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Google Warns Against Using Web Stories Teasers via @martinibuster
Google announced they will stop ranking low quality Web Stories that tease content but don't deliver
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How We Increased Our Client’s Leads by 751% on Less Than £1K Per Month [Case Study]
Posted by LydiaGerman
It’s a common misunderstanding that working with a small budget for SEO means you can’t generate results. How can you possibly make enough improvements to the site in so few hours per month?
Well, for us at Tao Digital Marketing, our work with Fleetcover goes to show that results can be achieved by focusing on the most important changes in the little time you have.
In this case study, we’ll break down how we increased leads by 751%, keywords by 259% and impressions by 535% on a budget of less than £1,000 / $1,347 per month, equating to one day’s work. That’s a small spend for SEO, but making the right changes at the right time, and focusing our efforts on the most important aspects, generated these positive results.
Objectives
Our objectives were similar to what every website ultimately wants to achieve: generate leads for the business and increase online visibility for relevant search terms.
To be a little more specific, we picked this client up in March 2019, but of course, results generally started to pick up from November 2019 as Google started to crawl the site more regularly.
Our targets/KPIs for the next 12 months were based on numbers from April-November 2019, as below:
- Increase leads from 175 to 500
- Install a new chat function on the site and gain 50 leads through it
- Increase site clicks from 2,200 to 5,000
- Increase keywords ranked for from 229 to 500
The target audience was businesses that need fleet insurance. This spans a wide range of industries, from those operating coaches and taxis through to motor trade.
Our strategy focused on technical SEO and content creation. There was one big issue, though: we didn’t build the site ourselves, nor did we have the level of access that would allow us to make any design or fundamental changes that could support SEO and lead generation. In turn, our strategy had to be heavily content-driven.
Our strategy
1. Add a chat function
In November 2019, we added the ‘TawkTo’ chat function to the site which has helped generate leads. After analyzing when their audience was visiting the website, we found that most users were on the site late at night and on weekends.
With their team being out of the office and unable to answer any phone calls during these timeframes, we thought it would be of value to offer an online chat function to help capture inquiries so potential customers wouldn’t be put off or frustrated! This would put them at an advantage compared to their competitors who were not doing this.
We implemented the bot so it appears on the tab as a message notification, drawing people’s attention to the page even when it isn’t the active tab. So far, 330 inquiries have been made through this function.
2. Implement technical SEO
Tweaks that support technical SEO are perhaps some of the most important changes you can make to see real results. We implemented this by:
- Optimizing page titles
- Creating meta descriptions that were between 100-155 characters, using keywords that naturally fit
- Using the optimal image sizes that each website required
- Using alt text for images
- Implementing internal and external links where possible
- Utilizing FAQ schema on the more frequently searched questions
- Optimizing the sitemap by getting rid of URLs that wouldn't support organic search
- Using the robots.txt file to point search crawlers in the right direction
- Creating 301 redirects. There were a number of outdated pages as well as 404 errors that needed to be addressed
- Making usability tweaks to the design. We were very limited in what we could achieve on the site as the incumbent were not massively helpful in terms of the access they would give us. We were able to get round this in certain areas, an example being the ‘Get a Quote’ buttons. We had a feeling user metrics mattered in this competitive market, so we did our utmost to capitalise on this.
3. Optimize the “Get a Quote” form
We added heat mapping and anonymized visitor recording to the site. When we analyzed the data, it became very apparent that many people weren’t filling out the “Get a Quote'' form due to it being too long — like standing at the bottom of a mountain, trying to work out the right route to the top! The original form had almost 10 questions, which overwhelmed the user and resulted in low conversion rates.
We’ve had great success using multi-step forms on other client’s sites, so we decided to create one for Fleetcover. We had all the questions needed to provide a full quotation, but split it all up into easier-to-digest tabs and user-designed icons, rather than just text.
Our new form was built creatively and had four steps, making the process easier. With this change alone, leads from the form grew from 175 before November 2019 to 1,489 over the past 12 months (751% increase).
4. Focus heavily on content creation
Service pages
Content creation is an area where we really got the chance to demonstrate creative flair alongside data analysis. We started by reviewing Fleetcover’s service pages, and fleshed out the content to make it more engaging.
Keyword research and search intent
Over time, we continued to research keywords, focusing heavily on understanding the search intent behind them, and creating detailed content and FAQs to meet the audience’s needs and Google's understanding of those intents.
One topic we’ve been focusing on is the rise of electric vehicles and how this will grow and affect the insurance industry. As the development and popularity of these vehicles progresses, we’re going to look at how we can use this in our content strategy.
Formatting and style
Including clear, natural CTAs at the end of each piece was really important, not only to round out the articles, but also to encourage readers to use Fleetcover’s broker service. See an example from our piece about business car insurance below.
In addition, utilizing a simple but effective tone of voice helped to meet the needs of potential consumers and give them the information they need in a straightforward way. When focusing on keywords/phrases that contain industry jargon, we always include information about what the word or phrase means for those with informational intent about a particular topic, for example ‘fleet breakdown cover’.
Results
Sales
We achieved the goal of gaining more sales, as website conversion rates jumped from 3% to 14%, and leads increased from 175 to 1,489 (751%). This massive increase (pleasantly) surprised us as we are working with a site with a domain authority of 22 in a competitive industry, so to achieve these results so quickly was a great boost for both ourselves and Fleetcover.
Fleetcover was previously spending a considerable amount on purchasing leads from other companies, whereas now they have invested into SEO, which has significantly increased the number of leads they generate. With SEO, these leads are of a higher quality than PPC leads, and are therefore more likely to use their services. There is little need for Fleetcover to purchase leads now, as the business is becoming its own profitable arm of Walmsleys Insurance Brokers.
Rankings
We’ve helped Fleetcover gain online visibility for certain keywords such as “fleet insurance brokers” (#1) and “fleet insurance quote” (#2). Their positioning for “Fleet breakdown cover” has also moved from #15 to #4, and “fleet insurance quote” has moved from #10 to #2. The main benefit of these ranking improvements is the huge increase in traffic!
We also gained top spot for the main keyword of “fleet insurance”, but this has since been taken by one of the juggernauts (excuse the pun) of the industry. We’ll be back, but for now, domain authority reigned supreme.
In April 2019, Fleetcover was only ranking for 229 keywords, and they now rank for 824, a 259% increase.
Traffic
As mentioned, we saw results beginning in November as Google crawled the site more actively and found more relevant content. Therefore, April - November 2019 is our “before” comparison for what we’ve managed to achieve over the past 12 months:
April - November 2019:
- Impressions: 296,000
- Clicks: 2,220
November 2019 - November 2020:
- Impressions: 1,880,000 (up 322%)
- Clicks: 6,470 (up 194%)
Thanks to more than exceeding our set KPI goals, we were shortlisted for three SEO awards this year, and Fleetcover’s CEO had only good things to say:
“For years we’ve been looking for a company to do exactly what you have done and I can honestly say in 12 years of being involved in marketing, this is the first time that any marketing company has proactively gone ahead and done something for us in this way. I’ve whinged about it for so long that it made my day when it dropped in my inbox. Really chuffed.”
Well, that just speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
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Google’s John Mueller Confirms Core Updates Apply to Discover via @MattGSouthern
Google’s John Mueller says it’s common for broad core algorithm updates to impact Discover in addition to web search results.
The post Google’s John Mueller Confirms Core Updates Apply to Discover via @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Daily Search Forum Recap: January 26, 2021
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
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Google: Same Content in Different Formats is Not Duplicate via @MattGSouthern
Google’s John Mueller says identical content published in different formats, such as a video and a blog post, is not considered duplicate content.
The post Google: Same Content in Different Formats is Not Duplicate via @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Study Confirms Moz Has the Largest Link Data Set
Posted by CassandraLeeanne
Backlinks continue to be especially valuable for SEO, acting as a signal to search engines that vouches for both the value of your content and the worthiness of your website.
In measuring the success of your backlink efforts and informing your future SEO priorities, the data matters. Depending on the tool you use, your results can vary greatly and — in this case — the more data the better.
With this in mind, we’re excited to share that Moz has the largest link data set, according to a study done by Perficient.
Methodology
The link index study was done by Perficient, a respected publicly-traded consulting firm specializing in digital solutions. This award winning firm regularly publishes insightful studies, focused on SEO trends and topics. For this study, Eric Enge, Principal at Perficient, Search Engine Land author, and well-known SEO SME, led the investigation.
The study compared 3,000 search queries across the Technology, Health, and Finance market sectors to evaluate the link indexes of Moz, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Majestic. The queries were evenly split across the sectors, and then used to pull results from Google for the top 100 domains. This led to the statistically significant sample size of 85,308 domains. Perficient then used the APIs for all four link indexes and evaluated the results. Perficient also performed manual checks to validate results.
Full disclosure: Moz financed the study, but Perficient conducted it independently — the conclusions are 100% their own, with no influence from Moz.
"The link graph — the sum total of all of the links that connect the pages on the worldwide web — is the foundation of PageRank and the original Google algorithm. While a lot has changed in 20 years, high-authority links are still a driving force in how Google values and surfaces content. Our goal is to reveal as much of the link graph as possible to understand how Google sees the web and rewards authoritative content, while at the same time helping people focus on the highest quality and most actionable links." — Dr. Pete Meyers
Results
The Moz link index reported approximately 90% more links than Majestic, which reported the second-largest. Moz reported the most links per domain 72% of the time.
In link research, size matters. Whether you’re launching a link building campaign, performing competitive analysis, or creating a Google disavow file, finding the most complete set of links to any URL or domain directly impacts the quality of your work as an SEO.
Moz reported the most linking domains 60% of the time.
When performing link research, the number of raw links isn't always as important as the number of unique linking domains. A tool that reports a million links, but all from the same domain, isn't nearly as valuable as a tool that reports 1,000 links from 100 different domains. Links often repeat across the same domain (think footer or sidebar links), so finding the most unique linking domains — as opposed to raw link counts — is often a more useful metric for SEOs.
Moz narrowly trailed Majestic by 0.2% as having the lowest percent of duplicate links.
Link counts can be inflated when tools report duplicate links. For example, some tools might report a link found with both HTTP:// and HTTPS:// as two separate links, even though one canonicals to the other. A lower percentage of duplicate links can indicate better data quality.
This is the second study in recent months to determine that Moz link data stands above the rest. In October of 2020, Search Engine Land compared eight SEO tools, and also noted that Moz reports a significantly higher number of linking domains.
Reviews
Perhaps just as important as the breadth of the data is that Moz tools make managing SEO easier, as these reviews mention:
Carly Schoonhoven, Senior SEO Manager at Obility: “Moz makes my life easier in so many ways. When doing link building, particularly, I absolutely love the link intersect tool. It’s a really great way to find linking opportunities quickly without having to put in a lot of extra effort. I also love that, you know, any data you need is really only just a couple of clicks away, whether it be site errors or backlinks or keywords. It just really is intuitive and makes finding data really fast.”
Kristina Kledzik, SEO Manager at Rover: “Moz has been a critical part of my link building strategies and competitive analysis for five years now, through agency work and in-house SEO. It’s easy to use, easy to understand, and adds an extra layer of information to every website you visit. Definitely a must have for any SEO.”
Lily Ray, SEO Director at Path Interactive: “I love using Moz Link Explorer to see how potential clients are doing compared to their competitors. You can get as granular as looking at the individual URL level, which is really helpful.”
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Twitter Acquires Revue – Newsletter Publishing Startup via @martinibuster
Twitter announced the acquisition of newsletter publishing and monetization company, Revue. Synergy will help publishers earn more from newsletters.
The post Twitter Acquires Revue – Newsletter Publishing Startup via @martinibuster appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Google Ranks Webpages, Not Websites via @countxero
This simple phrase answers so many questions about search engine optimization and yet stirs up a lot of discussion and debate. Read on.
The post Google Ranks Webpages, Not Websites via @countxero appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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SEO Agency Sales: Understand Your Client’s Needs & Better Pitch Your Services via @seomonitor
Learn how deal-closing SEO agencies form strong client relationships from the get-go and why you need to have an in-depth pre-sales process to succeed.
The post SEO Agency Sales: Understand Your Client’s Needs & Better Pitch Your Services via @seomonitor appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Why Is Google Paying French Publishers but Fighting Australia? via @RebekahDunne
Google is fighting against Australian legislation to pay news publishers while signing an agreement to pay French publishers. What's the difference?
The post Why Is Google Paying French Publishers but Fighting Australia? via @RebekahDunne appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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How to Set Up Your First LinkedIn Ads Campaign: Step-by-Step via @LisaRocksSEM
Being the largest professional network, LinkedIn advertising opens up opportunities for marketers to reach its unique audience. Read about the basics of LinkedIn Ads here.
The post How to Set Up Your First LinkedIn Ads Campaign: Step-by-Step via @LisaRocksSEM appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
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Possible Issues With Google Search Console Canonicals & AMP Reporting
There may be some possible bugs or issues with Google Search Console reporting around some canonical URLs being reported in some URL Inspection reports and for the AMP enhancement report.
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