Our Blog – Blue Corona

Blue Corona and RYNO Strategic Solutions Merge, Pioneering a New Era in Digital Marketing for Home Service Contractors

ONERYNO — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 05:00:12 +0000

Phoenix, AZ: RYNO Strategic Solutions (RYNO) and Blue Corona, two leading digital marketing agencies specializing in the home services industry, are thrilled to announce that the companies are merging effective Oct. 1, 2024. This strategic union combines nearly 30 years of expertise from both companies, unifying under the RYNO Strategic Solutions brand, creating an unrivaled market leader.

Mike Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of RYNO and its parent company, EverService Holdings, LLC, expressed his enthusiasm for the merger, “With the combination of Blue Corona and RYNO, we are poised to lead the home services industry into a new era of innovation and growth. This merger allows us to deliver a comprehensive, best-in-class suite of marketing solutions that will benefit all of our current and future clients.”

With nearly 30 years of combined experience and data-driven insights in home services marketing, the newly unified RYNO Strategic Solutions will offer unmatched expertise and a robust portfolio of services designed to help contractors create, capture, and convert more leads from their digital marketing investments.

Chris Yano, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of RYNO, added, “Together, we are committed to enhancing performance, setting higher standards, and driving innovation to solidify our position as the leading digital marketing agency for the trades.”

RYNO Strategic Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of EverService Holdings, LLC, a portfolio company of Sunstone Partners. Sunstone Partners is a growth-oriented private equity firm that invests in founder-owned, bootstrapped businesses in tech-enabled services and software industries.

About RYNO Strategic Solutions

RYNO Strategic Solutions is the premier digital marketing agency for home service businesses. With a team of seasoned digital marketers and a data-driven approach, RYNO Strategic Solutions partners with contractors to maximize their online presence and drive growth through customized digital marketing strategies. Now, with the merger of Blue Corona, RYNO Strategic Solutions is set to lead the industry into a new era of innovation and success.

About EverService

EverService Holdings, LLC is a premier provider of tech-enabled business solutions, dedicated to empowering companies of all sizes to grow and scale. The company delivers exceptional results through vertically focused digital marketing services, including website design and management, search engine marketing, social media, email, and video marketing, as well as customer engagement services like 24/7 call answering, job booking, inbound and outbound sales, and client and patient intake. Our market-leading brands, including RYNO Strategic Solutions, iLawyer Marketing, Alert Communications, and Nexa Receptionists, exemplify our commitment to innovation and excellence in service delivery.

About Sunstone

Sunstone Partners is a growth-oriented equity firm that makes majority and minority investments in technology-enabled services and software businesses. The firm seeks to partner with exceptional management teams, often as their first institutional capital partner, to help accelerate organic growth and fund acquisitions. Founded in 2015, the firm has $1.7 billion of committed capital to its three funds. Sunstone Partners has been recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s “Founder-Friendly Investors” list in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. For more information, visit www.sunstonepartners.com.

Google Deprecates Lead Disputes in Local Service Ads

ONERYNO — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 06:44:01 +0000

Businesses can no longer dispute unqualified leads in local services; google now credits leads automatically

In an effort to streamline and improve the lead crediting process, Google has started rolling out a significant update to the Local Services Ads (GLSA) platform. It’s officially taking over reviewing (and crediting) Local Services leads.

The update launched today and is a gradual rollout expected to last through August. Local businesses running Local Services Ads are expected to experience a more efficient, automated, lead management experience within the platform.

What’s Changing?

The primary change to Google’s Local Services Ads lead dispute process involves Google automatically crediting accounts for leads they identify as unqualified, thus eliminating the need for manual dispute submissions (ex: an employee or your marketing agency).

THE DETAILS

Automatic crediting: Google will now automatically credit your account for low-quality leads, resulting in faster refunds without the need for you to manually file disputes.
More credits overall: Although credits for “job type not serviced” and “geo not serviced” leads will be discontinued, Google assures that there will be more overall credits by automatically identifying and crediting poor-quality leads.
Lead feedback survey: Even with the automatic crediting system in place, you can still provide feedback on individual leads through a new Lead Feedback Survey in your lead inbox. Google will use this feedback to improve the quality of leads and occasionally credit leads you report as poor in quality.

How Google Local Service’s Lead Dispute Deprecation Impacts Your Strategy & Management

While Google’s new system simplifies the lead crediting process, managing your campaigns remains crucial. Google promised advertisers will see more credits, on average, but you will want mechanisms in place to ensure that’s what actually happens.

At Blue Corona, we’re taking action to support our clients throughout the Google Local Services Ads lead dispute deprecation:

We are integrating new data into our proprietary analytics portal, Polaris, so that we and our clients have visibility into whether Google is effectively and efficiently crediting leads.
We are providing resources to submit wrongfully non-reviewed or non-credit leads via the new Lead Feedback Survey to ensure that all relevant credits are granted.

Wrap Up

In order for your GLSA investment to remain efficient, you still need to actively manage your account and campaigns. Just make sure that the type of management you’re getting is adapting to what’s needed under this new process.

Reach out to us to find out more about how we generate the greatest return for our client’s Google Local Services Ads investment.

What Every Contractor Needs to Know about Google’s Third-Party Cookie Deprecation

ONERYNO — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 07:01:52 +0000

Google first announced its decision to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome in 2020, however, the depreciation was delayed several times. Now, Google has pushed it to 2025.

The digital marketing landscape is on the brink of a significant transformation. As we approach 2025, the degradation of third-party cookies looms large, presenting both challenges and opportunities for local businesses that advertise on Google. But what exactly is third-party cookie degradation, and why should you be concerned?

First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies: A Brief Overview

The phase-out of third-party cookies means advertisers will lose a crucial tool for tracking users across different websites and devices. This change is significant for several reasons:

Data Loss and Conversion Tracking: Google has highlighted that without third-party cookies, advertisers could lose the ability to capture over 30% of conversions. This data loss can significantly impact marketing strategies and performance measurement.
Algorithm Performance: Advertising algorithms rely heavily on the extensive data provided by third-party cookies. With reduced data input, these algorithms may become less effective, leading to lower-quality insights and potentially less efficient ad spend.
User Privacy and Trust: The move toward phasing out third-party cookies is driven by increasing concerns over user privacy. While this shift aims to protect users, it also requires advertisers to adapt and find new ways to maintain the same level of personalization and effectiveness without infringing on privacy.

The Impact of Third-Party Cookie Degradation

Google first announced its decision to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome in 2020, however, the depreciation was delayed several times. Now, Google has pushed it to 2025.

Why Advertisers Need To Act Now

Ignoring the impending degradation of third-party cookies is not an option for advertisers who want to maintain their competitive edge. Here are some critical reasons why action is necessary:

Preserving Conversion Data: To avoid losing crucial conversion data, advertisers must explore alternative tracking solutions. Enhanced conversion tracking provided by platforms like Google, Microsoft, and Meta can help bridge the gap left by third-party cookies.
Optimizing Ad Spend: With less data, ad spend may become less efficient. Adapting to new tracking methodologies ensures that advertising budgets are used effectively, maintaining ROI and campaign performance.
Maintaining User Experience: Personalized advertising enhances user experience by delivering relevant content. Without third-party cookies, advertisers need to leverage first-party data and other tools to continue providing personalized experiences.
Staying Ahead of the Curve: The digital advertising landscape is constantly evolving. Proactively addressing third-party cookie degradation positions advertisers to lead in the new privacy-centric environment rather than scrambling to catch up.

The Future of Advertising

The shift away from third-party cookies signifies a pivotal moment in digital advertising. It challenges advertisers to innovate and adopt new technologies and strategies that respect user privacy while still delivering effective, data-driven campaigns.

As we approach this new era, staying informed and prepared is crucial. Embracing enhanced conversion tracking and other advanced solutions will help ensure that advertisers not only survive but thrive in a post-third-party cookie world.

In conclusion, the degradation of third-party cookies is a complex issue that requires immediate attention and action. By understanding the implications and proactively adapting to new tracking methodologies, advertisers can continue to deliver powerful, personalized advertising experiences and maintain their competitive edge in an ever-changing digital landscape.

FAQ: Understanding Third-Party Cookie Degradation

WHAT ARE COOKIES, AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT FOR DIGITAL MARKETING?

Cookies are small data files stored on users’ devices to enhance their browsing experience. They are essential for digital marketing because they help track user behavior, remember preferences, and provide personalized experiences. There are two main types: first-party cookies, which are set by the website a user is visiting, and third-party cookies, which are set by domains other than the one the user is visiting.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST-PARTY AND THIRD-PARTY COOKIES?

First-Party Cookies: These are created and stored by the website the user is directly interacting with. They track user behavior within a single domain, such as remembering login information and user preferences.
Third-Party Cookies: These are set by domains other than the one the user is visiting. They track user behavior across multiple domains and devices, providing a broader view of user activity for advertisers.

WHAT IS THIRD-PARTY COOKIE DEGRADATION?

Third-party cookie degradation refers to the phasing out of third-party cookies by major browsers. This move is driven by increasing concerns over user privacy and aims to prevent tracking across multiple websites and devices without user consent.

WHY IS THIRD-PARTY COOKIE DEGRADATION HAPPENING?

The degradation is primarily due to growing privacy concerns among users and regulatory bodies. Users are becoming more aware of how their data is being tracked and used, leading to a demand for greater privacy and control over personal information. Browsers and tech companies are responding by limiting the use of third-party cookies.

HOW WILL THIRD-PARTY COOKIE DEGRADATION AFFECT ADVERTISERS?

Loss of Conversion Data: Without third-party cookies, advertisers may lose the ability to capture over 30% of conversions, impacting the measurement of campaign performance.
Reduced Algorithm Effectiveness: Advertising algorithms that rely on extensive data from third-party cookies may become less effective, leading to less accurate targeting and optimization.
Need for Alternative Tracking Solutions: Advertisers will need to adopt new tracking methodologies to maintain data-driven insights and campaign efficiency.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT THIRD-PARTY COOKIE DEGRADATION?

Third-party cookies have been a cornerstone of digital advertising, providing critical data for tracking user behavior, measuring conversions, and optimizing ad spend. Without them, there is a risk of losing significant insights and data accuracy, which can negatively impact marketing strategies and ROI.

WHAT SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE TO ADDRESS THIRD-PARTY COOKIE DEGRADATION?

To bridge the gap left by the absence of third-party cookies, we are leveraging enhanced tracking solutions provided by major ad platforms, including:

Google’s Enhanced Conversions
Microsoft’s Enhanced Conversions
Meta’s Conversions API (CAPI)

These solutions help maintain accurate conversion tracking and data integrity by utilizing first-party data and other innovative tracking methods.

How Google’s AI Overviews Impacts Contractors’ Local SEO Strategy

ONERYNO — Fri, 24 May 2024 18:58:00 +0000

The SEO landscape is constantly evolving, and Google’s recent introduction of AI Overviews is no exception. These AI-powered summaries appear at the top of search results for informational queries, potentially impacting how users discover your content. Let’s break down what this means for your local business’s strategy.

First, take a deep breath. AI Overviews primarily target informational searches, not the local “near me” and service-based queries that drive leads and revenue for most local businesses and home service companies’ traffic.

So, service pages and optimized location listings (Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Bing) should remain relatively unaffected.

What Is the AI Overview?

Google’s AI Overviews are exactly what they sound like: a summary/overview of results based on the users’ search.

AI Overviews are created by Google’s AI to help users quickly grasp information from search results.
Links are included within the Overviews to direct users to the source of the information and enable further exploration if desired.
There is no special action required by publishers to have their content included in AI Overviews.

Optimizing for the New Landscape

However, your blog content and other informational pieces might see a shift. While keywords remain a valuable tool, we’ve always advocated for a more holistic approach. Here’s how to ensure your content thrives in this new era:

Quality is King: This isn’t new, but it’s more important than ever. Well-researched, engaging content that truly informs the user is key. Leverage your research tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to identify trending topics and craft content that fills knowledge gaps. Don’t forget AI’s potential here — explore AI writing assistants to brainstorm fresh, localized content ideas and topic clusters.
Embrace Structured Data: Think of structured data/schema markup as a roadmap for search engines. Implementing it clarifies your content’s meaning, making it easier for Google’s AI to understand potentially feature in Overviews.
Speak Your Audience’s Language: People ask questions naturally. Optimize your content for voice search by using conversational language and addressing common queries in a clear, concise way.
Trust Matters: Back up your claims with citations and references from credible sources. This establishes your content as authoritative and boosts its chances of being included in an Overview.
Visual Appeal: Break up text with images, infographics, and videos. Not only does this make your content more engaging, but it also provides Google’s AI with additional information to process.

Focus on Conversion Rate, Not Just Clicks

With AI Overviews potentially impacting click-through rates on your blog content, here’s why you shouldn’t panic:

Content as Credibility Booster: Even if users don’t click through directly, your content might be referenced within the Overview, increasing brand awareness, and establishing you as a thought leader in your local niche.
Conversion Rate Optimization: Shift your focus to maximizing conversions from the users who do land on your content. Craft clear calls to action, optimize landing pages, and ensure a seamless user experience to convert readers into leads.

Why Users Might Be Slow To Adopt AI Overviews

It’s important to consider that users might not be quick to embrace AI Overviews entirely. Here’s why:

New Technology, New Skepticism: As with any new technology, there may be an initial period of user skepticism. Users might be unsure of the accuracy or completeness of the information presented in the Overview.
Desire for Choice and Control: Searchers might prefer to explore a variety of sources and perspectives, rather than relying solely on the information presented in the Overview.
Complexity of Informational Needs: Some informational searches can be nuanced and require deeper exploration than what an Overview can provide.

Tracking AI Overview Performance (for Now)

It’s important to monitor the impact of AI Overviews on your SEO strategy. However, at this time, Google Search Console does not provide data for AI Overview impressions or clicks. This makes it challenging to directly measure the impact on your traffic.

Here’s what you can do

Closely monitor impressions, clicks, and leads generated from your informational content, particularly blog posts, in the coming weeks. This will help you gauge any potential impact of AI Overviews on your organic traffic and lead generation.

The Rise of Google Business Profile

Local SEO isn’t just about website traffic anymore. Google Business Profile (GBP) is quickly becoming a primary source of leads for local businesses. Here’s how to leverage its power:

Claim and Optimize Your GBP: Ensure your GBP is claimed, verified, and fully optimized with accurate information, high-quality photos, and positive customer reviews.
Regular Engagement: Treat your GBP like a mini-website. Regularly post updates, respond to reviews (both positive and negative), and leverage features like special offers to keep your profile active and engaging.

By focusing on a strong GBP presence alongside high-quality, informative content, you can ensure your local clients are discovered and convert leads in this evolving digital landscape.

More Resources on Google Business Profile

Your Local SEO Experts for Home Service Businesses

At Blue Corona, we’ve partnered with hundreds of home service businesses throughout the U.S., helping them measurably improve their organic rankings, website visits, and qualified leads from search.

If your competitors outrank you online, or you’re just not generating the calls you need from your SEO campaign today, we can help. Contact our team of experts to learn more about how we help contractors like you grow their business.

Google & Yahoo Update Their Bulk Email Sender Requirements

ONERYNO — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 19:31:44 +0000

Last week, Google and Yahoo updated their email sender requirements as part of an effort to reduce the volume of spam emails hitting customers’ Gmail and Yahoo Mail inboxes. These mandates will impact bulk senders, defined by Google as senders with volumes of 5,000 or more email messages to Gmail addresses in one day.

These guidelines are important and help ensure that email remains a reliable communication source for your business.

In other words, your emails reach your customers’ inbox — and we’re not just talking marketing emails sent in mass to your entire database. We’re talking ANY email sent from your organization.

Why You Should Care

Email marketing is an underrated, and often forgotten, digital marketing strategy for contractors. Sending emails to your customer base is crucial for maintaining engagement, building relationships, and driving business growth, allowing your business to:

Stay Connected: Regular emails keep you connected with your customers, reminding them of your presence and offerings.
Build Trust: Consistent communication via email helps build trust and credibility with your audience, positioning your brand as reliable and dependable.
Promote Products and Services: Emails are an effective channel for promoting your products, services, and special offers directly to your customers.
Drive Sales: Email campaigns can drive sales by encouraging customers to make purchases, redeem exclusive offers, or take advantage of limited-time deals.
Provide Value: Through emails, you can provide valuable content, such as tips, insights, and industry updates, demonstrating your expertise and providing value to your customers.

What’s Changing About Gmail and Yahoo Mail?

In October 2023, Yahoo and Gmail announced new sender requirements to build better best practices which will be implemented in February 2024 (with enforcement being scaled up in April 2024). These mandates will impact bulk senders, defined by Google as senders with volumes of 5,000 or more messages to Gmail addresses in one day.

These requirements include updates to each’s DKIM, SPF, and DMARC authentication guidelines. While these acronyms may sound confusing, we are here to help clarify what each one means, and why they will help your email domain authority and trustworthiness.

DKIM

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication is a way to verify your sender domain address is valid and not spam. Inboxes with DKIM-verified email addresses are seen by Google and Yahoo as more trustworthy and act like a digital signature authorized by your company.

SPF

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) email authentication will help your contact base verify that an email came from your business and protect your domain against spoofing. SPF authentication specifies that your email service provider’s mail server is allowed to send emails from your domain.

DMARC

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) communicates a policy for mailbox providers should they receive an email that fails the SPF and DKIM thresholds and seems fraudulent. There are three policy options for DMARC, which specify what email receivers will do with possibly fraudulent emails:

Monitor: Unqualified emails will go to the recipient’s inbox or other folders (ex: Promotions tab in Gmail).
Quarantine: Unqualified emails will go to the recipient’s junk or spam folder.
Reject: Blocks unqualified emails altogether (this is the strictest policy option).

Follow Google & Yahoo’s New Recommendations To Ensure Email Deliverability

To ensure that messages are delivered reliably, it’s ideal to keep your spam rate below 0.1% and never exceed 0.3%. Gmail’s requirements will calculate the spam limit daily via Google Postmaster.

One-Click Unsubscribe Option Is Coming to Gmail & Yahoo Mail

We all know what it feels like to receive marketing emails that are no longer applicable to our lives or interests. That’s where the unsubscribe option comes into play.

Although unsubscribe links have been required for over twenty years, the implementation of one-click unsubscribe functionality is a recent (new) requirement. CAN-SPAM compliance allows for a 10 day period to process opt-outs.

The new standard from Yahoo and Gmail is shorter, and will potentially be a challenge for senders who utilize multiple tools for their bulk email sends.

Google & Yahoo Will Begin Cracking Down on Senders in April 2024

While these updates may sound like a lot, if you already align with most email best practices, you probably already adhere to some of these standards. Most email service providers are handling some of the requirements automatically and are great resources to help with authentication and deliverability options.

February 2024 marked the start of the authentication requirement period. For emails that do not comply with the sender requirements, a small percentage of the non-compliant email traffic will get SMTP temporary error codes. These codes will help senders identity which guidelines aren’t being met so they can make efforts to meet the new standards. Google will start rejecting a percentage of non-compliant emails and increase that percentage as time goes on (if no efforts to comply are made) by April 2024.

Email Marketing Services

Blue Corona is the trades’ leading digital marketing agency.

Our email marketing experts help ensure that you comply with these requirements, allowing you to continue to be a trusted source for your customers and giving you the ability to grow your customer base.

Ready to start growing your business through email marketing? Contact us today!

How To Get a Featured Snippet on Google

ONERYNO — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 11:34:10 +0000

Among all the available real estate on search engine results pages (SERPs), the featured snippet is arguably the most valuable. A featured snippet is a short section of text that appears at the top of SERPs with the purpose of concisely answering a search query. Gaining even one featured snippet can be the catalyst for a significant spike in organic traffic to a website. Blue Corona conducted a comprehensive study of featured snippets on Google to gain insight into how they are won. In this blog, we analyze our findings and share helpful content optimizations and technical SEO tips that will give you a better chance to win featured snippets. We’ll also explore which elements of webpages that gain featured snippets are most shared, which factors are important, and which ones may be less significant than conventional wisdom suggests.

What’s a Featured Snippet?

Rich results are the various elements found on Google SERPs outside of the traditional blue organic links. Their purpose is to stand out visually and provide a better experience for users. One of the most common forms of rich results is the featured snippet. A featured snippet is content that Google extracts from webpages and displays at the top of SERPs, like the example below. Often, they provide an answer to the search query without the user needing to scroll down and clicks on links until they find what they’re looking for. They also account for 35% of the total click share when displayed on SERPs, according to one study. With an impact that significant, it’s clear that winning featured snippets is one of the most effective ways to dramatically increase organic traffic to your website.

A Study of Featured Snippets: What We Found

To determine the most important factors for gaining featured snippets, we analyzed webpages that currently own the featured snippet for at least one search query. We looked at what these pages have in common to construct a list of best practices to keep in mind when publishing or rewriting content. Below are our key takeaways from the study.

Infographic-How to Win a Featured Snippet on Google by bluecorona

Title Tags

Title tags are HTML elements that specify the title of a webpage. They appear in browser tabs and are displayed as the blue headlines of pages in SERPs. Here’s what we found in our analysis of title tags across pages that had at least one featured snippet:

48% of title tags contained a question
48% of title tags contained the company’s brand name
60% of title tags contained the exact wording of the H1 heading

In terms of general takeaways, very few of the title tags were what we would consider to be optimal. Many of them were either very short or exceeded Google’s recommended 60-character text length. We even found one page that had a missing title tag, yet it was still able to win a valuable featured snippet. This came as a surprise because it’s well known in the SEO community that title tags are generally an important ranking factor. However, for the purposes of featured snippets, they don’t appear to hold much weight. Even with these findings, we still recommend using best practices when writing title tags. Framing the title tag as a question or including your brand name is perfectly fine but not mandatory. It’s also not an issue if the title tag is essentially identical to the H1 heading. Including a version of the search query that you’re targeting in the title tag can help the page rank higher, even if it won’t ultimately make or break whether the page wins a featured snippet.

Heading Tags

Heading tags, another HTML element, are titles displayed on a webpage that are used to break up content. Heading tags have various levels, with H1 headings being the primary headline of a page, while H2s and H3s are examples of smaller sub-headlines. Here’s what we found with headings as it relates to featured snippets:

44% of H1s contained a question
56% of H1s matched the search query closely or exactly
56% of H2s where the featured snippet was pulled from matched the search query closely or exactly

Takeaway: Heading tags are crucially important for winning featured snippets. 100% of the pages we analyzed had either an H1 or H2 heading that matched the targeted search query closely or exactly, and some had both. Our analysis indicates that Google weighs headings heavily when determining which pages contain content that provides a clear answer to a query, much more so than title tags. Another notable finding is that H2s seem to be just as important as H1s when it comes to winning featured snippets, as an equal number of H1s and H2s matched the search query. This may go against conventional wisdom; H1s are considered to be the most important heading with regard to page ranking. This does make sense — after all, a featured snippet is a short section of text selected by Google, so it’s logical that they would value the heading for that section just as much as they do the primary heading for the page. When writing content, pay special attention to headings. Make sure either the H1 or H2 closely matches the keyword you’re targeting. Additionally, keep in mind that it’s possible to win featured snippets for multiple different search queries on one page. Think of each section of content as an opportunity to provide a helpful answer, with the H2s for those sections signaling to Google what you’re answering.

Where on the Page the Featured Snippet Is Pulled From

We looked at which paragraph on the page each featured snippet was pulled from. This is what we found:

4% of featured snippets were pulled from the first paragraph
28% were pulled from the second paragraph
16% were pulled from the third paragraph
16% were pulled from the fourth paragraph
36% were pulled from after the fourth paragraph

The only surprise here is that a mere 4% of featured snippets were pulled from the first paragraph. While the second paragraph had the highest frequency, plenty of featured snippets were pulled from further down the page. This suggests that the first paragraph should primarily be used to introduce the topic of the page, with each subsequent section focused on providing content helpful to the user.

Featured Snippet Length

We analyzed how long featured snippets tend to be:

4% of featured snippets were one sentence long
40% were two sentences long
52% were three sentences long
4% were four sentences long

The takeaway here is straightforward — 92% of featured snippets are either two or three sentences long. If your goal is to win a featured snippet, aim to answer the targeted question concisely in two to three sentences, and then support your answer with additional details in subsequent sections. The second part is important because it helps demonstrate your expertise on the subject and gives credence to the information you’re providing.

Best Types of Content To Get a Featured Snippet on Google

Now that we’ve covered the most important page elements, the next step is to determine the best types of content to gain featured snippets. The answer is to provide content that is high-quality, informative, and trustworthy. Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust (E-E-A-T) have long been the pillars of content that rank well on Google, and they are becoming more important with every successive core algorithm update. Fresh content, written by real people with the user in mind, rather than solely for search engines, is rewarded. Providing accurate, updated information that demonstrates your expertise on a subject is the best way to achieve sustained rankings and traffic and win a featured snippet on Google.

Content Optimization Tips To Rank for Featured Snippets

When you have the expertise and trustworthiness, how do you optimize your content to increase your likelihood of winning a featured snippet? Follow these general guidelines:

Make sure your content sounds natural and is written for humans. Don’t stuff keywords in for the sake of it.
Keep search intent in mind — are you answering a question? Providing a how-to guide? Reviewing a product?
Make sure your headings clearly indicate the content that follows.
Support your information with trusted resources or real-life experiences.

Ultimately, your goal should be to make the content as comprehensive and helpful as possible. If someone clicks on your page, will they find all the information they need on that topic? Will they trust what they’re reading based on your expertise and experiences? Will they find the page easy to read, resulting in a good user experience? If you can answer yes to all these questions, you have a great chance at winning a valuable featured snippet and driving additional traffic to your website.

Partner With the Leader in Home Services SEO

Tired of competitors outranking you on Google? Partner with a company that knows what it takes to maximize your online search visibility and establish you as the authority online. Send us a message to learn more and to request a free marketing consultation today!

Google’s August 2023 Core Update

ONERYNO — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 13:39:18 +0000

Google completed the August 2023 Core Update on September 7, 2023, 16 days after the update began rollout. Core updates are broad changes to Google’s search algorithms that typically happen a few times per year.

The rollout is now complete as of September 7, 2023.
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 7, 2023

These updates aren’t targeting specific pages or sites but instead aim to improve how Google assesses content. Ultimately, the goal of core updates is to improve the quality of search results on Google.

What Did This Core Update Impact?

As with all core updates, the August 2023 update had a mixed impact on different websites and types of content. There have been quite a few fluctuations, but here are some notable trends:

User Generated Content

Amsive Digital compiled a list of winners and losers of the August 2023 Core Update and found Reddit to be the biggest winner. User Generated Content (UGC), like that found on Reddit, was rewarded with top spots, and other content that is often UGC, like review sites, has continually seen rewards from core algorithm updates of late. UGC satisfies the latest addition to Google’s quality rater guideline abbreviation, E-E-A-T, with the newest E standing for “experience.” UGC often provides firsthand accounts and experiences that are valuable to users. Not to mention, UGC also helps provide hyper-specific results that can satisfy longtail queries.

Authoritative Government & Healthcare Sites

Recently, Google changed how FAQ results appear, limiting them to appearing for “well-known, authoritative government and health websites.” This change was not tied to the August 2023 Core Update, but whenever we see Google prioritize sites in one area, we’re likely to see those priorities reinforced elsewhere. As a result, it doesn’t come as a surprise to find that government, health, and education sites are also winners of the recent update. This can be tied back to Google’s quality rater guidelines as well, as these sites tend to embody E-E-A-T’s “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust” factors.

The Impact of E-E-A-T

Studies of the impacts of core updates are usually limited to large websites, but that doesn’t mean the impact stops there. E-E-A-T is important regardless of what kind of website you have. It’s important to note that E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor, but it does play a role in how Google ranks websites. The August 2023 Core Update makes it clear that E-E-A-T is an important consideration for website owners. If you want your website to rank well in Google search results, it’s important to make sure that your content is high-quality, informative, and trustworthy.

What We’re Seeing

Across our home service clients and their competitors, we’re seeing fluctuations from the updates. Ultimately, these fluctuations can usually be tied back to content quality. Our clients that invest in SEO services are seeing high-quality content be rewarded by the algorithm, while older or outdated content, usually blog posts, may see more fluctuations. Content quality isn’t the only factor that can lead to fluctuations from algorithm changes. Competitors for your keywords can also play a role in how a site is impacted by the algorithm. In the home services space, we’ve seen Google continuously shift the intent of some keywords and SERP appearance over the last few years, embracing shopping content and directories. As a result, players like directory sites, big box retailers, and manufacturers may rank where they haven’t before. Ultimately, there’s no major pattern to the impacts across the home services space, but one thing is for sure: Google continually rewards quality content.

What Should I Do if My Site Was Impacted?

First, it’s important to note that Google states “There’s nothing wrong with pages that may not be performing as well as they were before a core update.” Instead, Google frames core updates as rewarding underperforming content. There isn’t a big target on your site to be “punished” by Google’s core updates. If you’ve seen fluctuations in rankings after a core update, you should assess your content to make sure it aligns with Google’s best practices on helpful content. This includes:

Creating content relevant to your target audience
Writing concise, clear, and informative content
Ensuring your content is up to date and accurate

People, not search engines, are your main audience. Writing content and creating websites with good user experience in mind is essential to performing well on search. It may sound counterintuitive to not write with search engines in mind, but your content can be optimized for search without being written for search. That’s where AI content often misses the mark, it lacks the person-first element. Since core updates are designed to improve the overall quality of Google search results, having people in mind is key. For a digital marketing partner who believes in the power of person-first content, contact Blue Corona today.

21 Tips To Improve Your HVAC SEO Campaign in 2023

ONERYNO — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:26:47 +0000

What Is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s the process that increases a website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).

When done right, SEO for HVAC companies improves your website’s organic search visibility, increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website.

What Can SEO Do for HVAC Companies?

Because SEO for HVAC companies helps drive more traffic to your website, you will generate more qualified leads with more jobs and revenue coming from the web. It increases your brand awareness and lead-generation abilities as well.

HVAC SEO campaigns can be broken down into the following categories for the best results.

1. Mobile-Friendly

2. Core Web Vitals (CWV)

3. Build a Website That Converts Visitors to Leads

4. Service Pages

5. Geo-targeted Content

6. Blogs

7. Images and Videos

8. Testimonials

9. Title Tags and Meta Description

10. Schema Markup

11. Internal Links

12. Business Categories

13. Business Description

14. Business Hours

15. Address vs. Service Area Business

16. Products and Services

17. Photos

18. Business Description

19. Questions and Answers

20. Consistent NAP

21. Track Everything and Make Data-Driven Decisions

Looking for an Expert SEO Partner in 2023?

Build a Strong SEO Foundation in Your Website

1. Mobile-Friendly

If your HVAC website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on qualified leads and sales to your competitors — guaranteed.

Since 2015, mobile-friendliness has been a dominant ranking factor in Google and Bing’s algorithms. Today, search results are powered by a mobile-first index, meaning Google and Bing generate results for searches like “a/c repair near me” from local HVAC companies’ mobile websites. So, your website will rank lower in organic search results if it’s not mobile-friendly and higher in search results if it is.

Not only that, 55% of global website traffic is driven by mobile searches, meaning consumers not only default to, but prefer, to search for local businesses using the convenience of their phones.

Not sure if your website is mobile-friendly? Try Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if yours could use an upgrade.

2. Core Web Vitals (CWV)

In May 2021, Google launched a core update called the “Page Experience update.” It introduced Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor — scores that still influence the results of HVAC SEO campaigns for heating and cooling companies across the country.

Core Web Vitals is the modern, steroid-boosted equivalent of site speed — a measurement of how quickly your site loads and how easy it is to use.

To pass Core Web Vitals and provide a seamless experience for your website visitors, focus on the following:

3. Build a Website That Converts Visitors to Leads

Your HVAC website needs to have multiple ways to convert visitors into phone calls and leads.

If you aren’t using multiple conversion methods on your site, you’re consistently losing leads. These conversion methods are key, and you can customize them to what you find your customers asking or needing most.

To ensure the maximum leads to your site, you need to include these conversion points to entice your visitors to contact you.

List your phone number in your website’s header in the upper-right corner.
Include a contact form on every page of your website.
Website chat services, like Blue Corona Chat, to connect with visitors in real time and capture more leads.

Three clear points of contact are shown immediately upon clicking on this site. There is also the chat button that drives more lead conversions from live conversations.

Tip: Defer non-critical scripts, like website chat services, to load after your webpages’ critical elements to reduce page load time and improve their SEO value.

Create Useful Content

4. Service Pages

Google ranks web pages, not websites. So, every page on your website is another opportunity to rank on Google and to generate more website traffic and leads. Google also wants searchers to receive the most relevant results from their searches.

To rank at the top of SERPs and maximize organic traffic to your website, publish service pages for every service you offer.

For example:

A/C Repairs
A/C Replacements & Installations
A/C Tune-Ups
Furnace Repairs
Furnace Replacements & Installations

Service pages provide signals to Google and other search engines that your business is an HVAC company. And since Google ranks individual webpages, every service page is a new opportunity to generate more calls and qualified leads from your SEO campaign.

Below is a great example of a site showing their service options to its visitors.

In addition, showing images or videos of your technicians builds trust with homeowners and shows off your heating and cooling expertise.

5. Geo-targeted Content

Google reads user’s location data to cultivate the best results for them on the SERPs. By doing this, you rank higher when customers are searching closer to your business location.

Geo-targeted content expands your search visibility and, when optimized well, will help your company rank higher in the cities and service area you work in but do not have a physical presence in.

6. Blogs

Blogs are a terrific way to show off heating and cooling expertise by sharing your knowledge online with:

How-to articles and tips
DIY troubleshooting
Local sponsorships
Etc.

HVAC blogs also are an excellent way to generate more backlinks to your site — an important SEO ranking factor to help your company rank for local HVAC-related searches.

Strong internal links are also a notable feature to add to blogs; these are any links on your site that lead to another URL on your site.

Notice the blog portion at the top of their site.

A prime example of a quality internal link providing positive SEO signals to Google, it links back to another blog post of its own!

7. Images and Videos

When it comes to best practices for HVAC SEO with images and videos, you should:

Compress your images to reduce the file size and improve their on-site load time. Use a WordPress plugin or a free image compression tool.
Ensure all your site’s images contain alt tags. Alt tags help search engines understand what your image is about and can add greater SEO value to your page through context. Not only that, but alt tags ensure that those who use screen readers can understand what that image depicts, providing enhanced accessibility on your website.
Make sure your videos are embedded responsively and can load within Google’s time frame of two and a half seconds or less. A video that loads too slowly will look lower quality to Google, so to increase rankings, double-check your site content with these SEO strategies!

Examples of quality site images and videos:

Having images and videos of your team is extremely beneficial since it creates a connection with a potential client. High-quality content of employees working or technicians smiling happily in uniform will show your HVAC company’s brand culture.

If a customer can see a technician’s image on your site who could be completing their service, they will often gain that element of trust. Trust is huge for HVAC companies getting business since you are most often going to customers’ homes.

Build trust with users and generate more leads and booked jobs from your site’s organic traffic.

8. Testimonials

Any reviews that your HVAC business receives are going to weigh on Google’s algorithm. Don’t overlook the benefits of reviews; quality and quantity do matter!

Imagine looking for a business — they both have 4.8 stars, but one has 20 reviews and the other has 1,000. The one with more is getting picked by searchers.

Generating online reviews on your GBP profile is a huge boost for your business. Google sees the reviews and uses them as a local ranking signal, boosting your visibility! 46% of searchers trust online reviews as much as one from close family or friends.

Get Your Technical SEO Right

9. Title Tags and Meta Description

Title tags are particularly important to SEO and your HVAC site since they are how your webpage will show up on the SERPs and in the page URL. Optimize them for keywords and uniqueness across every page.

Here are a few title tag best practices to keep in mind:

Keep title tags to between 55 and 60 characters, including spaces (or pixels), as Google will cut off the remaining characters beyond this limit.
Include your webpage’s target keyword.
Make your title tags enticing to click to help improve your click-through rate from SERPs.

You want your meta description to be an eye-catching and informative short paragraph that will draw customers’ interest in clicking on your site over any competitors.

Meta description reminders:

Meta descriptions should be between 120 to 145 characters total but not go past 155.
Create a unique description to improve visibility and stand out from the competition.
Ensure that your call-to-action is the key point of your meta description.
Use your keywords here too!

10. Schema Markup

Schema markup is a universal HTML language all search engines use and understand.

Schema markup helps your business rank for HVAC-related searches in your local markets.

Schema markup eliminates the guessing game Google and other search engines make when crawling, reading, and indexing your site. It provides important local SEO information about your business to search engines, like your business’s:

Name
Type of business
Address
Website
Phone number
Social media profiles
Logo
Hours of operation
Price range
Etc.

11. Internal Links

Internal links help users navigate from one page of your website to the next.

All three of the marked words/phrases show an internal link in one of their blogs. These all either link to another blog on their site or a service page.

Not only do internal links provide a better user experience on your website, but they also send positive SEO signals to search engines, helping them understand what each linked page is about.

Internal links also raise your HVAC company’s page authority, ranking you higher on SERPs.
Tip to remember: User experience is now a ranking factor as part of Google’s Page Experience update.

Take a look at another example:

By using keyword-rich anchor text, the link in the image above helps Google understand that this next page is about “gas plumbing repair.”

Boost Your Local Visibility With Google Business Profile (GBP)

12. Business Categories

Labeling your business category on your GBP is a must-do. It’s necessary for Google to see your HVAC business’s category so it can recommend your page to searchers.

Best practices include:

Do not overusing the categories that GBP offers as options for your HVAC business.
For SEO, describe what your HVAC business does using the broadest categories that still make sense.

13. Business Description

Add a business description to tell Google useful and relevant information about your business.

Google connects the right searchers to your HVAC company when they know more about your business from this section.

Add a description of:

Your HVAC company’s history.
Services you offer.
Anything that makes you stand out amongst competitors.
Etc.

Make sure customers can understand what your HVAC company does and stands for from reading the business description.

Tip: This description can be up to 750 words, but remember, Google only shows 250 words before the user must choose to “read more,” so make the beginning worth the read!

14. Business Hours

Business hours on your GBP must be correct and consistent across all platforms. Make your business hours as consistent as your NAP for Google to see your authority across all pages.

Potential customers want to reach out without hearing the answering machine first, so make sure they know when you are open to avoid frustrations.

Adding your HVAC business’s hours is a simple change on your GBP that would save your customer experience and retention rates.

15. Address vs. Service Area Business

Correct information regarding your business address versus the areas that your HVAC company provides service to helps Google understand where your business is located. HVAC companies have either a business address or a service area listed on their GBP for SEO.

Google ranks your HVAC company higher for searchers that are closer to the areas that you are located in or that you service.

Reminder: The exception to this is if your company has a brick-and-mortar store that you service out of and a service area that you travel to.

Above is an example of a GBP with just an address and other with a service area and address.

Improve your HVAC SEO practices and increase rankings by having your address or service area clearly outlined for Google.

16. Products and Services

Google needs to see what products and services you offer on GBP to easier show searchers products they are looking for.

By optimizing these HVAC pages, you will rank higher for those products and services on the SERP.

Tip: Add specific products to your page with descriptions and prices — do the same with the services that you offer.

These additions not only help the customers, but more importantly, you appear stronger to Google. Your rankings in organic search will increase when you are already showing the products and services customers are searching for in your GBP!

17. Photos

Optimizing your GBP profile with photos helps Google to see that your business is real and in the location you have listed on your GBP.

Include photos of your building, inside and out, as well as employee images for Google to see on your GBP.

Users want to see useful and high-quality photos that represent your HVAC business all around. Showing images of your whole team or technicians servicing areas is a nice touch for consumers to see the real people that they would be hiring.

18. Business Information

Keep all aspects of your business’s information up to date. The information on your GBP must be consistent across your website and other platforms. Having matching information shows Google that your HVAC business has accurate, up-to-date information.

Customers want to understand your business before they hire you, and the business information section ensures that.

It’s best practice to think about what you would look for if you were trying to find out information about a business that you want to hire.

19. Questions and Answers

Be sure to answer any questions that customers have asked on your GBP; you appear more reputable to Google while also answering questions other customers may have wanted to ask as well.

When you answer customer questions, your brand image is improved and shows that you care enough to respond.

Reminder: It’s best practice to respond to both positive and negative questions or comments here!

20. Consistent NAP

NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. Your website will have more authority and rank better organically from search engine optimization, if you ensure that your NAP has consistency across all your platforms.

Your NAP should match on your:

Google Business Profile
HVAC website
Social platforms
Information areas and advertising spaces

Note: The numbers are consistent, they are just both tracked lines that change!

Google must see NAP consistency across these platforms for your site to gain authority and rank higher.

If you are interested in learning even more about GBP overall, check out /blog/google-business-profile-guidelines/

21. Track Everything and Make Data-Driven Decisions

Tracking data across your business platforms is key for knowing how well your SEO strategy is working.

How will you know what to improve in your SEO practices if you aren’t tracking your HVAC company’s data?

Having the data for the following categories allows you to know your HVAC company’s audience — you see what is or isn’t working for your website optimization.

Here are the ways you should track your HVAC business’s data for best practice with SEO.

Keyword rankings
Local website traffic
Qualified leads from SEO
Revenue generated by SEO
ROI from SEO

Looking for an Expert SEO Partner in 2023?

At Blue Corona, we have a team of HVAC SEO experts who can help you with all your optimization and marketing needs. Our data-driven company understands how site data can speak volumes about your SEO demands. Contact us today if you are looking for a partner to help grow your HVAC business and incorporate a strong SEO campaign for you in 2023!

Interested in Other HVAC or SEO Related Information? Check Out These Other Blue Corona Blogs:

Google Search Generative AI and the Future of SEO

ONERYNO — Wed, 17 May 2023 13:44:30 +0000

Announced at Google I/O on May 10, 2023, Google Search Generative AI (SGE) is the future of Google’s search experience. Google is currently testing generative AI to provide improved contextual information with Google searches. After introducing their chatbot and competitor to Chat GPT, Bard, in March this year, it’s clear Google continues to feel the pressure of taking AI experiences to the next level. In addition to SGE, Google announced at I/O that they have removed the waitlist for Bard and are planning to launch extensions for the tool that integrate their own apps and third-party tools soon.

Why Bring AI to Search?

So, with all those changes to Bard, why introduce Search Generative Experience? SGE presents a lot more like Bing Chat with an in-search results experience that allows you to dig deeper for additional information with ease. It’s no surprise that Google is pushing to launch an in-search AI feature after Bing gained market share following the launch of Bing Chat. Plus, SGE will bring AI to the forefront of search, rather than saving it for those who deliberately seek it out. Google’s goal with SGE is to “take more of the work out of searching, so you’ll be able to understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily.” Want to check it out? The waitlist for SGE is now open, and the video below shows more snapshots of what it will look like:

Shifting SERPs & User Behavior with SGE

Bard originally stood out from Bing Chat as it didn’t cite sources, but just gathered information from across the web. SGE on the other hand, was designed with search in mind. SGE features links to publisher’s sites within the answer and additional relevant sources through their “toggle deeper” feature. SGE isn’t replacing search altogether, upon scrolling you’ll find that search results are still available.

The Continued Rise of the Zero-Click Search?

Because SGE has just been introduced, we don’t know exactly how it will impact user behavior, but it is safe to assume that the click-through rate of that first search result won’t be as high as it once was. Now, with what is essentially going to act as a large, interactive featured snippet, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if zero-click searches continue to rise. At least, what we tend to think of as a zero-click search. Users may use the toggle deeper feature or continue the conversation with Generative AI to find the information they’re looking for, rather than selecting an organic result.

What About Ads?

With SGE doing the “heavy lifting” for the searcher, some industries may see more of an impact than others. But there’s one thing we can promise: Google Ads aren’t going anywhere. After all, ads drove 80.2% of Google’s revenue in 2022. Google has confirmed that with SGE, search ads will continue to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page.

Local Search Results from SGE

In the local search space, users aren’t looking for facts. They’re looking for businesses that can be trusted to provide a service. For local and commercial queries, SGE delivers comparative results that take the idea of a local pack to the next level. Google shared a preview of what these results could look like with SGE, and notable features include images, reviews, and context beyond the justifications currently offered in the local pack.

Reviews Offer Essential Context for SGE

Now more than ever, reviews are essential for local businesses. SGE will put businesses head-to-head and can make more tailored recommendations based on the query, so context from reviews can play an even larger role in influencing results. They’ll provide Google with the themes, services, and anecdotes that just optimizing your Google Business Profile can’t quite capture on its own.

How Does SGE Change SEO Strategies?

Content and Context Matter

Regardless of how the results appear, Google continues its focus on quality content. In late 2022, Google updated its Quality Rater Guidelines to include experience. E-E-A-T, or experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, will still be at the forefront of quality content in the post-SGE search landscape. Google sees trust as the center of it all as that is what determines if the page is “accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.” We know for a fact that trust will continue to be a focus with SGE, as Google placed a large focus on applying AI responsibly in their SGE documentation. At Blue Corona, in addition to quality content and E-E-A-T, we believe using natural language is at the heart of creating search-friendly content. Google’s large language model MUM established an increased focus on context and natural language in content back in 2021. The in-search generative AI will build on MUM and at least partially rely on context and natural language to help make connections and deliver results.

Inform Search Engines with Structured Data

Blue Corona adds structured data, or schema markup, to our clients’ sites to provide search engines with additional context and information for their knowledge bases. As SGE emerges, it is possible that structured data will only grow in importance to search. That additional organized information could be useful to AI and as a result, even potentially increase the likelihood of appearing in SGE results.

Measuring SEO Results with SGE

Without SGE being the norm across Google yet, we cannot speak to how it will impact user behavior. But it wouldn’t be out of the question to assume that results, and how we track those results, may change. It is not completely clear yet if we’ll be able to measure results appearing in SGE the way that we could with featured snippets. Of course, how you measure SEO success is heavily dependent on the industry you’re in. SEO success may begin to look more and more at conversion rate optimization and lead volume rather than keyword rankings as queries grow more specific each day.

Looking for an SEO Partner You Can Trust?

Changes in the search landscape can be nothing shy of daunting. Choose an SEO partner that you can trust to stay ahead of the curve and deliver great results for your business. Contact Blue Corona to request a free consultation today.

Is ChatGPT the Future of SEO?

ONERYNO — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 18:32:20 +0000

Our short answer: No, ChatGPT is not the future of SEO. But ChatGPT is undoubtedly going to influence the future of the search experience. Before we dive into what that may mean for SEO, let’s back up first:

What Is ChatGPT, and Will It Replace Google?

ChatGPT is a chatbot from the team at Open AI that is accessible to the public. Upon giving it a question or prompt, ChatGPT uses artificial intelligence to generate answers in a conversational, human-like manner. ChatGPT is capable of writing essays, translating text, conducting research, and more.

Image Source: OpenAI

Google definitely finds the public’s fascination with ChatGPT a threat, but it’s unlikely to replace Google by any means. While it won’t be taking Google’s spot, there is no denying ChatGPT’s influence on the future of search engines.

Are Chatbots Coming to Google Search?

With the popularity of ChatGPT on the rise, search engines are looking to incorporate AI chatbot technology into the future of search. Bing is set to launch a version of the search engine with chatbot integration in March 2023. Microsoft has had an investment in OpenAI since 2019, so Bing has a competitive edge they don’t usually have in the search engine landscape. It’s possible that come March, we may see Bing regain some popularity, at least until Google launches a search engine with chatbot capabilities later in 2023.

What does this mean for SEO and organic rankings? We can’t be 100% sure until Bing, Google, and other search engines roll out their own versions of chatbots. What we can be sure of is why users love chatbots. Simply put, chatbots use artificial intelligence and natural language processing to gather information and package it in a way that reads naturally to the everyday user. It may be surprising to some that Google already uses machine learning and natural language processing in their search engine today called MUM.

How Should SEO Strategy Adjust for the Prospect of Chatbots in Search?

Our response to ChatGPT and other chatbots is similar to when Google released MUM. When it comes to content for SEO, we can stay ahead of the curve by creating high-quality content that reads naturally. In particular, people turn to ChatGPT for a natural answer on how to do something or solve a problem.

With that in mind, SEO strategy for small businesses may start to focus on more top-of-the-funnel informational content, which is largely found in blog posts and incorporating frequently asked questions into the content. As a whole, Google continues to push for sites to create helpful content with the user in mind, as made clear by the series of updates dubbed the Helpful Content Updates.

Should Business Owners use ChatGPT To Create Content for SEO?

AI-created content isn’t new, it’s just now more accessible and popular than ever. Some site owners are jumping at the chance to use ChatGPT to create content. It may seem like an easy solution, but it’s one that comes with a price. At best, ChatGPT may help guide you to stronger content, but at worst, it could be detected and deindexed by Google. To use AI content effectively for ranking in search, it needs substantial human intervention and revision.

AI content may be helpful in some areas of marketing, but search may be an area where AI content isn’t as welcome. Google states that Helpful Content updates are specifically targeted to promote “more original, helpful content written by people, for people” in search results. As a result, we do not recommend using ChatGPT to generate content, especially if you’re looking to rank in search.

It’s easy to see the future evolving toward new technology and think that we need to reinvent the wheel. In reality, chatbots and algorithm updates are simply trying to push content back to what it was before the main focus of content was SEO: actual useful content. Content overoptimization has grown prevalent in the last few years. Instead, Blue Corona is committed to making content that’s first and foremost optimized for the user, then the search engine, because that is where the future is headed.

For human-first content that ranks and converts for your business, turn to the team at Blue Corona. For more updates on the ever-changing world of SEO, check out the Blue Corona Blog!