images Effectively

Writing for the web is an entirely different animal than writing for print. Oftentimes, people simply don’t have the time, will, or ability to focus on lengthy blog posts without some visual stimulation. Even a well-formatted blog post consisting solely of text is likely to send your reader screaming back to Reddit or Twitter within minutes, which is why it’s so important to include images in your posts.

Images Help Your Blog Post Flow More Effectively

One of the most important reasons to include images in your blog posts is to break up the text. Many people scan blog posts rather than pore over every word, and interspersing images throughout the copy will make your post seem less intimidating and more visually appealing.

Images Make Great Visual Punchlines

Everyone likes a good laugh, and a well-chosen image can help lighten the tone of your posts and inject some much-needed humor into a piece. This can be particularly effective if you’re writing about a dry (or flat-out boring) topic.

Images Make Complex Topics More Easily Understandable

Let’s face it – sometimes, digital marketing (and hundreds of other niche topics) isn’t the most accessible subject to newcomers. That’s why images are an essential part of your blogging toolkit if you’re hoping to expand your audience. Diagrams, charts, infographics, tables, and any other visual assets can help your readers understand abstract or complex topics and grasp the points you’re trying to make.

How to Write a Blog Post, Step 5: The Editing Part

Actually writing a blog post is hard. Editing a blog post is harder. Many people mistakenly assume that editing is simply striking through sentences that don’t work or fixing grammatical errors. Although sentence structure and grammar are both very important, editing is about seeing the piece as a whole and, sometimes, being willing to sacrifice words (and the hours it took to write them) for the sake of cohesion.

I won’t explicitly tell you to check your spelling and grammar – you should be doing that anyway. I will, however, offer some self-editing tips and suggestions on how to tighten up your writing so that it packs a punch and keeps your readers scrolling.

Avoid Repetition

Few things are more jarring to read than repetition of certain words or phrases. Once you’re done with the first draft of your blog post, read through it and check for words that can be replaced to avoid repeating yourself.

BONUS: Every writer has a “crutch” word or phrase. This is a word that, no matter how carefully they might try, the writer simply cannot help themselves from including in their work. Identify what your crutch word is, be vigilant, and make sure it doesn’t appear more often than it needs to.

Read Your Post Aloud to Check Flow

This is a trick that many writers learn in workshops. If a piece reads awkwardly out loud, it will probably read awkwardly in your reader’s mind. It might seem a bit weird, but force yourself to read your post aloud to check for wordy bottlenecks or contrived sentences. Find yourself struggling with the flow of a sentence? Rework it until it rolls off your tongue.

Have Someone Else Read Your Work

This is crucial for inexperienced or casual bloggers. Asking a friend or colleague to check your work isn’t an admission of weakness or a sign of failure – it’s a commitment to making your work as strong as it possibly can be.

Ideally, ask someone with editing experience to proof your work. Also, be sure that they understand you’re not looking for help spotting typos or grammatical errors (but if they do, great), but that you want to hear their thoughts on the flow of the piece and whether it makes sense structurally. Do your points come across well? Is your position on a contentious topic clear? Does the piece prompt the reader to think or challenge an existing belief? Is the advice you’re offering worth following? These are all questions that having another set of eyes read your work can help answer.

Keep Sentences Short and Paragraphs Shorter

Nothing will intimidate or outright anger a reader faster than huge walls of text. It’s a common mistake for inexperienced bloggers to make, and one I see far too often in a lot of online articles.

Sentences should be as short as possible. They’re easier to read, making your audience’s job easier. Shorter sentences also reduce the likelihood of going off on tangents. For example, I recently came across a sentence in an opinion piece in Wired that had no fewer than seven subordinate clauses, an editorial sin of almost unimaginable magnitude.

Paragraphs should also be short and sweet. The shorter the paragraph, the more likely your readers are to keep going. The “rules” of paragraph structure have been bent a little since web-based publishing became the norm, but try to keep individual ideas isolated to their own neat, short little paragraph.

Accept That Your Blog Post Will Never Be Perfect

There’s no such thing as a perfect post, and the sooner you come to terms with this, the better.

I’m not advocating for publishing sloppy work, nor am I saying you shouldn’t be obsessive about the details. I am saying, however, that even the best blog posts could always be better, but time is always against us. Again, unless you’re Seth Godin, you probably need to publish more than one post a month, so agonizing over every post will sap you of the desire to write and waste precious time – not to mention likely to incur the wrath of your editor or content manager.

Make every post as good as it can be, learn from the experience, then move on.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make Cuts or Adapt on the Fly

You may have forgotten, but I originally included a section in the example outline for this post that dealt with optimizing blog posts for SEO. I fully intended to write this section, but when I looked at how my first draft was shaping up, I realized this was too substantial a topic to tackle in an already lengthy post. As a result, I made the decision to cut this section from the post altogether. I purposefully left the outline intact to demonstrate that you shouldn’t be afraid to make editorial decisions like this.

Unless there’s something you absolutely MUST include (say, a section that your sales or managerial team is expecting in a post that you agreed to deliver), your outline is not carved in stone. Remember – an outline is a guide, not an immutable series of commandments. If something doesn’t work, whether it be a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole section, don’t hesitate to make the cut. Be ruthless with your work.

That’s All She Wrote…

Blogging is one of those jobs that seems easy until you have to do it. Fortunately, it does get easier, and with time and practice, you’ll be blogging like a pro in no time.

If there’s an aspect of writing a blog post that I didn’t cover, or you have specific questions about my process or anything generally blog-related, let me know in the comments – I’ll answer them as best I can.

Now take up thy pen, go forth, and blog like a badass.