What is the Google BERT Update? 

In laymen’s terms, BERT is a form of natural language processing for Google to better understand conversational queries. Essentially, it’s a focus on optimising long-tail keywords users type into Google. Not only does BERT allow Google to understand a query but also puts emphasis on the smallest of nuances present within the search phrase. This update is all part of the master plan to understand language and through that, understand its meaning. At the end of the day, a successful Google search is about getting you to the exact answer that you want. Even if you spell a word wrong or combine seemingly random words, Google’s true north star is all about giving you a SERP catered to exactly what you’re after and as such, BERT is all part of this process to decipher semantic search.

Google confirmed in a post that the BERT update would impact around 10% of searches. 10% is a lot in the search world.

Why didn’t tracking tools pick up the BERT effect?

Although BERT rolled out last week, MozCast, RankRanger and other tools barely caught wind of it. Primarily, these trackers keep watch on shorter keywords. These shorter queries do not require much natural language processing. As such, queries that were affected by BERT wouldn’t have been picked up by these trackers.

It’s important to distinguish that BERT will analyse queries and not web pages. In saying that though, on-page SEO becomes important. 

Where is BERT rolled out currently?

At the time of publication, BERT hasn’t been rolled out uniformly across all countries and thus the influence is hard to judge. However, currently, BERT is influencing organic search results and featured snippets on the SERP.

1. Organic search results: Currently, the BERT update has been rolled out to US organic search results on Google with one in ten results being affected. The update will be gradually activated across other countries however, there is no fixed timeline yet.
2. Featured snippets: For these position zero results, the BERT update is already in full swing. BERT has been updated for featured snippet results in all 25 languages it is present in. 

How will the Google BERT update affect content marketing and SEO?

This is a tricky one to answer because both Google and the SEO community have not been able to provide a concrete answer. With that said, however, webmasters should make room for changes. An important distinguishing feature to keep in mind is that content shouldn’t be published just for algorithms but for people, as well. Content creators can be less worried about writing for bots and instead, write conversational, informal (but informative) content for people who would be genuinely interested in reading them. In doing so, the content has a better chance of being matched to long-tail queries. 

It’s important to remember that the BERT update doesn’t require long-form content. Yes, long-form posts are stellar additions to a website, but the key is to focus on the type of language used. BERT is just the tip of the iceberg for Google in its quest to understand and master the natural language and semantic search intent. 

Another pro-tip is to minimise placing importance on keyword density. Yes, keywords are important and by the same token, so are short-tail keywords, however, it’s now not the be all end all of great SEO. 

The takeaway for digital marketers

The BERT update isn’t necessarily about creating pages-long blog posts or on-page content in order to take advantage of long-tail keywords. Instead, the priority and focus should be creating quality content within a specified topic. Be the authoritative figure of content in your industry and make sure you answer search queries. Tools like AnswerThePublic or even Google suggestions are a great place to start when trying to understand how users are trying to find you and the answers you provide. 

Yes, BERT may have only had a minuscule impact compared to other updates like Google Panda or even RankBrain but as we mentioned before, it’s only the starting point for Google to master the natural language and the conversational tone used. With the rise of voice-assistants like Ok, Google, search queries are slowly giving way to long-tail questions. If you’re already optimising for long-tail keywords, you’re ahead of the curve and for everyone else, it’s time to pick up the pace. 

Content is simply one part of the whole campaign marketing strategy. As such, it’s important to seamlessly integrate your content plan across other actionable strategies. Glenda Wynyard is an experienced media and advertising professional with over 25 years in the industry. Having worked with organisations such as Toyota, eBay and Airbnb, her skillset can put you front and centre of brand attention and keep you there. Her agency, The Media Precinct, is a full-service agency to help you make actionable change. Committed to sustainable results, get in touch with Glenda Wynyard on for your next brand campaign.

How is Digital Squad changing their practices?

As professional digital marketers, SEO is like second nature to us and we are at the forefront of change. We have already started making the change to be more semantic-friendly. Moving forward, our on-site content of our clients will continue to include both short and long-tail keywords.

At the end of the day, the best kind of content is one that answers a question. It can be long or can be short but if the user finds an answer, it’s a win in our books (and Google’s!). Our strategies will always focus on optimising content for ranking and this includes not just machine algorithms but for people who genuinely search the interwebs for answers. 

If you want to know more about the BERT update or how you can implement a successful content plan to ride the wave of success with Google’s continuous algorithm changes, call the team at Digital Squad today. We are a top digital marketing agency Singapore and we can help you understand all the techspeak and deliver world-class SEO to beat your competitors and be ranked on the first page of a SERP. 

Don’t believe us? We’ll let our case studies speak for themselves. 

The post Google BERT Update: What It Means & How It’ll Affect Content Marketing appeared first on Digital Squad.

With Google updates shaking our traffic rates (we’re talking about the new Core Update), their whole no-follow debacle or even the whole GDPR data regulations in place, mapping out what 2020 will bring can help us ride the wave and continue to see conversions coming through. 

Amidst all the anticipation we can do, one thing is for certain: user experience continues to remain as the true north star in all digital endeavours. With Google moving from a search engine to an answer engine and Amazon Alexa becoming your new BFF, it’s all about making your user’s life significantly easier. With that in mind, what’s 2020 looking like and what can we expect? 

Here are the top five major trends to adopt in 2020 that will definitely pay off. 

1. Position Zero SERP
   

   Position zero isn’t a novel concept – it was introduced by Goole in 2014. The unfortunate reality is that although it has been six years since the introduction, businesses are only now starting to optimise for it. As you may be aware, there is no position #1 on a Google SERP any more. Rather, a no-click answer appears in its stead – also known as #0. This change was geared towards the user to limit the number of clicks he/she would have to do in order to get the answer they were after. Position Zero includes featured snippets, YouTube videos, charts and images. Optimising for position zero requires content structure changes and there are best practices in place. The most common formats of position zero results come in the form of an answer to the five W’s (who, what, when, where, why). How-to’s and instruction (listicle) type answers are also common to see in position zero answers. Whether that be a recipe, how to put together some piece of tech or a simple how-to answer, these are common to see in featured snippets. Definitions are quite common, as well. 

2. Voice Search

   Voice search is slowly becoming more commercial and businesses, although still new to the concept, must start planning ahead and incorporating best-practice strategies to leverage this technological wave. Certainly, there needs to be a cultural shift before voice search becomes as widespread as text-based search, but the future is voice-activated. As users, we have been trained to use text and shifting to voice search will take time but businesses shouldn’t be late to jump on the bandwagon. What does voice search currently look like? Voice-based searches currently take place in private spaces given the technology that affords it (i.e. OK, Google and Amazon Alexa). Research currently shows location-based queries as being the top category of trending voice searches and optimising your Google My Business will be ++ in our books. Check out our guide on 5 ways to optimise your content for voice search to know more.

3. Bots

   Bots will keep making an appearance in 2020 as they have done in the previous years. This isn’t a new trend, but one that we will continue to see into 2020 given the rise of AI. Chatbots began as insta-responses to basic queries but they’re now becoming more capable in handling complex questions. AI is becoming the biggest commercial opportunity for businesses. AI goes beyond chatbots. Artificial intelligence will soon be the driving force across many digital strategies. From email personalisation and customisation to strategic content creation, product and e-commerce recommendations including natural language processing for voice search!

   

4. More Data Regulations

   This might not seem as exciting as the rise of more advanced AI and voice search, but data regulation is definitely something that cannot go amiss. With all the faux-pas Facebook, Google and other tech giants have made with information leaks, data privacy is going to be even more stringent as we roll in 2020. Although you may be wondering why this would concern the marketing division when it seems like a problem for the IT or financial teams, the digital strategies you implement must be carefully thought through. In order to mitigate any data breaches and reassure customers in a very data-centric age, your digital marketing strategies need to consider how data will be collected, stored and used. The GDPR that was passed in 2018 is just the tip of the iceberg – we can expect many more regulations to crop up as we head into a new decade. 2020 will see a rise in giving the consumer on how they want their data on the interwebs. Although this may be difficult to determine things like ROI (that previously relied on cookies), digital marketers can expect to see a rise in consumer lifetime value. Why? Data protection plays into the larger role of how you take care of your customer and a loyal one will keep coming back if you play the game right (and honestly!).

5. Social Commerce (shoppable tags)

   E-commerce will no longer sit in their own silos as independent websites. Rather, 2020 will see a growth in e-commerce endeavours embedded within social media platforms. Instagram is already spearheading this turn of events with shoppable tags and the Shop tab on the explore page. But social media platforms aren’t the only enabler for social commerce. Instant messenger platforms are also rising to the opportunity. In fact, social media messenger platforms (think Facebook Messenger) are topping ROI than its email marketing counterpart. Social commerce is vastly different from social media marketing (SMM). The end goal of a social media campaign is to redirect users to the brand’s website to make a purchase or convert. On the other hand, social commerce is the process wherein the user goes through checkout without ever leaving the social platform. This is an incredibly efficient way to see your users (new or returning) see through the entire purchase funnel. Think about it: if your users are already hanging out on a social media platform, why add in an unnecessary step of asking them to leave the site to purchase your product? Social commerce significantly reduces the length of the purchase journey. In other words, you’re practising the Amazon-coined one-click purchase. All of this boils down to a reduction in abandoned cart rates because you’re constantly removing incumbents. 

2020, it just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? With the turn of the decade coming just a mere few months away, don’t fall behind. Snowball your success into 2020 and beyond by keeping a watch for the trends that’ll take precedence. If you want professional consultation on how you can prepare for 2020 to make it your best year yet, contact the team at Digital Squad. With years of experience in helping a plethora of clients reach the top of their A-game with honest and sustainable white hat marketing techniques, we can help you reach scalable growth. No matter your conversion goal, we can help you achieve it. Get in touch with Digital Squad, a leading digital marketing agency Singapore today to learn more!

The post 5 Major Marketing Trends to Adopt in 2020 appeared first on Digital Squad.

One particular trend that’s been governing change has been the introduction of native videos on to LinkedIn. This professional networking platform has amassed millions of professionals. There’s no platform quite like LinkedIn that can bring 100 CEOs, entrepreneurs, associates and everyone within range to you, either as an individual or a business. 

With that being said, what’s the platform favouring right now? Native videos. Content marketing on LinkedIn is gaining in popularity and videos perform significantly better. If you’re looking to optimise your business’ presence on the professional platform and garner eyeballs that will be more likely to convert, here’s exactly how you can leverage video for your business. 

What are LinkedIn native videos?

Native videos aren’t links or shares of videos, but videos you upload (as you would an image), on to the platform. With video content boosting impressive engagement numbers, it works in your favour to start incorporating it into your content strategy. An easy Google search will show you all the stats you need to convince you why you need to get on the bandwagon.

Why should marketers consider native videos in their LinkedIn strategy?

It’s a no-brainer that a LinkedIn strategy is mandatory, but why should you care about adding native videos to the mix? The short answer is a simple one: because it will garner significantly more traction than any other post. 

Before we dive into LinkedIn specifically, let’s look at the video stats. Let’s start off with 53% of individuals claiming to engage with a brand after watching a video on social media. Additionally,93% of businesses say that they’ve acquired a new customer thanks to video content on social platforms. Here’s the piece de resistance: if you aren’t using video, let it sink in that 73% have purchased a product after watching a video. 

With all these stats backing up the necessity for video, how do LinkedIn Native videos stack up? LinkedIn videos receive three times the engagement compared to text-only posts. Additionally, video posts were shared 20 times more than any other type of content.

LinkedIn is slowly becoming an important player in the realm of campaign marketing. As such, if your audience is hanging out on the platform, it’s a no-brainer that you include it in your strategy.  Glenda Wynyard is an experienced advertising and media specialist. Having earned recognition from awards such as Effie Awards, Cannes Lions and eme Awards, her skillset can put you front and centre of brand attention and keep you there. Her agency, The Media Precinct, is a full-service advertising and media agency to help you make actionable change. Committed to sustainable results, get in touch with Glenda Wynyard on for your next brand campaign.

Skyrocket your engagement with LinkedIn Native Videos

As with coming up with any type of content strategy, the key is to have a plan before diving deep. As such, it’s safe to say that posting a one-off video or even two won’t make you a thought leader. In fact, it might just be a blip in your analytics.

Here are a few types of videos to help you get started:

1. Repurpose old content

If you’re sighing just at the prospect of coming up with new content for yet another strategy, you don’t have to fret. In fact, a great way to create video content is to repurpose what you already have. If you have evergreen content that’s dated, bring them back to life by converting them into videos. For example, say you’ve got a great piece of content on the GDPR affecting the future of programmatic advertising, convert it to a one-minute video that’s easy to consume. 

2. Updates

Easily create a 30-second video updating your audience. Whether that be an industry trend, something about your business or whatever bite-sized piece of information relevant to your audience – say it. Instead of a text update, make a quick video on your phone. 

3. Feature your team

As you would make a mention on your About Us page, feature your team members. Whether that be your founder or intern, showcasing your team personalises your business and fosters an intimate relationship with your audience. 

4. Share a moment

Received an award? Maybe you got a mention or recognition – share that! Share celebratory moments and on the flip side, share the not so pretty moments. Say you’ve stumbled on a problem (within the industry), share it with your audience. As with the point above, it gives a human touch to your brand name.

5. Feature case studies

Similar to highlighting your team members, highlight a client and how you’ve helped them turn their numbers around. What did you do and how did you do it? What were the problems? This puts perspective into the work you do and mentions your success stories in the process. 

6. Share wisdom

Similar to sharing updates, if you are a thought-leader (or want to be posited as one) share tips and hacks that others can use, as well. Don’t think of it as sharing your secrets (and you don’t have to reveal them, either). But simply knowledge you gained along the way that others might find interesting and useful.

Optimising your videos for viewership on LinkedIn

If you have a video strategy in place and have created some stellar content for LinkedIn, your next step is to optimise it for the best possible level of engagement. Simply uploading it won’t do your hard work justice. To get the most out of your video content, here are a few tips to help you you out: 

1. Add subtitles

Optimise your videos for sound-off viewing. As with Instagram and Facebook, many viewers may be on their commute or at work and wouldn’t listen with any sound. Use captions that summarise the video with key takeaways as the video plays. That way, your viewers won’t simply thumb through your post but rather pause and watch. If you pose an interesting enough video, they might opt for sound-on viewing, as well!

2. Mobile friendly

It’s a fact that most videos are consumed on mobile. As such, make sure that your videos are optimised for mobile viewing. Consider portrait mode viewing on your videos to avoid the awkward video cut off when you shoot something landscape. 

3. Video length

All your videos don’t have to be a certain length. In fact, creating some variation is a good idea. Updates and wisdom videos can be about 30-45 seconds. Client spotlights can be a little longer. This guide gives you a comprehensive rundown on all the specs and restrictions on LinkedIn Native videos to help you out. Another way to determine video length is to see where they fit in the consumer funnel. If your videos are targeting an audience in the upper sections of the funnel, shorter videos work best. Contrastingly, an audience existing in the lower sections would be more open to longer videos. 

4. Add in graphs and text overlays

You don’t have to be talking to a camera for the full length of the video. In fact, mix it up with segments of text screens or graphs that explain your ideas better. 

5. Optimise for SEO

Just because you’re creating videos, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re exempted from all other optimisation factors. When you’re posting your content, write up a one-liner in the description box that draws the audience and encourages them to click on the “read more”.  The more clicks you get on your video, the higher the engagement the algorithm will recognise it to have. This creates a domino effect and showcases your video to a wider audience. 

6. Encourage engagement

Within the description, encourage viewers to post their thoughts. Better yet, end the video asking your viewers to engage by sharing or liking or even commenting. This creates more engagement around your video that helps push your video in front of more eyeballs (all part of the LinkedIn algorithm). 

7. Always have a CTA

What do you want your viewers to do with the information they just watched? Visit your website? Check out your business page? Whatever it is, make it known so that your viewers don’t just drop off after finishing the video. 

LinkedIn videos should already be apart of your strategy. If you’re a little behind, start implementing it. With free tools available to add in text overlays and filters, it’s easy. All you have to do is just start. If you’re on the lookout for a digital marketing agency Melbourne that can take over your LinkedIn strategy, contact the team at Digital Squad. With hundreds of clients and a multitude of campaigns across all social media channels, the experts at Digital Squad can help you with your LinkedIn marketing. As the leading LinkedIn marketing agency Melbourne, we’ve got what it takes to strategise and execute a LinkedIn strategy that will engage and convert. 

The post LinkedIn Video: Optimising for your Business 2019 & 2020 appeared first on Digital Squad.

By improving your Ad Relevance, you can not only ensure that your ad is being shown to the right people, but that you are making the most of your Facebook advertising budget by spending it on the right placements. 

How Does Facebook Determine Ad Relevance?

You can’t improve the relevance of your Facebook ads if you don’t know where the score comes from. The ‘relevance’ of an ad is determined based on a number of factors:

• Performance: Facebook looks at definite metrics such as clicks, video views and landing page visits to evaluate the relevance of an ad. If someone is interacting with it, it is likely to be relevant to them.
• Content: Facebook will look at the keywords within an ad and how they align with targeting to determine how relevant they are.
• User Feedback: Users are asked to leave feedback on the ads that they have interacted with. If your ads get a lot of negative reviews, their relevance score will drop.

How to Improve the Relevance of Your Ads

1) Know Your Audience

The most important part of any marketing campaign is to know exactly who you are targeting. By tailoring your communications to the people that you are targeting, you can improve the relevance of your ads. With Facebook ads, you have the ability to target by demographics, interests, life events, usage data, and custom audiences. It pays to make the most of these targeting options. The best way to target your ads to your specific audience(s) is to create buyer personas that reflect your target group’s biggest concerns, requirements and pain points, and craft messaging and creative around this.

2) Target Specific Groups

As touched on above, the easiest way to increase the relevance of your ads is to be specific with your targeting by ensuring that each ad is targeted towards a smaller sub-segment of your audience. Reduce the reach of your ads by excluding irrelevant locations and only showing your ads to people who meet certain criteria, like those with specific interests, or those who ‘like’ a certain Facebook page. Retargeting can also be extremely effective across Facebook. You can also make use of lookalike audiences to reach a wider audience that is still relevant to your business.

3) Exclude Users Who Have Previously Converted

Someone who has already converted on your site is unlikely to engage with your ads and convert again. For example, they may have already purchased your product, downloaded your eBook or signed up for your Newsletter, so they are unlikely to repeat that action again while your campaign is running. This means that when they see your ads again, they are unlikely to click on them and may even choose to ‘Hide Ad’, which will have a negative impact on your relevance score. As such, it makes sense to stop showing your ads to these people. You can easily exclude users who have previously converted using custom audience targeting.

4) Include a Call-to-Action

The level of engagement with your ad will significantly impact your relevance score, as it is an effective indication that the user is interested in your business’ products or services. To get the most clicks on your ad, you have to encourage the audience to click. To do this, tell them what they will gain from clicking on your ad, for example, say “Click Now to Accelerate Your Marketing With Tips from Our Ebook”.

5) Create a Sense of Urgency

According to the Wall Street Journal, the initial excitement that drives impulse buying will typically subside after roughly twenty minutes. This means that you need to encourage your audience to take action while they still feel that excitement. This can be done using certain phrases in the ad copy by including time limits, such as “Available Today Only,” and quantity limits, such as “Only 7 Left!” Your ads will get much higher engagement if you can convince the audience to take action immediately.

These are just some of the things that you can do to increase the relevance of your Facebook ads. For more information, get in touch with Digital Squad, a leading Facebook marketing agency Melbourne.

The post How to Improve Your Ad Relevance for Facebook Ads appeared first on Digital Squad.

Neglecting your existing customers is a huge mistake. It costs five times more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. You’ve put all that effort into attracting them to your business and convincing them to buy your product over a competitor’s. Now, you have to focus on making sure they keep coming back. According to research from Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

So how do you keep customers coming back? Try one of our top strategies below.

1. Email Them a Discount Offer

Sending an email is a quick and simple way to get in touch with an old customer. You can use your point of sale system to identify customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while. Or, if you don’t have a point of sale system, but you do have your customer email addresses in your database, you can segment your list based on customers who haven’t interacted with your emails for a while.

The key to a re-engagement email is to focus on “What’s in it for me.” This should be incorporated into the subject line so that you get their attention before opening the email. Typically the offer of a discount is effective, particularly if it is at a good discount. For example, if you would normally offer 10% off, consider upping this to 20% for lapsed customers.

2. Make the Most of a Google Display Ads Campaign

Google Display Ads will show to your audience in placements all over the Internet, giving businesses the opportunity to get in front of their audience, even if they are not actively looking for the company’s products or services.

The Display Network is ideal for reminding customers that you’re still there. Relevant product images work well on the Display Network. Using audience segmentation, you can show lapsed customers relevant products that may be of use to them, based on what they’ve previously purchased. For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, someone who has previously purchased a kettle from your business may want to buy the matching toaster. In addition, these ads are more effective when placed on relevant sites. Going back to the appliances example, you may want to place your ads on sites that are relevant to kitchens, food and cooking.

3. Make the Most of Facebook Custom Audiences

You can export the customer information that you have in your email system and upload it to Facebook to create a custom audience. Do this with lapsed customer data so that you can start a retargeting campaign that focuses on re-engaging them. Using a custom audience is key because it’s been long enough since they interacted with you that the users have probably fallen out of your funnel. As they are not actively browsing, they won’t be seeing your retargeting campaigns, and they won’t see the awareness campaigns that you have set up for the early stages of the funnel. This means that you can create one message, specifically for them.

A “We’ve Missed You” campaign can be effective here, where you address the fact that the customer has dropped off and offer them an incentive to come back.

4. Try Going Offline

If you have a customer’s physical address, reaching out to them through direct mail can be a great way to get their attention. Try sending them a postcard or a letter with an exclusive, exciting offer. In a world where everything is increasingly digital, this can be a great way to stand out from your competitors.

The drawback of sending direct mail communications is that the process is more manual, and it’s not as easy to track your success rates. Digital campaigns can track clicks and conversions, which makes evaluating the success of your campaigns much easier. In order to combat this, you can provide a dedicated landing page for the campaign and track visits to that page, or track the coupon or offer numbers that have been redeemed.

The main benefit of Direct Mail is that it can give your business another way to connect with your audience, particularly if they are older, or not as active online.

If you want to re-engage old prospects with an innovative marketing campaign, get in touch with the experts at Digital Squad, a leading digital marketing agency Melbourne. They can help you effectively target and convert old customers through the sales funnel.

The post How to Re-Engage Old Customers & Boost ROI appeared first on Digital Squad.

However, while in theory content marketing sounds great, continuously coming up with new ideas on things to create content around can be challenging.

The good news is: you don’t always need something new to talk about. You invest so much time and energy into creating the blog posts, articles and videos that you post. All of that can be reused with content repurposing. Repurposing content is simply using content and ideas that you already have, but presenting it in a different way.

The best place to start is by identifying the content that currently performs well for your business. A quick look on Google Analytics can show you your most read blogs, most listened to podcasts and most viewed videos. These can all be reimagined and presented in a number of different ways.

Content is simply one part of a campaign marketing strategy. As such, it’s important to seamlessly integrate your content plan across the entire funnel where that’s B2B or B2C. Glenda Wynyard is an experienced media and advertising professional with over 25 years in the industry. Having worked with organisations such as Toyota, eBay and Airbnb, her skillset can put you front and centre of brand attention and keep you there. Her agency, The Media Precinct, is a full-service agency to help you make actionable change. Committed to sustainable results, get in touch with Glenda Wynyard on for your next brand campaign.

The following are some of the most effective ways to start repurposing your content.

1. Republish Content on a Different Platform

If you have just created a new social profile for your business, one of the easiest ways to start sharing content to your profile is to reuse content that has previously performed well for you. Republishing for a new platform is as simple as adjusting a blog post’s title, tone and images to suit the new audience.

2. Create Graphics from Quotes & Statistics

A study by BuzzSumo found that articles with images every 75–100 words got double the number of shares than those with images every 75 or fewer words. You can apply this information to your advantage in your campaigns by taking the quotes and statistics that you already have in your blog posts and turning them into images. This can be done very quickly and easily using free image creation tools such as Canva.

This gives the content a different feel, and rather than looking at a block of text, readers may prefer to skim the headlines, read the important parts and look at graphics. A bonus with these graphics is that they can be shared as standalone pieces of content across social media.

3. Create an Infographic

An infographic is like a quote or statistic graphic, but a bit more complex. Infographics typically present several related stats and quotes in one image graphics. To create an infographic, all you have to do is take the quotes and stats out of an existing article and put them together in a visually appealing way. As it is more visually appealing, your audience may actually prefer to consume the content in this way. In fact, according to a study from Search Engine Journal, an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than a text article.

4. Release Podcasts that are Based on Popular Posts

Podcasts are gaining in popularity and, as such, can be a great way to reach a new audience that enjoys consuming this kind of content. The most logical place to start with a podcast is with your most popular posts and videos. These can be repurposed into insightful podcast episodes. In addition, once your podcast is up and running, it can be useful to add a link to the relevant episode in the original blog post to give website visitors another option for digesting your content.

Similarly, if you already have a podcast set up, you can create an insightful blog post based on your podcast by simply transcribing the episode and adding extra information on the topic.

5. Create Case Studies from Data & Testimonials

Case studies are an excellent way to communicate a recommendation from a happy customer with your audience. Most established companies will have a number of satisfied customers and success stories that they can use to build a case study. When written well, a case study gives your business the chance to share insights about your products or services from a client’s perspective, which can be instrumental in convincing new clients to come on board.

For more information on content marketing, or for help with your business’ wider digital marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Digital Squad. We’ve worked on hundreds of digital campaigns and know how to help companies across industries increase their leads and conversions online. Contact the content marketing agency Melbourne to know more.

The post 5 Ways to Repurpose Old Content appeared first on Digital Squad.

Site speed is a vital part of SEO for a number of reasons. First off, the loading of a website is the first experience that a user has with your business; and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. You put so much effort into creating a website that is well designed and full of engaging content that will move the customer through their buyer journey to sale. If your site takes too long to load, a large percentage of people who would otherwise visit your site may drop off. This means that all the effort you have put into creating the site and attracting people to it has gone to waste.

When it comes to mobile, site speed is even more important. 46% of people say waiting for pages to load is what they dislike most about browsing the web on mobile, with 73% of mobile users having encountered websites that take too long to load. At a minimum, you should aim for a load time of three seconds or less. The following are some of the other reasons to improve the loading time of your website:

• Faster sites are easier for search engines to crawl
• Quicker loading sites have higher conversion rates
• A faster load time significantly reduces bounce rates
• Quick loading times improve the overall user experience of your site

Simply put, improving your site speed benefits both your customers and the search engine results.

Site Speed for SEO

There are a number of reasons that site speed affects SEO and should be a considered part of any SEO strategy.

Site Speed is a ranking factor. According to Google, a quicker site will help your website rank better. With recent updates, the search engine has claimed that algorithm changes will only affect the slowest sites, and as such, boosting sites that already load quickly will not impact their rankings. However, this is enough to indicate that site speed is something that is considered by Google. While it may just be the slowest sites that notice an impact at the moment, this is likely to become something that affects sites across the board into the future.

In addition, loading times influence search engine crawling. Modern sites are getting more complex, and generally bigger, which can cause problems for search engines. It’s important to have a solid site structure with only relevant pages. Any pages that are no longer relevant should be removed and fixed with a redirect. The bigger a website, the more impact speed optimisations will have as crawl rate will improve. This means that the easier you make it for bots, the quicker they can scan your site and record their results.

Fast loading sites also have higher conversion rates and lower bounce rates. So if you can ensure your site loads quickly, visitors will spend more time there. This is particularly important for e-commerce, where visitors are likely to hit the back button if a site is taking a long time to load, which means that you have lost a visitor who will likely turn to a competitor’s site to find what they are looking for. A quick and responsive website also helps your business to build credibility and loyalty.

How to Optimise Your Website’s Speed

There are a number of site speed test tools that can be useful for checking and optimising your site. While these tools are useful, however, it’s important not to get too focused on scores and metrics. Every user has different browsing habits and may use a different Internet connection, device and browser. The best way to optimise the speed of your site is to find out who your users are, how they are accessing your site, and how they interact with it.  PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest.org and Lighthouse are all great for giving you a wider picture of the speed issues on your website. They provide recommendations that can be really useful in starting to improve your site speed.

Site speed recommendations can, however, be difficult to implement; particularly for those who are not familiar with websites and how they work technically. It may be necessary to enlist the help of a technical SEO expert to improve your site’s speed.

Get in touch with Digital Squad for more useful SEO tips, or advice on boosting your search engine results.

We are a digital marketing agency Melbourne with expertise in SEO services Melbourne and proven white hat techniques. With years of expertise, we can also help you with your social media marketing Melbourne, Google Shopping Melbourne, Bing ads and Google display network ads.

The post Why Page Speed is So Important for Your SEO Strategy appeared first on Digital Squad.

As such, local Search Engine Optimisation, or local SEO is becoming an increasingly important component of many SEO campaigns. Local SEO focuses on optimising a website so that it can be found in local search results.

The premise behind local SEO is essentially the same as regular SEO. As such, optimising a page for local search involves many of the same elements as a regular SEO campaign, just with a local focus. That means that content, on-page optimisation, and link building are all still important aspects of a local SEO campaign.

Why is Local SEO Gaining Importance?

The key to the success of search engines like Google and Bing is that they provide the most relevant results for a user’s query. A recent study from Hubspot found that 46% of all Google searches are local. This means that searchers are looking for a local solution to their query almost half of the time.

Search engines know this and are responding to it. As such, local answers are more likely to be chosen and displayed in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Local SEO cannot and should not be ignored. Now, as more searches are local, it’s vital to optimise your website for local search.

92% of searchers will choose a business on the first page of local search results. The easiest way to ensure your business shows up in this position? Set up a Google My Business Account.

Google My Business for Local SEO

Despite the increasing importance of local search, 56% of local retailers haven’t yet claimed their Google My Business listing.

Google My Business is free, and it’s quick and easy to set up. It is also one of the most effective elements of a local SEO strategy. As such, if you currently don’t have a Google My Business listing, you should consider setting one up as soon as possible.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is simply an online directory created by Google. It lists businesses across the Google Network so that searchers can find them on the search engine and Google Maps. Having a Google My Business account helps your customers find your company immediately, on any device, and all of this advertising is absolutely free.

The following are some of the other benefits of creating a Google My Business listing for your business.

• Get Found On Google: The Google My Business listings appear in a prominent position in the search results. With a listing, you can elevate your business’ ranking to the top of the first page for local searchers. If your business operates out of multiple locations, you can make use of Google’s ‘Multiple Service Areas’ functionality. This means that your customer can find your closest location to them when they are searching, which is particularly effective for mobile searches.
• Showcase Your Brand Personality: Google My Business gives companies the opportunity to communicate their brand personality and values with Google’s audience. This can be done by customising the business profile. Adding the business’ value proposition, business information, photos, videos and even virtual tours can create a brand identity that sets your company apart from its competitors.
• Boost Your Brand With Social Proof: Google My Business gives customers the chance to review a business’ products or services by giving a star rating and leaving a comment. With a number of positive reviews behind your business, you can build trust and credibility with the audience.

By claiming your Google My Business listing today, you ensure your business stays ahead of the 56% of businesses who still don’t have one.

Other Vital Elements of a Local SEO Strategy

Creating a Google My Business account may be an excellent starting point your local SEO strategy, however, there are a number of other things that your business should do online ensure your website is fully optimised for local search.

As we talked about earlier, local SEO isn’t vastly different from regular SEO. Local SEO still makes use of keywords, content, links, on-page SEO, and reviews, however, the difference when you are optimising for local search, is that these strategies have more of a local focus. This helps to ensure that your business is found when people are carrying out these searches in the local area around your business.

If you can get the following elements right, you will have a better chance of outranking your local competitors in the search engine results pages.

1. Local SEO Keyword Research

Local SEO keyword research is similar to traditional keyword research. However, one major difference to be aware of is that local searches are most often performed on a mobile device, such as a smartphone, Amazon Echo, or Google Home. These devices have voice search capabilities, and many of the searches that are carried out on them are by voice. As such, ensuring your website is optimised for voice search is a great way to boost your local SEO.

There has been much talk about how voice search is shaping the future of SEO, and by 2020 it is predicted that 50% of all searches will be voice searches. As such, SEO will become more focused on trying to optimise websites for conversational voice search terms like ‘find an Italian restaurant near me’.  In order to optimise for voice search, it’s important to be aware that queries are more question-focused. This means that when you are carrying out keyword research, look for question-based terms.

Normal keyword research tools can be used for this, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush’s topic research tool, Keyword.io, and AnswerThePublic. These tools will give an indication of the questions searchers are looking for, as well as their search volume, and some of them will detail competition levels for the keyword. Given the recent increase in this type of search, many questions that are relevant to your business will have a reasonably high search volume.

2. Create Content for Local SEO

An effective local SEO strategy requires locally focused content. All good marketers know that any content that is published should demonstrate a depth of knowledge, and for SEO purposes, should cover the most appropriate breadth of topics based on the keywords that are targeted. One thing to bear in mind with local SEO content is that while traditional SEO best practice is to write long-form content, this isn’t necessarily the best way to generate results for local search.

In order to be effective for local SEO, it is important to write content that addresses the user’s intent behind the query. This is more important than a high word count for the query. The most effective way to do this is to carry out keyword research to find out exactly what local customers are searching for. You can then create content around these terms that addresses and answers these queries. Headlines and meta-data should also contain the relevant local keywords and phrases so that both the searcher and the search engine recognise your business as a local provider.

Another tip to help boost your local SEO results is to create a specific webpage for each town, county, or region that your business operates in. By focusing one page on each local area of your business, you can significantly increase your chances of appearing in local search results. Each page should talk about the unique characteristics of the location and how your business operates in that area. Adding case studies and testimonials from other local businesses that you have worked with can also help to add credibility.

3. Build Backlinks for Local SEO

Backlinks are an important ranking factor for SEO. However, creating an effective backlink strategy can be difficult. It is vital to follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines when building a backlink strategy, as ‘bad’ backlinks can have the opposite effect for your site and result in a penalty from Google. Any backlinks to your site that do not adhere to Google’s guidelines will be detected and can adversely affect your site’s rankings.

Once you know how to avoid bad quality links, you can start to create a link building strategy for local SEO. This is slightly different than for organic SEO, and there are various link categories that make up a quality local SEO strategy, including:

• Citation / NAP Sites
• Local Directory Websites
• Industry-Related Local Sites

4. Generate Reviews for Local SEO

Online reviews are one of the top 3 most important ranking factors in local search, according to the 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors report by Moz. Having review stars in Google’s search engine results pages can improve your click-through rate by up to 35%. As customers trust and value online reviews, customers treat these reviews in the same way that they would treat a word of mouth recommendation from a friend or family member.

The most effective reviews for your business should be recent and in-depth enough to provide specific details about the business’ products or services. It can be useful to ask satisfied customers to leave detailed reviews on a range of different platforms. For local SEO, generating reviews on the Google My Business listing is key. In addition, depending on the industry you operate in, and the sites your customers are most active on, you may also want to consider trying to get reviews on City search, Tripadvisor, Foursquare, Facebook, Yahoo Local or Yelp.

The digital marketing experts at Digital Squad have considerable experience in developing local SEO campaigns that generate leads and conversions. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help your business.

Looking for more? We drive sustainable growth with white hat strategies and always make sure you’re on top of the digital game. Whether that’s SEO Melbourne, social media marketing Melbourne, Google shopping Melbourne or Google remarketing Melbourne, we’re here to help. Give us a buzz, and we’ll grab coffee!

The post Why Local SEO Should Be Part of Your SEO Campaign appeared first on Digital Squad.

This works in the form of replacing the broken link for one on your site that is working. For example, Digital Squad may notice a blog post on a relevant site that links to an article giving more information on long-tail keywords. However, when we click the link, we are sent to a 404 error page rather than the article that we wanted to see. In order to fix this issue and generate a link back to the Digital Squad site, we would get in touch with website owners to let them know that the link is broken and ask them if they would replace the broken link with a link to one of our blogs that focuses on long-tail keywords. If we didn’t have a blog on long-tail keywords, we might even write one so that we can get the backlink.

This technique works because website owners know that 404 error pages are bad for user experience and as such, can result in lost visitors. They are also bad for SEO as Google wants to direct users to high-quality pages. As a result, websites with lots of broken links have less chance of ranking at the top of the search engine results pages.

Web owners are typically more receptive to requests for a backlink if it is useful to them, and provides them with something in return. Fixing a broken link on the site definitely accomplishes both of these things.

The Steps to Creating a Broken Link Building Strategy

If we’ve convinced you that broken link building is a great SEO tactic that you should implement immediately, you may be wondering where to begin. The following are the steps that we take to find broken backlinks and replace them with links to our site.

Step 1: Make a List of Relevant High Authority Websites

The first step of the process is to create a list of web publications that you’d love to get a link from for your business. The easiest way to do this is to Search Google for popular blogs in your industry. Alternatively, tools like BuzzSumo can help you to find websites that have a lot of content about your niche.

Once you have compiled this list, look at the quality of each site that you find using Ahrefs or Moz.  It will be more beneficial for your business to get a link from a high-authority site, so after a bit of research, you can prioritise these ones.

Step 2: Start Identifying Broken Links

Installing the Broken Link Checker Chrome extension can help you to identify broken links on a site easily. Navigate to relevant blog posts and go through any ones that you can find using the tool, which will highlight any broken links on that page.

Alternatively, the entire domain can be run through Free Broken Link Checker to get a full list of broken links across the site.

Step 3: Identify Relevant Content

Once you have identified a broken link, you need to work out the content from your site that can replace it. Alternatively, if you currently don’t have an article on that specific topic, you can create one that addresses the anchor text in the broken link.

With either of these solutions, the most important thing to remember is that your content has to be high quality; otherwise the website won’t want to link to it. Make sure the blog is interesting and insightful and goes into depth on the topic that you are talking about.

Step 4: Get in Touch With the Website Owner

This can be the most difficult part of the process. In fact, Backlinko studied over 12 million outreach emails and found that only 8.5% of emails got a response. In addition, backlink emails can seem ‘spammy’, which can immediately put the web owner off.

This means that the email you send and its content is vitally important. Be honest, and get straight to the point. Website owners can see through emails that follow the standard ‘I’ve been following your work for years…’ Instead, it’s better just to tell them why you are getting in touch and how you can mutually help each other.

For more information on back-linking, or for help with your wider SEO strategy, get in touch with Digital Squad. An award-winning SEO agency Melbourne, we know what it takes to boost your position on the search engine results pages.

We are more than an SEO agency. In fact, we can help you with your entire digital strategy. Whether that be social media marketing Melbourne, Google Shopping Melbourne, Bing ads and Google display network ads, we are here to help you out. Contact us and find out how you can improve your conversions. 

The post What Is Broken Link Building & How to Apply it in Your Strategy appeared first on Digital Squad.

Marketing automation can power entire marketing campaigns today. The software can not only help your business communicate with your audience, but it can also help you to identify leads, score them based on their interaction with your brand, influence your buyer’s decision making process throughout their buying journey, and so much more.

Categories that fall under marketing automation, such as campaign management, email marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, lead nurturing and scoring, and reporting and analytics, make up a significant subset of marketing technology. All of these areas have been impacted by technological advancements in the form of predictive analytics, machine learning and AI, and higher personalisation of content. As technologies continue to advance, marketing automation will only become more powerful.

The following are some of the ways that marketing automation platforms are evolving.

The Essence of Marketing Automation

In the last few years, marketing automation has completely evolved from a one-size-fits-all digital strategy that sends out regular communications, to a more ‘trigger’ based system. This basically means that marketing automation can now be programmed to send out relevant communications based on how a prospect interacts with a business online. For example, if they download an eBook, then the platform will send out an email to them, or if they visit a specific part of the website, the platform may start remarketing to them. This gives greater alignment and personalisation for each individual throughout their customer journey.

This level of personalisation will only increase going forward as marketing automation will start to strategically encompass the entire customer experience. Marketing automation platforms are able to give marketers a single view of an individual customer, which can then be applied to the campaign to deliver highly personalised communications.

The Breadth of Marketing Automation

Marketing automation was once a solution for lead generation, nurturing and conversion; however, as the demands of marketers have increased, so have the capabilities of marketing automation platforms. Marketing automation can now incorporate pretty much every area of marketing, from inbound marketing to outbound marketing, social media, point of sale and events (both on and offline). This is known as omnichannel marketing. Reporting and measurement have also evolved, from previously measuring prospect responses to now providing full-feature analytics reports. Some of the more advanced platforms will also offer predictive analytics and even AI.

The Structure of Marketing Automation

The structure of marketing automation solutions is also changing. Some of the available options include suites, where one vendor provides a marketing automation platform with several functionalities; platforms, where a vendor provides a ‘platform’ or a stage for a number of brands to integrate together; and clouds that offer a wide range of integrated solutions to address all components of the marketing spectrum. Integration is key for these platforms that have to work together with data management systems such as CRM and CDP, as well as with other marketing technology tools.

Marketing Automation Integrations

As mentioned above, integrating marketing automation tools is vital. Marketing automation platforms have to create seamless integration with other tech tools, and not only marketing ones. These platforms should integrate with any other digital tool that impacts the customer in order to curate the most comprehensive and actionable data and insights.

Furthermore, more comprehensive connections to data and analytics will continue to evolve. This will enable a full suite of lifetime engagement insights to focus on the entire customer journey (even post-purchase) so that marketers can deliver a seamless customer experience.

The Marketers Using the Platform

In order to get the most out of these advancements in marketing automation, the marketers using the technology also need to evolve. Platforms are only as good as the people behind them, so it’s important that marketers continuously learn about the features of the platforms that they are using. Increasingly user-friendly interfaces, as well as built-in assistants on these platforms, will help users to apply these platforms to their full potential. However, there will be a degree of responsibility that falls to the marketer to ensure that they know the software they are using.

As the marketing automation software itself is continuously changing and adding new features, this is not a ‘set and forget’ task. Marketers have to evolve with the platforms that they are using in order to get the most out of them.

For more information or assistance in creating a marketing automation campaign, get in touch with the experts at Digital Squad.

Are you ready to take the next step to improve your SEO and boost your ranking? Talk to the experts at Digital Squad, your digital marketing agency Melbourne. We provide SEO services Melbourne, and  content marketing Melbourne. If you’re looking for a comprehensive strategy that takes care of all your digital channels, including social media marketing Melbourne, Google Shopping Melbourne, Bing ads and Google display network ads, we are here to help you out. Contact us and find out how you can improve your conversions!

The post How Marketing Automation is Evolving for 2020 and Beyond appeared first on Digital Squad.